Category: Motoring

November 20, 2011 Andy 0 Comments

A few months back I spotted an offer via Groupalia to drive a Ferrari or Lamborghini on country roads for a mere 99 euros. A discount of 75% of their normal rate. Ok, when you read the small print, it is only 20km, which will be over in no time, but… when else would I get the opportunity to drive such cars? I signed up and mentioned it to fellow petrol head Juan (Mongol Rally 2009 veteran – Twingo mis Dudas). Unfortunately the offer expired before he was able to take advantage of it. With various phone calls and emails…

February 23, 2011 Andy 4 Comments

It appears that these days most of the pre season F1 testing takes place in Spain. Probably something to do with the weather and for that you won’t hear any complaints from me. The first testing was in Valencia, then Jerez, and finally Barcelona. Given that the Circuit de Catalunya is less than 20km from my flat, it would have been wrong to miss out. Besides, the testing is one of the few affordable ways to see F1 cars at full tilt. Good to see the the 2011 cars, although it would be a lot to ask for a more…

December 19, 2008 Andy 0 Comments

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…

December 11, 2008 Andy 0 Comments

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…

November 28, 2008 Andy 2 Comments

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…

May 26, 2007 Andy 1 Comments

No, nothing to do with atoms but the cars. Malaysian in case you didn’t know (although if you didn’t you probably didn’t care either). Having crossed the border many differences from Thailand and the previous countries we’ve been to were obvious. Apart from the afore mentioned increase in visible wealth the level of English here is much better (colonialism to blame again I fear) and I’ve spotted many Malaysians reading books (something not at all obvious in the countries further north). Something that wasn’t immediately obvious though (probably as we were on a road less island), was the lack of…

December 8, 2006 Andy 1 Comments

Ever the impulsive buyer, while browsing around ebay, Marc bought this Mini… This deserves a mention, firstly as it is so similar to Christie, and secondly, as it is so much fun. I do not know of any other car that has a grin factor like a Mini. I will have another.

August 28, 2006 Andy 0 Comments

The Mongol Rally is altogether a pretty stupid idea. Last year Tom introduced the idea of taking a Honda C90 pizza delivery bike. This year “Fatty B” accepted the challenge and set of with the intention of doing just that… and he arrived in UB! Fatty B arrives! www.londontomongolia.co.uk