The start of the new campaign at Swindon

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OK. Hands up! The blog is late. There is no excuse .... really.

In an attempt to keep the blog current and fresh, there is a slight alteration to the style of the blog as it morphs into "The everyday tale of track folk during a speedway season".

The final week of the close season has been manic here, and probably at every speedway track in the country. Our timetable has reflected this.

Saturday we worked from 8am to 2pm.

Sunday (behind closed doors practice) started at 8am and finished late afternoon.

Monday (Press Day) started at 8am and ended at 7pm.

Thursday started at 8am and finished at 11.15pm.

Saturday started at 8am and finished at 1pm.

I sense a feeling of neglect when my children starting asking my wife if I have really left home!
Nevertheless our Monday work starts with a good clearing of the area at the back of the pits.

We decide to line up all of the machinery that we use on the track on one side of the area and set aside the other side for our cars. Punch erects a taped fence in front of our restroom to stop vehicles from blocking us in. As we finish I decide to make a brief record of some of the equipment we use on the track.

The yellow "Wonder wheel" is used to create dirt on the track during the meeting. Complete with 66 metal spikes, the wheel rotates quickly behind a driven tractor and disturbs the surface of the track to help the riders gain much needed grip during the meeting. We don't tend to use the wheel much during preparation - it's main use is during the meeting itself.

The little yellow blade is the subject of some controversy. Punch is adamant that he and an ex Clerk of the Course bought it themselves. Somewhere along the way a promoter added it to his list of equipment and the sold it to the stadium, who now use it on the dog track. It may be very old but it does do a very good job (when we can get our hands on it) and is capable of blading right up to the fence.

Next up is "The Ripper". As its name suggests, this is used to rip the top half inch of the track surface. We use it on the start line (our lads like plenty of grip off the tapes) and on the exits of turns 2 and 4 (to help them power out of the corners).

The red grader is one of the most used pieces of equipment. It has four bars that cut away any ridges on the track and then allow excess shale to fill up holes etc. This us extensively used during the preparation and during meetings.

The riders are due to arrive soon and we work feverishly on the track to make sure that everything is ready for them.

Mick Richards has already been out to pressure wash the air fence and all of the banners have been cleaned. The itinerary is that the riders will arrive late morning and unload their bikes. They will then go up to the Legends' Lounge at Blunsdon for food and a chance to meet with the press.

After their interviews they will return to the pits, get changed and then pose for photos with sponsors and officials of the club. They will then take to the track for their final practice session in front of invited guests and members of the public.

Rico is an early arrival. He is a delightful chap, almost too honest for his own good. He chats with everyone and is absolutely confident that he can put his misfortunes of last year behind him.

As we admire his new bikes a local business man, Andy Nurden, appears. Andy has put his hand in his pocket this year to sponsor Lee. Andy is a great motor sports enthusiast - he's already completed the Paris Dakar rally in a converted fire engine and is an accomplished motor cyclist. It's people like Andy who provide the vital extras that can help turn around Lee's career, and the better tat Lee does, the better the team will do.

In the midst of a packed pits area Rosco, in pristine white Robins shirt, oversees all that goes on. The bikes splutter into life and we are ready for the off - the last practice session. In fact, because they were in Poland on Sunday, the only practice session for both Lee Richardson and Seba Ulamek.

The start line girls appear in their new uniform. One of them, Gemma, is Punch's grand daughter and he is inordinately proud of her. But there are only three girls present - so an unlikely candidate steps forward to fill the void.

We remind Punch that if he wants to be a start line girl he must wear the figure hugging body suit. Gerald, who's listening, makes a gagging sound at the prospect of this happening. Punch, crest fallen, takes the point.

The press swarm out onto the centre green to take team and individual photographs.

There is little that we can do but stand around and wait for the jamboree to finish. We are a little concerned that the fresh wind that blasts across Blunsdon will dry out the surface too much - we don't want a dust bowl, nor do we want to do too much damage to the newly laid track.

