Hot Weekend
Monday, 25 May 2009

Shockingly hot bank holiday weekend. Kicked off in style with some Krispy Kreme's in down town Guildford, while formulating a plan to hit all 10 London outlets in the one day, as part of a warm up to doing the same across the country.

Followed this up with a couple of games of bowling fun, although I managed to peak too soon, starting with two gorgeous strikes and going downhill from there. I then took my immense form to Rileys and got beat all over again. Dang.

Ended the day in the White Lion with Roast Duck in raspberry muck, served with 3 pints of Fosters. Taste-tastic.

Posted byMichael at 15:28 View Comments  

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Weighing In

It would seem that the 2010 regulations for the Formula One Championship are nowhere near being set, which is causing concern for all involved. Despite some "constructive" talks in Monaco over the Grand Prix weekend we appear to be no closer to forming the regulations, doing nothing to make Formula One attractive for BMW in 2010 and doing nothing to make Toyota re-consider a much speculated move out of the sport at the end of the year.

Politicking is quintessential to Formula One due to the exhorborant cost of competing at the highest level, which means that all the competitors are unwilling to agree anything that will directly effect their performance in the short term. Of course the manufacturers are unwilling to support a set of rules and regulations that benefit the independent teams and the independents cannot compete on the same level as the manufactuer teams.

The latest ramblings coming out of the woodwork suggest that a £45 million budget cap will be introduced in 2011 to allow the teams to re-assign or lay off hundreds of members of staff in the next few areas. Between now and then the manufactuer teams will assist the independents with cheap powertrain deals and leased chassis, which should allow teams to compete on the cheap until the budget cap is introduced.

Of course everyone involved is oblivious to the damage this is doing to the sport but why would that matter.... ?

Posted byMichael at 15:11 View Comments  

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A quick weekend at Brands
Thursday, 7 May 2009

Just had an excellent weekend in Brands watching the finale of the A1GP 2008/9 series and all the other support races (i.e. Formula Palmer Audi, GT Cup, Sports 2000, Lotus Elise Trophy, Heritage Grand Touring Car Challenge and FIA Lurani Trophy). It was only my first experience of Brands but I preferred it to Silverstone due to the intimate nature of the circuit and how ridiculously close to the action you can get. Take a look at my pictures of the event after you enjoy this video clip:


Posted byMichael at 22:56 View Comments  

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Moving FTW
Saturday, 28 February 2009

So I have now officially moved and it's just like not moving but with 100% more ironing, which is the epic fail. Been keeping busy with some films thanks to proximity of the Vue:

Doubt – tale of deadly suspicion set in a Catholic school earlier in the 20th Century. Excellent performances all round.

Push – sci-fi tale of those with supernatural powers. Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning do a good job but the real stars are the soundtrack and cinematography, which set the scene perfectly.

Other than that it has been pretty quiet round this way but it should be picking up in March- got a few things planned already:

14th – heading over to the Science Museum for special exhibit.

15th – seeing the Watchmen movie.

27th – 29th – keeping busy with F1’s opening race down under in Melbourne. Will finally see if the BBC know what they’re doing.

N.B. Need to take more pictures of anything and everything, starting with my current abode.

Posted byMichael at 15:19 View Comments  

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Switching Back
Saturday, 24 January 2009

There aren't a whole lot of resources for people who want to switch back to Windows from Mac OS X and unsurprisingly the best one I've found so far is at WinSuperSite.com.

I'm having to make the switch because I'm moving to a smaller place and there isn't enough space for my iMac and me, so I'm moving back to Windows with a Dell Studio 15 laptop running Windows Vista. Thankfully I haven't become too dependent on any Apple applications, although I will miss iPhoto and EyeTV more than the rest.

I'd love to have bought an Apple laptop but this would have cost considerably more than my well spec'd Dell laptop because even in these harsh times Apple can still produce laptops with ridiculous mark-ups.

Posted byMichael at 15:08 View Comments  

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F1 2008 Review
Friday, 26 December 2008

A classic year? Possibly. Yet again we only had 2 teams in it till the end, although this was mainly due to the major rule changes in 2009 and partially due to BMW’s decision to focus on 2009. With a little bit of luck Robert had a shot at it this year - don’t forget it.

Neither combination of team and driver (i.e. Ferrari/Massa or McLaren/Hamilton), had a faultless year, as the rivals made countless errors along the way, meaning that the title went to the team that made the least errors. However, things are not as they seem because Hamilton lost most of his points due to his own mistakes whilst Massa lost his through errors made by the Ferrari team.

The most absurd of Hamilton’s errors has to be the pit lane error in Canada that he was correctly punished for and highlights his biggest weakness, which appears to be a general lack of consistency. How can the same driver, in essentially an identical car make such a simple error and then just 2 races later completely dominate the British Grand Prix, in incredibly difficult conditions that would have required intense concentration. I don’t believe the issue is a lack of self belief because he has already proven he has what it takes at the highest level of motorsport and therefore talks the talk as you would expect him to.

Massa has never been held in high regard by the press before this year. Before the start of the season there were rumors floating around the internet that he would be out in 2009, to be replaced by Alonso. However the 2008 Ferrari suited his driving style perfectly, whereas 2007’s Ferrari was slightly too oversteery for his liking and allowed Raikkonen to take the honors in Brazil last year. This year was truly a breakthrough year for the Brazilian as he finally destroyed two myths that have been used to put him down in the past, namely that he only excels on wide, fast tracks and that he can’t handle streets and also that he isn't gifted in the wet.

Next season promises to be completely different with revised aerodynamic regulations and no in-season testing, which could lead to some unexpected results and new winners. Drivers will need to adapt to driving on slicks, which is more likely to suit those who prefer oversteer, which could mean that Felipe will struggle again.

Roll on 2009.

Posted byMichael at 14:02 View Comments  

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Merry Christmas!

Check out this Geeks Guide To Surviving Christmas. Genius.

Posted byMichael at 08:38 View Comments  

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