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Belle Vues National Speedway Stadium


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Drop a cog..................

Who designed the track at Leicester?

 

Good question. By all accounts the promoter but was it his design alone?

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Good question. By all accounts the promoter but was it his design alone?

I believe Glyn Taylor had a fair bit of input

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Good question. By all accounts the promoter but was it his design alone?

 

David Hemsley told me that he wanted fast speedway; that is why the Leicester track had long straights. Of course, he should have copied some of the best tracks, like Somerset or Scunthorpe, and made them 10% larger! The track has now been modified and is excellent. If the new BV is as good as the Leicesterstadium, it will be good.

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he said it would be wrong to construct the 'perfect' track and that a degree of difficulty needs to be there to test the riders rather than to allow them to race around on cruise control.

 

I agree to a certain extent. Somerset is pretty much without fault and produces amazing racing, yet Wolverhampton is an egg shape and that also produces some cracking races. Kings Lynn (as we've seen) produces some breathtaking races and that is also a near perfect track.

 

I can see Kelvin's point, but at the same time it is flawed. A perfect track promotes confidence whereby a flawed track would suit a 'thinker'... 2 sides of the coin!

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WHAT Kelvin was trying to say (through me) was that tracks can be aesthetically too perfect... two perfectly round corners, two straights of the perfect width and so on. To produce great racing a perfect track needs at least two different racing lines, corners more egg-shaped than round so that riders have to think and use their heads as well as the throttle. He says, for example, that the two corners at the old Belle Vue track (Hyde Road) were very different from each other so a rider had different options at each end.

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Lucky for us it will be based on the old Hyde road track. How identical I don't know but hopefully near enough similar

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Hyde Road was probably the best track i have seen...but there were still some awful meetings there, especially when a lot of the small track teams visited...i remember Eastbourne getting despatched 64-14 and looking like they were on pushbikes ( slow ones at that ! )...the point is that no matter how good a track is there can always be poor meetings ..even at Hyde Road !

Hyde Road had the advantage of most world stars loved the place and providied great racing,,,,hopefully the new track will be the same.

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David Hemsley told me that he wanted fast speedway; that is why the Leicester track had long straights. Of course, he should have copied some of the best tracks, like Somerset or Scunthorpe, and made them 10% larger! The track has now been modified and is excellent. If the new BV is as good as the Leicesterstadium, it will be good.

 

Unfortunately I think Leicester's track/terracing was in a restricted area because of all the other things that were going to be built around it - none of which have happened yet - so the surrounding area is a bit of a dump.

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Bruiser

 

Not all matches at Hyde Road were classics - and I recall 1984 Belle Vue Vue v Eastbourne (Colin Richardson stopping BV from a maximum whitewash by beating Kenny Mac) - in fact, Belle Vue hammered every one that year at home and had mostly poor gaters, meaning the most exciting overtakes I recall - and most weeks.

 

I think, when the racing is follow that leader, tracks are too smooth, too perfect I suppose. In my day, riders had to battle with both track and opponent - nowadays riders could draw a perfect oval, if you stuck white powder on their dirt-deflector.

 

For example, I think Bradford was too perfect, as I never recalled a decent race at Odsal in all the times I went. It was for fast engines, whereas Hyde Road, I think, it was all about knowing best parts of the track.

 

Maybe I am wrong... and I'm sure I'll be shot down.

 

I mean, for all its criticism, some of the racing at Kirky Lane over the years has been tremendous. Perhaps it's about riders making mistakes, being careful etc, that allows others to take advantage and pass, which means having a bit of a rough spot, a house brick sticking up here and there, may improve racing.

Edited by moxey63
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Bruiser

 

Not all matches at Hyde Road were classics - and I recall 1984 Belle Vue Vue v Eastbourne (Colin Richardson stopping BV from a maximum whitewash by beating Kenny Mac) - in fact, Belle Vue hammered every one that year at home and had mostly poor gaters, meaning the most exciting overtakes I recall - and most weeks.

 

I think, when the racing is follow that leader, tracks are too smooth, too perfect I suppose. In my day, riders had to battle with both track and opponent - nowadays riders could draw a perfect oval, if you stuck white powder on their dirt-deflector.

 

For example, I think Bradford was too perfect, as I never recalled a decent race at Odsal in all the times I went. It was for fast engines, whereas Hyde Road, I think, it was all about knowing best parts of the track.

