The Start Of The Decline

[foamfence]

If restrictions were used like carburetor restricters and rev limiters, it would'nt be to hard to upgrade or downgrade the engine.

True, but if you were then using that engine at a higher level you would probably still be paying tuning costs to keep it competitive at the higher level. It would work though, after a bit of testing and so on (I wonder how the current rev limiter tests are going, anyone hear anything?).

[*JJ]

I could go out now and buy loads of decent kit & a van etc (Its not that expensive) M

 

It's expensive enough. I am helping a young man who wants to be a speedway rider. He spent a couple of years saving up for a bike with a 140cc engine (£400) then for a trailer, which is all he can manage. At this point I said that my car has a towing hitch, so I have been taking him up to Scunthorpe to practice (when the weather is OK!). I am a pensioner; not everybody has a rich father.

[Jonny the spud]

The "rich father" line doesn't always ring true. My son has two complete bikes and a third being built up. All secondhand, all built up over a few years of buying and selling equipment, taking loans, finding sponsors and with a lot of help from friends. We're just getting by the best we can. It is an expensive sport but is you're hoping to ride as a job, you need good tools.

[Mixy230]

Jonny the spud

I agree with what you say completely.

Its an expensive sport and you KNOW that only 50-75 riders in the world make a good living at it. So you have to be very good to make the grade. (Also need some lucky breaks)

But we need to remember (I hope) that most young riders start out riding/racing for fun.

 

Most people in Motorsport race bikes or cars as a hobby for fun. Work hard to pay for it and its an expensive hobby. (Some even get divorced over it) tee hee

 

As Speedway goes its not an expensive motorsport.

 

I honestly feel that we can not afford in EL/PL as many full time riders as there are!

 

NL = Hobby with some income / expenses

PL = Semi Pro + Other work

EL = Pro + some semi pro riders

 

The sport can not sustain 100s of full time pro riders as the spectator revenue is not there!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you go to Brandon in the summer to a decent F1 Stox meeting there will be more spectators than speedway, more entrants than speedway, more laps than speedway, more expensive machinery than speedway but all drivers will be amateurs. (The stars might get some start money or some expenses) Some drivers might even pay to enter.

 

The professional Speedway rider must be limited to EL and some PL Riders as the sport can not afford it! If clubs lose money consistantly we will have no future in the UK or even Europe.

 

M

 

Once you get passed the top 50? riders in the world is there realy enough money in the Speedway world to have riders 51 to 200 being pro?

[ford]

Me and the misses were just having a debate about the decline of speedway and was there a single thing which started the decline. She said the time when characters started to be repremanded for a bit of playing up, so much so that there are very few characters today. I said bruce penhall retiring, speedway just seem to slowly slide away after he quit. Its not dead just yet but its definatly not thriving. Whats everybody elses single moment?

 

For me leading link forks made a purposeful looking speedway bike look odd.

[Long Eye]

The day that Douglas introduced lay down engines. The sport was never the same again.

[moxey63]

Is there a speedway fan out there who has enjoyed his latter years of watching more than his initial ones, which means we all have different feelings of when the slide began. Do supporters follow the same pattern, for example... that speedway just gets less attractive and not as enjoyable the more seasons you watch it?

 

Anyhow, I feel the decline of speedway was the mid-90s - laydowns, dirt-deflectors (do they really serve a cause?) and allowing riders freedom to wander all over the planet. On the other hand, another poster might have began watching the sport during this period, thus making it his cherry-popping period.

 

You always remember your first time.

 

Maybe it isn't when speedway began its decline, more when you as a supporter stopped enjoying it as much as you used to.

[Bream]

I have been in the sport from the day I came to this world. Have been watching it from late 80´s. From my point of view racing in speedway at the moment is best I have ever seen.. in Poland, Sweden and GP. Watching EL matches is boring, tracks are small, slick and narrow. Cant blame the bikes because racing outside England is good. I would say that the problem is the tracks that are still somewhere in the late 70´s. Living in the past is what is killing speedway.

 

It is almost funny that you get paid in a small sport like speedway. Thought it is great and it is keeping the sport alive. When comparing to bigger motorcycle sport like motocross. Even in the MXGP only top 10 riders get money. Most of the riders pays tens of thousands of euros per season for the Youthsport corporation to race in GP. In national level it is normal to pay for racing.

[The White Knight]

I have been in the sport from the day I came to this world. Have been watching it from late 80´s. From my point of view racing in speedway at the moment is best I have ever seen.. in Poland, Sweden and GP. Watching EL matches is boring, tracks are small, slick and narrow. Cant blame the bikes because racing outside England is good. I would say that the problem is the tracks that are still somewhere in the late 70´s. Living in the past is what is killing speedway.

