Amateur Grasstrack and Speedway...

[Method]

Ok so im sitting here rather bored after having a spill earlier this morning on the way to work, and Bendy suggested that i do a write up about the "speedway stuff" that i do, as ive never realy told anyone on here about it...

And right now its a toss up between doing the aforementioned thing, or finding out how to rename processes in VB6... so the speedway won

Right:

Basic Principles:
For those that are unaware of what speedway is, or are not sure of the ins and outs of it, i will try to explain in this section.
Speedway (Not to be confused with american speedway, which is raced with stock style cars), is a form of Motorcycle racing. It is raced on an oval shaped circuits of varying lengths, (Peterborough Speedway for example is ~350m long and ~4m wide. The track surface is a loose shale / brickdust top layer, with a solid clay base underneath. The track is bordered off with a solid wooden fence around the outside line, (the race track runs right up to the barrier fence), and there is occasionally Air Barriers placed over the side of the wooden fence now to prevent danerous smashes into the wall. The inside line is simply marked with a white line and normally a grass center green.

Races consist of 4 riders are a time, and last for 4 laps. One race on average will last ~60-64seconds at an Elite League meeting. The realy fast riders, clocking up times of ~58 seconds on some days. All 4 riders line up side by side at the start line, and the race is started by a set of "Tapes" being lifted by the referee sitting up in his little box overlooking the track.

Crashes are regular, and quite often bad. Races are very very closely contested and due to the small size of the tracks, the racing is seriously close. It is a very technical sport at the high levels, and there is a lot more to it than most believe.

Despite popular belief - Speedway is not simply about winding the throttle wide open and skidding round bends. Theres a lot more to it than that.

The Technical Stuff:

The bikes that are ridden are 500cc single cylinder 4 stroke machines. They run on pure methanol and have an interestingly useless baffle in the exhaust silencers. High spec Grand Prix bikes are pumping out a little under 76bhp at the rear wheel, and can hit a 0-60 time of around 3 seconds, and riders can expect to hit speeds of up to 60/70mph around some tracks.

However despite all this power and speed, speedway has two relatively distinct features that set it apart from most other motorcycle sports:

They have no Gears. Speedway bikes run on a countershaft and have a single gearing. To alter the gearing of a speedway bike, entails switching the rear and front sprockets to get the correct gearing for any given circuit.

They have no Brakes. This has to be the one thing that everyone remembers about speedway, the bikes have no brakes. As stupid as this may sound, when you actually think about it - its for the riders saftey. Silly as it may sound, but just think about it. If your racing around a gravel car park, and you touch that front brake... what happens? Exactly. You wouldnt want to be braking on a surface as loose as this.

Aswell as the above differences, there are a few others that make the sport distinctive:

You shut off, to accelerate. Once again, a stupid idea right? Wrong. When you are racing around a loose surface track, with all that power going through the rear wheel, it is enevitable that the rear wheel will be spinning slightly. To speed up, you will need the rear wheel to grip right? To do that, you need to cut the power to it somehow, only momentarily, but just enough for it to catch up and get some grip. This can be done by either feathering the clutch slightly, or by shutting the throttle. You can sometimes see riders who will come out of the last bend, closing the throttle before popping a rather nice wheely across the finish line... This is due to them shutting off as they straighten up out of the bend. This often leads to problems with new riders, as they shut off before they enter a bend, of course not realising that when you shut off - you actually speed up for a short moment in time.

You accelerate to slow down for a turn. With all the power going to the back wheel, of course there is a lot of wheel spin at all times on the race track. As you will probably know, speedway riders will go round a turn completely sidewards. To do this, you need the rear wheel to break traction and start spinning. Therefore you accelerate when you come up to the turn, this gets the backwheel spinning up. You then lay the bike down, this makes the back wheel try to come round the outside of you and overtake the front wheel - Voila, your into a slide.

Which leads me onto the next section; Sliding.

Now of course, the slide is the most iconic image of speedway racing, it has been THE logotype of all speedway advertisment world wide, and is the single most reason why speedway is different to the main stream motorcycle sports.

Due to the power going through the rear wheel, and the loose nature of the surface, it is pretty obvious that the small front tyres are not going to be able to hold the bike upright, around tight bends and at the sort of speeds that speedway bikes can do. For this reason, the fastest way to get around a speedway track, is to slide, or "Skid". To do this, the rider has to accelerate and lean the bike downwards momentarily for the rear wheel to break traction, and then once in the "slide", must use hairtrigger throttle control to keep the bike;

a) Heading in the right direction
b) Make any changes in the angle of their turn
and
c) To stop the rear wheel from actually overtaking the front wheel and spinning out.

