Could The Grand Prix Series Be Moved To The Winter Months?

[speedwaysliders]

I was thinking would it now be possible to have the grand prix series in the winter months,some of my reasons are;

 

1 A lot more multi use stadiums around then ever before,with roofs that it doesnt matter what time of year the GPs are as it will always be on.

 

2 Australia instead of being last ,can kick of the series if the Gp is a succes ,if this years event is good for the country.Maybe even 2 Gps there with New zealand back on the calender.USA,Argentina maybe as well.

 

3 League racing in the uk will be much more stable in terms of racing regularly(weekly) on the clubs race night.Also allows clubs to maybe race on a saturday in the summer which could be good business for them.

 

4 Still have Gps in europe at stadiums with no roof,but make sure the venue has covers,correct equipment,etc

 

There has to be a better way to fit the Gps around the bread and butter league racing in this country,i for one just cant get into the season with so much start/stop racing with big gaps with league fixtures,and to be honest im losing any interest in who is leading the league tables in this country ,and for the first time ever i havnt a clue what teams have got what points and where they are in the league table.This year i only go to watch speedway live,ive no interest in league tables etc,which is very rare for me to say,i just hope i see a good meeting.

Edited August 14, 2015 by speedwaysliders

[Humphrey Appleby]

I was thinking would it now be possible to have the grand prix series in the winter months,some of my reasons are;

There's not enough roofed stadiums in countries where speedway is popular enough to justify hiring them, and in Europe (with the exception of maybe Sweden) it'll be the football season anyway.

 

New Zealand has already been tried for three years and wasn't a financial success, and it remains to be seen how Melbourne goes. Poland has just the one roofed stadium in Warsaw as far as I know, Copenhagen has obviously dropped off the circuit because of poor attendances, and whilst you might conceivably run in an open air stadium in Slovenia and Croatia, you certainly don't want to be going to Latvia in the winter.

 

2 Australia instead of being last ,can kick of the series if the Gp is a succes ,if this years event is good for the country.Maybe even 2 Gps there with New zealand back on the calender.USA,Argentina maybe as well.

If there was any realistic chance of holding a GP in the US, it would have been done by now. Probably the same for Argentina too.

 

3 League racing in the uk will be much more stable in terms of racing regularly(weekly) on the clubs race night.Also allows clubs to maybe race on a saturday in the summer which could be good business for them.

IMG/BSI couldn't care less about British speedway, and Poland and Sweden are not greatly affected by the GPs either, so why would they support a switch to a winter season?

 

There has to be a better way to fit the Gps around the bread and butter league racing in this country,i for one just cant get into the season with so much start/stop racing with big gaps with league fixtures,and to be honest im losing any interest in who is leading the league tables in this country ,and for the first time ever i havnt a clue what teams have got what points and where they are in the league table.This year i only go to watch speedway live,ive no interest in league tables etc,which is very rare for me to say,i just hope i see a good meeting.

British speedway should just forget about trying to work around the myriad of World and European Championships and stick with riders who can be guaranteed to turn up on race nights that offer the best chance of getting the crowds. It can't afford the top riders anyway.

[customhouseregular]

There's not enough roofed stadiums in countries where speedway is popular enough to justify hiring them, and in Europe (with the exception of maybe Sweden) it'll be the football season anyway.

 

New Zealand has already been tried for three years and wasn't a financial success, and it remains to be seen how Melbourne goes. Poland has just the one roofed stadium in Warsaw as far as I know, Copenhagen has obviously dropped off the circuit because of poor attendances, and whilst you might conceivably run in an open air stadium in Slovenia and Croatia, you certainly don't want to be going to Latvia in the winter.

 

 

If there was any realistic chance of holding a GP in the US, it would have been done by now. Probably the same for Argentina too.

 

 

IMG/BSI couldn't care less about British speedway, and Poland and Sweden are not greatly affected by the GPs either, so why would they support a switch to a winter season?

 

 

British speedway should just forget about trying to work around the myriad of World and European Championships and stick with riders who can be guaranteed to turn up on race nights that offer the best chance of getting the crowds. It can't afford the top riders anyway.

Spot on I feel.

[waiheke1]

On so many levels this wouldn't work. Riders wouldn't get an off season, riders would be rusty riding only GPS, stadium availability would be an issue, crowds would be less likely to attend in winter even with a roof etc.

[Ghostwalker]

Permanent Swedish tracks like Målilla would also be unavailable due to climate/weather.

 

Hosting a speedway event in Sweden between mid/end -October to late April/early May is unsuitable and very risky.

[PHILIPRISING]

MOST riders lay-off their mechanics during the winter so the additional costs would not be practical

[Trees]

Would if the riders were paid enough!

[PHILIPRISING]

Would if the riders were paid enough!

WHY?