 

It is almost funny that you get paid in a small sport like speedway. Thought it is great and it is keeping the sport alive. When comparing to bigger motorcycle sport like motocross. Even in the MXGP only top 10 riders get money. Most of the riders pays tens of thousands of euros per season for the Youthsport corporation to race in GP. In national level it is normal to pay for racing.

 

More like the late 1920's. :rolleyes:

 

It does give a whole new meaning to the 'Roaring Twenties' though. B)

[Bream]

My idea was based on video material.. and 70´s material is the earliest good footage I have found.

[foamfence]

I have been in the sport from the day I came to this world. Have been watching it from late 80´s. From my point of view racing in speedway at the moment is best I have ever seen.. in Poland, Sweden and GP. Watching EL matches is boring, tracks are small, slick and narrow. Cant blame the bikes because racing outside England is good. I would say that the problem is the tracks that are still somewhere in the late 70´s. Living in the past is what is killing speedway.

 

It is almost funny that you get paid in a small sport like speedway. Thought it is great and it is keeping the sport alive. When comparing to bigger motorcycle sport like motocross. Even in the MXGP only top 10 riders get money. Most of the riders pays tens of thousands of euros per season for the Youthsport corporation to race in GP. In national level it is normal to pay for racing.

So how do you account for the decline in Poland and Sweden, clubs have gone bankrupt and some riders have had problems being paid, the Polish top league will only have eight clubs in it in 2014? They might have big crowds compared to here, but they used to have much bigger ones a few years ago.

[keef robin]

Look forward to the start of the new season. The Robins have received great publicity from the Swindon Advertiser, beating the much better supported football club to the top awards. Front page for local lad Rosco yet again. Hopefully the crowds will turn out in force at Blunsdon now, as they did from 1949-mid 80s, even outnumbering STFC some seasons.

Still enjoy the racing as much as I did in 1963 at New Cross.

[Bream]

So how do you account for the decline in Poland and Sweden, clubs have gone bankrupt and some riders have had problems being paid, the Polish top league will only have eight clubs in it in 2014? They might have big crowds compared to here, but they used to have much bigger ones a few years ago.

 

But racing is great, they have tv-time and crowds are watching races at the stadiums. They have debts and teams have taken financial risks. When I used to live in Poland few years ago. Finances were pretty ok. But then first news about Greek´s financial problems started to come. Even my living started to be expensive. 1 euro was about 4 zloties before and after the dark financial news it dropped to somewhere near 2 zloties. For locals times turned for the worse. Culture of hooligans is also one bad thing about Polish speedway. Derby like Bydgoszcz vs. Torun is scary. You could get beaten on the street just because of wearing wrong scarf.

 

In future there will be a challenge from the east for British speedway. Like we have seen from football. There is a lot of money in Russia for sports. When Russian speedway starts to hire EU-riders there will be space in EL for local riders. Quickly EL is 4th speedway league after Poland, Russia, Sweden.

[foamfence]

But racing is great, they have tv-time and crowds are watching races at the stadiums. They have debts and teams have taken financial risks. When I used to live in Poland few years ago. Finances were pretty ok. But then first news about Greek´s financial problems started to come. Even my living started to be expensive. 1 euro was about 4 zloties before and after the dark financial news it dropped to somewhere near 2 zloties. For locals times turned for the worse. Culture of hooligans is also one bad thing about Polish speedway. Derby like Bydgoszcz vs. Torun is scary. You could get beaten on the street just because of wearing wrong scarf.

 

In future there will be a challenge from the east for British speedway. Like we have seen from football. There is a lot of money in Russia for sports. When Russian speedway starts to hire EU-riders there will be space in EL for local riders. Quickly EL is 4th speedway league after Poland, Russia, Sweden.

And does that matter? Personally I would prefer to see this country go it's own way. I don't agree about the standard of racing in Poland or Sweden, I watched a large number of meeting from both countries last season and in the main found them pretty featureless. As for Russia hiring EU riders (I don't doubt they will), Havvy was riding there years ago.

[TesarRacing]

Is there a speedway fan out there who has enjoyed his latter years of watching more than his initial ones, which means we all have different feelings of when the slide began. Do supporters follow the same pattern, for example... that speedway just gets less attractive and not as enjoyable the more seasons you watch it?