Its not as simple as just winding open the throttle and keeping it there.

What i do:

Ok so the point of this thread, the Amateur side of the sport.

Now as some of you know, i have been riding speedway bikes since i was 8, and rode my first bike on the grasstrack about 4 years ago.

I currently race the following bikes on the speedway:

Jawa 897
Luckhurst (*sp)
Have ridden a modern Jawa Laydown

And on the grasstrack:

the Luckhurst
BSA Bantam (175)
BSA C15 (250)
Jawa 897 (500cc Speedway Engine in Grasstrack Chassis)

Aswell as these bikes we also have others in different states of repair, such as as Jawa Street.

This is the pride and joy of the old man, and with good reason

The tracks:
Ok, so the most common training track around my area for Speedway is Saddlebow Road, in Kings Lynn. Now called the norfolk arena, and playing host to many 'a thing during the summer months, it has been hosting speedway for years and years, and has been my "Local" training track for about 4 years now. Before then i started to ride at a place called "Iwade" which can be found just outside Kent, in a place called Sittingbourne.

They have a custom built training track there, which they occasionally run a conference league team from, and hold regular practice sessions for all grades of riders, and first timers.

I started riding there on a 125Honda engined speedway bike, and then moved up to a 185honda engine, then onto my 500.

The stepup from the 185 petrol powered engine, to a 500cc Methanol powered engine was phenominal, and i can still remember the sinking feeling when i realised there was still more power left in the 500, when i felt like i was allready going warp speed.

I have been riding now for about 10 years almost, and have had the chance to do some second half rides for Boston Baracuda Braves, at Kings Lynn over the summer months. Anyone who has seen me ride/ or comes to see me ride, will notice that i am pretty much reaching the limits of what i can do on the speedway bikes i currently ride.

Due to myself, and the old man being active in the Vintage Grasstrack scence, we tend to have a rather old selection of Speedway bikes. These are what i have ridden now since i moved off the 185, and they are starting to get a bit tempremental. For this reason, i was noticed by a freind at the training track, who offered me a go on his modern 500cc Laydown style Jawa.

Obviously i accepted the offer and had a little go on it, the first lap was a bit edgy, as you can imagine - a completely new bike etc. Anyway after the first lap, i found myself realy getting used to it and enjoying it. I found myself becoming more confident as the 2nd lap progressed, and by the 3rd lap i was overtaking riders older and more experienced than me - on a bike that i had never ridden before.

As you can imagine, i came back in with a smile the size of a banana that didnt shift for the next month or two

The Cost:
Speedway can be seriously expensive to do if you get into the higher end of it, which is where i am now. After riding my freinds Laydown, it came to my attention that i was realy in need of a newer bike if i was to progress any further, my dad realised this and pulled the plug on any more speedway riding this year.

We are now concentrating on the Grasstrack side of the world, which we partake in with fellow members of the VMCC ( Vintage Motorcycle Club). Its an absoultely fantastic club and the meetings are very fun. With a mix of riders of all ages - the oldest being in his late 70's and the youngest rider being about 8 , a great mix of vintage and more modern bikes, and a generally brilliant athmosphere. From my experience i would have to say that grasstrack is definately the most layed back of the two sports, and definately the easiest to get into.

Grasstrack is pretty much the same sport as speedway, but with the track being in a grass feild rather than a custom made speedway track. Bikes have suspension to cope with the bumps, and normaly 2/3 gears.

Anyway, here a few pictures to go with this little episode, sorry that i dont have many - but its hard to find anyone that would come take pictures of me thats any good

Here is a realy good picture to give a rough idea of how a speedway track looks from one side, and gives a real indication of how close the racing actually gets:
https://www.fim.ch/images/photos/Speedway_Prague/Prag2.jpg

This picture shows how the air barriers on the outside crash barriers work:
https://www.tvfpromotions.co.uk/images/crash.jpg

This is a nice picture showing what a modern speedway bike looks like when its track ready:
https://www.speedwaybikes.com/rw/images/05kerrbike.jpg

This picture shows very well how a rider would use acceleration at the end of the straight, to break traction in the rear wheel, then lay it down to bring the back end round slightly to break into a slide:
https://forum.speedway.ru/uploads/080511/DSC_5152.jpg

This picture is a good example of the type of surface that speedway is ran on, as it shows the clay base on the inside line that has had the top layer pushed aside by the racing on it, gradually progressing to the right hand side - to the loose brickdust and shale surface:
https://www.atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca/people/amit/postcard-speedway.jpg