It is unfair perhaps to pick out one rider's bikes for special praise but, when Swindon do come to a track near you, try to get a good look at Seba Ulamek's bikes - they are immaculate. The anodised wheels and beautifully carved frame are works of art in themselves.

As the riders take to the track in ones, twos and fours the track staff work feverishly to make sure that the surface stands up. We've spent a long time packing down the holes that appeared on the entrance to turn 1 and at the apex of turns 1 and 2.

Like the other riders Tomasz waits at the pits gate for his turn. Tom's English isn't the best but he is appreciative of our efforts on the track.

Tommy Allen, our number 8, is the first to test the air fence when he picks up too much grip coming out of turn 4. He picks himself, uninjured. Of more importance, the surface wasn't to blame and the air fence is undamaged!

At the end of the session the track staff set to work feverishly, dragging back the enormous amount of dirt back onto the racing lines. The track is graded and tyre packed and the air fence deflated. It's been an exhausting few days and we are all in need of a good rest before the action begins with a season opener against our friends from down the M4, the Reading Bulldogs.

Thursday 15th
This is it - the start of the 2007 speedway season. five months of winter work has all been building up to this. Jeff Scott (Showered in Shale) has joined us for the day to research for a forthcoming publication.

Our first task is to inflate the air fence and put up the green netting (that prevents too much shale from being thrown up onto the dog track). The fence is then attached to the safety fence to lock it in place. Mick Richards pressure washes the fence and the advertising banners. Gerald and Punch work on the track, blading, grading and lightly harrowing the surface. We keep an eye on the weather - rain is forecast so watering has to be carefully considered.

Since the equipment was stolen in the break in we have been without a functioning pressure washed. Mick's pressure washer can't reach the kickboards on the main and back straights so we have to rig up a hired washer. Heath Robinson it certainly is, but it works - thank God for nylon rope and the ingenuity of Punch.

With the fences clean it is now up to us to pack the track down using the small tractor. We must do this in case rain comes. An unpacked track soon turns into a quagmire in a burst of rainfall. With the surface packed and hard at least the rain cannot penetrate the surface and we will be able to cope with the ragings of Jupiter Pluvius!

We have also hired a sit on roller so that we can pack down the newly laid areas on turns 1 and 2. We've dug out masses of sand affected shale and replaced it with new shale. This has been well watered in, to help it bind to the base, and then tyre packed. The larger roller should help firm up the surface. Gerald is smiling for the first time today - he's in his element on the roller - talk about kids and toys!

The track is almost ready. Gerald rips the start line and also the exits of turns 2 and 4. This ripping is then lightly tyre packed. In this case it should hold together but provide loads of grip for the riders.

As the riders start to arrive, at about 4pm, we try to keep out of their way. Inevitably there is talk at the pits entrance. Our lads want to know what the track is like while the opposition's promoter swaps stories with gerald about winter track preparation.

This is a strange period of the day for us. There is little that we can do, and all we want to do is get some shut eye, but we're all too tense to relax. One aspect that I have come to appreciate in my year working with the team is that you feel responsible for the race track. If we haven't done our job properly, or if the weather turns against us, then we are stuffed! We are also very aware that riders' safety is in our hands; we must produce a safe race track for them whilst still encouraging them to take the risks that are part and parcel of the sport.

Punch collapses in his chair in the work room. Like the rest of us, he just wants the meeting to get going.

With the light disappearing and a cold Spring evening enveloping the stadium, the red overalls are donned and we go out to meet up with the race night track staff who have been arriving since 6pm. Bikes are being warmed up and the whole pits area judders with the noise of highly tuned engines. The smell is intoxicating - if you could bottle it it would be the speedway fans ideal Christmas present. The smell may not be so rich as it once was (the synthetic nature of the chemicals has taken away the edge) but it's still a wonderful odour!

The riders climb onto the wagon and make their way to the start line. They are joined by Don Rogers and other glitterati from the 1967 League Cup winning football team, together with the actual trophy. A new link has been forged between the speedway and football clubs in the town.
The pits are an eerie place at this time. Spare bikes stand silently alongside mountainous tool boxes (if only we could lay our hands on on just a few cast off tools to help with our work - it's time like these when the Heath Robinson like solutions that we have to employ to get work done are put firmly into focus).

