BMW 318i
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Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Volvo 3CC Concept Car 2005
Volvo showed a new concept the 3CC at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show. The 3CC concept has an unusual seating configuration with two seats up front and one passenger seated behind in the center of the car. The 3CC, for production renamed the Volvo C30, dropped the unpractical seating layout in favor of a more conventional plan. The C30 is be based on the existing Volvo S40 platform.
Volvo 3CC
Monday, April 19, 2010
Ebisu Practice Video
As Saturday was cancelled due to snow, I thought I'd put up a couple of practice laps of the 3 drivers. The car as you can see was quite easy to drive. The back was perhaps a little hard though as it did tend to hop along in places. Braking and turn in where excellent. The car has come a long way! I think we would have been pretty competitive.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Ford’s new challenger for the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship, the new Fiesta RS World Rally Car made its first global public appearance at the Paris Motor Show.
13. February – The Fiesta RS WRC will be premiered in competition Swedish Rally, the opening of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship, the 10 . Make
For Paris, the preview model in a striking blue and gray livery, designed specially for the show of Ford of Europe design team has developed over. The new World Rally Car, the best-selling car Fiesta street derives developed by Ford of Europe and its partner M-Sport Rally.
Used as the basis of the Ford Fiesta S2000 rally car, the legendary Rallye Monte Carlo on his debut last January and other international and national rallies in 2010 won the Ford of Europe design team and M-Sport have worked together to fine-tune the styling of the to create body and aero package of the new Fiesta an exciting replacement for the outgoing Focus RS WRC.
Although no detailed changes may be made as the Fiesta RS WRC car, the development program will continue through the balance is pre-season tests this year and timely specialized to the start of the team, the final car will share the striking appearance and celebrated ‘kinetic design’ elements of style synonymous with the latest road Ford vehicles. The interior is also now available as Fiesta RS WRC rally car, as it contains a number of production parts.
The Fiesta RS WRC competition car is part of a new era for the World Cup. The Fiesta rally car will be equal to boast all-wheel drive transmission and a 1.6-liter turbo engine, the new Ford EcoBoost engine family based, with new rules.
The new Ford EcoBoost engine family features gasoline direct injection and turbocharging to maximize the performance and efficiency. “The introduction of the latest engine-Ford technology to its rally program further strengthens our commitment to motor sport. It also demonstrates our continued support for affordable competition from an off-the-shelf production engine on which our WRC power base,” said Mike Norton, the European motorsport manager have Ford engineers at Ford and M-Sport worked together closely in developing this 1.6-liter engine, bringing with prestigious French tuner Pipo Moteur additional know-how to the power plant.
The Fiesta RS WRC appearance at the Paris Motor Show, the car is the first major test program with the full 2011 specification engine on gravel roads in Spain next week. The car has almost 3,000 km of testing in the UK and France, which initially driven by the current WRC engine and more recently by a prototype 1.6-liter Ford EcoBoost turbo unit completed.
The test will take the first opportunity for BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen and team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila of the new Fiesta RS WRC.
Gerard Quinn, Ford of Europe’s motorsport director has charge of the Ford program to develop throughout 2010 and says. “We are pleased to have a preview of the Ford Fiesta RS WRC in such a prominent Paris Motor Show, as there are significant visual differences from the Fiesta S2000 base car and big changes under the skin. The biggest, of course, is the 1.6-liter Ford EcoBoost turbocharged engine of the original version that was Ford’s Powertrain Engineering team develops. ”
M-Sport managing director and BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally team director Malcolm Wilson is just as enthusiastic about the new car.
“This is is an exciting time for all involved in the auto-development,” says Wilson. is “Countless hours in the Fiesta RS WRC gone to reach this point, and this car, the public is presented for the first time a proud moment for us. We are satisfied on the right track with our development and the team with Tests to date. Another important step will be taken in early October, when the car tests in 2011, the full technical specification for the first time.
“We have a test car, under the leadership of our technical director Christian Loriaux. Mikko and Jari-Matti lead our challenge with the new car in the 2011 WRC, so their feedback is from the review of critical importance and will provide valuable data for our engineering team to work with, “added Wilson.