 

Anyhow, I feel the decline of speedway was the mid-90s - laydowns, dirt-deflectors (do they really serve a cause?) and allowing riders freedom to wander all over the planet. On the other hand, another poster might have began watching the sport during this period, thus making it his cherry-popping period.

 

You always remember your first time.

 

Maybe it isn't when speedway began its decline, more when you as a supporter stopped enjoying it as much as you used to.

I have been going to speedway since 1972 when I had my first motorcycle and I must say I enjoy my speedway now more than I did back in the seventies. I think the racing was probably better then but I do like a lot of the ways in which it has changed and been brought up to date. I know a lot of supporters won't agree with that statement but that is my personal view. I attend more meeting now than I did in the 70's and 80's - probably because I can afford to, especially meetings not involving my team.

I think it is easy to be nostalgic about the sport - I don't think it was great as we remember and of course having forums these days to dissect every little issue in the sport, rule change, negative comments from supporters who don't go anymore tend to breed negativity.

I personally thank all the riders and promoters in particular for keeping the sport going in very difficult economic circumstances.

[oldace]

So how do you account for the decline in Poland and Sweden, clubs have gone bankrupt and some riders have had problems being paid, the Polish top league will only have eight clubs in it in 2014? They might have big crowds compared to here, but they used to have much bigger ones a few years ago.

 

The decline in Poland is simple. They are merely recreating all the mistakes the UK made 20 - 30 years ago. The main one being paying riders over the odds, upping admission to cover it, losing fans and upping admission some more to cover that. Speedways boom there was largely due to fall of communism, it was rather like the post war boom here. Now though Poles have so much more to do with their money and speedway is slowly (although gaining momentum) falling out of favour

[Bream]

British speedway really should not overlook Russian influence in speedway. It will be hard to come back to center of speedway if you are out of the top 3 leagues. Location at the far west in Europe isnt helping neither. Some top riders are already doing riding in there like Jason Crump. Money is power in professional sports. You can see how even the major leagues in football are losing players to Russian league. Like M´vila, French national goes to Russian Rubin Kazan instead of coming to EPL Queens Park Rangers. 5 years ago this would have been a joke!

 

Polish speedway has its problems with money. Tickets are pretty expensive in league matches and sadly it is showing in the crowd.

 

Im just throwing this idea now. I have noticed that motorsports are getting unpopular. Lots of people thinks that it is pointless to do something that could harm you and supporting activity like this is pointless. More and more educated and civilized people wants to do something safe and easy. Highlight of the month is shopping trip to Ikea and wine tasting evening with friends. Speedway as a fast, agressive and brutal sport is not going to win their hearts and minds. Even the noise is "terrible", truth is that you cant even really hear speedwaybikes when normal traffic is going arround. Is GB too evolved to accept real drama and sport like speedway where there could actually happen something to someone? Something that hasnt been pre-writen and scripted? Chapters of popularity has many times been after crisis and change. 1950´s people after war liked it in England. 1990´s people in Poland liked it after communism fell. Could it be Russia in 2020´s now when society is opening and big money is moving?!

[stratton]

Look forward to the start of the new season. The Robins have received great publicity from the Swindon Advertiser, beating the much better supported football club to the top awards. Front page for local lad Rosco yet again. Hopefully the crowds will turn out in force at Blunsdon now, as they did from 1949-mid 80s, even outnumbering STFC some seasons.

Still enjoy the racing as much as I did in 1963 at New Cross.

Thats great 'beefy that you still enjoy it, i still do but not as much though as the old days.I go have a look in the pits and still get a buzz like years ago see say see a young Ritchens go round and think hope the lad does well makes it.Off the subject 'beefy do you think say half the fixtures a 10 pound admission fee is financially viable? i am saying this because to go to footy and speedway is expensive!what do you think?

[The Know]

I think a lot of people seem to miss the point. Its time is passing speedway by like alot of other things. there is so much more to do these days and far cheaper with better facilites. Less and less are going and young people are not interested.

Poland is following this trend to since entering the EU. More to do, more money and speedway is getting left behind. As i have said before, Pro speedway will be dead here in 10 years max. Whos to blame ? Well as i said, time and tec but also the promoters, bspa and mostly all those in the sport as they have not invested or looked to the future. Wont be long till the sheep skin car coat is hung up for good

Edited March 1, 2013 by The Know

[SteveLyric2]

Whats a 'sheepskin car car'??

 

Whilst I tend to agree about 'Pro' league speedway, I think speedway will continue - it will just regroup and (hopefully) operate within realistic finances until the economy gets positive again. How that image is promoted will be key to retaining or getting new audiences.

Edited March 1, 2013 by Skidder1