JohnB

Awful news to hear of. One of the last of the old school type drivers, Tim was a proper fan of oval racing and could be seen spectating at many meetings far and wide. Whether that was Winter Wimbledons, F2 meetings in the South West, The National Hot Rod world final, just an F1 meeting he wasnt racing at, also attending the winter shows, Tim was somewhere to be seen. He always said hello when i saw him and had time to chat for anyone. Condolencies to Chrissy, his many friends and family.

Theres a pic on the defunct speedway tracks website of the track under construction which must be about 1983 as it was open by 84.

Thanks Roy. Ive not seen that 1931 ariel shot before. Ive gone to Wheels since it opened, as a shale track. Back then i remember we parked on the land that is now the karting track. It was derelict land and there was still the shell of a factory type unit that must have been part of the Wolsley works. Something else with the track, when it opened, the entrance used to be from the current car park by way of climbing a lot of steps that brought you out onto the City bend, turns 3/4 stox wise. If you look carefully at the undergrowth behind the turn you can just make out the remains of that. There was a short period when some shelter was erected for spectators. But it had to be moved, was put up on the turn, then i recall some on the straight, i think it had to be portable due to planning issues and didnt last very long, maybe just a few meetings. Long time ago to remember, at least 35 years. There are parts on the terracing where you can see where the supports were put for this.

Tommy Barnes Saloon 26 Timmy Barnes Saloon 131 Brothers i believe

Mick always had time for a chat, he must have known so many people. Doesnt seem long ago i last saw him. He didnt just attend f1 dates either. I regularly saw him at Wimbledon too and would always talk in the car park or round the pits. He would go Aldershot sometimes as well. So sad, he will be missed.

Its simple really. Keep people informed. Im not sure about the whole we left the decision as late as possible for the travelling dutch. Theyve actually made it worse. You cant do anything about the weather. But i went Skegness Thursday, there were floods everywhere. Thats when i suspect the damage had been done. If there was doubt about the fixture, they should have said a decision would be made Friday evening. Now you have teams, such as Wim Peeters for example who have travelled to the uk at great expense and no meeting. He wont be at Northampton as hes going to Venray so a wasted trip to the UK, and its not a small journey. There were others booked saturday only too. By keeping them advised you would give them the choice of making the trip or not or hanging on travelling to see if its running. Or maybe wasting peoples time and money is ok by you?

Agree. There was a big f2 race planned. Would they cancel the wf based on a forecast? But a better compromise may have been move the f2 wos to sunday and let any who wanted to race on Saturday do so? Forecast really isnt as bad as it was yesterday so should have been called then.

Becasuse it was forecast rain all day today, it hasnt. So cancelling on a forecast is foolish when theres a large number of overseas already travelling. Lots of uk fans out of pocket too. "Brisca never cancel" 😳

They were going to uprate the f2 national series points following Sheffields cancellation. What on earth will they do now?! Theres basically one date any rearranged fixture f1/f2 could potentially be and thats day before the f1/f2NS finals

What a farce. Cancelling meetings based on forecasts. It was forecast rain all day today, theres hardly been any. Mildenhall forecast tomorrow is wet but not as bad as many areas. Loads have hotels booked. Theres loads of dutch coming, or seemingly already over and they do this. Forecast has been like it for a few days so its a bit late for the overseas travellers. Poor decision.

I would like to think a common sense approach will be made by the promotion. No alcohol perfectly understandable and a little food, a few snacks. As for no soft drinks as it reads. If the heat we are having continues that would just be irresponsible? Especially if demand was higher than anticipated and they ran out. And need to be careful not to put people off going. At the cost of admission if just a few people were upset enough to not go in future they would need to sell many hundreds of bottles extra soft drinks to cover loss of gate money. A false economy.

Still not learnt any customer service skills. Thanks but no thanks. We wont be bothering.

Interesting to watch the Kiwis get to grips with tarmac. Got faster in each run. Wayne Hemi looked really comfortable after a few runs in the ex wf winner. Different when you get to race situation though.

This weekend sometimes had f1 sunday only day after Long Eaton and included an f1 semi once or twice. Not sure why f1 was added as there has never been a drop in numbers. Used to be 100-120 f2s but got restricted when f1s joined. Saloon numbers are now higher than ever but never been a shortage. I guess the f1s were added to theoretically increase the crowd. But i think the crowd would be almost as good without and promoter would have much less to pay out without them. I too would not mind a return to more f2s and dropping the f1s. And minis as a 3rd formula would be ideal.

Im surprised at the low r/r given. It wasnt too bad and better than last time. I know Steve is frustrated at the low shale entries, as many of us are. Im sure it will improve but may need more shale fixtures/tracks. Entries well up on shale in f2 at present, any lessons to learn? 1600 bangers often seem quiet at bvue to me. Not sure why really but holiday crowd seem to enjoy it. And the banger meeting at Stoke saturday was possibly the best held in Startrax history!