The Fiesta RS WRC is to replace the record-breaking Focus RS WRC Ford Championship challenger. The Focus RS WRC won back-to-back world championship titles manufacturer in 2006 and 2007, and its victory in New Zealand in May was the 75th Blue Oval WRC level, so that Ford’s most successful producers in the world championship history.
Ford has sold more than one million of the hugely successful, the latest generation Fiesta road cars around the world as they went on sale in October 2008. Fiesta, Ford truly global car, the No. 2 best-selling car in Europe.
The latest Fiesta has already proven his skills in motor sport to the test. The International Trophy for Sport Fiesta Fiesta cars R2 is a series of successful support to the FIA World Rally Championship and the Fiesta S2000 rally car is currently with the S-series support within the WRC WRC.
American sports icon Ken Block has advertised a fiesta rally car in the Rally America Championship this season, and the car won gold and silver medals in two Super Rally Car and Rally events at the X Games event in Los Angeles in July.
“The Ford Fiesta has already established itself as a serious contender in a range of global motorsports activities, and we can not wait until our official car of the highly sophisticated world rally championship debut next year,” said Gerard Quinn.
“We worked hard the car is without doubt the best-selling Fiesta road vehicle that is itself a global success story to ensure you. Ford’s design and product development teams have close and effective working with our partners at M-Sport, the enormous know -how to deliver the key not only a competitive rally car, but also a car that is stylish and seen a Ford Fiesta, “he added.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Surfing in Goa
(For more info, see the next post, here)
My trip around Britain has been temporarily interrupted by a three-week trip to Goa to hang out with Karen, who has been travelling around India while I've been bumming around Britain. Check out her blog HERE. She also took all the photos in this post. Swapping the chilly waves of Devon for the bathwater-warm waves of Southern India has been really tough.
I knew from a visit in 2006 that there are very few surfboards in India, and even fewer you can get your hands on, as most of them are owned by individuals who don't want some snotty stranger dinging their pride and joy. There are no surf shops, no surf hire and no surf repair workshops. If anyone is looking for a business opportunity, this could be it. (Not me. As the comments on the post below show, having taken advice from a civil service lawyer, I'm off to become a chartered accountant.) The only boards are big foam things for the lifeguards at the more touristy beaches.
The big question is, is it worth bringing a board to India? Along with no boards, there seemed to be no waves (a possible explanation for the absence of boards). A couple of websites hinted there was some swell, particularly in the monsoon season, May to September. I was going in April.
I certainly wouldn't want to bring one of my normal boards. Consigning a board to the hold of a plane is a complete lottery. Mostly they emerge unscathed. When they don't, it's pretty gruesome. And that's before submitting them to the rigours of Indian trains, buses and tuk tuks. Also I had booked a flight with BA, who will only carry boards under 195cms. Or 6'3''. My shortest board is a 6'5'', and I wouldn't want to lose 2" off the end. Either end.
But I once rented a 6' NSP Fish, which was quite a laugh. Plus, being a shell (an injection moulded plastic board, I think), it would better withstand the rigours of the journey. In South Devon I found something similar - a secondhand 6'2" epoxy Southpoint for 160 quid. Basically one step up from a BIC or NSP. They let me rent it for a few days first, and I took it for a test ride in Salcombe. It rode OK, but it isn't really what I was looking for. I was literally on my way to return it, when I found a chat forum on the internet raving about surfing in Goa. What the hell. I might as well take it. It's fairly light, counted as part of my baggage allowance and I could always sell it or donate it to some beach-side orphanage if necessary. Better to have a board and find there is no surf, than to have no board and find there is.
I'm staying in a dozy huddle of beach huts stretched around a small bay, about 2 miles south of ( a fairly well-known, fairly busy destination for backpackers in Goa. The bay there is shell shaped, and while the waves are clean and pretty, they are weak and virtually unsurfable at the moment. Here looked similarly unsurfable, with a steeply shelving beach. There are waves, but they rise up abruptly then crash down violently only a metre or two from the edge of the sand. Impossible to surf.
Here is one of the many beach dogs, desperately waiting for the swell to pick up.
Here's one who has given up waiting.
The cows have definitely given up waiting.
