Fromafar Posted October 23, 2020 Report Share Posted October 23, 2020 1 hour ago, moxey63 said: I'm sure I stated I didn't condone what he'd done. I was also sure someone would take offence that I felt Garrity would have a fascinating story behind him. For starters, I always wondered where someone like Garrity had come across his thousands to purchase his speedway gear at a young age. It would also be worth seeing, how many that are criticising Garrity actually bought a book about Kenny Carter, who did far worse. He probably stole it.Did he not steal some of Joe Screens gear at one time.(could be wrong but thought I read it somewhere). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2020 Report Share Posted October 23, 2020 Slightly off topic but what are the odds on this thread beating the mammoth epic we once had for Darcy Ward? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E I Addio Posted October 23, 2020 Report Share Posted October 23, 2020 56 minutes ago, Tsunami said: I've known of riders suddenly straining their backs getting their bike out of their van when it was known the tester was around. Also engine tests being carried out after the meeting and a 'suspect' doesn't have a good night. All random of course. One night a well known rider rode very average at Brough, and whilst having his engine checked over by the late Will Hunter, technical expert and ex ref, the rider just smirked as if he knew he wouldn't be caught. Who says some riders are not told, and it was not random I can assure you. Our home rider, knew that and why it was happening, was livid as his tuned engine was tampered with on the inspection and as he said, "It's all very well trying to catch him, but now I have to have a full retune and all I get it is a standard £400 fee". Don’t these inspections have to be carried out at ACU Headquarters or somewhere designated by the ACU now ? I remember about 10/12 years ago at a televised meeting at Poole a visiting rider ( I think he was from Peterborough, but not certain) , was accused of having an over size carburettor but instead of testing in the pits the carb had to be sent to the ACU for checking. I seem to remember no fault was found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinderfella Posted October 23, 2020 Report Share Posted October 23, 2020 21 minutes ago, E I Addio said: Don’t these inspections have to be carried out at ACU Headquarters or somewhere designated by the ACU now ? I remember about 10/12 years ago at a televised meeting at Poole a visiting rider ( I think he was from Peterborough, but not certain) , was accused of having an over size carburettor but instead of testing in the pits the carb had to be sent to the ACU for checking. I seem to remember no fault was found. Seem to remember a rider rightly complaining that he had to do without his best engines for several meetings while Jim McMillan the SCB technical guru inspected it at SCB HQ in Rugby. Of course the real travesty was back in the 70s when Barry Thomas of hackney won the U21 title and was accused of having an oversized engine which was taken away for examination. I don't think he ever received an apology for the way he was treated and his reputation tarnished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinderfella Posted October 23, 2020 Report Share Posted October 23, 2020 51 minutes ago, E I Addio said: How does that work ? If the capacity is the bore x stroke the capacity is always going to be the same for a given piston diameter surely ? is an engine is a short stroke engine the bore( and therefore the piston diameter ) must be bigger. If it is a long stroke engine to cylinder bore will be narrower and a short stroke piston wouldn’t fit. Does anybody ride long stroke engines anymore ? I thought they went out with the J.A.Ps in the sixties / early seventies. I'm not aware of the technicalities but I think I read it in one of the posts in this Forum regarding allegations of an engine that was used in a Polish meeting a few years ago with, sadly, fatal consequences. I believe both Jawa(JRM?) and GM still manufacture both short and long stroke engines so both must be used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted October 23, 2020 Report Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, E I Addio said: Don’t these inspections have to be carried out at ACU Headquarters or somewhere designated by the ACU now ? I remember about 10/12 years ago at a televised meeting at Poole a visiting rider ( I think he was from Peterborough, but not certain) , was accused of having an over size carburettor but instead of testing in the pits the carb had to be sent to the ACU for checking. I seem to remember no fault was found. I can remember that incident at Poole ,think McMillan checked the outlet of the carb and said it was oversize .Dont think he was allowed to use it.Can’t remember the final outcome though. Edited October 23, 2020 by Fromafar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsunami Posted October 23, 2020 Report Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) 15 hours ago, E I Addio said: Don’t these inspections have to be carried out at ACU Headquarters or somewhere designated by the ACU now ? I remember about 10/12 years ago at a televised meeting at Poole a visiting rider ( I think he was from Peterborough, but not certain) , was accused of having an over size carburettor but instead of testing in the pits the carb had to be sent to the ACU for checking. I seem to remember no fault was found. I think you are right about the engine going away to be tested as I have heard of riders complaining about the waiting for them to be returned. Certainly I saw them being removed from the frame. Testing carbs can be carried out in the frame and machine examiners are issued with an appropriate circular gauge for testing. Edited October 24, 2020 by Tsunami 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinderfella Posted October 23, 2020 Report Share Posted October 23, 2020 The SCB used to issue referees with a crude homemade t-shaped device which was the same as the diameter of the carb. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFCB Wildcat Posted October 23, 2020 Report Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, E I Addio said: How does that work ? If the capacity is the bore x stroke the capacity is always going to be the same for a given piston diameter surely ? is an engine is a short stroke engine the bore( and therefore the piston diameter ) must be bigger. If it is a long stroke engine to cylinder bore will be narrower and a short stroke piston wouldn’t fit. Does anybody ride long stroke engines anymore ? I thought they went out with the J.A.Ps in the sixties / early seventies. Exactly. The stroke is determined by the offset of the crankshaft so the only way to increase capacity would be to use the bottom end of a long stroke engine with a barrel & piston of a short stroke. I would have thought that the barrel of the short stroke would be a different length though to that of a long stroke? If so it would have to be a bored out long stroke barrel but that would be easy to spot. Maybe they are the same length but use different length con rods? Long strokes were about in speedway till more recently though. My lads Jawa 884 laydown engine which he bought 10 or so years ago was long stroke and that had been used in what is now the championship league by its previous owner. Nobody uses them now though. I've got an upright Jawa 898 which is long stroke too. Maybe longer stroke versions of the modern speedway engines are produced