Cardiff 2022

[OveFundinFan]

44 minutes ago, auntie doris said:

19000 looked about right around a quarter of seats occupied. How many do they need to make it financially viable.

That would make it a 76000 seater stadium…. I don’t think it is?

[Ovalman]

9 minutes ago, OveFundinFan said:

That would make it a 76000 seater stadium…. I don’t think it is?

73931

[OveFundinFan]

3 minutes ago, auntie doris said:

73931

Surprised at that, I would have thought 60k tops.

[Ovalman]

16 minutes ago, OveFundinFan said:

Surprised at that, I would have thought 60k tops.

They fence off some lower tier seats, perhaps 10000?

Edited August 17, 2022 by auntie doris

[customhouseregular]

At this rate it will be one man and his dog.

[eric i]

44 minutes ago, auntie doris said:

They fence off some lower tier seats, perhaps 10000?

Capacity for speedway was 62500, I am not sure if they cover up more seats now, but that's 11431 covered up/unviable.

The highest attendance was in 2010 at 44,150,  that was 70.64% of available seats were filled if you believe the figures.

[Ovalman]

Just now, eric i said:

Capacity for speedway was 62500, I am not sure if they cover up more seats now, but that's 11431 covered up/unviable.

The highest attendance was in 2010 at 44,150,  that was 70.64% of available seats were filled if you believe the figures.

Thanks eric ido you have attendances for any other years?

[eric i]

35 minutes ago, auntie doris said:

Thanks eric ido you have attendances for any other years?

Ihttp://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/extra9.htm

2011, 43,640

2012, 38,000

2013, 38,760

2014, 41,800

2015, ?

2016, 40,974

2017,  ?

2018, ?

2019, 33,583

2022, 19,000( iffy someone spoke to someone who works at the stadium)

I am not sure where exactly these figures are from so I not sure how accurate they are but they look more plausible than 45000/50000 quoted by some.

 

[Grand Central]

6 hours ago, Hackett said:

I read on here that VisitWales makes a significant contribution as long as there is no other SGP in the UK ???.  

Yes we know they do; but in the belief that it would be more like twice as many that would be coming.

Try getting that money out of them when they realise the truth.

[Grand Central]

20 hours ago, OveFundinFan said:

They did it in Prague early in the season, and they doing it in a Torun in a few weeks time.

Spot the difference with the tracks though.

And anyway ... Prague went ever so well, didn't it?

This will be a one year wonder.

Edit:
IF there is an SGP2 Round in the UK next year; what are the chances on it being at Glasgow rather than Cardiff ?

Edited August 18, 2022 by Grand Central

[topaz325]

20 hours ago, Grachan said:

People are unbelievable really. We get one chance a year to have a Speedway meeting in the UK that feels like a proper sporting event and people don't want to know about it.

Yes, the track was bad this year. But the event itself was still great even though speedway fans decided they don't want a proper sports stadium inconveniencing their schedule and stayed away.

Watch Chris Harris winning in 2007. The riders were bouncing all over the place, but they still went for it. Jason Crump and Greg Hancock both seemed of the opinion that this track was no worse than the older Cardiff tracks. It had improved in recent years, though, which, I guess, is why this one seemed particularly bad.

I also wonder if having the practice the day before added to the track cutting up.

If Cardiff ends up being dropped because fans decide to stay away then it just proves that Speedway fans really are completely nuts.

True it is a good weekend away, I think I have been about 7 or 8 times in 20 years, but "we" should expect the track to improve over the years not go back in time , give the riders a good surface to ride on and mor e often than not it will provide good racing.

[fullbore]

15 hours ago, customhouseregular said:

At this rate it will be one man and his dog.

Remember the dog at Peterborough?

Edited August 18, 2022 by fullbore
Typos

[OveFundinFan]

12 hours ago, Grand Central said:

Spot the difference with the tracks though.

And anyway ... Prague went ever so well, didn't it?

This will be a one year wonder.

Edit:
IF there is an SGP2 Round in the UK next year; what are the chances on it being at Glasgow rather than Cardiff ?

Nothing wrong in holding SGP and SGP2 at the same track. Need the right tracks to do it.

MotoGP/2/3 are together at every round. 

and I think when there is a F1 race there is at least one other formula the same weekend, just not shown as F1 race is so long.
 

 

[IainB]

21 hours ago, False dawn said:

I guess I must be a "True Speedway Fan" then?  Especially as I now believe I was suffering from a touch of heat stroke after Saturday (seriously).

