Cardiff Gp

[fliss44]

First visit to Cardiff unaware of the restrictions of taking your own drink in so having 4 bottles of pop confiscated and having to buy overpriced drinks inside in stupid cups which someone kicked over as they squeezed past (not impressed) good job it wasn't beer. Atmosphere amazing, pity Woffy couldn't have won it but taking the lead in the Championship more impotent. Think that might be the last Cardiff GP for a couple of riders, Bjerre still in the GP Challenge but could struggle in that, Hampel may struggle to keep hold of a top 8 place, Harris just not consistent enough anymore same as AJ but he could put in a late challenge for the top 8 always seems to be better after the WC, cant see Batch challenging for a top 8 position.

Amazed how smooth it ran not one re-run no controversy was there any need for a ref. Greg must have thought he won the lottery when Darcy picked G1 never saw that coming. For a temporary track thought it held up well. Looking forward to next year now aware of the pop police wonder if they'll confiscate oranges or opal fruits.

 

Pack a bottle or two in a backpack/rucksack and get a female partner/wife to carry it through --- meanwhile as they are busy checking her bag they perhaps won't notice that you have some goodies in your coat/hoodie/trouser pockets! Has worked for me and him for the last few years!!

[Bostonian]

Watched the meeting back again today on TV and I don't think the TV gives out the atmosphere as loud as it was during the heats, maybe something to do with the commentators mic' s, I'm not to sure. Watching Tai's entrance again though was making the hairs stand up again, unbelievable atmosphere.

Walking back to catch the bus last night, we over heard a family chatting 'so what you going to tell mummy about your first speedway meeting?' The little boy replied 'ooh it was just brilliant, fab, just amazing, I loved it!' Think that made my night the most, and I'm sure he wasn't the only kid saying that night.

 

Fantastic stuff from everyone who was involved in making the GP what it was, thought the guy in the middle on the mic was superb as well, is he a regular at it for a club? Well done BSI and Cardiff stadium.. Bring on next year!

[PHILIPRISING]

I think i would agree with you Phil. But you have to keep investing, especially on the track, as that is the main stage so to speak. Speculate to accumulate and all that. Sadly, in this day and age given the hotels would make limited money over the year if they get a captive Audience they are going to take advantage.But end of the day its down to the fans, if they want to stay friday and or saturday they are going to have to pay. That said, as far as tickets are concerned , i do feel that BSI should dangle the odd carrot.

I don't know what the official attendance was, but it looked fairly good, but we really need to get the National papers more involved, and if Tai becomes World Champion again, what a good place to start...

NATIONAL newspapers by and large have no interest in speedway or motor sports generally, F1 being the exception. Staging a GP at Wembley would have no impact on that.

[Adder]

Agree with comments about the Fanzone.

 

I assumed the road was to be closed with the Fanzone more spread out. It was far too cramped shoehorned into a 20 meter wide pavement by the bus station.

 

Hope they move it back to St Mary's Street next year.

[jimmy jimmy]

That was the best Cardiff ever!! Anyone who says it is stagnating is so so wrong.

 

The noise for Tai was amazing, and he delivered !!!!!

[AFCB Wildcat]

Wembley may be better in the sense of the nationals being more interested, but if you think Cardiff is expensive, then Wembley would be ridiculous

Personally I would hate it to be moved to Wembley.

Cardiff has everything going for it being right in a lively city centre. My wife takes little interest in any sport but always asks me to take her to Cardiff for the GP which to me says a lot about how right they've got it in terms of presentation and we both love the city.

We actually went up Thursday this year and came back today and had great time.

Wembley is a great stadium but not much around it. Cardiff for me every time.

[Daniel Smith]

Wembley may be better in the sense of the nationals being more interested, but if you think Cardiff is expensive, then Wembley would be ridiculous

Have you quoted the wrong post? No complaints from me about cost but yes you're right. When a Wembley stadium event is on it's very expensive.

[mickthemuppet]

Personally I would hate it to be moved to Wembley.