for different disciplines. Grass track or long track etc. providing swappable parts? I'm a bit out of touch these days. Edited October 23, 2020 by AFCB Wildcat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryW Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, NeilWatson said: Multi-drug saliva test kits are available for around £4 each, purchased in bulk much less no doubt; so 14 tests would cost less than £50. Why not test every rider at every meeting? What is the reliability of these testing kits? If they are 100% accurate then it's a great idea and all is good, but I suspect that wouldn't actually be the case... What level of false positives would be acceptable at a meeting where a rider or multiple riders get prevented from racing due to the failure of the testing kits rather than anything they had done wrong? Edited October 24, 2020 by HenryW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 Don't in any way condone the use of drugs, recreational or more serious. I don't think drug use should excuse Garrity though, he carried out a brutal nasty attack on vulnerable pensioners. That's not excused by drug taking or drug abuse. He is a violent criminal. We all know or have heard of riders through the decades, right up to the current day who have had issues with recreational drug taking, some have been found guilty of dealing. Many are / were well liked and respected, their drug issues understood and sympathised with, because aside from that they were decent. Why were they on the scale of "acceptability" - I'd suggest because at heart they were basically honest, young men with an issue, not a brutal thug like Garrity. A lot of very good people in Speedway have tried to help Garrity, right up to last season, they did all they could to give him a "final chance". He needs to rot for 7 years and hopefully learn and understand the errors of his ways. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilWatson Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 7 hours ago, HenryW said: What is the reliability of these testing kits? If they are 100% accurate then it's a great idea and all is good, but I suspect that wouldn't actually be the case... What level of false positives would be acceptable at a meeting where a rider or multiple riders get prevented from racing due to the failure of the testing kits rather than anything they had done wrong? A reasonable question, which could also be asked of the official random testing and of any other organisation using such kits. I believe the deterrent factor of knowing you will be tested at every single meeting, with all your peers, would be significant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilWatson Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 12 hours ago, moxey63 said: Speedway would have been failing a duty of safety to allow a competitor to race under the influence. If Garrity was aware there'd be a random test at a meeting and he didn't show up, that weakness in the testing procedure is speedway's fault, surely? For full details of the current procedures see Chapter 8 (page 80 onward) of the 2020 Speedway Regulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Shovlar Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 10 hours ago, Fromafar said: I can remember that incident at Poole ,think McMillan checked the outlet of the carb and said it was oversize .Dont think he was allowed to use it.Can’t remember the final outcome though. Believe it came back just inside the tolerances. Remember the hubbub but can’t remember who the rider was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 2 hours ago, HGould said: he carried out a brutal nasty attack He is a violent criminal. not a brutal thug like Garrity. From reading the Police statement it doesn't say he brutally attacked anybody, he burgled one person and robbed another at knife point. He's used threatening behaviour yes but he hasn't actually physically attacked anybody in this case (from what I've read). I am in no way defending or condoning his actions, I totally condemn them, just pointing out the known facts. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff100 Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 On 10/23/2020 at 1:15 AM, jenga said: Neila , do you remember him dancing around the pits gate @ workington one year and doing so crazy moves that would shame a monkey on a Bermuda trip ? one of my mates pointed this out to me ,(yes i have mates ) and they do not come in packets . First time i saw him in the pits at comets land i said then he was as high as a kite a well known local rider looked at me and gave a thumbs up, mr godfrey tried to calm him when rasmus caught him on the line ,stood with my 7 yr old grandson who wanted an autograph we were told to p*** off , one of his helpers later came and said sorry with garrity watching then asked him why he said sorry when told he then called him a stupid ( u know what).he now has plenty of time to think about those days ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeilWatson Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 1 hour ago, Steve Shovlar said: Believe it came back just inside the tolerances. Remember the hubbub but can’t remember who the rider was. Jesper B Jensen, 11th July 2007 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxey63 Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 1 hour ago, geoff100 said: First time i saw him in the pits at comets land i said then he was as high as a kite a well known local rider looked at me and gave a thumbs up, mr godfrey tried to calm him when rasmus caught him on the line ,stood with my 7 yr old grandson who wanted an autograph we were told to p*** off , one of his helpers later came and said sorry with garrity watching then asked him why he said sorry when told he then called him a stupid ( u know what).he now has plenty of time to think about those days ! If his behaviour was so obvious, surely authorities should have made greater strides to test him. Especially, as some have said, he apparently broke down on the way to meetings when forewarned would have random drug tests. How deep is the drug problem in speedway, when this is allowed to happen and riders pull out of meetings (pretending to pull their back, unloading their bikes) when they arrive and know tests will take place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry1603 Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 On 10/21/2020 at 11:12 AM, frigbo said: Absolute scumbag... Speedway riders are generally not renowned for their intellect, but Garrity is as thick as mince. You don't have to be thick to commit his crimes though - just a despicable scumbag with no thought for others. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff100 Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 3 minutes ago, moxey63 said: If his behaviour was so obvious, surely authorities should have made greater strides to test him. Especially, as some have said, he apparently broke down on the way to meetings when forewarned would have random drug tests. How deep is the drug problem in speedway, when this is allowed to happen and riders pull out of meetings (pretending to pull their back, unloading their bikes) when they arrive and know tests will take place? In ian thomas book he tells the storey of a comets rider getting worried about taking a test after being promised a night to remember by a local lass and he took some "pills" to help him on his way 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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