It never rains...

Not the weather, my luck.

The idea of the run up to the Kimbolton meeting was to get 2 solid days of testing in on the Thursday/Friday followed by official practice on the Saturday then all the racing.

Thursday was cancelled due to track damage by the weather so that didn't work.

Friday was the day when many things decided to break on the kart so the day was spent firefighting but the positive I took from the day was that it was all sorted for official practice.

Saturday morning I had trouble setting the chassis up, this is something we have struggled to do since I have raced karts but finally my mechanic has figured out where we have been going wrong, my inability to give feedback was the issue on Saturday - there were so many things happening that I was struggling to figure what particular problem was causing the kart to have no grip.

We spoke to several other competitors in our class and we started to realise that they all had very similar setups and that ours was wildly different, we copied their settings and BANG! it was like a different kart!

I have always had problems with oversteer, this is when the back of the kart tries to overtake the front and it was always from the midcorner, we have figured that this isnt a lack of rear end grip but too much grip!

The tyres would just grip and grip until they let go at which point it would oversteer and I would be compensating with my body position to get the kart pointing in the right direction which then upsets the balance of the kart - easy huh! Not really, it's taken months to get to this point but now we're starting to understand it.

The first race with the new settings was a revelation, there was the normal carnage at the first corner where I always make up a few positions in the chaos by threading my way through, after the first lap it's normal for the midpack to then drive away from me but this time it wasnt happening! They pulled 3-4 seconds on me and it just maintained at that gap until lap 5 when I dropped a wheel off the kerbing which snapped my chain, a frustrating end to that race but the potential was there and I now had a kart I could race.

My head was up and all of a sudden I was confident that we could improve on things and go faster, the tyres were looking better as we'd been suffering from graining all weekend, finally the tyres were doing what they were meant to be doing.

In the 2nd race it was over by the 2nd corner, I made a good start and made the usual 3-4 places up and then the engine went full throttle without my input, it took off like a lunatic before siezing solid and throwing me off the circuit - later inspection found that the butterfly from the carburettor had worked loose then fallen into the engine, the piston had picked it up and siezed the crank.

A disappointing end to the day, I was sure we would have improved our times with each race.


Back at home I stripped the engine and found further damage where smaller components had been dragged through the casing, a trip to the engine manufacturer Tal-ko was in order.

Yesterday I took delivery of the repaired crank casing and some new components.

The barrel has been bored out to the next size up and a new piston kit was necessary for the bigger bore.

I assembled the engine last night, it went together very well and will need running in during the next outing.

Better late than never!

This weekend see's my first MSA race of 2009, well we're only halfway through the year!

I am taking part in the East Anglian Trophy at Kimbolton which celebrates their 50th anniversary.

I have given the kart a good service and fitted new tyres which should help me.
The carburettor has recently been ultrasonically cleaned by my good friend Dr Snitz Ph.D, I rebuilt it using new parts so it should give give performance.

Thursday and Friday i'm really throwing it out there by testing at Rye House, I need the seat time and the aim is to get comfortable in the kart again and make positive setup changes to make the kart driveable - my aim is to be able to get on the throttle earlier and harder, not too much to ask is it?!

Saturdays format takes in 3 practice sessions in the morning then a race and qualifying in the afternoon before sundays heats, pre-final and grand final.

I will be nursed through the stresses of the weekend by my driver coach, Chris "Sideburns" Kasch, he is expecting big things this weekend, it would be terrible to let him down - no pressure!

Lastly I would like to wish Davy Cordner well as he is feeling a little under the weather at the moment, Davy is the husband of Ann who writes her excellent blog www.retiredandcrazy.com.
Get well soon Davy, as soon as your feeling better i'll come over and bore you both with motor racing tales.

First win in 2009!

Recently the Brunswick karting team entered the Dennis Smith memorial race at Surbiton Raceway in South London.

The race is organised by former Brunswick racer Dave Smith who originally made his name playing cricket for England.

The race would consist of 2 hours racing with a fuel stop on the hour, 11 teams took part with some current racing drivers and a few local teams who were very familiar with the circuit.

We qualified 3rd on the grid with myself taking the first 20 minute stint, it was a cold day with a damp circuit which was interesting on the slick tyres!

After my stint we had the lead and although I wasn't setting the fastest lap I was using my karting experience to keep out of trouble.

The next driver Michael De Cock (otherwise known as Mick the Dick) set about keeping our lead and all was going to plan until he commited an offence by overtaking under yellow flags, this got our kart sin binned for 2 minutes, he did a further lap before pitting to allow the next driver to get in - we had now dropped to 3rd place for our troubles.

The third driver was Giles Groombridge, commercial director of Brunswick Automotive - Giles put in a solid stint without issue and brought the kart back in 3rd place.

After the fuel stop at 60 minutes Giles brought the kart back in for another driver change, I jumped in and set about getting those lost places back, It was a good stint and again I used my head to keep out of trouble, it was hard going with the quicker karts catching the slower ones in all the wrong places, I tried to be patient and only overtake when it was an easy move and wouldn't hinder my momentum - this seemed to work as after my 15 minute stint we were back in the lead again.