But at the far end of the next beach, around a short outcrop of rock, there seemed to be something happening. On my first evening, Karen and I went to investigate. Sure enough, it was a surfable wave, breaking on a shallow sandbank at the mouth of a river. The next morning I got up early, grabbed my board, paddled round the rocky outcrop, made the long walk along the beach and dived in. After a winter wearing a thick wetsuit, hood, gloves and boots, paddling in trunks feels really strange. Not just light and free, it feels as if you're going to float away. There was a nice, shapely wave there, rising up to about chest level, peeling nicely.
On the way, you pass the big, fuck-off hotel, an utter abomination which is currently enlivened by a big Bollywood film crew who have built a film set by the beach, and are currently filming. Fortunately, they don't seem to mind me surfing, as there is a better break right in front of the film set schoolhouse. In the mornings, there isn't a breath of wind, so the water is smooth and glassy. Chest-high peaks rise up and peel for twenty metres of so, easy to catch, easy to surf, but closing out rather too quickly, and breaking in shallow water. It's not the most dramatic surfing, but better than nothing, so I've been getting up early and getting into the water for an hour or two every morning before breakfast. By about 11, an on-shore wind picks up, making the already weak waves virtually uncatchable.
But one evening, at low tide, I went for a classic sunset session and managed to catch a few.
Karen was on the beach, and before she got bored of watching me, managed to snap this fabulous action shot. Finally, proof that I can actually stand on a surf board.
Soon after this, I noticed something about fifty metres further out. I couldn't be sure, but eventually I saw it again. A fin arcing lazily out of the water then disappearing under again. I wasn't quite surfing with dolphins, but they were definitely out there. Later we watched it idle slowly along the bay, parallel to the beach:
It's not all surfing and lazing on the beach - I've been hard at work on the outline for a screenplay. To prove it, here is a picture of me at my desk!
Now where was that application to become a chartered accountant?
My trip around Britain has been temporarily interrupted by a three-week trip to Goa to hang out with Karen, who has been travelling around India while I've been bumming around Britain. Check out her blog HERE. She also took all the photos in this post. Swapping the chilly waves of Devon for the bathwater-warm waves of Southern India has been really tough.
I knew from a visit in 2006 that there are very few surfboards in India, and even fewer you can get your hands on, as most of them are owned by individuals who don't want some snotty stranger dinging their pride and joy. There are no surf shops, no surf hire and no surf repair workshops. If anyone is looking for a business opportunity, this could be it. (Not me. As the comments on the post below show, having taken advice from a civil service lawyer, I'm off to become a chartered accountant.) The only boards are big foam things for the lifeguards at the more touristy beaches.
The big question is, is it worth bringing a board to India? Along with no boards, there seemed to be no waves (a possible explanation for the absence of boards). A couple of websites hinted there was some swell, particularly in the monsoon season, May to September. I was going in April.I certainly wouldn't want to bring one of my normal boards. Consigning a board to the hold of a plane is a complete lottery. Mostly they emerge unscathed. When they don't, it's pretty gruesome. And that's before submitting them to the rigours of Indian trains, buses and tuk tuks. Also I had booked a flight with BA, who will only carry boards under 195cms. Or 6'3''. My shortest board is a 6'5'', and I wouldn't want to lose 2" off the end. Either end.
But I once rented a 6' NSP Fish, which was quite a laugh. Plus, being a shell (an injection moulded plastic board, I think), it would better withstand the rigours of the journey. In South Devon I found something similar - a secondhand 6'2" epoxy Southpoint for 160 quid. Basically one step up from a BIC or NSP. They let me rent it for a few days first, and I took it for a test ride in Salcombe. It rode OK, but it isn't really what I was looking for. I was literally on my way to return it, when I found a chat forum on the internet raving about surfing in Goa. What the hell. I might as well take it. It's fairly light, counted as part of my baggage allowance and I could always sell it or donate it to some beach-side orphanage if necessary. Better to have a board and find there is no surf, than to have no board and find there is.
I'm staying in a dozy huddle of beach huts stretched around a small bay, about 2 miles south of ( a fairly well-known, fairly busy destination for backpackers in Goa. The bay there is shell shaped, and while the waves are clean and pretty, they are weak and virtually unsurfable at the moment. Here looked similarly unsurfable, with a steeply shelving beach. There are waves, but they rise up abruptly then crash down violently only a metre or two from the edge of the sand. Impossible to surf.Here is one of the many beach dogs, desperately waiting for the swell to pick up.