But I do have a few observations. Where did the 19000 figure come from? And please don't say FaceBook. Is that an official attendance figure? Because if it is, that's the first time I've ever seen an official figure for any Cardiff GP (or any GP, I think). I did, during the day on Saturday believe that numbers were significantly down. At the fan zone, in the favourite pubs etc. But we came to the conclusion on the night that maybe a lot of folks didn't do their two nights in a hotel stay and opted to travel in for the Saturday meeting and go home. If the "norm" in the stadium on previous years was between 30 and 40 thousand, I estimate there was between 20 and 25 thousand there this year. It's always hard to be precise, even when you're there (I only found recently that there were 130 thousand at Katowice in 1973 when I was there!). Seriously, without reliable gate figures how can we really judge the level of support. This event was in the middle of a perfect storm. Massive concern about inflation, some lingering concern about COVID (sorry BP) and a heat wave that should have kept any sensible unfit person over 50 at home (I never was sensible).

The racing was rubbish, we all know that. We also all know that the racing at Cardiff GPs is never great. The track was kind of okay (only kind of) but when you try to run another World Class meeting on it, less than 24 hours later, you should not be surprised when it doesn't hold up. Hindsight maybe. But don't do it again. I was happy to get the prospect of 46 races for my money (only 43 in reality) but Sunday has to be one of the worst meetings I've ever attended in more than 50 years.

And that's coming from somebody who attends Leicester 

[Grachan]

46 minutes ago, topaz325 said:

True it is a good weekend away, I think I have been about 7 or 8 times in 20 years, but "we" should expect the track to improve over the years not go back in time , give the riders a good surface to ride on and mor e often than not it will provide good racing.

I agree. I wonder if the heat was anything to do with it this time. Or having a practice on it the day before.

I tend to go every 3 or 4 years, but might go a bit more regularly now as I don't have a team to support.

[IainB]

21 hours ago, customhouseregular said:

19,000 was extremely disappointing, 30,000 isn’t exactly wonderful. I accept Cardiff has the contract but can’t help thinking a London stadium would attract a far bigger crowd. 

Where though? The options are Tottenham, Wembley, Olympic Stadium or the O2... Tottenham and Wembley are hardly in accessible areas, O2 is probably too small, Olympic Stadium maybe

21 hours ago, False dawn said:

Is there no one out there that could improve the Cardiff track so that the racing is up to scatch? A change of material, a bit more banking, a change of shape (there is scope for this, I was looking on Saturday).

 

5 minutes ago, Grachan said:

I agree. I wonder if the heat was anything to do with it this time. Or having a practice on it the day before.

I tend to go every 3 or 4 years, but might go a bit more regularly now as I don't have a team to support.

I think the track has steadily improved over the years but took a massive step backwards this year, I think there were a number contributing factors... it's always borderline anyway, then apparently the shale had got mixed up with some gravel and it also hadn't been used for 3 years and of course the heat

[topaz325]

20 minutes ago, Grachan said:

I agree. I wonder if the heat was anything to do with it this time. Or having a practice on it the day before.

I tend to go every 3 or 4 years, but might go a bit more regularly now as I don't have a team to support.

In the Speedway Star today, it said the shale used was what had been used in 2019 and had been stored since, "lessons need to be learned" and an inquiry is being made into the state of the track.

Edited August 18, 2022 by topaz325

[Grand Central]

1 hour ago, OveFundinFan said:

Nothing wrong in holding SGP and SGP2 at the same track. Need the right tracks to do it.

MotoGP/2/3 are together at every round. 

and I think when there is a F1 race there is at least one other formula the same weekend, just not shown as F1 race is so long.
 

 

Hilariously inappropriate comparisons.

[Humphrey Appleby]

1 hour ago, topaz325 said:

In the Speedway Star today, it said the shale used was what had been used in 2019 and had been stored since, "lessons need to be learned" and an inquiry is being made into the state of the track.

I thought we heard in the past that the shale was being stored in scientific pyramid shapes. I thought lessons would have already been learned by now, considering it's pretty the same promoter. 

[Humphrey Appleby]

1 hour ago, OveFundinFan said:

Nothing wrong in holding SGP and SGP2 at the same track. Need the right tracks to do it.

MotoGP/2/3 are together at every round. 

and I think when there is a F1 race there is at least one other formula the same weekend, just not shown as F1 race is so long.

The obvious issue is that F1 and MotoGP are held on tarmac circuits that don't require much preparation, don't change much from race-to-race and are also largely driveable/rideable when it rains. 

With the best will in the world, a speedway track takes much more preparation and can only take so much pounding before it needs significant reconstitution work. I daresay different events could be held on different days, or even with enough time in-between, but it all adds to the costs and is it really going to pull significantly more fans to justify this?