Cardiff 24

[Noodles]

6 minutes ago, iainb said:

Not a bad crowd considering the lack of promotion for the event. I think a lot of what you say stands up, undoubtedly the move away from the UK's "mainstream" sports channels hasn't helped.

Interestingly there does seem to be a different demographic that attends the GP, many Polish fans still, even though they have Warsaw but also I do notice how many young people attend the Cardiff GP, many, many people in their early to mid 20's and who can blame them it's a very cheap day out... it just seems to be the old fart complaining brigade that stays away 🤷‍♂️

Ridiculously cheap. £20 to watch the worlds best riders in a world class stadium with a roof.  Plus a fanzone, plus fireworks.

Yet the armchair viewers want to move it to Belle Vue, which they also won't attend because of the ticket prices/hotel prices/weather.

 

[therefused]

4 minutes ago, Noodles said:

Ridiculously cheap. £20 to watch the worlds best riders in a world class stadium with a roof.  Plus a fanzone, plus fireworks.

Yet the armchair viewers want to move it to Belle Vue, which they also won't attend because of the ticket prices/hotel prices/weather.

 

Why can’t we have both? 

[chunky]

1 hour ago, Steve0 said:

They race under the banner Team GB so to answer your question no - England won’t achieve a 1-2-3.

Doesn't mean they're not English, though, and it doesn't mean we won't have an English 1-2-3...

[IainB]

20 minutes ago, Noodles said:

It's never been announced at the event. Usually announced the Monday after the event but last year they asked you to register interest for 2024 and they are doing again this year. 

Date was announced the day after last year... hopefully we'll find out later today 🙏

https://www.fimspeedway.com/news/cardiff-2024-date-confirmed-sign-up-now-for-early-ticket-access

[Neila]

32 minutes ago, iainb said:

... or indeed a day, you did say @Rob B was wrong though. I've heard from a few more reliable sources that this year was the last of a deal signed by previous rights holders IMG. Generally in the past the date for the next event has been announced at the event or the next day, not a goto the website and register your interest statement. It sounds very far from signed and sealed to me.

Get over it, was announced gp at Cardiff in 2025, get behind the event and support the British guys concore the world,,  gp 1+2, gold in SON.  Can I asked have you ever been to Cardiff if not why not, let's pack the place out in 2025 to cheer on the brits

[IainB]

1 minute ago, Neila said:

Get over it, was announced gp at Cardiff in 2025, get behind the event and support the British guys concore the world,,  gp 1+2, gold in SON.  Can I asked have you ever been to Cardiff if not why not, let's pack the place out in 2025 to cheer on the brits

So far I've been able to go every year as you may have guessed I'm not a great fan of WBD, I think they've set our sport back quite a bit

[fatface]

5 hours ago, Grachan said:

Decent GP, and great to see a British 1-2. Th crowd looked a similar level to the last couple of years, so this looks like the new normal now. 

It can't help having tracks closing down all the time. A lot of fans from the likes of Swindon, Wolves, Peterborough and so on are probably lost over time. Swindon, for example, used to put on a coach.

Cardiff is still the best place to hold it though. I think most people can see that. It's only the Belle Vue Freedom Fighters that seem to be resisting this. Belle Vue is obviously a better track, but it's outdoors and  the crowd for the SON doesn't exactly encourage change.

I don't know if crowds can ever get back up to the previous levels. I saw a comment on the Digital Spy forum recently in a discussion on speedway, where someone said they used to enjoy watching it but have lost touch with what is going on now since it stopped being on Sky. I think that was a bit of a shark jump for the sport when that was lost.

Yep. All makes sense. 

I went pretty much every year until about four years ago. It’s a great place to spend the weekend, brilliant stadium and great atmosphere around town. I’m just one of those that has drifted away. It’s very very difficult to imagine it getting back to 40k crowds. Multiple reasons for that, but the biggest for me is that British Speedway’s continued shrinkage, tracks closing and new audiences not being attracted to replace the ‘old farts’. The harsh reality is that a fair chunk of those 40k that used to go are now either dead or too elderly to manage a full day visit like that anymore. A feature of the day was meeting and chatting to loads of fans who followed the sport closely in the 60s and 70s…the reality is they are passing on.

And there just isn’t enough younger people interested enough to fill their shoes. I used to go with my folks and one is too grumpy to go now (yes, father) and the other not too mobile (mother). We have said we might go again for ‘one last time’ next year. Honestly though, i don’t know anyone else my own age or younger that would have any interest at all in going.

 

[KrisB]

Watched at home this year for the first time in years after attending in 2023 and was impressed with the WBD production. No distracting studio and good ‘interval’ interviews. Great and frequent graphics. Good camerawork. And just £3.99 for a month of Discovery+ got me a dose of premiership speedway AND the entire Olympics!

[BackInTheDHSS]

2 hours ago, Steve0 said:

They race under the banner Team GB so to answer your question no - England won’t achieve a 1-2-3.

They are still English, though. No amount of trying to be right can take that away from them. 

[Kerryxo]

Thanks to the responders who helped with our travel plans.

