Hi All

Locals might be interested to know that the final stage of the improvements to the BMX track at the ‘freespace’ bmx track behind scotthall bmw in eastleigh is/was finished last night according to the track builders i spoke to yeaterday.

It’s big and apparently is national standard, it’s surfaced and the club to be formed shortly is going to be responsible for repairs, it also has the facility for drop gate starts every saturday for (as quoted to me) £2 a session. The project is apparently being co-ordinated by an ex BMX racer/pro.

i know i’ll be there on my various toys, looks awesome, might put a spanner in the works for Worldclassaccidents plans at Lordswood sports centre.

Thats just a minute from work I think I better pop by on the way home.. 8)

thanks for the headsup on this, its 10 min cycle from me and i’ve never been there..not into bmx though will have to pop along on the mtb for a looksy

is there a website up for it?

I’d be interested to see what they’ve done, to be honest it didn’t flow that well when I tried it. Could be because I was on a 26″ mountain bike rather than a bmx but I didn’t see any of the bmxers getting decent air either….

Wonder if it’s on google earth yet – nope 🙁

the new track is massively better than the old, apparently the old one was built from the spoil left over from making the street park bit. It was an after thought, this however has had a dedicated track construction team working on it along with experienced input (the van for the builders had British cycling logos on it)

Not a Bmx chap myself but the new gaps, rollers and berms all look like 26″ will work just fine.

the new track is also about 50m longer too!

if you google freespace you can see the park stuff but the track is so new there’s no mention apart from a few council meetings minutes.

Brilliant. Spent 2 years in the **** hole that is Eastleigh with a bmx and lots of free time, and now when I’m free they open a track. Might have to go check it out..

went today, and after a brutal leg raking incident my re introduction to flat pedals was complete- even managed to semi pump some of the rollers!

WOW. what a change! ;ast time i went it was shite and v. small.

hope the locals on mx bikes don’t wreck it. they were harrassing everyone (street park too) last time i was down there.

the whole track is fenced in with bar, there’s a gate to allow cycle access but it’d be a real pain to get a crosser through or over, apparently handrails to the start ramp are still to be added.

It was ace!

That looks great, time for a BMX me thinks 😀 😀

well that looks better than expected

The track is not yet of a national standard but with a few tweaks it will be. All the Southern BMX regional races and Nationals have been allocated so it will be considered for a venue next year once the club is up and running as events dont run themselves! The berms are awful at the moment. They are too shallow and loose and are due to be tarmaced which will help. The track is really desigened for 20″ BMX bikes and 24″ BMX Cruisers are doesn’t quite flow for 26″ wheels, but with some practice and skill it is possible to manual most of it. The guy you refer to is Anthony Howells, a very tallented 80’s BMX rider and the driving force behind getting the track up and running. The track is actually nearer to Chanlders Ford than Southampton, but in the BMX community it generally is known as the Southampton track.

Matt (Gosport BMX Club and 40+ Cruiser rider)