Peter Loix

It was never the stealth bomber, it was always the Armchair!!

I would also vote Stu Smith Jr, mainly because he came back with a renewed vigour and dominated after a quieter period before, and he also won a title on a surface no-one really thought he could and in a car that had previously done little on that surface. Tom had more success maybe, but was also playing in other fields aswell and is maybe less than stellar in how he does things at times. For some fans, that means more than simply winning more things, titles, races etc. I would also suggest Frank for having that ridiculous year in the new car when he was almost unbeatable on shale!

A friend and I used to go enduro bike racing at a place called Baden Hall, this was also used for weapons testing of some kind.Some fascinating buildings and small rails everywhere, brickwork, little areas clearly used not that long ago.

Any idea when this was last all used, looks remarkably well kept some of it, must have been used well into the 80's and 90's.

I have only been once, bit far away from me to be honest. Yes it was a dump, but often the good places are, and I think we do look at some of your long term tracks with rose tints at times. Most importantly it served a lot of drivers maybe not in 1's but in a lot of other formulas, and that is a miss. And ti was improved greatly over the years. I was watching some stuff from Last Bend clothing last night of a meeting there in early 90's it was brilliant, the bumps were fair, loads of action, and very unpredictable racing.

The thing people always seem to ignore about Ipswich is the fact the speedway track is inside the asphalt. That makes the racing line clean after practice and a few races, but the line outside it so, so slippery, it was the same at Arena, the outside of the track, maybe two car widths from the kerb was literally like racing on dust. It used to even be a bit like towards the end at Wimbledon. That has a lot to do with why Ipswich is not great racing wise. And also these guys are not stupid, they know if they start firing each other in like they do at say Birmingham, the speeds are maybe 15 mph higher, you are going to hurt someone. It's a hobby guys, please remember that. And although the dust issue does not apply at Hednesford, the speed element does.

My point exactly lol!

For me, it's the week after the World Final, in my opinion it should be a week off for F1's. Fit Hednesford into a later date, would rather they raced there in a Shootout, but I would imagine they will be bid on or something? Or given out in some way that means this place does not get one. But they are a support category this weekend, so no reason to expect them to be in big numbers, for no apparent reason Hednesford is not a popular track with Incarace for F1's, possibly parking, who knows. I have often thought Woddy don't like it coz he hates having to drive a long way home!! It's a shame, but this weekend for me should be all about saloons, that is reason enough to visit, quite why people are so concerned at small numbers for a bit part in the meeting and a week after the biggest weekend of the year is beyond me.

Have to be honest, the pink stuff just slightly misses the point for me, these girls, and there are lots of them who compete in our sport, are just race car drivers, racing against each other. If they individually want to play the gender card to generate personal growth or sponsorship, fair enough, but people using it to promote the sport from the outside, I think is a bad thing short term and actually goes against the whole gender debate of women racing in motorsport as a whole. Just my opinion and nothing against Phoebe or anyone else, but they are doing enough to warrant news by racing and competing and sometimes winning, gender should play no part, it doesn't in Mini's so it should not here either. We have a great crop of young drivers out there right now, regardless of gender. The story for me is that they spent their youth racing regardless of gender and they are still doing it now. THAT should be the story and it is leaps ahead of anything happening in motorsport worldwide. Having said that, as Phoebe herself said, it is all publicity and there is really nothing to lose from that.

F1's would be a support formula that weekend, it is a big weekend for saloons, I think that is a perfectly reasonable thing to assume? There is nothing on it, and it's a week after a WF. I think it's a decent list considering that.

Its no shock though really is it, it's shale, so a no brainer if you are able to do it, rather than the rather pointless exercise of taking a shale car to Brafield on tar and getting beaten to bits, taking a damaged car home. Dutch racing has change significantly over the past 15 or so years. I would like to see better integration too, but it seems the Dutch are always more likely to travel here in greater numbers, not helped by calendars etc I think on our side. It could be done better though.

The point has to be this. It is tricky enough to keep hold of fans. Obviously, people know abut parking areas, etc, but councils can be pretty clever too and put up signs that are out of the way, or you could risk parking somewhere that is dodgy or renowned for thefts or damage. If you went to a meet and came back to find damage or a ticket, yes it will always be partly be your fault, but the damage to your opinion of the venue might be tainted, all for the sake of a few lines on a webpage or on here. My point was simply that at places like Stoke, Brum, Sheffield where parking is a potential issue I do not think it would be a bad thing for promotion team to offer some guidelines. They could even make money out of it. Ask a company to use a car park and split the takings? A lot of people will happily pay a few quid. As they already do. there will always be those, like me who refuse, and look for somewhere free!! I would think this website could probably do a better job than a promoter for this, and one site that could was the one recently closed down by the people who run the supposed biggest motrosport series in the world! Note that at Silverstone parking cost 35 quid on the day!!!

Not quite sure why you feel the need to label a person you don't know with a generational tag, guess that is something you do. My point is merely that to help fans out, a promoter could offer advice as to the best places to park, it is an issue at several tracks in the country, notably Sheffield and Birmingham, the car park at Sheffield will be full hours before the meeting starts, so why not offer some help or suggestions to fans, is there any harm in it? Or would you rather laugh at fans with tickets on the way out, did you laugh at people with cats nicked or damage to their cars at Birmingham, things that have happened over the years. I would hope not. If you work with a team it is an issue you will rarely encounter, but it certainly IS an issue that factors into meetings I attend I can tell you. Another example, Brafield, Clearly, recent issues with the gate historically used to exit the field, not open last time I went, I had to wait int he field for nearly half an hour, because of only one exit. Get there early you say, why should I have to? I might be doing other things. these things matter to some people.

I never go to this place, too far, is there info from the promoters about places to park? Might be helpful? At least some info with warnings about possible fines etc.

Was Craig driving the Armchair? Not the small car?