Water, Water everywhere ....

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The weather forecast is foul – driving rain and high winds all day. It does not bode well for a day’s work on a speedway track.

When I arrive at The Abbey Stadium Gerald and Punch are holed up in the staffroom and the kettle is on. It’s too wet to be contemplating anything on the track so we set about waiting for the lorry that will take the air fence away fro servicing.

After a cup of coffee and a general chat about the state of speedway in the UK we decide to make some secure storage space for when the replacement equipment arrives. Those who have been avidly following this diatribe (blog) will already know that some bas….ds broke into the track a few weeks back and stole our equipment including all of Punch’s tools.

There’s no photographs of the new hidey-hole – it’s all very hush hush.

Gerald’s on the phone again. The time for the lorry’s arrival has come and gone and the storm clouds are massing. He stomps around the yard and finally calms down sufficiently to tell us that the lorry will be here, but it will be 90 minutes late.

We retreat to the relative warmth of the staffroom.

Gerald talks longingly about the tracks that he created in South Africa. We will be featuring pictures of them in due course (when I can get my hands on the photos). The tracks are neat and tidy. Sad to say, but it now appears that they have fallen into disuse as South African speedway fast approaches extinction.

Discussion turns to shale. Some tracks use shale that has been mixed with clay to produce a surface that binds. It’s a personal point of view but Gerald firmly believes in avoiding man made mixtures. “I’d prefer to leave it to God. He’s been mixing shale for billions of years and he’s just about got the mixture right.” The shale at Swindon comes from a quarry up in the East Midlands. Shale is oxidised coal and is found on or very close to coalfields. The present stock comes form a seam that was uncovered last year.

The red shale is used in many everyday locations. Golf courses use packed shale as a surface for walkways and councils up and down the country use shale to bolster up the surface of pavements and paths. Because it is relatively low in clay content it allows water to drain through without clogging up into a cloying mixture.

The shale has to be graded and ours has been passed through a grader with piano wire to sift out larger particles. When the shale is mined it comes out in large, hard clumps. These are broken down in crushers and the subsequent material passed over the wired grading machine. Larger pieces are rejected – speedway riders rightly object to being hit by missiles inches across travelling at high speed from the rear of a speedway tyre.

When the shale is watered and packed down it makes for a hard surface that can be raced upon. The addition of brick dust can help to dry out a track, since the brick material is highly absorbent. Sometimes granite dust is also added to protect against over watering but in both cases the effect can be problematical; too much water and the surface with brick dust and granite can become Somme like and is rendered totally useless for racing.

It is this fine balance that the experienced track curator has to achieve – not enough water and the track breaks up into a dustbowl – too much and it becomes sticky and uneven (and unraceable).

The lorry arrives followed ten minutes later by Rosco. Punch, Gerald and I heave the sections of air fence up onto the lorry while the driver and Rosco manoeuvre them into place. By the time that the 48th panel has been hoisted into place we are all knackered. Punch and I have boots full of water where the fence has kindly drained down our legs. Gerald is unhappy about missing his dentist’s appointment and so we pin Rosco down (metaphorically, you understand) and force him to reveal the names of the septet who will make up the 2007 Robins.

Sorry, can’t mention any names – the information is embargoed until next Tuesday (12th December) so who will be accommodated in the pits at Blunsdon will have to wait until then.

We retire to the staffroom and begin plans for the drainage pipes that we hope to install on turns 1 and 3. We’ll be using 5 inch pipes buried at a depth of about 18 inches. These should collect the water that runs off the dog track and send it straight through to the drains on the centre green. This should helps us to avoid the breaking up of the track, especially at the crucial point in turn one where the bikes are revving at their highest.

If we can get the drainage completed and get some new shale onto the track before the Christmas break we’ll be more than happy but we’re in the hands of the weather from now on.

In the mean time, have a look at the photo gallery on the “All dancing blog” site and get ready for a very unusual speedway quiz coming your way.

The bath is calling and my back is about to be rewarded for another solid day’s work.