Cardiff has everything going for it being right in a lively city centre. My wife takes little interest in any sport but always asks me to take her to Cardiff for the GP which to me says a lot about how right they've got it in terms of presentation and we both love the city.

We actually went up Thursday this year and came back today and had great time.

Wembley is a great stadium but not much around it. Cardiff for me every time.

Wembley Stadium but not much around it .I cannot believe somebody could say this. It's four stops on the tube to Oxford Circus. What more could you want.

[AFCB Wildcat]

Wembley Stadium but not much around it .I cannot believe somebody could say this. It's four stops on the tube to Oxford Circus. What more could you want.

I know what you mean but it's those 4 stops on a tube that make a difference for me.

At Cardiff you are there, I don't want to be bustled on a tube close to start time, I've done all that with football. Cardiff is about chilling in the city and strolling to the stadium. Not rubbishing Wembley just that it doesn't appeal to me over Cardiff.

[PHILIPRISING]

I know what you mean but it's those 4 stops on a tube that make a difference for me.

At Cardiff you are there, I don't want to be bustled on a tube close to start time, I've done all that with football. Cardiff is about chilling in the city and strolling to the stadium. Not rubbishing Wembley just that it doesn't appeal to me over Cardiff.

WHAT'S so great about Oxford Circus anyway? You might just as well be a million miles away. Cardiff is buzzing speedway the whole weekend, and fully embraces the event. You wouldn't get that in London or even the immediate area surrounding Wembley.

 

Just think of Saturday's brilliantly choreographed opening ceremony. That would have been impossible at Wembley on a July afternoon.

 

Cardiff the city and the Millennium the stadium win hands down.

[Wackie]

A great day again, and it definitely looked like there were more people there this year. We paid our £15 each for a ticket, but couldn't get anywhere near the seats we normally choose once in the stadium! Ended up the upper tier, but on the back straight so still got a great view.

 

Track didn't cut up as much as normal, maybe that led to the more processional racing, and to be honest it didn't matter who gated in the final, barring hitting that rut on bend 2, they were going to win it. Just turned out to be Greg, who's reactions defy his age that made the gate, but he had to work for it, and fully deserved it.

 

Presentation of the meeting was top notch, just a shame that they didn't have the stadium staff in to deal with the crowds, the queues for food and drink during the breaks were huge, and the staff couldn't cope with the demand for their cold (or warm in the case of beer!), overpriced food and drink. Fan zone was a disappointment too. Far too cramped and as someone else said, same old.

[Humphrey Appleby]

Cardiff is buzzing speedway the whole weekend, and fully embraces the event. You wouldn't get that in London or even the immediate area surrounding Wembley.

 

Not sure why you're comparing Wembley to Cardiff, when if the SGP ever decided to go to London it would most likely be to the Olympic Stadium. I also suspect you'd be similarly bigging up East London if it ever happened.

 

The Millennium Stadium is an good venue for a GP, but Cardiff is grossly overpriced for a provincial city and certainly no easier to reach than London for most of the country.

[AFCB Wildcat]

 

Not sure why you're comparing Wembley to Cardiff, when if the SGP ever decided to go to London it would most likely be to the Olympic Stadium. I also suspect you'd be similarly bigging up East London if it ever happened.

 

The Millennium Stadium is an good venue for a GP, but Cardiff is grossly overpriced for a provincial city and certainly no easier to reach than London for most of the country.

I don't think he was comparing was he? Just commenting on other posts making that comparison.

I do agree with Phillips comments that the city centre in Cardiff embraces the Speedway and it would be hard to replicate the atmosphere at a remote London venue.

[mickthemuppet]

WHAT'S so great about Oxford Circus anyway? You might just as well be a million miles away. Cardiff is buzzing speedway the whole weekend, and fully embraces the event. You wouldn't get that in London or even the immediate area surrounding Wembley.

 

Just think of Saturday's brilliantly choreographed opening ceremony. That would have been impossible at Wembley on a July afternoon.

