Motoslide machine to make public debut.

A brand new concept in shale racing will be unveiled at Coventry on Sunday when ex-speedway stars Andy Grahame and Arthur Browning give a first public airing to the Motoslide machine!

They are the brainchild of four-times World Speedway Champion Barry Briggs who has working on the project since the turn of the century.

He has developed a convertible kit that can transform a conventional moto-cross bike into the speedway hybrid and will be ridden publicly for the first time during the three-hour Briggo'd Extreme Races at Coventry Stadium on Sunday (September 15, 3 p.m.).

And if successful they could precipitate the launch of a brand new stadium motor-cycle sport attracting riders from both moto-cross and speedway.

The concept behind the new machines is simple - making it possible to slide a moto-cross machine around an oval, shale circuit and the conversion kit will be relatively cheap to buy.

Briggs said: "All motor-cyclists, whether they ride on the road or race in fields, want to slide because it's one of the big thrills of riding a bike but speedway is the purest form of sliding there is.

"But speedway riders are hard to come by, you need special techniques to ride a speedway bike and that takes a long time to acquire.

"Generally riders can slide their moto-cross machines but they are not made to slide easily and while they can slide a little way they then throw riders off.

"I figured with a few refinements it was possible to have a bike that could be used for both moto-cross and a form of speedway which is where the MotoSlide bike came in.

"You have got so many riders with moto-cross bikes laying in their back sheds, to ride moto-cross you have got to beat hell out of your body and a lot give up because they can't carry on with the physical demands.

"I am sure a lot of those riders would fancy taking up speedway if they could still use their moto-cross bikes, with a few adjustments. What I've come up with is a very cheap way of turning a moto-cross bike into a slider - and vice versa.

"I have been working on it for two or three years. That's how I first met Coventry's Ryan Fisher, he came out to a lake in California when I was testing it. I've now got two machines built up - a 250 c.c. Yamaha and a 426 c.c. Yamaha."

Former England international Alan Grahame, who started on moto-cross, turned to speedway and is now back in moto-cross competing in British and World Championships with a sidecar, will ride one of them.

And one of Britain's top all-round motor-cyclists, ex-Birmingham ace Arthur Browning, a former speedway rider who is still very successful and a winner on moto cross will ride them in a series of moto-cross races as part of Sunday's meeting.

"There will be 10 or 12 riders in the races along with our moto-sliders and it will be a tremendous and competitive test. We have trialled the bikes extensively but always behind closed doors and the general consensus of those who have seen them is that the spectator will notice very little difference from the conventional speedway bike.

"The most exciting aspect is that they open up the door to having up to ten riders in a race that can be seen every inch of the way. It's a compromise between the dozens who can race on a moto-cross circuit where much of the action is out of sight of the fans at any particular vantage point and the conventional four riders a race in speedway."