ADREAM can be chased at a variety of speeds.

It has taken Alun Biggart more than 30 years to grow from a besotted 11-year-old schoolboy to be the owner of a speedway team. It will take Harley Horwood about two seconds to go from 0-60mph as he hunts down his future in a Tigers jersey.

Their fates and ambitions collide on a snowy track at Ashfield in Glasgow. Biggart, a 42-year-old businessman, has a dream to make speedway a viable entertainment in the city, while Horwood, a 20-year-old Australian, has travelled around the world to pursue his career as a rider.

They stand shivering in a Scottish spring as the Tigers gently roar into action under new management. "It is in the blood. It is the smell, it's the speed, it is the excitement. I saw it as an 11-year-old kid and I was smitten," says Biggart who has bought two-thirds of the team.

The daily management of the Tigers will be taken on by four supporters who also have strong business backgrounds: Colin Hamilton, Craig McCurdy, Derek Smith and Ian Adam.

Biggart will have a distance to travel to attend home matches. He now lives in Denmark where he has built up a successful business. The boy from Kilmacolm has grown to be the benefactor of the sport he loves.

The journey may have started in Renfrewshire but it took some twists and turns. "I used to play badminton at a reasonable level," says Biggart. "After I finished my degree, I had four choices: go to Denmark to play badminton, do a PhD, do medicine or get a job. I took the hard option and headed for Denmark."

The last is said with a smile but Biggart soon appreciated that his ambitions on court were unlikely to be attained. "I was training with the best guys in the world and I learned very quickly I should get a job," he says. In business terms, he went from 0 to 60 at a rate that would embarrass a speedway rider.

"I started a sports nutrition company, built that up and sold it to an equity company and then started a website teaching people about lifestyle, training and personal development," he says.

His company's major product is a training shoe with slots for individual toes. Called fivefingers shoes, the product is displayed by Biggart as he crunches around a frosty Ashfield. "I seem to have brought the snow with me," he says. He has certainly brought a vigour to the Tigers. The team has been part of Glasgow since the Second World War but was in danger of extinction.

Biggart has plans to make the Tigers thrive. "The previous promotion did a fantastic job keeping speedway alive in Glasgow. It became apparent last summer that they were having some serious cash-flow problems and that speedway would close in the city unless something was done," he says.

The Tigers had roamed from White City, Hampden, Blantyre and Shawfield. Biggart did not want to see them buried in Ashfield. "I followed my heart and bought two-thirds of a speedway team," he says.

Seven riders have been recruited. They range from Joe Screen, a 40-year-old with hard-ridden and successful miles on his clock, to two young Australian riders, Horwood and Joey Ringwood.

The enthusiasm around a frozen Ashfield is inspiring, even warming. But what are the chances of Biggart realising his dream to entertain the people of Glasgow for years to come? "The first objective has to be to break even and speedway has not done that in the city for decades," he says.

Biggart is a fan but he is also a businessman. He will not specify his investment but does say he will not throw money if attempts to keep the Tigers running prove commercially unviable. He has also done his sums. "The last promoters had an average crowd of 583. We need 800," he says of a season that starts on Sunday and stretches into October.

He wants, too, to promote the sport in such a way that young Scottish riders can come through the ranks. But survival for the Tigers is the first imperative.

Their team will be invigorated by an infusion of Australian blood. Horwood, from the Gold Coast, peered out over Springburn with the same awe and incomprehension as Shackleton must have viewed the Antarctic. He started riding at 15, inspired by his father and grandfather who were both riders. The Tigers fought to obtain a working permit for him and Biggart has great hopes for him and the rest of the team.

Harley, quietly but confidently, is ready to seize his chance. "In Australia, speedway is like a secret society. It is not even known in most of the country. In Australia, most young people accept you have to leave to pursue your ambitions and I came to the UK last year and I loved it," he says.

His arrival in Glasgow, though, saw his burning enthusiasm met with the chilling reality of Scotland in the spring. "I have never even seen snow. The coldest weather back home is 16 degrees."

He trembles and looks towards the track. It may be the cold, but it may just be nervous anticipation. The Tigers are ready to roar.