 

Cardiff the city and the Millennium the stadium win hands down.

Surely the ideal solution would be to have a GP at Wembley as well as Cardiff. If Poland can have three then surely Great Britain could have two. If this ever came about there would certainly be more at Wembley than there would be at Cardiff

[PHILIPRISING]

Surely the ideal solution would be to have a GP at Wembley as well as Cardiff. If Poland can have three then surely Great Britain could have two. If this ever came about there would certainly be more at Wembley than there would be at Cardiff

WHY would there be more at a Wembley GP? And as for two, no way. Some Polish tracks get more fans for one meeting than the Elite does for 10.

[flagrag]

I thought it was another good Cardiff weekend with the usual excellent atmosphere in the stadium. Just a few points that I think could be improved on for next year

 

As others have said I really did not like the fanzone in that location it was very squashed in especially the autograph signing that should have been moved to the other end to the stage, Personally I think it was better in the street. I understand that will already be changed for 2015 anyway.

 

Although the programme content,editorial and Information was very good I thought the actual production quality of the programme was very poor on cheap paper that got ripped very easily and looked scruffy for the £10 charge I expected and have seen better from BSI on this front.

 

Lastly as this the largest gathering of Speedway fans in the world with 1000s staying over I am very surprised that both BSI and Monster do not arrange a proper after party for fans and the many riders that go to gather,drink,party,listen to bands and DJs. I know that they do this at some of the foreign GPs and generally work very well. To me I feel that there is a big opportunity being missed here by the organisers to provide more and also to make extra money. This weekend most speedway fans seemed to be in Walkabout,Prince of Wales or the Brew house I am sure that most would be happy to pay £5-8 to go to proper Speedway party . Venue wise the ideal places would be Cardiff arms park pitch area or Sophia gardens park, If noise restrictions maybe the Motorpoint arena.

Edited July 13, 2014 by flagrag

[Humphrey Appleby]

I do agree with Phillips comments that the city centre in Cardiff embraces the Speedway and it would be hard to replicate the atmosphere at a remote London venue.

 

Not convinced it couldn't be replicated in the Olympic Park.

WHY would there be more at a Wembley GP? And as for two, no way. Some Polish tracks get more fans for one meeting than the Elite does for 10.

 

And yet there's not a Polish GP round exceeding the attendance at Cardiff, even when they've been held in stadia with sufficient capacity. It's obvious the number of Polish GPs was about milking their local governments for sponsorship, at least until the Poles got wise to it and set-up their own GP series.

Personally I would hate it to be moved to Wembley.

 

I'd think the chances of a GP at Wembley are zero. The stadium is not the right shape for speedway and I doubt the FA would accept a track laid over the (less than) hallowed turf. The Olympic Stadium would be the most obvious option.

[R87]

Have you quoted the wrong post? No complaints from me about cost but yes you're right. When a Wembley stadium event is on it's very expensive.

Its ok screamer. I was generalizing that some people may have felt Cardiff was too expensive, but while not exactly cheap, it is compared to what a GP would be at Wembley.

 

Plus, the people I know who've been to Wembley say you are too far from the action...not an issue at Cardiff, which is almost tailor made for speedway.

Edited July 13, 2014 by mb1990

[SCB]

WHY would there be more at a Wembley GP? And as for two, no way. Some Polish tracks get more fans for one meeting than the Elite does for 10.

Denmark gets two GPs. There league crowds are tiny to the point of irrelevant and their main GP does not get a crowd the size of the Millennium Stadium does. So why can't we have a second GP? Why isn't the Olympic Stadium, Wembley or even the pretty much empty Ricoh in Coventry if you want to go to a speedway city used?

 

The argument given for us not having two GPs is pathetic. Cardiff is a huge success, now try London, aswell!

[Guest GiveusaB]

Another great day out at Cardiff! Only downside for me and my wife, was the fact that theyve moved the entertainment? dont like its new home! Much prefer it in the main town centre......It lost a teent weeny bit of its atmosphere!