Redcar v Leicester Semi final

[NeilWatson]

1 hour ago, 1 valve said:

Cost of reasonable industrial strength tarpaulin with eyelets and fastening clips in suffient volume (say 80000m2) to fully cover a track would be circa £17500. Putting aside the length of time it would take for a team (of volunteers?) to erect  and then take down and where such a large and weighty mass would be stored, it is questionable if such cost is justifiable v value of saving meetings from being rained off particularly since the cover would need to be fully removed a good number of hours before the meeting to allow for track preperation which would leave it open to the elements anyway.

 

80000m2 would cover an area approx 280m x 280m - sounds large....

[johnyson66]

It's raining , that fine rain that soaks you through , sky is dark but looks like it might lighten up a bit later , all depends how the track has dried out after all the rain of the previous week of rain , fingers crossed 

[johnyson66]

2 hours ago, 1 valve said:

Cost of reasonable industrial strength tarpaulin with eyelets and fastening clips in suffient volume (say 80000m2) to fully cover a track would be circa £17500. Putting aside the length of time it would take for a team (of volunteers?) to erect  and then take down and where such a large and weighty mass would be stored, it is questionable if such cost is justifiable v value of saving meetings from being rained off particularly since the cover would need to be fully removed a good number of hours before the meeting to allow for track preperation which would leave it open to the elements anyway.

 

I think you've overpriced your tarpaulin a bit there haven't you , point is once you've shelled out on covers it would more than pay for itself in one season , then clubs would have a lot less meetings cancelled and we wouldn't be going into October knowing we are struggling to get meetings on , how many times have meetings been cancelled because it's been raining for a couple of days then when it gets to 2 hours before a meeting should start we've got lovely weather,  it happens a lot , and covers would more than pay for themselves in the longrun 

Edited October 4, 2019 by johnyson66

[MartinBSN]

5 minutes ago, johnyson66 said:

It's raining , that fine rain that soaks you through , sky is dark but looks like it might lighten up a bit later , all depends how the track has dried out after all the rain of the previous week of rain , fingers crossed 

Barely even raining just down from the track. The track handled last night's rain quite well as it'd dried out fairly well Wed and Thurs

[johnyson66]

1 minute ago, Marshall07 said:

Barely even raining just down from the track. The track handled last night's rain quite well as it'd dried out fairly well Wed and Thurs

Good let's keep fingers crossed and get the meeting on , hope the riders all have a safe meeting and the Bears get at least a 6 point lead , everyone should be fresh and hopefully Grieves is fully fit and puts in a good performance,  

[Yearbyred]

Good job that the track isn't in Redcar - it's been steady drizzle all morning after a night of rain.

[ruffdiamond]

18 minutes ago, johnyson66 said:

I think you've overpriced your tarpaulin a bit there haven't you , point is once you've shelled out on covers it would more than pay for itself in one season , then clubs would have a lot less meetings cancelled and we wouldn't be going into October knowing we are struggling to get meetings on , how many times have meetings been cancelled because it's been raining for a couple of days then when it gets to 2 hours before a meeting should start we've got lovely weather,  it happens a lot , and covers would more than pay for themselves in the longrun 

In some cases track covers would work, but it's not just about paying out for it first. I get you, when you say it would pay for itself and/or could save a lot of meetings and money wasted. If you haven't got 24/7 access and a dedicated team of, say 6 volunteers with 24/7 availability then problems will arise. Cos you never know when its gonna rain, or stop.

[wtf]

Average track area of a 300m track 10m wide is just under 3500 sqm. A heavy duty tarpaulin (the type they use to cover a cricket square) will cost approx. £5000 for that amount.

The fundamental problem with them is fixing them in place, and getting a team of people and you need at least 10 to drop everything, go to the track, put them out, take them away, get covered in dirt doing it, and to do it on top of everything else they do for the speedway club for F##k all already. 

Sure covers would save some meetings, maybe half if you are lucky. Oh and by the way, if you've ever tried laying a 10m x 10m groundsheet in the wind and the rain and to do that 30 times and secure them, then take them back up without damaging them and dragging them across a shale surface covered in muck. If you'd all like to form an orderly queue to volunteer to do it for free, that would be great, answers on a postcard...………...thought not. 

 

[ruffdiamond]

10 minutes ago, wtf said:

Average track area of a 300m track 10m wide is just under 3500 sqm. A heavy duty tarpaulin (the type they use to cover a cricket square) will cost approx. £5000 for that amount.

The fundamental problem with them is fixing them in place, and getting a team of people and you need at least 10 to drop everything, go to the track, put them out, take them away, get covered in dirt doing it, and to do it on top of everything else they do for the speedway club for F##k all already. 

Sure covers would save some meetings, maybe half if you are lucky. Oh and by the way, if you've ever tried laying a 10m x 10m groundsheet in the wind and the rain and to do that 30 times and secure them, then take them back up without damaging them and dragging them across a shale surface covered in muck. If you'd all like to form an orderly queue to volunteer to do it for free, that would be great, answers on a postcard...………...thought not. 

 

Maybe the club could employ a team, on a 24/7 (144 hrs), for call-outs minimum wage contract ?

[johnyson66]

Still drizzling now , hopefully it stops soon 

[johnyson66]

34 minutes ago, wtf said:

Average track area of a 300m track 10m wide is just under 3500 sqm. A heavy duty tarpaulin (the type they use to cover a cricket square) will cost approx. £5000 for that amount.

The fundamental problem with them is fixing them in place, and getting a team of people and you need at least 10 to drop everything, go to the track, put them out, take them away, get covered in dirt doing it, and to do it on top of everything else they do for the speedway club for F##k all already. 

