From 1947 to 2005 there was a place in Exeter where you could watch the Falcons fly.
The County Ground Stadium was a unique arena of a bravery and dirt which was home to the city's speedway team.
With brakeless abandon the riders threw their machines around the track, striking elegant and contorted poses as they slid around the bend, always on the point of glory or disaster.
The oval even had its own smell - hot dogs and onions, and the sweet tang of speedway bike exhaust fumes.
It was also, as befits a nimble bird of prey, the fastest speedway track in the UK.
Riders like Neil Street in the 1950s, triple World Champion Ivan Mauger in the 1970s, and Mark Loram in the 90s thrilled crowds.
For a spell in the mid Seventies Mauger was peerless. Monday was the night to see the Falcons fly, as the TV adverts used to say, Tapes up at 7.30. Don’t be late.
Guy Henderson wrote about his memories of the Falcons for DevonLive after Mauger died at the age of 78 in 2018.
He said: "He had an easy smile and gave good interviews. You pronounced his name ‘Major’, by the way, not ‘Maw-gerr’ as one or two commentators did.
"For a spell in the mid Seventies Mauger rode for the Exeter Falcons at the old County Ground. They called him the Galloping Mauger.
"We went quite a few times back then, joining the big crowds on the back straight to watch the Falcons take on teams including riders such as Peter Collins and Ole Olsen for the Belle Vue Aces, the Coventry Bees and the White City Rebels. If you stood at the top of the banking you could look down into the pits where the riders and mechanics tinkered and swore."
The thrill and the noise was intoxicating. It has been said that in those heady days speedway was a shared experience of the working man, the epitome of blue-collar British sport.
Guy recalled: "Standing down in the front row of the main grandstand, right next to the tapes, was utterly thrilling and terrifying at the same time. At full speed, the monstrous bikes would roar past an arm’s length away, flat out as they curved into the first corner.
"The County Ground was famously quick, with a white solid steel wall all the way round the outside. You can only begin to imagine what it was like to ride at speed, in the dark. It was extraordinary just to watch and listen after sunset, when the match result hung on the result of the final heat and the crowd went bonkers.
"That spot by the tapes was the spot at which the riders were at their very fastest on the very fastest track in the country. I can still hear the noise. We bought programmes and stickers, and clipboards on which to note down the heat and match results.
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"Our rally jackets got splattered with cinders when we stood too close to the corners, and we got home way too late on a school night."
The sport boomed in its early days reaching a peak in the 70s and early 80s. Teams such as Manchester's Belle Vue could attract crowds of 25,000 and in 1976 the Falcons were one of 37 teams in two leagues.
Up to six riders would power flat out and anti-clockwise around the track, reaching speeds of up to 70 miles an hour on the straight. The machines themselves were low-saddled and always seemed on the point of racing away on their own. Once the clutch was released it was simply a question of who held on to their seething steeds the longest and got around the track first.
The Falcons roll of honour included cup and league triumphs in in every decade from the 1940s to 2004. They were British League winners in 1974 and Premier League winners in 2000.
The County Ground track was unique in that it had a solid sheet metal safety fence, the dynamics of which, combined with the wind, made it unpopular with some riders.
The heady days for the sport could not last forever. Exeter's Falcons have been grounded since 2005 when the rugby club sold the stadium and moved to the newly built Sandy Park.
While they embarked upon a remarkable run of success their old neighbours simply faded away. Attempts to revive the club have so far come to nothing.
Mauger himself rode the final laps as the lights went out for the last time. Then there was the rallying Falcon War Cry, ‘1-3-5-7, hear this roar from Glorious Devon.....’.
In recent decades speedway has found it impossible to compete with bigger more glamorous sports and has failed to arrest a long term decline. But it still has die hard fans who continue to offer support. Maybe one day, when the time is right, those wild machines may return to Exeter once again.