[mickthemuppet]

As I have always said let the GP,s go their own way and any riders who wants to race in the GP's let them and bar them from league racing. Then speedway could get on a better footing again and stopped all the profit go back to speedway and not filched out of it.Then we could have a proper world championship in which any rider from any country could take part in and not just a select few The GP's have killed league speedway

[customhouseregular]

You would need to have a Speedway GP championship and a Speedway World Championship, otherwise you would have 2 different World Champions...a bit like boxing. The top riders would have to be banned from league racing anywhere and the World Championship would have to be the premier event. But then who would want to ride GP?. The only answer is to scrap the GP and revert to the World Final route, but speedway has moved on and it won't happen.

[Guest]

You would need to have a Speedway GP championship and a Speedway World Championship, otherwise you would have 2 different World Champions...a bit like boxing. The top riders would have to be banned from league racing anywhere and the World Championship would have to be the premier event. But then who would want to ride GP?. The only answer is to scrap the GP and revert to the World Final route, but speedway has moved on and it won't happen.

 

Thank goodness for that! The old format world championship will never return - it's only the UK whingers who seem to want that old format again. I doubt if the Poles or Swedes do? Nor many of the smaller countries now hosting GPs. All major motor and motorcycle sports have GPs - but it's only the backwater world of some British fans who want to see a return to what, when studied carefully in regard to its qualification procedure was extremely antiquated.

[customhouseregular]

That's me told then...UK whinger me

[davidncohen]

 

Thank goodness for that! The old format world championship will never return - it's only the UK whingers who seem to want that old format again. I doubt if the Poles or Swedes do? Nor many of the smaller countries now hosting GPs. All major motor and motorcycle sports have GPs - but it's only the backwater world of some British fans who want to see a return to what, when studied carefully in regard to its qualification procedure was extremely antiquated.

Good post, spot on. It's speedway that was behind the times, compared with all other motorsport.

Related - I notice there's a thread about Wembley vs. Cardiff - no doubt it'll bring out all the same old arguments, the same old posters, the same old opinions. We've moved on... a long time ago.

[Humphrey Appleby]

All major motor and motorcycle sports have GPs

How many motor sports have a national league system?

[chris4gillian]

This thread is a joke right? If not, why am I laughing at loud it?

 

It's not feasible for so many obvious reasons. Nuff said methinks.

[customhouseregular]

Good post, spot on. It's speedway that was behind the times, compared with all other motorsport.

Related - I notice there's a thread about Wembley vs. Cardiff - no doubt it'll bring out all the same old arguments, the same old posters, the same old opinions. We've moved on... a long time ago.

Well, pardon me for having an opinion .

[davidncohen]

Well, pardon me for having an opinion .

No, everyone is entitled to an opinion I think the point I was trying to make, and having just read a post about a recent Phil Rising article in Speedway Star, is this, is that there's a huge amount of speedway social media that goes over the same ground we've gone round before - lots of times before. And a lot of it, especially the responses to the Phil Rising article post are about tinkering, more tinkering, and yet more tinkering. This will not make much / any difference to the sport moving forward. The recent BBC website article has shaken things up a bit, got people talking, although, the focus seems to be on supporter entrance costs, which *might* be part of the issue. What you need is data and facts, not opinions - what do customers coming out of the stadiums really think, what matters to customers. What we seem to have right now and have had for a long time is not what matters to the customer, but what matters to the BSPA, BSI, the FIM etc. What matters?

Edited August 20, 2015 by davidncohen

[customhouseregular]

You were commenting on my Wembley v Cardiff thread David and being disparaging.

 

If you read my OP carefully you will see I was comparing one specific event against another in terms of thrill, anticipation, excitement and result. A subsequent post of mine in relation to the above made it clear I was not arguing for or against World finals per se. Therefore your criticism of same old, same old is invalid.

 

Having loved my speedway for 55 years through good times and bad i feel i have earned the right to express an opinion.

 

Thank you though for taking the trouble to post .

[davidncohen]

You were commenting on my Wembley v Cardiff thread David and being disparaging.

 

If you read my OP carefully you will see I was comparing one specific event against another in terms of thrill, anticipation, excitement and result. A subsequent post of mine in relation to the above made it clear I was not arguing for or against World finals per se. Therefore your criticism of same old, same old is invalid.

 

Having loved my speedway for 55 years through good times and bad i feel i have earned the right to express an opinion.

 

Thank you though for taking the trouble to post .

Yes, I take your point about the very specific aspect of your post - noted. I already said you are entitled to your opinion.

 

Having said that, I was probably posting in the wrong place, as my comments are really about the general nature of the state of the sport vis-à-viz the BBC article.

 

Yes, it's all great debate, *but* I do think we tread over the same ground a helluva lot (your post a probable exception). Will the sport "come again" - that for me is the $64million question?

Edited August 21, 2015 by davidncohen

[ytsejam]

Rather than swapping the times when it is held a better idea would to be actually have the Worlds BEST riders in it for once, rather than the mediocre lot (with a few exceptions) that are in it at the moment!