This was our first time at Cardiff. What an incredible experience! Us adults really enjoyed - my 8 year old loved the immersiveness. He was sure the louder he shouted, the faster bewley, lambert & brennan were going. There were many empty seats but that didn't stop the crowd. Fantastic atmosphere.

We are the described "new fans" - my Dad took us to watch in Glasgow when he could lay his hand on free tickets (there was 4 of us kids, so I'll give him a pass 😆). We, all 20's and 30's now, have a rekindled love for the sport, with my 8 year old. It's a shame to see so much negativity- there are new supporters coming into the sport: most younger folk are simply unaware that is in existence. Word of mouth is incredible - I've not known anyone I've recommended to attend - even at that much lower championship level - to not enjoy it and have a fantastic night and either want to or actively go back. The amount of "gatekeeping" by older fans is laughable - not all, of course, but those "diehards", my best example being that I still can't comment on our local teams fan page! - these need to be verified  and have waited for 1+ year! Please, be more accommodating of us newbies!

I certainly hope Cardiff goes again next year. I'll be one of the first in line for tickets and will be recommending to many others - may even put on a bus (we also had no response to the glasgow one, despite it being broadcasted of availability on here..).

Very open to all of your knowledge and experience. Welcoming of suggestions for tracks to visit, and other GPs for us to plan around our holidays next year!

[norbold]

9 hours ago, Colinspeedway said:

A GB 1 and 2 in our home GP. A Gold in the Pairs. No complaints from me. 

And speedway still won't get a mention on BBC's Sports Review of the Year.

[IainB]

16 minutes ago, norbold said:

And speedway still won't get a mention on BBC's Sports Review of the Year.

Does anybody care about that anymore?

[Fromafar]

10 hours ago, iainb said:

I do wish Bewley would get himself a proper manager/mentor, a Pete Adams type or even Adams himself. The rest of the SGP field must be absolutely crapping themselves at just how good Dan Bewley can be. For me he's by some distance the most talented rider in the field, generally is always right up there or fastest in qualifying, gets through to a final and generally wins it, pressure doesn't seem to effect him, must have ice running through his veins... but inexplicably just goes missing from time to time, maybe he just needs somebody to focus his mind, I don't know. 

He has a good Team behind him,he is laid back character and enjoying the sport which is a great attitude to have.Good for him ,he does not think he is Prima Donna like some of the others around him think they are.

[IainB]

11 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

He has a good Team behind him,he is laid back character and enjoying the sport which is a great attitude to have.Good for him ,he does not think he is Prima Donna like some of the others around him think they are.

I'd just like to see him with a mental coach in his corner to maybe focus him when he goes missing on occasion, you can be a laid back character but sometimes you need to get your head in gear to be a consistent winner, toughen him up a bit. Who knows that may not work for him but it's got to be worth a try, having the likes of Adam Ellis in your corner on occasion, no disrespect, is not going to win him world titles. Maybe he's got as good as he's going to get but not only is he talented and very very fast on a Speedway bike but he's got the rare talent that so many lack, finals do not faze him, it's quite a remarkable record. It'd be a travesty if he reached the end of his GP career with many GP wins but nothing else to show for it.

[R87]

1 hour ago, therefused said:

Why can’t we have both? 

There would be a mad dash for tickets at Belle Vue.  Its a brilliant track which is all you need.  Nobody is interested in museums, hotels and pubs.  They go to speedway for the racing.

[customhouseregularisback]

28 minutes ago, iainb said:

Does anybody care about that anymore?

The viewing figures are usually respectable and if thousands of people who know nothing about speedway see Bewley and Lambert in action, who knows if some may get the bug.

[Odds On]

Crowd looked slightly down on last year.

Track was poor, not bad but not great for a racing spectacle.

FIM and the debacle to see who had qualified, just shows how poor of an organisation they are. 

Really pleased for a GB one two.

 

 

[Joseq7]

I do have a chuckle when the camera goes tighter on the riders in their pit, the Monster sponsored ones, easing "Monster Joe" out of shot, despite his vain attempts to hog the limelight. 

Serious question..... who actually is he? Does he own Monster? 

[Fromafar]

13 minutes ago, iainb said:

I'd just like to see him with a mental coach in his corner to maybe focus him when he goes missing on occasion, you can be a laid back character but sometimes you need to get your head in gear to be a consistent winner, toughen him up a bit. Who knows that may not work for him but it's got to be worth a try, having the likes of Adam Ellis in your corner on occasion, no disrespect, is not going to win him world titles. Maybe he's got as good as he's going to get but not only is he talented and very very fast on a Speedway bike but he's got the rare talent that so many lack, finals do not faze him, it's quite a remarkable record. It'd be a travesty if he reached the end of his GP career with many GP wins but nothing else to show for it.

I get what you are saying,but Dan is just himself and seems to like it that way.He is a great talent though.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

2 hours ago, iainb said:

Not a bad crowd considering the lack of promotion for the event. 

I think is a huge factor, there is no promotion for the event, discovery are one of the biggest media company’s in the world and own a good share of the channels on our TVs and yet did they have one advert for the GP and how where to get tickets etcs ? I didn’t see one advert