Nick Barber, 42, who runs a sporting merchandise business from Felixstowe, has been acquiring early speedway memorabilia for more than 30 years. Today, he has a collection worth in excess of £80,000, possibly £100,000.

His collection comprises 45,000 programmes valued at £50,000, plus thousands of badges, photographs and magazines going back to the 1930s, books on riders and clubs from the 1950s, and some equipment – including race jackets, bikes, leathers and helmets.

The enthusiast regards his private hoard as part of his retirement planning. He says: “A lot of speedway people don’t let go of their treasures, but I definitely will. As I am self-employed, I have always ploughed my profits back into more stock, instead of starting a pension.

“At the age of 60, I will put everything into auction. The proceeds will boost our income and hopefully allow us to buy a small property abroad. By then, my collection should be worth at least £150,000. If speedway’s popularity continues the way it is now, the value could be more like £250,000.”

Speedway is a form of motor-cycle racing, using 500cc motorbikes with no brakes which race four laps around an oval track. In the UK, the sport dates from 1928, having originated a few years earlier in Australia.

Barber points out: “It quickly became as popular as football, right up to the second world war. They used to have a world final every year featuring top riders, and, until 1960, this event was always held at Wembley, with a full house of 100,000 people.

“Sky Sports’ coverage of speedway has helped to raise its profile and make young people aware of it. There are now about 30 speedway clubs in the UK.

“Over the past 10 years, some of the older speedway items have risen in value by as much as 400 per cent because of the re-emergence of the sport. In the mid-1990s, you might have bought a pre-war speedway programme for £5, but now you’re talking more like £40.”

He attributes the rising prices to the fact that a number of clubs in the early days did not last very long – perhaps less than a year – so memorabilia from them has soared in value.

“In the late 1940s, Wombwell club near Barnsley ran for two years. I have a Wombwell programme and a badge, worth £100 each. I bought the programme from a private collection a few months ago. I paid £50 for it. The badge I acquired in 2000, for £30.”

One early English rider was Peter Craven, a two-time champion. Barber says: “Sadly, he died in an on-track accident in 1963, but any ephemera or equipment associated with him is very collectable. If you had a race jacket or leathers, they are really museum pieces. You could not put a value on them.”

Barber has been hooked on speedway since the age of nine, when his father became the promoter of the club at Mildenhall, Suffolk.

Barber says: “When Dad got involved, the whole family did. My first job was selling programmes out of a suitcase in 1975. You could say I was dealing in memorabilia from when I was about 14.”

Barber left school at 17 and worked in the haulage business until his mid-30s, by which time he had acquired enough speedway knowledge and possessions to start his own sports merchandising business.

The collector still has a race jacket from the first season at Mildenhall in 1975. He says: “It’s worth around £250 now, but cost a few pounds then.”

The most valuable piece in Barber’s collection is a High Beech programme from 1928. “It is not the very first one but it is worth £250. I bought it for £60 about two years ago.”

The first-ever programme from High Beech is so rare that the expert reckons its value would be around £2,000.

He says: “I would be prepared to pay £1,000 for it. I have been involved with speedway for some 30 years and I have only ever seen one copy. It is two single sheets of paper, but not stapled or folded together.”

Barber also owns We Do Have Fun, (1934) a book written and signed by Johnnie Hoskins, the Australian pioneer of speedway who brought the sport to the UK. “I paid £20 for this in 1997 and today it could command £150.”

The first year’s copies of Speedway News, published in 1928, are of great value, too. Barber estimates the 20 magazines are worth about £1,500.

He says: “What amazes me is that the sport came to England in 1928 and mushroomed so quickly that a magazine was issued within weeks of its arrival.”

Barber has learned that, sometimes, the most interesting – and most valuable finds come from more unlikely sources. He recalls: “A gentleman from a local village had to clear out the home of his aunt who had died, and gave me 24 hours’ notice. He said he had some speedway stuff that was going into a skip!

“I dashed over there and offered £500 for enough memorabilia to fill a transit van. It was actually worth £5,000. When I left, the seller said I could have had the lot for £50. There were many local Ipswich programmes, magazines, photographs and books from the 1940s.”

Five years ago, Barber and two others clubbed together to buy one massive hoard, totalling £86,000. He says: “It took three of us to find the money. We had to hire a hotel suite in the Midlands, and stayed there all weekend to negotiate a deal and decide who would receive which items.

“We then took it away in a hired removal van. I paid about £28,000 for my share, mainly programmes and magazines from 1928 and 1929. I took away several thousand items. Half went into my own collection. The other half, I sold to collectors to cover what I had spent.”

Barber says more up-to-date material is not worth a great deal. “But young enthusiasts can get on to the ladder and buy big bundles of programmes. I was like that 30 years ago. Every club will produce a metal badge each year and these are highly collectable.”