We're all very pleased to catch a glimpse of Rosco's notes in the programme where he thanks us for our work over the winter break and even mentions the Blog! We don't go out of our way to seek praise and thanks but it does feel so good when someone makes the effort to acknowledge our work!

And so the meeting starts. It's not the job of the blog to write reports about the meetings this season - that is done in a much better fashion in other web sites and other publications. However, we are all relieved when Leigh wins the first heat in a good time and gives us the nod of approval as he enters the pits.

Those of you who have read the Blog through the winter (the old articles are all available in the Archive on the Menu Bar) will know that we have worked hard to remove the bumps and make the corners more evenly cambered. This hasn't been received with universal approval. At least two of the side have complained that the removal of the banking will affect their riding styles.
However, we wanted to smooth out the camber and open up the entrance to the corners to increase the racing lines. This apparently controversial decision is vindicated in full in heat 2 as Mads Korneliussen swoops from 4th to first on turns 1 and 2 with a real blast around the boards.

Rumours come from the turnstiles that cars have been turned away in significant numbers because the car parks are full. I wander round the track to make sure that the air pumps are topped up with fuel and as I do I am able to appreciate the size of the crowd - huge - and many enthusiastic comments about the quality of the racing on offer.

Don't get me wrong - we enjoy the win - but we are more pleased with the way that the track has held up. Sure, the turns have cut up but no one has got out of shape and the racing has been sensational. Turn 1 isn't as bad as it was after the Press day and is immeasurably better than it was after the behind closed doors practice.

We clear the boards and pull back the loose shale as Gerald and Punch grade the track. Punch, Gerald and I then take to the track as the stadium empties. Gerald leads the way with the grader and the harrow, I follow in the small tractor pulling the tractor tyres which pack down the surface and Punch follows me in the water tanker flattening out any inconsistencies in the surface. It has started to drizzle - a fine rain sweeping the stadium. It is the perfect way to water and prepare a track, so we decide to make the most of it. A major part of our work is working with the weather - in Britain in March you can't afford to miss any opportunity.

At 11pm we leave the track, park the tractors, close the gates, pull up the metal sheets that protect the dog track from damage near the pits gate and make our way out of a near deserted stadium.

It's been a very long day and I am exhausted, as well as stinking of diesel, the result of a broken pipe on the diesel tank that showered me with the foul smelling concoction earlier in the day.

Saturday 17th March
Punch, Keith and I pitch up for work at 8am. Our first task is to pull back the shale that has been thrown against the kickboards on the straights. In some places the mounds are 6 inches deep - and they say that there isn't dirt on modern speedway tracks!

As Keith and I tidy up along the kick boards Punch fills the bucket of the JCB with new red shale and then takes it out onto the track. We spread the shale over any problem areas and top dress the entrances to the turns. If we can do this on a regular basis this year we should be able to keep the track in pristine condition throughout the season.

The rainfall of Thursday evening has sealed the surface which now is drying out. Large cracks meander their way across the surface of the shale. A speedway track track changes its nature from day to day, and these cracks show how much it's changed in just 36 hours!

Punch now uses the medium blade and the harrow to pull the loose shale that we've dug out from the boards across the track as evenly as possible. The track is looking good again.

Our last task is to pack the surface down. Punch suggests that now is the perfect time for me to learn how to drive the big water tanker. By pathetic attempts to drive a tractor have been well catalogued here so the prospect of driving the massive tanker is a daunting one.

Punch drives it onto the track for me - we don't want to start demolition work on the stadium now by demolishing the pits gates!

It's surprisingly difficult to tyre pack with the tanker because you can't see the wheels and you are very high up in the cab. Nevertheless, it's great fun and, with practice, I do improve, even if it means going back over the same section of track several times to pack it all down.

At 1.30 we leave. Oh God, am I tired but the track is in good order and ready for next Thursday!