Gp 2023

[Billyboy]

 As its getting towards the end of the season  Wonder if discovery will announce  the 2023 calender all in one go and if there will be new venues  or more of the same

[DutchGrasstrack]

Might be a new German indoor venue.

[eric i]

1 minute ago, DutchGrasstrack said:

Might be a new German indoor venue.

Can you elaborate?

[mc131]

6 hours ago, eric i said:

Can you elaborate?

Hopefully not just a track laid for the gp 

Edited September 12, 2022 by mc131

[eric i]

Reading the polish speedway press, Cardiff, Manchester, Gorzow(crazy 4 year deal), Torun, Warsaw,  2 in Germany probably Teterow and an Indoor football stadium (Gelsenkirchen again?), Australia(new track in Sydney?). I would be surprised if Prague, Malilla and Vojens weren't back. Not sure about Gorican and it is said that Wroclaw won't be back because they got SWC.

Edited September 12, 2022 by eric i

[Hackett]

Prague is an appalling racetrack. The SGP's there are as dull as dishwater.  Great city but the track needs banking. 

[PragueMagpie]

13 hours ago, Hackett said:

Prague is an appalling racetrack. The SGP's there are as dull as dishwater.  Great city but the track needs banking. 

Yep. Promised myself this year that I won’t go next season. Racing was terrible again. 

[mixxxser44]

Not Official Calendar SGP 2023:
GP1. Gorican/Krsko ?    
GP2. Warsaw    
GP3. Prag     
GP4. Manchester ? 
GP5. Teterow     
GP6. Gorzow 
GP7. Malilla     
GP8. Vojens      
GP9. Rostock ?     
GP10. Cardiff    
GP11. Torun      
GP12. Australia ???

[eric i]

3 hours ago, mixxxser44 said:

Not Official Calendar SGP 2023:
GP1. Gorican/Krsko ?    
GP2. Warsaw    
GP3. Prag     
GP4. Manchester ? 
GP5. Teterow     
GP6. Gorzow 
GP7. Malilla     
GP8. Vojens      
GP9. Rostock ?     
GP10. Cardiff    
GP11. Torun      
GP12. Australia ???

ostseestadion? no roof hell of a gamble if it is.

[mixxxser44]

https://po-bandzie.com.pl/zuzel-niemieckie-poszukiwania-lokalizacji-grand-prix-jedna-z-rund-odbedzie-w-rostocku/

[eric i]

13 minutes ago, mixxxser44 said:

https://po-bandzie.com.pl/zuzel-niemieckie-poszukiwania-lokalizacji-grand-prix-jedna-z-rund-odbedzie-w-rostocku/

So Waldstadion in Frankfurt is the other option. The advantage being is it has a roof but is it too ambitious to get a good crowd in when its so far away from the speedway heartlands. I personally think its too risky running a temporary track outdoors, Horsens was very lucky to get away with it.

[Noodles]

2 hours ago, mixxxser44 said:

https://po-bandzie.com.pl/zuzel-niemieckie-poszukiwania-lokalizacji-grand-prix-jedna-z-rund-odbedzie-w-rostocku/

"Martin Smolinski is a serious candidate for a permanent wild card for the 2023 season" 

[Bavarian]

 

I would not give too much thought about this Polish newspaper report. It is more rumors than facts.

Rostock seems rather unlikely, because there is already a SGP at Teterow which is pretty close to Rostock. This just would not make sense to stage two in the same northeastern corner of our land. Germany is a much bigger country.

Frankfurt is indeed in a region where speedway is not unknown, as they do have a track not far away at Diedenbergen, and some grass track racing as well, but is fair to say that it is not a very common or popular sport in that region. But I guess that Frankfurt could nevertheless be a decent location for a Grand Prix, since it sits pretty much in the center of Germany and within a 300/400km distance from the speedway hotbeds in the north, east, and the south. Frankfurt is a big town, it has a big modern stadium with a roof. This would make it a good option. 

Berlin was not mentioned, but this is what I actually believe is the most likely option. It would certainly be worth another try. They already did it once, in 2001, but the occasion was absolutely spoilt by bad weather, cold windy and wet. They still had a rather decent attendance, but not enough to make a profit, and the promoter threw the towel in. Berlin should get a second chance, though. A big city destination, and Poland is pretty close.   

Another possibly good location, never mentioned so far, could be Hamburg. There are a number of modern stadia, although all withiut a roof. But the sport is well known in the region. Germany's very first speedway track was in Hamburg, and it was a huge success story, though a long time ago in 1929. Hamburg was and is Germany's gateway to the world, a very cosmopolitan town and not far from Denmark. Maybe worth a thought.

