Off the Richter Scale

The stories of the great rift valley on turn one at Blunsdon have been well catalogued both here and in other arenas. Today was therefore an important day in the life of the old circuit at The Abbey. Remember, the full colour version can be accessed from here.

We didn't have to look long for the problem area when we arrived at the track this morning - there it was, lovingly carved out by mother nature.

The greyhound track, which surrounds the speedway circuit at Swindon, is now significantly higher and, consequently, every time it rains the water, and quite a bit of sand, washes down behind the fence and kickboards and then makes its erosive way across the entrance to turn 1, weakening the surface.

The solution we came up with was to dig a trench 18 inches deep across the problem area and sink a drainage pipe to take the water straight from the greyhound track, under the speedway track, and away into the drains on the inner field of turns 1 and 2. Another great supporter of Swindon, Dave, gave up his day off to dig us a trench.

Carefully Dave began to remove the top surface from out by the kickboards. We knew that the material would be hard and well packed.

What we weren't expecting was an immoveable object!

What we actually found was a vast piece of concrete lurking six inches below the surface.

Dave tried to dig through it, under it, around it, but it would not budge. Closer inspection showed it to be a concrete slab into which the stock car fence was fixed when "stocks" were raced at Blunsdon.

In the end we had to locate the edge of the slab and dig around it.

What we found was fascinating. The picture (left) shows the various levels of strata and is as close to archeology as speedway is ever likely to be.

At the bottom was the black cinder surface originally laid in 1948.

The various types of shale used over the last 50 years could be easily made out. Our upper layer was redder than the level below, which was a finer, brownish coloured shale.

Below that was a sandier type of shale and then a number of reddish layers before the magical black cinders of that original track appeared. Under the cinders was a layer, about an inch thick, of clinker. Both cinders and clinker presumably came from the railway works in Swindon.

While Dave, the digger and Gerald went of to fill the JCB's bucket with new shale (actually taken from a supply used at the 2006 Cardiff GP), Punch and I made sure that the trench was level and ready for the pipe work.

We'll show this picture to the next rider who complains about a bumpy entrance to turn 1.

We received a delivery of the top dressing from the 2006 Cardiff GP track in the summer but haven't used it much because it is very fine with quite a low in clay and doesn't bind very well on its own.

It is quite a brown shale, quite distinctive from the shale that we usually use at Blunsdon.

Gerald sources our usual shale from the Midlands and, as can be seen, it is a much redder material.

Gerald doesn't believe in using specially mixed and formulated shales - "God's been doing it quite successfully for the last few billion years ... I'll trust in his experience of mixing shale."

Plan A was to dig a trench across both turns 1 and 3. Plan B was not to bother with the turn 3 trench, and so it came to pass.

Dave put down two full loads of Cardiff shale onto turn 3 and then Punch spread it and mixed it with the water laden material already there. With luck it will bind together.

Perhaps not as large as we were expecting, the pipes were nevertheless received with some enthusiasm.

Gerald shows his admiration for the pipe bends but can't fathom if the pipes are right handed or left handed!

Of course, we don't want to sure one problem only to create another. As Punch and I shovel the mixture of shale and cinders back into the trench Gerald uses the Kubota tractor to pack the material down firmly. At this stage the last thing we want is to replace one area of weakness with another.

We pull the last of the material back over the trench and then begin the process of packing it down firmly. The cinders have come to the surface in some places and we have to manually collect up some pieces of clinker that have appeared.

Although there is a pronounced bump there we are confident it will all settle down over the winter.

After a later than usual lunch break we carry on grading and leveling the surface until turn one entrance looks almost perfect. It will sink a little over the next few weeks but should be in great shape for the 2007 season, perhaps our last at the Abbey Stadium, Blunsdon.

We spend the rest of the afternoon grading and packing down the surface of the entire track. At one stage a casual observer might surmise that Punch and Gerald were engaged in "big boys" tractor racing but both assured me that what was being done was purely in the best interests of the track!

I must mention Brian Cox at this stage. He will be most put out if I fail to mention his sterling work on the advertising hoardings as we dug our trench.

Mick from Swindon Pressure Cleaning also turned up later in the afternoon to check on progress and to wish us all a merry Christmas.

We'll be back next Thursday (21st December) to link our new pipe to the main centre green drains and bed the track down for Christmas. In the meantime its time for the Radox and a hot soak in the bath.