Giles took the kart out next and after having a great session managed to get tangled up with another driver who rather sneakily punted him off the circuit causing the kart to stall so Giles had to pull the kart back onto the circuit and start the engine himself - we called him in shortly after as his visor had steamed up!

I took the kart out for a 2 lap stint to get our 5th driver change in before handing over to Mick for our mandatory 6th and final driver change.

Giles's accident had dropped us 1 lap and Mick had to charge hard to catch the leaders, we were 3rd with 15 minutes to go - it was going to be close!

The gap between Mick and the leaders was dropping all the time, it wasnt small amounts of time, it was chunks - we could visually see the lead diminishing every lap!

Mick did well to keep his nerve and the teams patience paid off when the leaders were involved in an accident whilst only a couple of seconds in front, Mick picked his way through the carnage and stretched his lead in the remaining minutes to win by around 3 seconds!

It was a great day that raised £350 for cancer charity, the team thoroughly enjoyed itself and look forward to competing for the trophy again next year!


From left, Mick, Wayne, Dave Smith, Giles

Dubai 24 hour race

I recently came back from Dubai after spending a week there with the Brunswick team for our 3rd assault on the 24 hour race at the Dubai Autodrome.

We would be using our Mazda RX7 and had 5 drivers, 2 English, 1 Belgian, 1 russian and a Kiwi - talk about multinational!

Qualifying was a steady affair with several of the drivers getting in the car for the first time, we were a few places behind our class competitors but not too far away - 24 hours is a long time after all!

The race started without incident on an extremely hot Friday afternoon at 2pm local time, within 90 minutes we had our first drama when the driver reported that he couldn't select 5th gear anymore, whilst the car circulated at a reduced pace we tried to figure out the best course of action - the ideal answer was to change the gearbox but we would lose the best part of 4 hours doing so.

The option we chose was to change the diff from the race version to the standard road version, this would have the effect off dropping the gearing and therefore making the gears longer so we wouldn't actually need 5th gear at all!
This was completed in 1 hour 45 minutes.

The Mazda continued to circulate at a good pace for a few more hours before the driver reported the engine had gone flat - we knew the engine was a strong unit so it had to be something silly - we traced the fault back to a faulty injector so we replaced the set and fixed a broken wire on the fuel pump which was giving intermittent problems.

The car was now charging pretty hard and even though we were missing 5th gear and the drivers were having to regulate the engine revs down the longer straight we were still going a few seconds a lap faster than we had in qualifying, we started to gain positions as other cars ran into problems and we overtook some of the slower cars.

We didn't really suffer any major problems after that, brake wear was good, fuel consumption was good and the well set up chassis hardly touched the Toyo tyres, each driver reporting that the car was a joy to drive!

At 2pm the whole team were up on the pitwall for the finish, the car came over the line 2nd in class a long way ahead of 3rd and overall we finished 49th from almost 80 cars, we had qualified 61st so we made up plenty of spaces during the night and the morning.

On the whole we had a very good race, without the diff change we would have been challenging for the class win and a position inside the top 30 but that's endurance racing for you - you never know what the day will throw at you.

2008 Review

It's been an interesting year, I have learnt a lot about driving although my time in the seat has been less than I would have prefered - racing took a back seat whilst Rachel had our first baby.

Chloe Louise Ashford was born on 9th July, weighing in at 6lb 13oz - she has been piling on the weight ever since and is now a very healthy little girl.

On the racing side of life I only managed to get to 3 race meetings this year although I have tested on several occasions which has kept my hand in.
Even though I have not been in the seat as much as I would have liked I have started thinking about what I am doing a lot more and this has helped me no end - my racecraft is improving all the time and this shows by not getting involved in incidents, I have been trying to get my license upgrade signatures and I need to keep my nose clean in front of the Clerk of the Course, keeping out of trouble keeps them happy plus I get classified in the race meeting final which is always satisfactory.

2009 plans?
I'm aiming to get more seat time this year, I will be testing as early as possible - I have a few new things to try so hopefully I can improve my technique and reduce my lap times, I know my kart is good enough as my driver coach Chris Kasch has set a competitive time in it so I know there is more time left in me, a lot of it is seat time and only getting in the seat every 2-3 months isnt helping me at the moment.

I am pleased to announce that my good friend Ann Cordner will be supporting me again throughout the year, please take the time to read her regular posts on her very funny blog http://www.retiredandcrazy.com/.


Brunswick Automotive;

In Brunswick Automotive news, we will shortly be setting off for Dubai in the new year, we are contesting the 3rd 24 hour race to be held there, the car we'll be using is our trusty Mazda RX7 GT3 - it has had a lot of time put into it since it's last outing and we hope to get a good result in our class.

The company has recently acquired an ex Jet Alliance GT4 Aston Martin Vantage N24 which contested several races last year in the FIA GT4 championship, winning the Silverstone round.
The car is an absolute work of art and has been entered into the British GT championship, a place where I would dearly love to drive - i'll be continuing to buy lottery tickets in hope of that jackpot! :o)

Merry Christmas!