Sure covers would save some meetings, maybe half if you are lucky. Oh and by the way, if you've ever tried laying a 10m x 10m groundsheet in the wind and the rain and to do that 30 times and secure them, then take them back up without damaging them and dragging them across a shale surface covered in muck. If you'd all like to form an orderly queue to volunteer to do it for free, that would be great, answers on a postcard...………...thought not. 

 

I think you need to get yourself back to bed and get out of it the right side ,I'm pretty sure theye could get volunteers on a weekly basis to lay them , and let's face it the weather forecasts are pretty accurate these days , OK misery guts 

[johnyson66]

We live in a world where we can stick a man on the moon , we can talk to people face to face on the other side of the world , give people organs to live a normal life but sticking a few covers on a speedway track to stop it getting unridable is impossible,  haha think there's to many people overreacting to my post , and yes I would gladly give a couple of hours to help out as I'm guessing a good few other speedway fans would , no wonder speedway is dying a death in this country 

[johnyson66]

43 minutes ago, ruffdiamond said:

Maybe the club could employ a team, on a 24/7 (144 hrs), for call-outs minimum wage contract ?

Many a time when snow arrives the football club asks for volunteers to help clear snow around the stadium so the match can go ahead for the spectators safety , it's no big deal and as a speedway fan I as I'm guessing many others would give up a couple of hours to keep the track raceable,  Speedway needs all the help it can get these days and is in serious need of help the more meetings that go ahead as planned is good for everybody who follows our dying sport 

Edited October 4, 2019 by johnyson66

[Fortythirtyeight]

54 minutes ago, johnyson66 said:

I think you need to get yourself back to bed and get out of it the right side ,I'm pretty sure theye could get volunteers on a weekly basis to lay them , and let's face it the weather forecasts are pretty accurate these days , OK misery guts 

Like your beloved Newcastle do?

Even they have to appeal for help to assist the junior riders to remove covers before and after meetings and the juniors were told if they didn't help they wouldn't get a ride.

Your asking for a minimum of six/eight able bodied ( not old folk as it will be heavy work) people who have time during the day ( assuming they don't work ) to graft for a couple of hours in the wet shale for no pay ( possibly free entry ?) in the hope of getting a meeting on , if it stops raining?

When that doesn't work you will be saying its unprofessional and they should have cricket style covers, and it will go on and on and on.

The sport has trundled along for nearly a hundred years without covers and whilst the theory of covers is good, in practice it just hasn't worked to a level to justify the outlay and effort.

[johnyson66]

Still drizzling here , doesn't look like it's going to brighten up any time soon 

[lukeellis]

Why do you keep posting negative weather reports? Where do you live? I live inMiddlesbrough and the weather is OK !

[johnyson66]

1 minute ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

Like your beloved Newcastle do?

Even they have to appeal for help to assist the junior riders to remove covers before and after meetings and the juniors were told if they didn't help they wouldn't get a ride.

Your asking for a minimum of six/eight able bodied ( not old folk as it will be heavy work) people who have time during the day ( assuming they don't work ) to graft for a couple of hours in the wet shale for no pay ( possibly free entry ?) in the hope of getting a meeting on , if it stops raining?

When that doesn't work you will be saying its unprofessional and they should have cricket style covers, and it will go on and on and on.

The sport has trundled along for nearly a hundred years without covers and whilst the theory of covers is good, in practice it just hasn't worked to a level to justify the outlay and effort.

Example Cleveland park had covers over the dog track that obviously needed removing and putting back on twice a week and the area covered was bigger than the speedway track , and before you say the speedway track didn't have covers,  it's trundled along for a 100 years you say well times havery changed a lot haven't they in that time , and getting dirty isn't a problem I didn't go to work and say I can't work today I don't want to get mucky , my beleif is that we would get enough volunteers to lay covers if needed , and no it isn't hard work to lay a few covers , it all depends what work your used to doing , no wonder speedway is dying with the attitudes you and lots of others have 

 

[ruffdiamond]

1 hour ago, johnyson66 said:

Many a time when snow arrives the football club asks for volunteers to help clear snow around the stadium so the match can go ahead for the spectators safety , it's no big deal and as a speedway fan I as I'm guessing many others would give up a couple of hours to keep the track raceable,  Speedway needs all the help it can get these days and is in serious need of help the more meetings that go ahead as planned is good for everybody who follows our dying sport 

Yeah, but this isn't football or cricket and speedway isn't sending people to the moon,,, I agree that it's not rocket science either, but getting half a dozen dedicated bodies to complete the task is entering another universe 

ps. A dog track has a different reason to be covered.

Edited October 4, 2019 by ruffdiamond

[johnyson66]

9 minutes ago, ruffdiamond said:

Yeah, but this isn't football or cricket and speedway isn't sending people to the moon,,, I agree that it's not rocket science either, but getting half a dozen dedicated bodies to complete the task is entering another universe 

ps. A dog track has a different reason to be covered.

No it isn't a popular sport and we have to ask ourselves why ? Getting rain offs does nothing but damage to speedway , how many gp riders are still riding here ? To many rain offs and speedway is not exactly a riveting sport considering we get under 15 minutes of actual speedway and it can take sometimes 2 and a half hours to complete a meeting if there's an accident,  I just feel that to keep speedway going and attract fans things have to change otherwise the sport I love will die in this country, putting covers on a track in my opinion would give us less rain offs , I personally would stay after a meetingto lay covers as I'm sure plenty of others would , just seems that certain people see problems that shouldn't exist , I was devastated when Cleveland Park shut I would hate to see us close again , 

[johnyson66]

I'm getting off my high horse about track covers now , it's still drizzling and sky is still dark , crossing my fingers and toes it doesn't get any heavier and brightens up a bit