Or go to the deep south of the country to Munich, which is Smolinski's home town. Bavaria has a rich speedway and long-track racing tradition. Remember, they staged the 1989 world final on an artificial track in Munich's Olympic Stadium and had close to fifty thousand people in attendance. The track was crap then, due to the fact that Bayern Munich was then playing there, and the sacred football pitch was not to be touched by the speedway track. So they had to build the track around the corners, which gave it a difficult shape and made the bends too narrow for good racing. Bayern Munich has long since left the stadium and now there wouldn't be any restrictions on the shape of a temporary speedway track at that place.

There are some options, all better than what was taken up by BSI with the GP at Gelsenkirchen, which really was in a speedway no man's land, for in teh western region of Germany, speedway was and still is a sport more or less unknown. The Schalke Stadium had a roof, that was the only thing going for it. The initial excitement and razzmatazz of having a Speedway meeting at Schalke, tempted about 25,000 from all the other regions of Germany to go there - once !  That was a long way to travel and after tehy had seen it once, most of them did not come again in the second year. And we all know how this ended, with the second SGP there being called off and relocated to Bydgoszcz.

[bruno]

Why has Bydgoszcz been culled from the GP series, I know they had behind the scenes problems but as a track it was up there with the best 

[speed29]

I Hope finger cross Speedway GP might go to in America (USA)

[Neila]

Regarding frankfurt as a gp venue,  can remember many years ago early 90's going to ice speedway had a good weekend from what I remember  would be good to return for a gp, as a brit plenty of flights and hotels for the weekend

[eric i]

On 9/14/2022 at 9:20 PM, Bavarian said:

 

I would not give too much thought about this Polish newspaper report. It is more rumors than facts.

Rostock seems rather unlikely, because there is already a SGP at Teterow which is pretty close to Rostock. This just would not make sense to stage two in the same northeastern corner of our land. Germany is a much bigger country.

Frankfurt is indeed in a region where speedway is not unknown, as they do have a track not far away at Diedenbergen, and some grass track racing as well, but is fair to say that it is not a very common or popular sport in that region. But I guess that Frankfurt could nevertheless be a decent location for a Grand Prix, since it sits pretty much in the center of Germany and within a 300/400km distance from the speedway hotbeds in the north, east, and the south. Frankfurt is a big town, it has a big modern stadium with a roof. This would make it a good option. 

Berlin was not mentioned, but this is what I actually believe is the most likely option. It would certainly be worth another try. They already did it once, in 2001, but the occasion was absolutely spoilt by bad weather, cold windy and wet. They still had a rather decent attendance, but not enough to make a profit, and the promoter threw the towel in. Berlin should get a second chance, though. A big city destination, and Poland is pretty close.   

Another possibly good location, never mentioned so far, could be Hamburg. There are a number of modern stadia, although all withiut a roof. But the sport is well known in the region. Germany's very first speedway track was in Hamburg, and it was a huge success story, though a long time ago in 1929. Hamburg was and is Germany's gateway to the world, a very cosmopolitan town and not far from Denmark. Maybe worth a thought.

Or go to the deep south of the country to Munich, which is Smolinski's home town. Bavaria has a rich speedway and long-track racing tradition. Remember, they staged the 1989 world final on an artificial track in Munich's Olympic Stadium and had close to fifty thousand people in attendance. The track was crap then, due to the fact that Bayern Munich was then playing there, and the sacred football pitch was not to be touched by the speedway track. So they had to build the track around the corners, which gave it a difficult shape and made the bends too narrow for good racing. Bayern Munich has long since left the stadium and now there wouldn't be any restrictions on the shape of a temporary speedway track at that place.

There are some options, all better than what was taken up by BSI with the GP at Gelsenkirchen, which really was in a speedway no man's land, for in teh western region of Germany, speedway was and still is a sport more or less unknown. The Schalke Stadium had a roof, that was the only thing going for it. The initial excitement and razzmatazz of having a Speedway meeting at Schalke, tempted about 25,000 from all the other regions of Germany to go there - once !  That was a long way to travel and after tehy had seen it once, most of them did not come again in the second year. And we all know how this ended, with the second SGP there being called off and relocated to Bydgoszcz.

Its a shame Berlin doesn't have a covered stadium, because it would attract a decent crowd. Its very accessible from Poland and most of northern Europe.

[bluejam]

On 9/14/2022 at 9:28 PM, bruno said:

Why has Bydgoszcz been culled from the GP series, I know they had behind the scenes problems but as a track it was up there with the best 

I stand to be corrected on this Bruno,but the cost of staging a GP in Bydgoszcz(was told by a friend who lives in the City back in 2010 when i last attended a GP there)was over £400k to stage a GP at Polonia Stadium.  

[racers and royals]

Reported that Teterow will again stage a GP in 2023.

[tomhaines]

Any news/rumours on any likely date when we’ll find out the remainder of the calendar? Seems odd being this far past Torun and only having dates for Cardiff & Warsaw? 
 

Is the delay going to be due to some exciting news or are they simply deliberating over whether Krsko or Gorican is going to capture the imagination of the paying public and create the ‘new era of speedway’