Cost Cutting - How

[ciderman]

Reading Rob Lyons concerns regarding riders costs spiralling, along with the comment 'no easy answer' as to how to stop them increasing further.

 

What can realistically be done to cut them?

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

Jawa have the answer ,its up to speedway to grasp it

[OveFundinFan]

Jawa have the answer ,its up to speedway to grasp it

 

Whats Jawas answer?

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

A new engine 570cc 2 valve that hopefully will be a stock engine instead of the free for all tuning ones that speedway currently has.

[OveFundinFan]

Sounds good, they were only 2 valvers back in JAP and early Eso/Jawa days and the racing was good, they dont need all this power they have now, which seems to be sapped up somewhat by the "new" silencers anyway

Thanks.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

This is a opportunity that speedway must take and make it happen ,not just british speedway but every league, but will it ? . There are plenty with the attitude of" im alright jack" while the sport dies round their feet ,unfortunatly these people hold top power in the sport .

[proud panther]

Surely the 2 valve Jawa's will still need tuning, giving the riders the opportunity to adjust them & gain an advantage ?

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

Surely the 2 valve Jawa's will still need tuning, giving the riders the opportunity to adjust them & gain an advantage ?

thats why they need to make them stock engines like in other sports (take away expensive fancy parts).take the tuning out of the sport. Someone somewhere will always try to gain an advantage but it works in other sports ,no reason it wouldnt work in ours. It also will cut revs down a couple of 1000s and hopefully will cut down prices by half .yes GM and some tuners will be hit but speedway owes nobody any favours and i dont see any of them doing anything for speedway in its hour of need

[Trees]

Let's hope they're listening!!

[ford]

thats why they need to make them stock engines like in other sports (take away expensive fancy parts).take the tuning out of the sport. Someone somewhere will always try to gain an advantage but it works in other sports ,no reason it wouldnt work in ours. It also will cut revs down a couple of 1000s and hopefully will cut down prices by half .yes GM and some tuners will be hit but speedway owes nobody any favours and i dont see any of them doing anything for speedway in its hour of need

Virtually every rider has a GM any way, so the BSPA should get a camshaft developed to make some usable mid range power, fit rev limiters and use air filters that actually filter the dust out of the air also ultimately have an oil filter on the engine and these engines now used would be bullet proof.

This should be paid for by the BSPA and use type approved homologated parts.

[*JJ]

Except that 'the BSPA' doesn't have any money ... the rev limiter should be brought in asap, though. The main trouble is that speedway engines are unique to this sport, are made in very small quantities which means that prices are very high (we have just spent £290 on a piston!). Using a new engine would simply mean that all riders, even non-paid and amateurs, would have to fork out around £2,000 for a new engine. Very nice for Jawa but not for someone trying to establish himself, paying for his racing on a low wage.

[Humphrey Appleby]

thats why they need to make them stock engines like in other sports (take away expensive fancy parts).take the tuning out of the sport.

 

Until riders start using 'standard' engines with selected parts...

[Guest]

Except that 'the BSPA' doesn't have any money ... the rev limiter should be brought in asap, though. The main trouble is that speedway engines are unique to this sport, are made in very small quantities which means that prices are very high (we have just spent £290 on a piston!). Using a new engine would simply mean that all riders, even non-paid and amateurs, would have to fork out around £2,000 for a new engine. Very nice for Jawa but not for someone trying to establish himself, paying for his racing on a low wage.

 

Are we only looking at this "engine debate' from a UK angle? How can it be implemented worldwide and would non-UK linked riders accept these changes just to satisfy the needs of British speedway.

On Facebook I see action photos from many countries - no signs there either of Air Fences...although that's possibly a different theme at the moment to the current debate?

[speedibee]

Except that 'the BSPA' doesn't have any money ... the rev limiter should be brought in asap, though. The main trouble is that speedway engines are unique to this sport, are made in very small quantities which means that prices are very high (we have just spent £290 on a piston!). Using a new engine would simply mean that all riders, even non-paid and amateurs, would have to fork out around £2,000 for a new engine. Very nice for Jawa but not for someone trying to establish himself, paying for his racing on a low wage.

. never mind rev limiters that can be fiddled . just more complicated sh!t that we dont need , £2000 quid for an engine which would last for a season would pay for itself in no time with "services" at £450 a time . and speedway benefits with better racing , its a winner , and the radical move thats needed before Peter johns and co buy themselves an Island each and sit around talking about the good old days when there was Speedway .

 

Until riders start using 'standard' engines with selected parts...

did you know Humphrey . Barack Obama is Black ?

[moxey63]

Like The Dean Machine, I feel too much money is going out of the sport on engine tuning. In addition, even NL riders are having their engines tuned regularly just to feel they have a chance Somebody is having to pay the costs.

