Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2011 19:39:35 GMT
Whilst there are fears for the forthcoming GP because of the silencer rows, it's good to see that plans are continuing to expand the series in the future........
It's been raining heavily at Western Springs, Auckland's iconic speedway track, but that hasn't dampened the mood of motorbike legend Ole Olsen.
Olsen peers cheerily out at the track, where, at a cost of $25,000, a section of specially-calibrated shale has been laid over the usual clay surface. "It's pissing down with rain, and you can still walk on it," he says approvingly.
What the weather has proved is Auckland is ready – technically at least – to host a stage of motorbike speedway's world championships, a series which graces nine countries, has TV audiences totalling three million across 150 countries and draws live crowds of up to 45,000.
Four-time world champion Olsen now runs the sport and was in Auckland last week to provide a report to the governing body, FIM, on plans to take a stage of the championship outside Europe for the first time in a decade.
He exclusively told the Sunday Star-Times he would recommend FIM support a grand prix being held here in March 2012. A decision will be made in June, when the sport's calendar is finalised – but much depends now on the desire of the new Auckland council to bring major events to the city.
The man behind the scheme is a millionaire engineering genius whose machines are used in the manufacture of 90% of the world's silicon chips: your iPhone, laptop and television all owe something to Bill Buckley.
And Buckley loves speedway. Not averse to 32-hour stints on his own Auckland factory floor, where they export 500 tonnes a year of hi-tech ion implant and electromagnetic machinery (also used in cancer research), Buckley, the promoter at Western Springs, says of race nights: "I sit there and watch, and I hardly talk to my wife – she moans about me – and I don't get up for dinner. When it's running, I just want to watch it ... it's the ultimate sport to me."
The third player in the deal is IMG, the world's biggest sports marketers, who as well as representing Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, also own the rights to speedway and are desperate to expand it into the Asia-Pacific region. So keen, they've despatched their Kiwi-born head of motorsport, Rob Armstrong, to work from their Auckland office for the next two years.
The urbane Armstrong, whose CV includes helping create the Stewart Formula One team, says: "It's not low-hanging fruit from a financial perspective. This is a strategic move to expand the sport outside Europe. The financial side is secondary: for us its much easier to have another event in Europe.
Ad Feedback "Genuinely, it's for the good of the sport: I can say without a wry smile on my face because we're not a short-term promoter, we ... have until 2021. It allows us to say it may not be so great now, but in five or ten years' time, it's really good. We can take a broader view."
Armstrong says it's a good deal for Auckland because speedway is relatively cheap compared to other motorsports, offers a permanent slot on the calendar (unlike the world rally championship) and "we're never going to get Formula One". Like the others involved, he talks about speedway's illustrious history here, and says: "We think it will be very easily done to reignite the flames in New Zealand."
The big hurdle, says Buckley's offsider, Lewis Dawson, is a council hearing next month to see if they will back the event. Dawson says the city's Major Events team in are in favour. How much does he need? He thinks it will cost $1m to stage. "That's a conservative estimate," he adds. What chance does he think they are of pulling it off? "I would say it is a 100% chance," he declares. "I have to say that, don't I?"
Rumbling in the background is a long-running dispute with a handful of locals over noise at the track (they are limited to 90 decibels, and just 12 regular meets a year), but Buckley says brightly: "I think the council are starting to see the merits of what we are doing with the speedway and I think they will get behind this."
Olsen, who spent much of his stay consulting Auckland concreters Stephenson's over the "delicate" mix of shale to race bikes on, is sold. "There will be a report which will say `this can be done' ... I don't see any big snags."
There is a warning: Olsen was here last June for abortive talks with Tauranga's Baypark circuit about taking a race there. "If it's going to happen, it needs to happen this time," he declares. "It's not something we'd keep pushing. We have got other options."
www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsport/4841666/Moves-to-bring-speedway-world-champs-to-Auckland
It's been raining heavily at Western Springs, Auckland's iconic speedway track, but that hasn't dampened the mood of motorbike legend Ole Olsen.
Olsen peers cheerily out at the track, where, at a cost of $25,000, a section of specially-calibrated shale has been laid over the usual clay surface. "It's pissing down with rain, and you can still walk on it," he says approvingly.
What the weather has proved is Auckland is ready – technically at least – to host a stage of motorbike speedway's world championships, a series which graces nine countries, has TV audiences totalling three million across 150 countries and draws live crowds of up to 45,000.
Four-time world champion Olsen now runs the sport and was in Auckland last week to provide a report to the governing body, FIM, on plans to take a stage of the championship outside Europe for the first time in a decade.
He exclusively told the Sunday Star-Times he would recommend FIM support a grand prix being held here in March 2012. A decision will be made in June, when the sport's calendar is finalised – but much depends now on the desire of the new Auckland council to bring major events to the city.
The man behind the scheme is a millionaire engineering genius whose machines are used in the manufacture of 90% of the world's silicon chips: your iPhone, laptop and television all owe something to Bill Buckley.
And Buckley loves speedway. Not averse to 32-hour stints on his own Auckland factory floor, where they export 500 tonnes a year of hi-tech ion implant and electromagnetic machinery (also used in cancer research), Buckley, the promoter at Western Springs, says of race nights: "I sit there and watch, and I hardly talk to my wife – she moans about me – and I don't get up for dinner. When it's running, I just want to watch it ... it's the ultimate sport to me."
The third player in the deal is IMG, the world's biggest sports marketers, who as well as representing Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, also own the rights to speedway and are desperate to expand it into the Asia-Pacific region. So keen, they've despatched their Kiwi-born head of motorsport, Rob Armstrong, to work from their Auckland office for the next two years.
The urbane Armstrong, whose CV includes helping create the Stewart Formula One team, says: "It's not low-hanging fruit from a financial perspective. This is a strategic move to expand the sport outside Europe. The financial side is secondary: for us its much easier to have another event in Europe.
Ad Feedback "Genuinely, it's for the good of the sport: I can say without a wry smile on my face because we're not a short-term promoter, we ... have until 2021. It allows us to say it may not be so great now, but in five or ten years' time, it's really good. We can take a broader view."
Armstrong says it's a good deal for Auckland because speedway is relatively cheap compared to other motorsports, offers a permanent slot on the calendar (unlike the world rally championship) and "we're never going to get Formula One". Like the others involved, he talks about speedway's illustrious history here, and says: "We think it will be very easily done to reignite the flames in New Zealand."
The big hurdle, says Buckley's offsider, Lewis Dawson, is a council hearing next month to see if they will back the event. Dawson says the city's Major Events team in are in favour. How much does he need? He thinks it will cost $1m to stage. "That's a conservative estimate," he adds. What chance does he think they are of pulling it off? "I would say it is a 100% chance," he declares. "I have to say that, don't I?"
Rumbling in the background is a long-running dispute with a handful of locals over noise at the track (they are limited to 90 decibels, and just 12 regular meets a year), but Buckley says brightly: "I think the council are starting to see the merits of what we are doing with the speedway and I think they will get behind this."
Olsen, who spent much of his stay consulting Auckland concreters Stephenson's over the "delicate" mix of shale to race bikes on, is sold. "There will be a report which will say `this can be done' ... I don't see any big snags."
There is a warning: Olsen was here last June for abortive talks with Tauranga's Baypark circuit about taking a race there. "If it's going to happen, it needs to happen this time," he declares. "It's not something we'd keep pushing. We have got other options."
www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsport/4841666/Moves-to-bring-speedway-world-champs-to-Auckland