Here's one who has given up waiting.
The cows have definitely given up waiting.
But at the far end of the next beach, around a short outcrop of rock, there seemed to be something happening. On my first evening, Karen and I went to investigate. Sure enough, it was a surfable wave, breaking on a shallow sandbank at the mouth of a river. The next morning I got up early, grabbed my board, paddled round the rocky outcrop, made the long walk along the beach and dived in. After a winter wearing a thick wetsuit, hood, gloves and boots, paddling in trunks feels really strange. Not just light and free, it feels as if you're going to float away. There was a nice, shapely wave there, rising up to about chest level, peeling nicely.On the way, you pass the big, fuck-off hotel, an utter abomination which is currently enlivened by a big Bollywood film crew who have built a film set by the beach, and are currently filming. Fortunately, they don't seem to mind me surfing, as there is a better break right in front of the film set schoolhouse. In the mornings, there isn't a breath of wind, so the water is smooth and glassy. Chest-high peaks rise up and peel for twenty metres of so, easy to catch, easy to surf, but closing out rather too quickly, and breaking in shallow water. It's not the most dramatic surfing, but better than nothing, so I've been getting up early and getting into the water for an hour or two every morning before breakfast. By about 11, an on-shore wind picks up, making the already weak waves virtually uncatchable.
But one evening, at low tide, I went for a classic sunset session and managed to catch a few.
Karen was on the beach, and before she got bored of watching me, managed to snap this fabulous action shot. Finally, proof that I can actually stand on a surf board.
Soon after this, I noticed something about fifty metres further out. I couldn't be sure, but eventually I saw it again. A fin arcing lazily out of the water then disappearing under again. I wasn't quite surfing with dolphins, but they were definitely out there. Later we watched it idle slowly along the bay, parallel to the beach:
It's not all surfing and lazing on the beach - I've been hard at work on the outline for a screenplay. To prove it, here is a picture of me at my desk!
Now where was that application to become a chartered accountant?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Last prep
Car is stickered and clean air filter went in this morning as last minute prep finished. The race begins on Saturday and takes place in Ebisu again. Its 6 hours this time but we've only got 3 drivers so a proper endurance event in on the horizon! Whippee!
Saving the best til last
I was beginning to feel that Bantham wasn't all it had been cracked up to be. Sure, the group of lads who were getting out on Sunday as I was getting in had all been raving about it. But still. I wasn't convinced. Wanting to try something else, and to get out of the wind, I was going to have a look at a fairly unlikely spot, on the off chance. As an alternative, the guy in the surf shop recommended a beach I had grown quite familiar with. Nah, I thought. I've spent too many hours staring at a flat horizon there. I was going to stick to Plan A. Until I drove past the sign post to the familiar spot. Only a couple of miles out of my way, might as well have a look.
As these things sometimes work, a couple of local lads were just getting out. A good sign. They told me I might still catch a few decent waves down there, so I decided to give it a go. And had a really fun session. Small waves, but reasonably powerful, and enough of a ride to make it worth the effort.
I decided to camp there and surf it again the following morning. Except the following morning, it was flat. Curses. I had to head back to civilisation later that day, and was eager for a final South Devon surf. So rather reluctantly, I headed back to Bantham.
I needn't have been quite so reluctant. There were three cars already there. Knowing time was of the essence, and the tide was on its way in, I didn't bother walking the quarter of a mile down to the beach to check it out. Big mistake! Instead I asked a guy who was about to head down there with his board if he had had a look. He had. Fairly mellow was his analysis.
Fairly mellow? Are you kidding?! They were the best waves of the week! Absolutely fabulous! Somehow the wind had moved round and was off-shore, cleaning up the faces of beautiful big, clean waves rolling into the bay with metronome regularity. And only a handful of surfers out there.