 

Riders, past and present, like Dean, who genuinely love the sport and are willing to avail their experiences, surely we should be listening to them. With respect, Dean was not in speedway to make a fortune and retire at 30, he obviously has a love for it and that's why he's on here (with us plebs) .

 

We should be listening to this type of guy, who has survived on the basics - perhaps like Mark Burrows etc - and then see what cloth the sport is able to cut accordingly.

[SCB]

I heard a story recently of a NL rider having his helmet taken off him by a machine examiner. The helmet was cracked, most agreed with that. The young rider in question kicked off as he'd just spent £400 having it painted and personalised. He was a NL rider, he had paid 3-4 meetings worth of earnings (without taking out expenses) on a helmet paint job FFS!

 

When I hear of riders doing things like that i struggle to have much sympathy for them when they plead poverty.

 

Before we standardise bikes, why not start by standardising helmets?

Edited October 21, 2014 by SCB

[Star Lady]

I heard a story recently of a NL rider having his helmet taken off him by a machine examiner. The helmet was cracked, most agreed with that. The young rider in question kicked off as he'd just spent £400 having it painted and personalised. He was a NL rider, he had paid 3-4 meetings worth of earnings (without taking out expenses) on a helmet paint job FFS!

 

When I hear of riders doing things like that i struggle to have much sympathy for them when they plead poverty.

 

Before we standardise bikes, why not start by standardising helmets?

 

It does make you wonder what their mentality is. The number of times I've seen riders vans with International Speedway Rider sign written on it. Who the hell cares really except themselves on an ego trip. It's a bit of a reflection of the attitude of the times IMO. Youngsters want to be the best at things (nowt wrong with that) but don't seem to want to put in the hard work that's the foundation for success.

 

On the subject of engines, I had a conversation with Buster Chapman many years ago and he said he would like all promoters to own a stable of engines and maintain them with riders drawing lots for them before the meeting. That IMO would slash costs immensely and possibly improve the racing quality. I've not spoken to him recently about it so he may well have changed his views. It would mean quite an initial outlay by promoters but think of the costs that could be cut. There would be no suspicion of illegal engines either. Cloud cuckoo land probably like many good ideas that are just too difficult to put into practice

[Sotonian]

I heard a story recently of a NL rider having his helmet taken off him by a machine examiner. The helmet was cracked, most agreed with that. The young rider in question kicked off as he'd just spent £400 having it painted and personalised. He was a NL rider, he had paid 3-4 meetings worth of earnings (without taking out expenses) on a helmet paint job FFS!

 

When I hear of riders doing things like that i struggle to have much sympathy for them when they plead poverty.

 

Before we standardise bikes, why not start by standardising helmets?

I couldn't agree more. It may be the norm in other motorsports but they don't have helmet covers rendering the whole exercise futile.

[iris123]

I agree,scb.

 

Remember a few years ago one well informed speedway fan asking on the net about a rider.She was on the motorway and a van passed her or she passed the van and it had some giuys name and a photo of him doing speedway and stated "speedway rider".Might even have said international speedway rider or something.She had never heard of him.One official from a track posted that he remembered him as he attended a couple of training sessions a year or so before and then gave up!!!!!!! This is an extreme case,but all so often at an early stage riders seem to want to set themselves up like international level guys

 

If costs are cut for riders,i doubt they will be asking for less money.Will it make a bit of difference to the sport?Maybe attract more youngsters.That is about it.And ok that is a positive step

Edited October 21, 2014 by iris123

[moxey63]

SCB is right, in my opinion, as regards even younger riders having to appear as world beaters, with fancy-Dan helmets, specialised vehicles, even the best bikes they cannot afford. I think it is all about today's society - the need to be famous before anyone really knows you. It seems to be all about vanity.

 

I think young uns are afraid they may get laughed at f they wore an old, tatty pair of kevlars or even leathers, if they turned up on a bike that was several years hold and owned by an ex-rider. We can't have kids being picked on as being povs, can we?

 

I read Jon Armstrong's piece in the Star recently, how he's using an old bike, old van and is getting as much enjoyment from the sport as he did 20 years ago.

 

But how do you educate a youngster, for example, who has these designer things done, costing hundreds of pounds, which doesn't increase his ability one bit, just adds to expenses, which I know the club isn't paying at this standard (National League) but it just delivers a bad example. The sport cannot support this kind of thing.

 

Team suits are another aspect. Wasn't somebody (Craig Cook) left out of the recent World Cup, because he wasn't able to take a call or something at the time, and his £500 racesuit (for just a few meetings that week ) had to be prepared?

 

It has to be addressed.

 

Grand Prix stars having different sets of kevlars, helmets with different colours... that's all very well. But domestic speedway must get a grip and start to manage itself properly.