Take a load of amateur musicians from you tube and some creative genius and you have http://thru-you.com. Awesome stuff.
Evidently encouraged by recent trips to the Nurburgring and Castle Combe, here I was fantasising about / pondering what my next car will be. The current shortlist goes like this: Ludicrously powerful Mini Peugeot 106 Rallye MG Midget Lotus 7 replica The trend of small lightweight and fun is reoccurring in all of them. But then I found myself thinking what is the point in spending all this money when there are so few opportunities to enjoy them. Trackday’s, with the huge increase in popularity (due partly to the number of speed cameras in this country) have seen a like…
At the end of September Espe and I went over to Castle Combe circuit to watch the Mini World Action day where hundreds of UK minis come together to be thrashed around the west country circuit. It was an entertaining day watching various Minis being hurled around the track, with interesting consequences at the chicanes. The somewhat sick noises of bike engined and massively high boost turbos was incredible. Of further fascination in and around the paddock, for me at least, was seeing the impressive engineering feats of shoe horning big engines into very small cars. Given how, since the…
The words Nurburgring and Nordschleife will set the blood of any proper car enthusiast flowing. This place is motor sport Mecca and I had the pleasure of taking my first petrol head pilgrimage to the place with Niki and a whole load of his Lotus chums. I received an email from him in June asking if I’d be interested in joining him for a long weekend in August. I didn’t have to think twice about that one, even though I knew it would only be as a passenger. Once I´d got the OK from both bosses I was set to…
Well, I said I’d do it, and despite numerous people telling me that I was crazy, I did. After four or five days in Madrid catching up with people (including this unlikely rif raf pictured below), playing far too much GTA IV on Jon’s PS3 and stocking up on Maps at the wonderful Tienda Verde, I set off in the general direction of Valencia. Day 1: Arganda del Rey to Algarga Distance: 59km Highest Point: 760m Lowest Point: 550m I had no maps for the first part of the journey as I’d found much talk on t’interweb of this Via…
Shortly after moving to Bristol, Espe suggested that we take part in the Ashton Court Cancer Research 10k Run. Although I did a fair bit of cross country running at school, I’ve not done any since and never done anything as long as 10km. It may not sound like much, and is positively short compared to the half and full marathons but having completed it, let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. Along with our race numbers, the bods at Cancer Research gave out dedication banners to be pinned to the t-shirts with the message “I’m running for” and space…
A good friend from childhood coffee mornings / Halfords / faffing about with cars came over to visit me in Bristol the weekend before last. As someone who was always into mountain biking we jumped onto the bikes and headed up into Ashton Court and Leigh Woods to have a go on the purpose built trails. Halfway up the hill to Ashton Court I realised that I’d forgotten my helmet and my gloves and I remember thinking, today will typically be the day I need them. We were blessed with beautiful weather and the trails were the driest I’ve seen…
Well, perhaps that is a bit strong, but recently I’ve considerably increased the amount of exercise I’m getting. Add to that my improved diet due to Espe’s new role as a nutritionist and I’m feeling pretty healthy. I’m riding 10km to work and back each day, swimming once a week, running once a week and playing tennis again. I’ve also finally got my hand on my new mountain bike. A Cube Attention which I’ve bought through this Government Ride to Work scheme getting me some 40% off the list price. She’s a beauty and together we are discovering the joys…