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The Power Struggle
Malfunction Junction
The 2008 edition of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona is, as I start to write this tome, still in full swing. It is 3.00am local time and 6 or 7 cars are still slugging it out for the lead; full course yellows, rain, mixed up pit stop strategies, Pirelli and impending mechanical failures adding to the uncertainty of who really is in the control of the event.........more

25 or 6 to 4
Dates, anniversaries, numbers, memories, rambles, conjecture, conspiracies, more tea, Vicar?
A recent acquisition of a top end scanner prompted me to start fishing about in the office cupboard containing boxes of film and slides with a description on the lid unknown………..so cheek by jowl 2000 Rolex 24 slides sit with earlier efforts from say 1983. Looking through the shots provoked some thoughts and observations  ... more >>>

Overtures and Beginners
The 2008 European season burst into life last weekend at the HTTT Paul Ricard with the Official Le Mans Series Test Days.
There was a degree of Phoney War as Peugeot and Audi did not go head to head, the French team assembling in Florida for the first of many miles of hard competition. Sebring's 12 Hours will be the first battle ground in a few weeks......more

Social Climbing
By any standards the 2008 edition of the Goodwood Festival of Speed was a fantastic success.
Every aspect was top notch, from the action on the Hill to the Cartier displays on the lawns, it was a veritable cornucopia of motoring excellence. Even the weather Gods smiled on Lord March’s Estate so despite some dark clouds the rains held off.....more

Electrical Banana……..Is Bound to be the Very Next Phase
Hurdy Gurdy Man
Even as a kid hearing Donovan’s song “Mellow Yellow” I instinctively knew that something weird was going on………..electric bananas? whatever next? Still it was the 60’s and we were enjoying “the White Heat of Technology”, “the Space Race”, “Free Love” and there would be “Jerusalem” just round the corner or so we were led to believe.  Of course the lyrics had to mean something other than battery-powered fruit, but what? .......more

A Rainbow in Curved Air
Reach for the Roget's...........it's Revival time again......superlatives and cliches abound, garden party party, good old days, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, real racing in real cars, the right crowd and no crowding..........all burst forth like bubbles in a champagne flute and the reason simply is, that for the most part it's true......more

Red Meat Racing
For the past 80 years or so the Autodromo Nazionale Monza has been the
stage for real motor racing......the buildings and the banking ooze history and drama.....the high speeds and claustrophobia of the parkland circuit are not for the faint of heart, so it was no surprise that the 2008 LMS race would be a show to remember.
And so it proved, from the flying circuses of Dindo, JCW and Stephane.........more

Pap Squad
Another weekend, another assignment……….two weeks ago it was a 42 hour Saturday during this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours while witnessing Audi snatch victory from a hitherto dominant Peugeot squad………..then last weekend to Silverstone and Aston Martin Owners’ Club meeting known as the St. John Horsfall Trophy……….... more >>>

Living on the Fault Line
May in the Ardennes, sportscars at the limit, it must be the Spa 1000 Kilometres....and so it was, with the circuit bathed in sunshine. most unlike the conditions usually endured in pine forests.
The action on the track was also very physical with the Peugeot and Audi teams trading paint and bodywork once again.…….more

Peninsula Wars
Green Flag for the 2008 Le Mans Series last  weekend at Barcelona.
Well what did we learn?
We knew.........
that Peugeot was faster than Audi
that the Porsche Spyders would be really quick, the 430 has the legs on the 997 and that GT1 needs more cars.
that nearly 50 cars on the starting grid makes for a fabulous spectacle........more

Ten Years After
In order to put some order into our lives we divide time up into units…………hours, minutes, days, weeks, years, decades even centuries.
A decade is a handy period on which to look back on events……the dust has settled and the emotions cooled, leaving the just the story………......more