British Speedway to be reborn?

[FAST GATER]

16 minutes ago, Sotonian said:

Who is going to develop and build these engines for a single domestic market?

There are probably hundreds holding workshop doors open I think more  original 2 valve Jawa were produced than any other  s/way engine ,knowing the eastern block they probably still have all the tooling etc .

[Spl77]

1 hour ago, FAST GATER said:

There are probably hundreds holding workshop doors open I think more  original 2 valve Jawa were produced than any other  s/way engine ,knowing the eastern block they probably still have all the tooling etc .

Jawa produced a batch of 2 valve lawdowns a couple of years ago for the nice series. I would have thought that they would be up for it. 

[greyhoundp]

https://www.jrmspeedway.com/en/engines

[proud panther]

2 hours ago, greyhoundp said:

https://www.jrmspeedway.com/en/engines

Think the other important factor is the cost to service these engines.

[Speedtiger]

4 hours ago, Sotonian said:

Who is going to develop and build these engines for a single domestic market?

The geniuses at the BSPA... they know what’s what about engines!

[bruno]

Anyone who thinks what was working 30 - 40 years ago is the way forward is deluded. However, the way things are now is definitely not working. The answer? No idea. 

[HGould]

11 hours ago, Speedtiger said:

The geniuses at the BSPA... they know what’s what about engines!

Still missing are they?? 

[Spl77]

I fully believe that in order to save British speedway something radical has to be done and starting with standard engines is what I would do and yes they would be uprights.

Having watched racing from the 80s and 90s on you tube recently it's clear that the current bikes do not work on UK tracks.  With the uprights riders Were riding the inside middle and outside of the tracks. The same tracks these days with the current equipment and the line is mid track to the outside so inside half the the track sees very little traffic. That can't be good. 

Seeing the reports this morning that the Poles are asking riders to take a 50% paycut so they can operate behind closed doors maybe it's time to reduce costs across the board for the greater good. 

[bigcatdiary]

On 4/20/2020 at 5:12 PM, E I Addio said:

They had some racing at Lakeside It was speedway bikes racing, like unbelievably boring.

Yep

[Speedtiger]

3 hours ago, HGould said:

Still missing are they?? 

No they are all in No1 genius Chapman’s lock up! 

[E I Addio]

5 hours ago, bigcatdiary said:

Yep

Still unable to contribute to grown up debate then ?

Still unable to comply with forum rules not to amend another members post.

Prat.

[FAST GATER]

18 hours ago, bruno said:

Anyone who thinks what was working 30 - 40 years ago is the way forward is deluded. However, the way things are now is definitely not working. The answer? No idea. 

No what needs to happen is to look back then and see if we can make it happen today , no one is advocating a league of regression merely  hitting the reset button

[HGould]

You're not joking are you???

 

[phillwhitewasmad]

Keep reading threads and a big point keeps coming up about standard engines. Think the biggest mistake was they didn’t make the gerhard engine compulsory for the national league within two years of the time the got involved with them. 

[bruno]

1 hour ago, FAST GATER said:

No what needs to happen is to look back then and see if we can make it happen today , no one is advocating a league of regression merely  hitting the reset button

Looking back to the glory days the answer is simple. All the top riders were here then but that's never going to happen again. Without being a defeatist I can't see how we can change things around over here especially with the current situation as well. Would love to be proved wrong tho

[Spl77]

2 hours ago, bruno said:

Looking back to the glory days the answer is simple. All the top riders were here then but that's never going to happen again. Without being a defeatist I can't see how we can change things around over here especially with the current situation as well. Would love to be proved wrong tho

I honestly don't believe that you need the top riders in the world in the UK. If you're trying to attract new support to tracks then the top riders make little difference the likes of Nikki Pedersen Chris Holder etc etc are not known outside of the speedway world. 

However the entertainment level needs massive work so the place to start is with the bikes that clearly do not suit the vast majority of UK tracks and cost a fortune to run a cost that UK speedway can't support. 

 

[FAST GATER]

2 hours ago, bruno said:

Looking back to the glory days the answer is simple. All the top riders were here then but that's never going to happen again. Without being a defeatist I can't see how we can change things around over here especially with the current situation as well. Would love to be proved wrong tho

There little we can do with the tracks most of which do date back to the 60's /70's so the only alternative is do something with the engines this  is more than possible with the right input.I would set up a body of newly retired riders or one's who are nearing  the end of their careers(  they would be much more open minded )  and get to experiment with for example 2 valve uprights ( just as a baseline to start from)   or alike.  Take them to every track in the country and test them out under friendly but competitive conditions ,this could be done now behind closed doors and take advantage of the lockdown .

[martinmauger]

The problem with standardised motors, good idea it may be, is what to do with existing engines.  My suggestion would a BHP limit together with soon-ish the to be introduced rev liniters. Riders would get their power read outs carried out as proof at a local motorcyle test centre or a speedway tuner, with random testing done by SCB or ACU using a rolling road in order to police such limits.  That way riders could keep existing engines but change internal component(a) at their own discretion in order to reach any hoursepower limit.....

[FAST GATER]

What to do with existing motors ( which will be useless if their is no sport  left)should not stop change maybe an exchange system for new standard engines ,if an alternative was found then perhaps  a scrapage scheme or alike .If the Poles stay as they are they may take them and say the GP riders ,what must not happen is  the riders stopping this with their obsession for more power and speed . It would be like turkeys voting for Christmas that's why I say use riders who are newly retired etc they have an open informed  mind hopefully .

Edited April 26, 2020 by FAST GATER

[Vince]

I think some sort of engine cost reduction is desirable but not uprights or two valves really because of the need for everybodys engines to become obsolete overnight. The cost reduction of having 2 valves v 4 is minimal in my opinion and changing to uprights would achieve nothing more than making the rest of the bike obsolete as well. As I've said before just the rev limiter set at a low level would make most of the expensive parts unnecessary on it's own. It has to be remembered that unlike just about every other motorsport having a less powerful engine will often make it more difficult to ride and in many ways harder to set up. I like the idea of a minimum stroke as well but not sure if you can get that with short stroke cases, however it seems that over time less revs would mean riders going back to longer stroke engines anyway.

Sticking to laydown chassis also means that if engine rules are different for divisions or leagues you could quickly fit a different engine into your existing equipment or possibly even just different rev limiters.

As for the standard of racing being the most important thing it seems entirely logical but what just about every promoter will tell you is that home wins produce the best crowds.