Speedway Safety, Injuries, What Can/could/should Be Done...

[Vince]

Personally I think the new silencers wouldn't be an issue if long strokes and heavier flywheels were being used at lower revs.

Air fences definitely need to be changed so they no longer disappear just before the rider gets there. Still think the Rye house 'collapsible' fence was as good as any air fence and better than many.

[weatherwatcher]

The bikes are now far to fast and far to uncontrollable, even in the hands of the top riders they can spell disaster, shut the trottle down and for a while the bike goes faster, hit a rut and you go up in the air, in the hands of the youngsters it can be drastic to say the least. This has been a year with so many injuries and a lot of them bad ones to. Rory is at a stage now where he could possibly never ride again. The old uprights where well suited to the smaller tracks over here, why do they need to go so much faster now, trying to shave off a few seconds on lap times.

Ok there has always been accidents. I remember the 60's where the track fences would have made the prisoners of Cell Block H think twice about escaping, so when you hit those, you more than likely came off on a stretcher.

Lets get rid of these billiard table top slick tracks and put some dirt on them again, but the only way to do that is go back to the upright, because the new bikes just don't go around a track in the dirt.

Lets slow it down before we see someone killed.

It is not just our smaller tracks that cause problems with the bikes speeds either, look at the amounts of crashes this year in Poland, you would think that the bikes would go well around the longer tracks, but no the problem is still there.

Can't see the new batch of riders turning out on a rainy night, in a boiler suit and a leather face mask, because of all the muck being thrown up though, can you. They only like to ride when the sun shines and they don't get mucky, when that happens, they call it a night.

[The White Knight]

Very well put WW. :approve:

[Vince]

If you made everybody ride uprights tomorrow they would be short strokes with light flywheels so would be harder and not easier to ride.

[oldace]

The bikes are now far to fast and far to uncontrollable, even in the hands of the top riders they can spell disaster, shut the trottle down and for a while the bike goes faster, hit a rut and you go up in the air, in the hands of the youngsters it can be drastic to say the least. This has been a year with so many injuries and a lot of them bad ones to. Rory is at a stage now where he could possibly never ride again. The old uprights where well suited to the smaller tracks over here, why do they need to go so much faster now, trying to shave off a few seconds on lap times.

Ok there has always been accidents. I remember the 60's where the track fences would have made the prisoners of Cell Block H think twice about escaping, so when you hit those, you more than likely came off on a stretcher.

Lets get rid of these billiard table top slick tracks and put some dirt on them again, but the only way to do that is go back to the upright, because the new bikes just don't go around a track in the dirt.

Lets slow it down before we see someone killed.

It is not just our smaller tracks that cause problems with the bikes speeds either, look at the amounts of crashes this year in Poland, you would think that the bikes would go well around the longer tracks, but no the problem is still there.

Can't see the new batch of riders turning out on a rainy night, in a boiler suit and a leather face mask, because of all the muck being thrown up though, can you. They only like to ride when the sun shines and they don't get mucky, when that happens, they call it a night.

 

 

Very well put WW. :approve:

 

 

There is nothing well put about it, it is just more ramblings from fans who don't understand speedway bikes liked by other fans who know less.

 

Lay downs are not the issue in the slightest, they do in fact make the bike much easier (and safer to ride) Stick a modern short stroke motor in an upright frame and the thing would be even more difficult on a patchy track.

 

In essence the main benefit of the lay down arrangement is lower the centre of gravity which make cornering easier.

Edited August 20, 2015 by Oldace

[OveFundinFan]

but weatherwatcher has not said lets put the short stoke (modern) engine in an upright frame. Ge said "is go back to the upright", that would imply going back to "the upright" with the longer stroke engine. How would that suit you oldace?

Now whether a long stroke engine would physically suit to being "laydown" so to get the benefit of the lower centre of gravity I dont know.

What i do know, is that we had some mighty fine speedway racing with the old style longer stroke upright engine called the JAP, then came the 2 valve Jawa which was fine, then the 4-valve conversions, and the Weslakes etc. All upright, all doing fine. So is it the short stoke higher revving engine that is contributing to the problem, be it laydone or if fitted upright?

[oldace]

but weatherwatcher has not said lets put the short stoke (modern) engine in an upright frame. Ge said "is go back to the upright", that would imply going back to "the upright" with the longer stroke engine. How would that suit you oldace?

Now whether a long stroke engine would physically suit to being "laydown" so to get the benefit of the lower centre of gravity I dont know.

What i do know, is that we had some mighty fine speedway racing with the old style longer stroke upright engine called the JAP, then came the 2 valve Jawa which was fine, then the 4-valve conversions, and the Weslakes etc. All upright, all doing fine. So is it the short stoke higher revving engine that is contributing to the problem, be it laydone or if fitted upright?

 

 

Yes

[weatherwatcher]

I never said once about putting the new engines in an upright, that what be an absolute disaster and it would only make matters worse. Why do we need these super over tuned engines. The old long strokes served the purpose an where far easier to manage around Britains smaller tracks.

The speed has to come down, and I can see no way of doing this with the modern speedway engine. Can't personally see anything ever being done about this issue, as the top riders wouldn't want it and neither would the few top tuners who are making an load of silly money. Not just from the big boys out there but at the expense of other riders who can hardly pay for the work to be done. It is all so you can be the top dog, I personaly think that most of the fun has been lost in speedway, it used to be a sport where the rider, ran for the love of the sport, it was cheap to do and, he spent many sleepless nights down his shed getting ready for the next meeting, can you see the like of Tai or Iverson etc. sitting working on their engines, when they make so much money that they now don't need to get their hands mucky.

Lets bring the sport back to its grass roots and lets enjoy the sport for what it is, not some big buck earner for the guys with the money to sling around to gain the points.

Then again, most of the speedway fans these days would rather stop at home if the top names didn't compete over here in the so called EL, it is far from Elite. I for one would rather go to watch a team made up of 7 riders, that are there week in week out, and you know who your team are and be able to watch 7 lads are all well matched, than the dick follow the leader racing we see now.