Sunday 17th April saw the staging of this years "Celebration of Speedway". In the past this event was held annually at High Beach in Epping Forrest, near to the site where the sport was first staged in the UK in 1928. In recent years the event has moved a few miles up the road to the the Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire. On the surface this may seem a somewhat surreal venue, but the park is owned by former speedway rider Peter Sampson and is also home to the British speedway museum.
This years event was run in parallel with the "Bikers in Paradise" promotion, and the large crowd basking in glorious sunny weather, were treated to a fantastic array of historic machines to look at, while the faint waft of Castrol R was in the air as an old JAP, Jawa or Weslake was fired up every few minutes.
The Speedway museum is well worth a visit, with an incredible amount of machinery and memorabilia packed into a compact space. The fact that the museum is located in the wildlife park means that it can be a great day out for the whole family.
The Speedway Museum
Paradise Wildlife Park
Classic Speedway Bikes
Great photos there KTL, me 'n' you are definitely gonna have to meet up and go up to Ian Paterson's place in bonny Scotland some time.
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