 

Maybe I am wrong... and I'm sure I'll be shot down.

 

I mean, for all its criticism, some of the racing at Kirky Lane over the years has been tremendous. Perhaps it's about riders making mistakes, being careful etc, that allows others to take advantage and pass, which means having a bit of a rough spot, a house brick sticking up here and there, may improve racing.

 

Police might have something to say about this..................................................................... :wink::blink::P

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Lucky for us it will be based on the old Hyde road track. How identical I don't know but hopefully near enough similar

 

It is going to be more like Bydgoszcz & Leszno with little details the same as Hyde Road like the straights won't be straight, they will have bit of a kink in them.

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This is great news and I'm glad it's almost as well read as the political subjects on this board....

 

Let's not get too technical on the track size... type... speed... house brick.. lol ..... perfection... etc. Lets just celebrate that THE most famous speedway team in the world is getting it's own stadium. It's own track that will be built to it's own spec (and not around... inside something else) and it will no doubt be the most spectacular purpose build speedway stadium to date.

 

More of the same throughout the UK please...

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Agree with Iris... Belle Vue will get a good first-night crowd, about 6,000 some are guessing. It is whether they can keep even a fraction coming back, of course, as many will be newcomers brought along by publicity or some just showing an interest from surrounding tracks, so they can say they went to the first meeting at the new place.

 

A successful team is important, as is being able to be positive you will be entertained and actually want to return the following week. It is alright getting good support early on, the real work begins once the novelty of newness has worn away.

 

I am just being honest... and it is only one person's view.

 

 

No, Moxey it isn't 'only one persons view'. I'm in complete agreement with you. To attract the opening night first time visitors to return, and eventually become regular attendees, the product offered must be worth the price paid at the turnstiles.

 

The new stadium and the new eventual new team together will, hopefully, achieve this. It could take some time to build a team of Hyde Road standard I feel. How many of us would shop at a supermarket which offred ow quality merchandise at top prices? I most certainly wouldn't (to be fair I must say that she who does the weekly wouldn't) nor would any wise person.

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May I as a lifelong supporter of Birmingham, add my congratulations to all those who have worked so hard and for so long to bring this project to fruition. It is great news for Belle Vue and for speedway that this new stadium is now on the brink of being started.

 

Clearly the project will have to be approved by the planning committee and I know from experience that this can be an involved and frustrating obstacle, but my belief is that in Belle Vue's case this is just a formality as it appears that it will be Manchester City Council and not Belle Vue Speedway who will be lodging the planning application.

 

During the battle to get planning permission for Birmingham, we made enquiries about two major events which had sailed through the planning process, namely the Superprix Road Race and two pop concerts staged at Villa Park. The Superprix could be heard clearly from Walsall (10 miles away from Birmingham) and the pop concerts could be heard at Lichfield (15 miles away). Both events were promoted by the City Council whose members had full access to the planning committee members and they had a unique method of dismissing any potential noise issues by not asking Environmental Services to conduct any noise testing. The first of the pop concerts produced a horrendous level of noise and prompted both the Aston Councillors and the Aston MP to object strongly to another one being staged, but the Council's line was that the promoters (themselves!) had complied with all the conditions, so there were no grounds for refusing permission.

 

I wish Belle Vue and their long suffering supporters every success in the future and look forward to making an early visit to the new stadium.

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I wouldn't have thought that there's any intention to play senior Rugby league there. What would be the point as there's a brand new Rugby Stadium been built down the road at Barton, home of Salford and Sale. Plus the big RL games are played at Old trafford or on 'The Council Pitch' at Eastlands.

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Newport - closed, Reading - closed, Oxford - closed, Armadale and Ashfield in trouble year after year, they always close Cardiff after my visit and now KL is closing. Those are the UK tracks I've been to. I'm opening a gofundme-site soon. Taking donations for not entering UK ever again... :o

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I wouldn't have thought that there's any intention to play senior Rugby league there. What would be the point as there's a brand new Rugby Stadium been built down the road at Barton, home of Salford and Sale.

That's a bit like saying what's the point in having a Speedway track in Birmingham when they've already got one at Wolverhampton.

 

Manchester doesn't have a professional Rugby League team, and I believe Manchester council are very keen to have one.

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