First day

Well, with the first day here, I slept until 1, completely unaware that it was in fact, 1pm... with the cloud layer, 1pm out the window looks exactly the same as 6am out the window. Oh well, lunch soon, then maybe a trip into Didcot, we'll see. I've got some tidying and things todo before my uncle returns on Wednesday, gotta get my room ready :-).

aaannnndddd it's raining... :-D. Just might have to get use to that.

Tor.

Landed!

Landed at LHR today at 1:30. Very tired, long but short and uneventful flight. Many things got done when we arrived at my Grandmas, including tea and yummy cupcakes, cakes, and all sorts of fresh cooked goodies (the cupcakes were still warm :-D).

Will update more when awake...

G'night

Tor

Leaving on a jet plane

I don't know when I'll be back again.... no, really, I don't :-D.

Well, in four hours time, I'll be on my way to the airport. It's crazy to think that I wont be at home, considering I've never been away for more than a week or so. It will be an odd, but all around good thing. At least my grandma is looking forward to having me live with her. I'm she'll be thrilled to have a helping hand around the house.

Boarding pass is printed, it's official, I'm checked in for my flight!

See you all on the other side of the pond!

Tor

1 Day

1, uno, ein, one, one day! Pretty crazy...

I have nothing further to say... :D

Tor

2 days...

Wow, is all I have to say. It's getting close, really close, all I know is I'm getting a little nervous!

Today I got a letter saying to send my final balance, so I guess that means the car is getting really close to being ready to go :D. Well, close to being ready to DELIVER, it'll be ready to go once I've built it :P.

May have to call tonight, and see when the possible delivery date is.

So very exciting!!

Till the next one,

Tor

The countdown

Well, it's finally happening, it's all coming together, I'm going to be racing a car!

For those who don't know, the car company Caterham, has an academy series. Basically you buy the car, then race it! http://www.caterham.co.uk/assets/html/showroom/academy.html

It is based in the UK, so I'll be moving there to pursue this. I have my spot in the 2012 grid, and my car is being manufactured as we speak. Since there is a kit option, I'll be building my car woohoo! All the nuts and bolts will be clean, it will all be nice and awesome to work on.

Rest assured I will have daily updates of my progress with the car, and will be posting videos and pictures. After the car is built and road worthy, I'll be doing a number of trips, with video, like my mountain journals stuff. I will also be blogging the track days I go on, and of course, when the academy season starts, that will be up too!

I also have plans to do something along the lines of the best fish'n'chip places around England, a year long process of just going to different places and seeing where the best fish'n'chips are.

Right, I'll update again soon, I have a mountain journal I forgot to post, so that will be up in a little while.

Tor

BMW mountain journals - San Jose Soquel Rd

Each week, whenever I get access to the M6 for a day, I will make a video of a twisty road around the bay area. Here's last weeks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTnrmCRfxgc . It is a trial run, so it's not up to it's full potential yet.

Basically, since I haven't had much to do in my free time (no job) I needed something to be getting on with. I decided to start making these weekly videos documenting the great driving roads around the bay area.

Week - 1: San Jose Soquel Rd.

This road is a beautiful piece of tarmac snaking up the side of the Santa Cruz mountains. It runs from Capitola to Summit Rd, it's not exactly a slow ride. It is a fine alternative to 17 on those busy beach days (luckily though, not many beach-goers know about it :)). With no slower traffic (some locals go 30mph for some bizzar reason) then you can haul your car from start to finish in 12 minutes flat. As you can see in the video, there are no off-camber corners, and they flow together like an endless piece of string. At the speed limit, there is no need to brake for any corner you come across (but if you know what you're doing this road has much more potential). Some straights you can wind the motor well into the 5krpm range in 3rd gear and still have room to spare.

I highly recommend this road to anyone visiting the area and looking for some fun, or if you just want to go to the beach. A quick detour from 17 brings you right to the mouth of this fantastic road. Here is the road in question shown in google maps: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Unknown+road&daddr=Old+San+Jose+Rd%2FSoquel+San+Jose+Rd&hl=en&geocode=FbpiNgIdGpG7-A%3BFe8RNQIdoT27-A&gl=us&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=18&sll=37.033107,-121.946805&sspn=0.003276,0.004286&ie=UTF8&ll=37.033107,-121.946805&spn=0.003276,0.004286&t=h&z=18

Now, in the video I start at point B, a very nice little cafe handy for picking up a drink before the drive, and end before point A which is on summit road. For some reason I didn't do the whole road.

Stay tuned for info on this weeks road, Old Santa Cruz Hwy.