DVD Review: Defunct British Speedway Tracks

We've reviewed quite a number of the fine DVDs that Retro-Speedway have produced in recent years, but this might just be the most enjoyable yet. It's almost certainly the simplest of those they have issued, an alphabetical trip through many of the sport's 'lost' circuits, generally showing a race or two, plus other odd bits of footage from the tracks. There's no narration, the clips are either shown with race commentary or accompanied by evocative music. Sometimes the music is the theme tune associated with the track in question, for instance 'Those magnificent men in their flying machines' booms out as we watch action from Rayleigh.

As you might expect, not every track is given equal treatment, the quality and quantity of available footage obviously makes it easier to feature Wembley more heavily than (say) Castleford. Best use is always made of whatever has been found and it's great to see action from unfashionable and almost forgotten places like Castleford, Blantyre (1 and 2) and Scunthorpe's Quibbell Park.

Although the objective is to cover as many tracks as possible - and it covers 65 different tracks in the SIX hours it runs for - there are so many great pieces of footage throughout. Everybody will have their own favourites, but some of the highlights are: