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West Ham How Good Was The Track.?


Sidney the robin

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I never did go to West Ham unfortunately how good was the track? i have heard it was huge and pacy and it did host some big meeting's (ie B.Finals ect) over the years.Be nice to get some feedback of the place from personnal memories it seems when it closed it left a huge void a massive loss to the sport.From what i know and have learned it seemed it would of been my sort of track Hyde Rd and The Shay are my two favourite tracks that i ever went to would West Ham be high up on the list of good tracks.?

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I suppose it is the track I have visited most. A bit of a toss up between that and Hackney. It was a good track, though generally I preferred smaller tracks like New Cross. However, there was probably no better site in speedway than seeing riders like Sverre Harrfeldt and Christer Lofqvist blasting round the outside at Custom House.I think the problem was that if races got processional there was a long way to go till the end of the race!

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I suppose it is the track I have visited most. A bit of a toss up between that and Hackney. It was a good track, though generally I preferred smaller tracks like New Cross. However, there was probably no better site in speedway than seeing riders like Sverre Harrfeldt and Christer Lofqvist blasting round the outside at Custom House.I think the problem was that if races got processional there was a long way to go till the end of the race!

Although I never went to West Ham as much as you did, I do echo your sentiments. Funny you should mention Christer and Sverre, but they were great to watch there. I was at Christer's debut, which was also the night Sverre broke his arm...

 

What I also remember is the cold wind that used to blow across from the river!

 

Steve

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Is this correct- track size ??

1929-64 440yds(400m)

1964-71 415yds(379m)

The track length was reduced way before 1964 but I forget when.

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The track length was reduced way before 1964 but I forget when.

On this excellent site about West Ham it states 1954

 

http://www.freewebs.com/customhousekid/trackrecords.htm

 

Seem to recall a story about Hoskins wanting his riders to race against Cheetahs.Don't think it came off,but Cheetah racing was seen at the Romford track.I wonder if this was where he got the idea from?

 

http://www.vaguelyinteresting.co.uk/the-great-romford-and-harringay-cheetah-races/

Edited by iris123
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A fantastic place to watch speedway. I loved it and still miss it.


On this excellent site about West Ham it states 1954

 

http://www.freewebs.com/customhousekid/trackrecords.htm

 

Seem to recall a story about Hoskins wanting his riders to race against Cheetahs.Don't think it came off,but Cheetah racing was seen at the Romford track.I wonder if this was where he got the idea from?

 

http://www.vaguelyinteresting.co.uk/the-great-romford-and-harringay-cheetah-races/

West Ham closed in the 50;s and the track length was reduced before they closed. If memory serves (could be faulty) it was reduced to satisfy Jack Young c. 1953. Norbold will know for sure.

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A fantastic place to watch speedway. I loved it and still miss it.

West Ham closed in the 50;s and the track length was reduced before they closed. If memory serves (could be faulty) it was reduced to satisfy Jack Young c. 1953. Norbold will know for sure.

Well looking at the track records 1954 seems likely seeing as 2 seconds were knocked off the record time,but if you say it was earlier then you might be right

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A fantastic place to watch speedway. I loved it and still miss it.

West Ham closed in the 50;s and the track length was reduced before they closed. If memory serves (could be faulty) it was reduced to satisfy Jack Young c. 1953. Norbold will know for sure.

Jack Young was signed in 1952 so the track length would have been reduced then.

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The 1950 junior speedway rider John 'Cisco Kid' Fry later appeared as a winning driver in stock car races at Custom House.

​Barry Lee, who rode speedway at West Ham in the early 1960s later turned to small oval car racing but I don't think he ever drove in car events there.

Apart from Fry, did any other racers with West Ham connections appear there in both speedway and car racing events?

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The 1950 junior speedway rider John 'Cisco Kid' Fry later appeared as a winning driver in stock car races at Custom House.

​Barry Lee, who rode speedway at West Ham in the early 1960s later turned to small oval car racing but I don't think he ever drove in car events there.

Apart from Fry, did any other racers with West Ham connections appear there in both speedway and car racing events?

Maybe Fay the Fascist did?After she was interned between 1940-1943 for being a 'danger to the state' she did race cars until she retired in the late 50s.As it states on wikepedia,her fascist affiliations were omitted from post-war publicity

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Jack Young was signed in 1952 so the track length would have been reduced then.

Actually, no; iris123 was correct!

 

I am currently reading Mr Jacobs' excellent Speedway in London, and I hope he won't mind me quoting him. This was at the end of 1953:

 

"At the end of the campaign, Young asked for a move from West Ham because he felt the track was too big and more a test of speed than skill. As he was probably the most skilful rider around at the time, he wanted to ride at a track where he could use this to his advantage, In a desperate bid to hang on to his services, the West Ham management agreed to shorten the 440-yard circuit to 415 yards and Young agreed to stay."

 

Steve

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My favourite track of all time. A living, breathing speedway museum, just like Hyde road. You could be a bit far from the racing if you stood on the bends, but the view from the main stand was superb despite the hard wooden seats. I bawled my eyes out at the last ever meeting, and felt no shame!

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On this excellent site about West Ham it states 1954

 

http://www.freewebs.com/customhousekid/trackrecords.htm

 

Seem to recall a story about Hoskins wanting his riders to race against Cheetahs.Don't think it came off,but Cheetah racing was seen at the Romford track.I wonder if this was where he got the idea from?

 

http://www.vaguelyinteresting.co.uk/the-great-romford-and-harringay-cheetah-races/

Yes, I seem to remember the story was that Johnnie Hoskins advertised races against cheetahs to bring the crowds in, but, on the night, he announced that the cheetah hadn't turned up. A heckler in the crowd shouted, "Yes he has and we know who the cheater is!" Or something like that.

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Actually, no; iris123 was correct!

 

I am currently reading Mr Jacobs' excellent Speedway in London, and I hope he won't mind me quoting him. This was at the end of 1953:

 

"At the end of the campaign, Young asked for a move from West Ham because he felt the track was too big and more a test of speed than skill. As he was probably the most skilful rider around at the time, he wanted to ride at a track where he could use this to his advantage, In a desperate bid to hang on to his services, the West Ham management agreed to shorten the 440-yard circuit to 415 yards and Young agreed to stay."

 

Steve

Many thanks for that. I have a copy of Speedway in London and also Hammerin' Round but I have filed them away somewhere, so I was relying on memory. Always dodgy.

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My favourite place to watch Speedway (well, other than New Cross).....some great meeting there. Used to sit on the wall between the dog track and Speedway track near the start line.

I watched pretty well all the meeting there from 1964 to 1972......Really "Happy Days".

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Just looked at there last year in 1970 Nygren, the exciting Lofqvist, Tony Clarke Stanley Stevens and both the late and missed Peter Bradshaw/Martyn Piddock.Looked a decent side but surprisingly they finished second from bottom the main reason i presume for that was the poor year that Antonin Kasper (snr) had.

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Just looked at there last year in 1970 Nygren, the exciting Lofqvist, Tony Clarke Stanley Stevens and both the late and missed Peter Bradshaw/Martyn Piddock.Looked a decent side but surprisingly they finished second from bottom the main reason i presume for that was the poor year that Antonin Kasper (snr) had.

1971 was the Hammers last year. Clarke and Kasper weren't in the team. Newcomers that year included Preben Rosenkilde, Mick Handley, Allan Belham, Alan Sage and Barry Duke. They finished bottom of the league and then it was all over.

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