This picture shows the force and technical ability that is used mid slides to alter the line of the corner. Its not as simple as just winding open the throttle and going:
https://www.bikeshowseurope.com/speedway-1.gif

Here is a quick picture to use as a comparison of the differences between speedway and grasstrack bikes:
https://www.xtremesport.org/r2w.jpg

This picture shows the sublte differences between grasstrack and speedway on the track, notice how the racing is still seriously close:
https://www.trymysport.co.uk/sports_photos/auto_cycle_union/track_racing.jpg

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Of course no post like this would be complete without a few action shots of yours truely

These were taken at kings lynn speedway track about this time last year it must have been... There are only two, as some have been either misplaced now, or overwritten.

Both pictures were taken mid-turn:

https://www.bikechatforums.com/download.php?id=13238

https://www.bikechatforums.com/download.php?id=13241

Taking the high line:
https://img47.imageshack.us/img47/4008/ss51ym.jpg

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If your interested in finding out more, or how to get into it - then this is the place you want to check out - www.speedway-forum.co.uk - They have links to every speedway team website out there - so you can find yourself a track thats local to you, to go and check it out for yourself.

There is a forum with a dedicated section to second half / amateur riding there - with information etc about training tracks, where to get the kit \ bikes.

Basically everything you need to know can be answered there (If i cant answer it myself of course).

Ok - This post has taken almost an hour and i dread to think how big it is

Hope some of you enjoy the read
____________________
CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear.

[Bendy]

Doing that since you were little, did it mess with your head when you started riding road bikes?

[Method]

It did make for an interesting CBT

But on a serious note, it does actually make a big difference when your riding on the road now, i find it makes me more confident about my abilities as a rider - and also i worry less about a little twitch from the rear tyre
____________________
CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear.

[FreshAL]

It's posts like that which make BCF great.

Brilliant read

[Ork12]

Very intresting :thumbsup:

[palmer]

I get that story EVERY time i meet Method

Only joking, It sounds cool, as ive said Would love to try it again, on a proper grasstrack bike though

[quacker_boy]

Very good read Method, might be a stupid question, but, do you use the power to make a turn on a speedway bike the same you do on a motorcross bike?

I.E to break the traction to the rear tyre and effectively slow yourself down?

I'd definitley love to give a shot sometime
____________________
wizzzard wrote: Imagine God just stopping by, tidying your front room up and then quietly letting himself out again. Statisticly more likely to happen than Korn being on here.

[Method]

Yup thats the one mate.

Its completely down to the power you supply to the rear wheel, the more you supply (dependant on how quickly it is applied etc), the more spin you will get, which means less traction. So the rear is allowed to swing round almost and try and overtake the front
____________________
CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear.

[Fadel]

I tried it once, when I was about 7 my dads mate had a speedway bike and a small track , don't remember much though haha. Bloody good fun though I bet

[CoronaBoner]

Nice post method

Use to go to rye house in hoddesdon to watch the speedway, really good fun to watch, saw some horrific crashes though
____________________
2004 RSV Factory

Cluck cluck chicken

[quacker_boy]

[Method]

[quacker_boy]

I've ridden rough sand, tarmac, loose sand, gravel and deep sand in my 6 years of Moto X riding so i suppose handling the bike wouldn't be too much of an issue, it's the throttle control that'd do my head in! Let go to go faster and twist to slow down, madness!

Any experience days or the like run in the South West area?
____________________
wizzzard wrote: Imagine God just stopping by, tidying your front room up and then quietly letting himself out again. Statisticly more likely to happen than Korn being on here.

[Method]

South west of England maybe - South West of the world, not a clue mate.

I know that speedway is big in europe, especially in the UK (Well its growing a lot).

I know someone who has gone off to set up a training track in Spain - but thats not where you are is it?

Just take a look around the internet or something mate, im realy not sure what there is in your part of the planet
____________________
CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear.

[quacker_boy]

I should of been a bit more specific, i know there's FA of speedway tracks round here, plenty of Moto X tracks but no speedway.

But i meant South West of England i come back on wednesday and figured i'd like to give it a shot sometime
____________________
wizzzard wrote: Imagine God just stopping by, tidying your front room up and then quietly letting himself out again. Statisticly more likely to happen than Korn being on here.

[Jack_Cheese]

How long you staying for, quacker? I'd love to come and take the piss out of you for flipping bikes in person lol

Nah, seriously - where abouts are you staying? McYankee should be coming over soon i think.

Great read method i always find speedway at it's most interesting early in the morning on eurosport after a heavy night of drinking. I gotta respect the talent there, sliding a bike has to be bloody hard.

