The Use Of The New Silencer

[billy]

As I thought, bury your head in the sand and ignore the very real threat.

Your like my son, if it hasn't happened yet, then its not going to.

Please please wake up and realise that tracks will close and may never reopen

due to noise issues.

I am aware that there are problems with the new silencers, but may I suggest that

you get along to Ipswich, where the riders have worked together to sort out the

issues between them.

And as for your last comment, about the non riding fraternity and non technical

people backing the new silencers.... did you actually read my whole post??

 

And Speedwaystar84... Chris Kerr would have gotten the same useage out of his engines

as any other rider, including Harris, Nicholls etc etc. He rode in the Premier League, which

requires the engines to work just as hard as any other league. Riding around at half throttle

would have meant his average being a whole lot lower than it ended up as.

Once again, excuses being thrown about by people.

 

I conceded in my original post, that maybe further development/collusion, needs to be

implemented between riders and manufacturers, but that doesn't alter the fact that there

are riders out there, who HAVE made the new silencers work without being dangerous.

 

I also argue the point on the silencers lowering power and thus causing problems.

Answer me this... how on earth did Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs, Peter Collins, John Louis et al,

get on with engines, as in 2 valve Jawa, JAP's etc, who's power output was far below the engines

of today, yet many more tracks were far grippier than they are today.

Where is the difference?

Alledgedly, tracks are far slicker these days, so how come there is a problem?

Its not the power, its down the inability of todays riders to deal with any form of grip.

And, yet another point, as a former speedway mechanic, I have had more than my fair share

of quite serious burns to my arms, fingers and hands and thats from the old King Silencer,

as every exhaust gets red hot during racing. The idea is, that anyone likely to need to

handle a bike, should be aware that exhausts get hot, whether thats through these new

silencers, or the old ones.

Also, Engine tuners.... aren't they the ones that charge 100's and 100's of pounds to tune

or service your engines, yet cannot find the right setup to accomodate these silencers.

I would ask myself, what the hell I'm paying them for?

Tuners are where your money goes, and from experience, your being ripped off most of the time.

 

I ran an old Mk4 Weslake towards the end of my career, 1990 was when I finally retired due to

injury, yet I never had the motor tunes by anyone. I did all of my own maintainence in my own

workshop (garage next to the house), yet beat some far better riders regularly, including people

like a young Ben Howe. Sorry, but tuning has become the 'In' things for every rider, regardless of

ability, why? because the top stars were tuning engines to be rocketships, so everyone else had to

follow suit to keep up/be like their hero's. Thats a fact, because if the top stars hadn't of gone

down that route, you wouldn't be spending huge amounts of money to be the same.

Trainee riders, who only go to training schools, with vans emblazoned with their names etc, what the

hell is that about? Its spending money that doesn't need spending at this point in your careers.

 

Anyway, I've digressed with that last piece, but no doubt the anti silencer crew will pick holes

in everything I've said, but remember this, I've been through decades of changes to speedway bikes,

including silencers and your sitting there, wet behind the ears posting things that you haven't

properly thought through. I suspect its a case of, "Well the GP boys and Polish League guys have

stated the silencers are naff, so we'll join in"

Just to finish off, these photo's of broken engines etc, are these not the ones that had the new

silencers fitted and used without getting the bikes setup correctly? Just asking, as someone else

commented that this was the case. If so, then they are NOT evidence that the silencer doesn't work,

just proof that some riders should seek help.

not knocking you or your mechanical knowledge so dont take it personally just like to reiterate. why should something as simple as a silencer( and bear in mind the old style king will fit onto any engine without problems) have to make a rider alter all his engine setups? it should be bolt on and go.simple. theyre restricting the exhaust gases way too much and thats not right for a racing engine and i dont care what anybody says you cant argue with that

[tomcat]

not knocking you or your mechanical knowledge so dont take it personally just like to reiterate. why should something as simple as a silencer( and bear in mind the old style king will fit onto any engine without problems) have to make a rider alter all his engine setups? it should be bolt on and go.simple. theyre restricting the exhaust gases way too much and thats not right for a racing engine and i dont care what anybody says you cant argue with that

 

Sorry to point you to another rider, who just happened to race all last season in the Elite League,

but one Ben Barker has stated that he used the new silencer ALL of last season, with no problems.

Also, please read the thread on the new silencer, in the General Discussions section.

Seems that despite many Press and Practice days having been held this past week or so, not one rider

appears to have experienced any serious problems, other than the odd one when hitting some grip/dirt.

If thats the only reported problem, then a change of gearing will soon sort that, along with maybe a

change of jet in the carb. Something that any rider with even the basic knowledge on setups should

grasp.

This seems to be a recurring issue with todays riders, the inability to properly read track conditions

and make the required changes to the bike.

Have a read of what DK Rides Again has to say on the other thread, as like myself, he understands about

many different racing engines, exhaust systems and silencers and what is possible or not.

 

What is niggling a lot of riders, is not just the very different sound, but the decrease in power output.

Well, sorry to say, but this is something that myself and more than a few of todays riders have advocated

as sooner, rather than later, some of you youngsters coming into the sport, are going to end

up seriously injured, or worse. The speedway youth of today just cannot keep racing rocketships, many seen

with my own eyes, on the very ragged edge of disaster, being a virtual passenger, hanging onto the bike, rather

than being in full control.

Lets be honest here Billy, we all agree, that speedway is dangerous enough as it is, without expecting novices

and juniors, to take further risks by trying to kill themselves in pursuit of matching the likes of Crump, Gollob

etc.

I wanted to add also, that I agree 100%, that you, as well as everyone else, are entitled to your own opinions

on any subject you please, but by the same token, don't ignore those that have been there and done it.

I sit here now, with health problems, caused by striving to get more speed out of my machinery, to stay

competitive on the speedway track, busted up knee's, arthritis in the left knee and spine, due to injuries

sustained on track, add in other health problems and I believe I've earned the right to at least try and make

sure the next generation of riders aware that this is how they could end up.

I now have to live with these problems until I pop my clogs young fella, my choice back then, but please don't

ignore the warnings.

Its not a sob story, as I said, it was my choice, but I'll tell you this, if I had my time over, I would have

settled for what I had, not sought to compete and strive for machinery that is way way too fast for existing tracks.

 

Anyway, thats it from me on the subject, the silencers are here, riders now have to make them work, or work

with the manufacturers to improve them, either way, they're not going away anytime soon I believe.

 

You take care on track, I mean that sincerely and I hope you make the grade.