I caught the rip out, fluffed a couple of waves and got caught inside among the whitewash. Not part of the plan. But having surfed there on Sunday, I realised I knew what I ought to be doing, and told myself to do it. I paddled back to the beach, caught the rip out again, and had another go. Having surfed nine sessions over the past six days, I was at the end of my energy. But somehow I managed to catch a wave. And stay on it. I couldn't believe it! Just overhead, a steaming freight-train of a wave that powered on for a hundred metres. I came off, not fully realising what had just happened but glad to have surfed a decent wave at last.
As I paddled back out, on the rip again, I saw one of the locals catch a monster. Easily double overhead, clean and rolling, it was one of those cinematic waves that etch themselves on the retina. And in a way, helped me realise what I had just surfed. I got out to the back and waited.
Soon enough, another wave came rolling into the bay. Not double overhead, but certainly overhead. I turned and paddled, and somehow, against all expectation, caught it. Got to my feet and made the drop. These were all right-handed waves, so I was on my backhand - though I'm beginning to feel I'm better at catching back-hand waves for some reason. I stayed in a low crouch, holding the left rail until I felt I was stable enough to stand. This wave was bigger, hollower and more powerful than the last, with a vertical wall of water beside my left shoulder, and above my head, the start of a curl showering water onto my shoulders. Not a cover-up, but the closest I've come. It was fabulous. Not as big and powerful as the session at Thurso, not as much to play with as the left at Sandsend. But for the combination of power and control, perhaps the best, most exhilarating wave I've surfed so far. And easily the longest, powering on seemingly for ever (or about a hundred metres again, which when you're surfing amounts to the same thing). I surfed it to the end. And got out, trembling, exhausted and ecstatic.
As these things sometimes work, a couple of local lads were just getting out. A good sign. They told me I might still catch a few decent waves down there, so I decided to give it a go. And had a really fun session. Small waves, but reasonably powerful, and enough of a ride to make it worth the effort.
I decided to camp there and surf it again the following morning. Except the following morning, it was flat. Curses. I had to head back to civilisation later that day, and was eager for a final South Devon surf. So rather reluctantly, I headed back to Bantham.
I needn't have been quite so reluctant. There were three cars already there. Knowing time was of the essence, and the tide was on its way in, I didn't bother walking the quarter of a mile down to the beach to check it out. Big mistake! Instead I asked a guy who was about to head down there with his board if he had had a look. He had. Fairly mellow was his analysis.
Fairly mellow? Are you kidding?! They were the best waves of the week! Absolutely fabulous! Somehow the wind had moved round and was off-shore, cleaning up the faces of beautiful big, clean waves rolling into the bay with metronome regularity. And only a handful of surfers out there.
I caught the rip out, fluffed a couple of waves and got caught inside among the whitewash. Not part of the plan. But having surfed there on Sunday, I realised I knew what I ought to be doing, and told myself to do it. I paddled back to the beach, caught the rip out again, and had another go. Having surfed nine sessions over the past six days, I was at the end of my energy. But somehow I managed to catch a wave. And stay on it. I couldn't believe it! Just overhead, a steaming freight-train of a wave that powered on for a hundred metres. I came off, not fully realising what had just happened but glad to have surfed a decent wave at last.
As I paddled back out, on the rip again, I saw one of the locals catch a monster. Easily double overhead, clean and rolling, it was one of those cinematic waves that etch themselves on the retina. And in a way, helped me realise what I had just surfed. I got out to the back and waited.
Soon enough, another wave came rolling into the bay. Not double overhead, but certainly overhead. I turned and paddled, and somehow, against all expectation, caught it. Got to my feet and made the drop. These were all right-handed waves, so I was on my backhand - though I'm beginning to feel I'm better at catching back-hand waves for some reason. I stayed in a low crouch, holding the left rail until I felt I was stable enough to stand. This wave was bigger, hollower and more powerful than the last, with a vertical wall of water beside my left shoulder, and above my head, the start of a curl showering water onto my shoulders. Not a cover-up, but the closest I've come. It was fabulous. Not as big and powerful as the session at Thurso, not as much to play with as the left at Sandsend. But for the combination of power and control, perhaps the best, most exhilarating wave I've surfed so far. And easily the longest, powering on seemingly for ever (or about a hundred metres again, which when you're surfing amounts to the same thing). I surfed it to the end. And got out, trembling, exhausted and ecstatic.
Friday, April 9, 2010
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