Not Converted

[cityrebel]

dirt and dust are two different materials. three of my local tracks have a rock hard base with a little loose top dressing which dissapears after a few heats. this does not encourage good racing and will not help pull the punters in. it's pure fantasy to say that you cant put dirt down on a small track, you only have to visit monmore to see that. it's all about having the skill to prepare a decent track, if i wanted to watch speedway on concrete i'd move to japan!

[jimmy jimmy]

Regarding Belle Vue v Wolves, took a mate and his lad to the races for the first time and they enjoyed it, loved the sheer speed and the first corners and the fact that the match score was so close.

 

However, the only reason they knew the score was because I was telling them and showing them, the presentation to build up how close the match itself was, far far too low key !!!!

[berniev123]

Take them to Monmore Wood on a Tuesday night for a NL, CH or the Golden 'Ommer..................they would probably change their tune unless they were blind as the multitude cannot be wrong! Once a Heathen always a Heathen !

[jimmy jimmy]

Lead singer of the Prodigy at Cardiff last year so speedway can be cool !!!!!!!!

[Shale Shaker]

However, the only reason they knew the score was because I was telling them and showing them, the presentation to build up how close the match itself was, far far too low key !!!!

 

I've always thought that a scoreboard, visible to evryone would be a simple, but welcome addition.

Particularly as the PA is usually inaudible at many tracks.

[SCB]

I've always thought that a scoreboard, visible to evryone would be a simple, but welcome addition.

Particularly as the PA is usually inaudible at many tracks.

Totally agree, how many clubs have a scoreboard? Those that do have them are not fit for purpose, Coventrys doesn't show the right numbers, Swindons and Pooles don't show much info as it all scrolls. Does any club have a decent scoreboard? One you can look up at and see the match score and the result of the last race?

[The White Knight]

Totally agree, how many clubs have a scoreboard? Those that do have them are not fit for purpose, Coventrys doesn't show the right numbers, Swindons and Pooles don't show much info as it all scrolls. Does any club have a decent scoreboard? One you can look up at and see the match score and the result of the last race?

 

A great idea - but - I can't see Electronic Scoreboards coming any time soon. It would cost a lot of money and in these times of austerity I doubt if any Tracks could afford it anyway.

 

You could argue that Speedway cannot afford NOT to do it in order to not only keep the Crowds they already have - but maybe lose even more if they don't.

[Shale Shaker]

A scoreboard wouldn't have to be anything flash or expensive. A simple manual scoreboard would do the job.

 

I think the real reason we don't see them is that Promoters probably think that it would hit program sales.

 

Not the same need to fill in a program if you can see the match scores displayed??

Edited April 13, 2013 by Shale Shaker

[The White Knight]

A scoreboard wouldn't have to be anything flash or expensive. A simple manual scoreboard would do the job.

 

I think the real reason we don't see them is that Promoters probably think that it would hit program sales.

 

Not the same need to fill in a program if you can see the match scores displayed??

 

Mmmmm - never thought of that Shale Shaker. You are probably right.

 

A Scoreboard WOULD be good for Supporter relations though - I wonder if they ever think of that?

[Trees]

Lynn have one and yes it is good for those that can't hear the tannoy/don't use a programme .......... for me the important thing is to have a really good tannoy system, I stand at Lynn on the first bend and it's not too good there especially with the noise from the pits at times. It's also important for the centre green presenter to do his/her damnedest to up the anti of the meeting, we're a quiet lot at Lynn, we need someone to gee us up .............. not me but the blinking lot around me (you know who you are ) think clapping in gloved hands is good enough to make atmosphere, tch!!!!

[rhidassa]

Lynn have one and yes it is good for those that can't hear the tannoy/don't use a programme .......... for me the important thing is to have a really good tannoy system, I stand at Lynn on the first bend and it's not too good there especially with the noise from the pits at times. It's also important for the centre green presenter to do his/her damnedest to up the anti of the meeting, we're a quiet lot at Lynn, we need someone to gee us up .............. not me but the blinking lot around me (you know who you are ) think clapping in gloved hands is good enough to make atmosphere, tch!!!!

 

[Trees]

If the cap fits dear

[mrss]

Trees. If u cant hear the tannoy clearly on the first bend why dont you stand somewhere else.

[Trees]

Trees. If u cant hear the tannoy clearly on the first bend why dont you stand somewhere else.

Because that is where i want to stand lol! Surely it's important to have the speakers working well in all parts of the stadium though, baring in mind I'm not the only person who stands on the first bend, thing is it has been louder in the past so I know there must be a prob with it.

[mrss]

the sound system at kings lynn has been terrible for a while and its allways to loud

[Trees]

Come stand on the first bend m8, it's not too loud there UNLESS I'm getting luggy in my old age haha

[John Ernest Holland]

i also have been watching speedway from the early sixties and i dont think the racing is any better or worse than before and like many i fail to see the attraction of other motor sports such as f1 so it must be as other members have posted that they are cool and speedway is not older fans may remember 1964 when briggo was runner up to mary rand i think in the bbc sports personality of the year and rumours surfaced afterwards that briggo actually won but the bbc did not think that speedway for want of a better word cool enough to have a hairy biker beating the then golden girl of athletics

[Rocket Dave]

This has been an interesting thread to read, I started my involvement in speedway on my 16th birthday riding a 500 JAP at the Lew Coffin speedway school in Weymouth, that makes it January 1971. We were a true speedway and grasstrack family and I rode speedway for 4 years and grasstrack for 5 years, during that period we went all over the country riding as well as spectating.

 

After many years of no participation at all I now live 15 minutes from Somerset Rebels track and have started getting back into it again and go regularly. I'm getting to the point of this post, and that is that after all these years absolutely nothing has changed!

 

Maybe the bikes are quieter and they have rear tyre deflectors now but the racing doesn't seem any faster despite the engine developments, lap times seem close to what I was used to, there does seem to be less starting tape breakages but apart from that???

 

So how do you jazz it up to attract more and perhaps younger fans, a look at how the Americans turn anything into a spectacle might not go amiss, the sheer razzmatazz of quality sound, pumped up commentary and showmanship might help. We get a few air horns and a large chicken giving the kids some sweets! Having said that, my grandson like the chicken, the sweets and the air horns but he's only 5.

 

Even at the SGP in Cardiff last week the best they could do was a couple of gas guns to mark the end of each race and some start line girls, the huge screens at the millennium stadium added to the overall feel because of the replays and slow mo but that's about it.

 

I think the reason why I've fitted back into the scene is simply because it really is the same as its always been but I also think this is bad for the future, the promoters have a business to run and they have to get a good gate to stay in business.

 

The racing isn't going to change so the infrastructure around it will have to. Unless, and I have no idea if this has been muted before maybe going to 5 laps would provide a bigger race spectacle as it might just provide the way of spicing up the results.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Rocket Dave