Jack
____________________
www.bikepics.com/members/jackcheese <--- NOW FOR SALE! 51 Plate Cagiva Planet 125
Quacker_boy: "Jack, you really are a dick!"

[Method]

[ISLAND GIRL]

I quite fancy a bit of off road rough riding myself, maybe not the speedway but the grass tracking....on the right bike of course
____________________
Live on the Isle of Wight and ride a CBR600F

[quacker_boy]

Jack you really are a dick!

Unfortunately i'm a fair few miles from you, if you check out my location on the BCF map you'll see where i am.

Could always get a train down to me with McGrr, you two stay in a B and B and we'll go get wrecked every other night..wait...what am i saying...


EVERY NIGHT!
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wizzzard wrote: Imagine God just stopping by, tidying your front room up and then quietly letting himself out again. Statisticly more likely to happen than Korn being on here.

[chris___]

Nice one method
used to love watching speedway, my town used to have a team, the Long Eaton Invaders, but the track got closed down and is now a wasteland Real shame, it used to be a great night out. Would love a go myself, are there any track day stlye days at all in the UK whare you can hire bike etc?

Chris
____________________
Yamaha rxs100 > Kawasaki ZZR600 > Kawasaki ZX6R > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda Bros 400 > Suzuki SV650S K2
Bikepics page

[Method]

Yeah its a shame seeing all these tracks die out.

About 15/20 years back speedway started to loose its backing from sponsors, and as a result a lot of the smaller clubs didnt survive. Struggled on for a bit, but couldnt quite hold on Only a few compared to what there were a while back are still around, but speedway is Definately making a comeback! The coverage from Sky Sports, and being able to get big venues for large events, like the Grand Prix at the Cardiff Millenium Stadium realy helps to get the name about

As for "track day" style events, there is one major one that springs to mind. I have taken part in one of their days and i have to say they are fantastic They have two groups, one for the first timers - and one for the people who want extra track time with professional guidance. I was on the second group with my own bike etc, and the tutoring was fantastic

The company is called Powerslide Training, and can be found here: https://www.norfolkarena.co.uk/power.htm They run their days at Kings Lynn Speedway Track / Norfolk Arena in Kings Lynn. The days are brilliant

For the first timers, you will turn up and be sat down in the changing rooms where they will sort out you with all the kit you need. Then you will watch a short video in the bar, outlining all the points of the day, and the structure it will follow. Then its back to the Changing Rooms for getting kitted up and out onto the track. You will use a moto-x bike for the first hour or so, to get used to locking up the back brake and getting comfortable with the back end sliding.

Then you move onto the 125's round the small inner track, and learn to ride the things, then towards the end you will be shown how to get the rear end sliding. Then its time for lunch, where they lay the bar out with a huge buffet style lunch with drinks and everything there, and more than likely there will be some form of speedway video / live speedway playing on the bar TV

After lunch you will get back on the 125's for another little bit, then you will get talked to about the 500s. Then its time for the big bikes You get your shot to take round a 500cc bike around the main track and see what you can do. You get quite a bit of track time on the 500's, and some even manage to get quite quick and get the back broadsliding out of the bends towards the end

It has to be the most organised event like that i have been to and cant recomend it enough They run days all through the summer, but you need to check the website and book them up as places can get a bit tight for some of the more popular months.

Definately worth it though

Hope thats of some help to any of you thinking about giving it a shot, that would definately be my best it of advice to anyone thinking about it
____________________
CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear.

[chris___]

Cheers mate, that sounds awesome, definately something to add to my "to do" list!
____________________
Yamaha rxs100 > Kawasaki ZZR600 > Kawasaki ZX6R > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda Bros 400 > Suzuki SV650S K2
Bikepics page

[Method]

You wont regret it

Let me know if you book a place up, ill come down and take some pics for you Nothing like sliding a 500cc Single Cylinder bike round a bend at 60mph to make a good photo above your mantlepeice
____________________
CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear.

[400bandit]

Wasn't that mentioned on Petrol Heads? Top read, I used to go watch amateur sidecar grasstrack, that was great
Joe
____________________
Current Bikes 650 Honda Bros, VTR1000 Firestorm // Past Bikes: Sachs Madass 50/110cc - Bandit 400 - FZR750
(+ a XS650 in lots of pieces in my garage and other places...)

[Section59]

Found this Video of some solo + side car grasstracking, figured a few might like to watch.

They're Nucking Futs, but i really, REALLY want a go at this grasstrack lark! Looks fun as hell!