Ray Stadia Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 With the loss of Long Eaton Speedway and it may have been discussed to death before, but I didn't realise there is a Nottingham Greyhound Stadium and looking at their website, appears to be ripe for a speedway track! However, I'm sure there will be many reasons why it wouldn't be suitable? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The White Knight Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 I know the feeling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehone Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 Long Eaton was a really good track, but from what i've seen i think Nottingham council are more on the woke side of things which would be a massive stumbling block 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bagpuss Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 Long Eaton was a fantastic track, was lucky enough to get taken there once in the 1980's. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 31 minutes ago, Bagpuss said: Long Eaton was a fantastic track, was lucky enough to get taken there once in the 1980's. I made it twice (first time the meeting was cancelled due to rain) and saw the "Cheetahs" triumph. Of course they were sort of a "sister" track when Dan McCormack was involved at Cradley, Oxford and Nottingham (as they were known). Best thing that happened at Cowley was when we cut our ties with Cradley in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 (edited) I think there’s a big display board covering the view of the one bend at Nottingham. Rendering it difficult to adapt. edit - my bad… it’s a lake! Edited February 21, 2023 by Deano 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byker Biker Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 Tony Mole explored this beyoned all reasonable expectations and whilst the previous owners were receptive in principle the local authority were not prepared to consider a proposal and the grief from local residents once a whisper got out was horrendous. It was negative all the way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireblade2022 Posted February 22, 2023 Report Share Posted February 22, 2023 On 2/21/2023 at 3:54 PM, stevehone said: Long Eaton was a really good track, but from what i've seen i think Nottingham council are more on the woke side of things which would be a massive stumbling block Why are they woke? The actual meaning of woke has nothing to do with it. Woke people are more likely to be anti greyhounds. No planning application has ever been submitted and it’s not far from the site of one of the old Nottingham tracks. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireblade2022 Posted February 22, 2023 Report Share Posted February 22, 2023 20 hours ago, Byker Biker said: Tony Mole explored this beyoned all reasonable expectations and whilst the previous owners were receptive in principle the local authority were not prepared to consider a proposal and the grief from local residents once a whisper got out was horrendous. It was negative all the way. Not up to planning officers and Councillors who have planning voting rights cannot express an opinion before it’s considered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Stadia Posted February 22, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2023 3 hours ago, Fireblade2022 said: Why are they woke? The actual meaning of woke has nothing to do with it. Woke people are more likely to be anti greyhounds. No planning application has ever been submitted and it’s not far from the site of one of the old Nottingham tracks. Woke views, could also be global warming views and there could be an objection based on 4 internal combustion engines, poluting the atmosphere! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyretrax Posted February 23, 2023 Report Share Posted February 23, 2023 Been there, there is also a horse racing track attatched to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbuck Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 Colwick Park in Nottingham was one of the many venues which Tony Mole considered as speedway venues as was Derby Greyhound Stadium (the latter no longer in existence) and I know from my time working with him, how he turned Birmingham inside out looking for a suitable site before Perry Barr Stadium became available when it's ownership changed hands. One venue in Birmingham which we tried really hard to get was Salford Stadium in Aston. There was a track already there although it would have needed widening, and the scope to develop what were Spartan facilities were very obvious. By all that was fair and reasonable, we should have got it but our efforts were blocked by one determined councillor - this still rankles with me, and always will!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
25yearfan Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 Nottingham greyhound stadium remains the best chance of resurrecting speedway in that part of the East Midlands though I'd suspect the stadium owners wouldn't be interested? Long Eaton speedway I think would of likely still been in existence now if their Station Road home hadn't been redeveloped as they seemed to have a viable hardcore support. Wasn't Salford stadium that one that you could see under spaghetti junction as you passed through on the M 6? - It seemed a venue that would of been less expensive than Perry Bar, could of been bought by the speedway promotion, was near enough to the traditional speedway Perry bar heartland and surely where it was situated couldn't have been considered a noise problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Buck Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 (edited) Yes - that's correct. Salford Stadium could be seen clearly from spaghetti junction. The stadium was given to the City by an unknown benefactor in celebration of the Festival of Britain in 1951. When we looked at it, the only users were Salford Cycling club who used the velodrome which surrounded a cinder based running track which had been very rarely used in previous years. Spectator capacity was only 2,500 with uncovered terracing only on the two bends, but there was considerable scope to at least double this by installing terracing on one straight (the other straight ran parallel with the main Lichfield Road so could only have accomodated a single row of spectators around the velodrome. Salford Cycling Club could only use the stadium between May and September because the floodlights didn't work and the City Council wouldn't fund having them repaired. We would have done this, so the Cycling Club were very keen on having us as co-users, but the Council, prompted by a single determined high ranking councillor, put forward every conceivable objection to having speedway there, including saying that the substantial sized carparking area was "too close to the entrance to the M6 Motorway." We would have used the stadium once a week between March to October, leaving the cpuncil to offer out its use to other potential users on the other 300 or days days of the year. It was then decided to offer out the stadium to tender and we were told that we could submit our tender providing that this complied with four conditions - the first of which was that the activities of Salford Cycling Club must be maintained, as other tenderers would also have to. The only organisation able to comply with all four was - you've guessed it - Birmingham Speedway - so the council awarded it to a Five-a-side Football provider which couldn't comply with any of them! The Cycling Club were straight away evicted and the velodrome was demolished. We had plenty of supporters within the City Council's staff who were initially enthusiastic about the prospect of having speedway at Salford Stadium, but it just shows how one high level councillor can bulldoze his way into getting his own way when he doesn't care for a particular project. The irony is that after the success of the Commonwealth Games last summer, there have been strident calls for Birmingham to install a velodrome within the City, but it seems that no one remembers the perfectly good one which was destroyed! Edited March 10, 2023 by Brian Buck 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
25yearfan Posted March 11, 2023 Report Share Posted March 11, 2023 Another sorry example of where democracy doesn't always work and how many prejudices speedway has to overcome. I believe Salford Stadium was investigated as a potential new home for Birmingham speedway in the late 80's after the Brummies left the Bordesley Green, am I correct Brian? Had Birmingham speedway been allowed to move into Salford Stadium in the late 80's, I'm sure with Tony Moles financial backing and professionalism I think it would have probably been a sustainable venture, the Brummies would be more financially viable than they are currently at Perry Bar and Birmingham would still have a multi use velodrome! Whats happening with the Wheels complex? Other than Nottingham Greyhound stadium is there anywhere else in the Nottingham, Long Eaton, Derby areas where a speedway track and stadium could be built. Something like the new Workington set up and build it up in time seems like a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbuck Posted March 11, 2023 Report Share Posted March 11, 2023 Yes that's correct. Tony Mole also wanted to move in at Bordesley Green and accepting that a speedway and stock cars mix wasn't practable given that the cars were using the old track every day, he was prepared to fund the building of a new track on a different part of the complex, but he was stymied by the opposition of the site manager who for some reason he would never reveal, had set his face against speedway coming back to the Wheels. The Wheels Park, which has been quite impressively developed over the years, is currently in limbo. The City Council have closed it down with a view to building industrial units on the land. There is a "Save Birmingham Wheels" group trying very hard to block the council's plans and to have the complex re-opened, but they don't seem to be having a great deal of success. Bordesley Green took plenty of stick during the three years that speedway ran there, but although the place is situated in a very poor and rundown part of Birmingham (where I was actually born and lived for the first 27 years of my life incidentally), but it was by no means all bad, and could have been just the kind of site that Birmingham Speedway could thrive in. Speedway's mistake was to have move there before the place was anywhere near ready, but unfortunately, the demolition of the "old" Perry Barr stadium at the end of 1983, meant that the promotion of the time had no option but to do so. Apologies to have muscled in on a site about Long Eaton, but I needed to get this off my chest!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midgetracer Posted March 11, 2023 Report Share Posted March 11, 2023 This is an interesting thread. It is such a shame that we no longer have speedway at the wonderful Buxton track, which is not a huge distance from Long Eaton. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
25yearfan Posted March 11, 2023 Report Share Posted March 11, 2023 Bordesley Green in my opinion could have been a National training centre for speedway especially if another track elsewhere on the site could have been built. This combined with the Brummies racing there would have brought in a tidy income to the owners of the Wheels complex. Strange that site owners are so against additional streams of income. I believe Tony Mole would have moved into Perry Bar in the late 80's if the then owner would have let him but for some odd reason didn't! Buxton speedway is still there running practice/training sessions but unfortunately are absent from League racing. In the Speedway Star a few weeks back when discussing the proposed new Nora League it was suggested that Buxton may eventually enter a team in that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Buck Posted March 11, 2023 Report Share Posted March 11, 2023 As it seems unfair to for me to muscle in on this site which is supposed to be about Long Eaton, I have created a new "Birmingham Wheels Park" site - so anyone who finds this of interest, should log on to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speed29 Posted March 11, 2023 Report Share Posted March 11, 2023 I Wish Long Eaton & White City could come back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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