Seasons greetings to you all, here's to an excellent 2009!

Kimbolton race report

Sunday 12th October saw my first meeting at Kimbolton and it turned out to be a bit of an adventure!
Saturday I tested with Chris Kasch and had the excellent help of former Brunswick employee Richard Oakervee on engineer's duty.

The test started off well with the 2nd session showing a time 2 tenths quicker than last months PB but I was sure more was to come.
Unfortunately in the 3rd I got knocked off by an over enthusiastic competitor who thought we were racing, not testing - this knocked my confidence a little and the rest of the day was spent chasing my tail as I struggled to set the kart up.

A decent nights sleep gave me a fresh outlook for race day and the first race started well with me posting a best lap some half a second quicker than the previous day and 7 tenths quicker than last month but I was suffering from a lack of confidence on the brakes so a new pair of pads were purchased from Spellfame.

The second race was a real confidence boost and after picking my way through the usual carnage I got some free space and set a new PB some 2 tenths quicker than my previous race time - a full 9 tenths quicker than last months time, Chris had set me a target of slicing a second off, I was almost there!

The third race got underway and I realised that my brakes felt much sharper than before, we had adjusted the brake pedal so I had more bite but hadn't taken into account the extra grip from the new pads so every time I braked the wheels locked, as usual I drove around the problem to post a respectable time a few tenths slower than the previous race.

In the final I had qualified 14th from 17, not too shabby considering I had to start from 17th in the 3 qualifying heats and i'd beaten several regular TKM drivers.
I tried to keep my head in the final and make sure I get a solid finish so I would recieve another upgrade signature for my license, I was running around 10th and capitalising on others mistakes when I clipped a kerb slightly too hard and I lost a couple of places during the resulting slide, I finished a good 12th posting the same laptime as my previous race.

Overall I was very pleased and got my third upgrade signature, only 3 more to go before I am no longer called a novice!

An onboard video of the third heat can be viewed on the right hand side of the blog, if you listen carefully you can make out the brakes locking even on the warm up lap - it certainly focused the mind at 70mph on the main straight!

Race weekend looming

This coming weekend will see my first race meeting at Kimbolton in Huntingdonshire.
It's virtually on my doorstep this one which is always nice - the 4am starts are never welcome when your driving across the otherside of the country.

The Kart is just being fettled a bit more before the test day on the Saturday, I still need to analyse the data I acquired a few weeks ago from the previous Kimbolton test.

My engine has been returned to the manufacturer's factory in Sandy, Beds for an inspection after I suspected that the crank wasn't running quite true - I hope to get the engine back tonight and fitted in the next couple of days.
Both carbs are now rebuilt and set up, judging by the recent weather I may need to employ my "winter" carb which I haven't had chance to try yet, it's runs a tad on the rich side apparently so should suit the colder weather better.

Geometry wise, I'm changing the ride height of the chassis after Chris pointed out that I was running too low - other than that it's staying the same after the last test at Kimbolton.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, let's hope for dry weather!

And in other news....

Saturday 20th September will see Mark James return for only his 3rd appearance in the 2008 AlfaShop Alfa Romeo Championship at the Silverstone round.
Mark, who runs the sucessful Bewarm TV chain of electronic goods retailers in West Surrey will be looking to get his 2nd win this year.
This year has been slightly quieter for Mark after he won the Class D championship last year and after sustaining heavy damage in the last race meeting of 2007 he decided at a slightly more leisurely approach to current season.

I will be at Silverstone this weekend working as a race mechanic for the Brunswick squad's assault on the 4th running of the Britcar 24 hour race, made famous last year by the Top Gear team in their BMW 330D.
Brunswick will be running their 250bhp Alfa Romeo 156 in the production class.

New circuit - Kimbolton

Saturday was my first test at Kimbolton near my home town of Huntingdon, I would be employing the critical eye of Chris "Sideburns" Kasch and my good friend Andy to help me out in what would turn out to be a testing day.

We found a few mechanical issues and a bit of lairy driving from myself caused us a little upset to begin with but once I had got my lines sorted it would be time to actually learn the circuit which I found to be fantastic and very quick in places.

It didn't help that my tyres were absolutely dead but it wasnt worth burning out a new set just to learn the place so it was all a voyage of discovery and I discovered most of the grassy areas of the circuit!

The last 2 sessions of the day went very well, I managed to keep it on the circuit for 2 whole sessions and after making some small set up changes found the kart to be much easier to drive.

We learnt a lot about setting the kart up and with Chris's ever watchful eye my pace improved steadily throughout the day, finally setting a reasonable lap time - it was still not quick enough for my liking but with another test day and new tyres i'm confident of making a chunk of time.

I'm planning on doing the next round at Kimbolton in October, I cant wait!

Thanks to Chris and Andy for their invaluable help throughout the day.

Last weekend I took part in the TKM Festival at Whilton Mill although not in a driving capacity.
The Festival is probably the biggest TKM meeting in the year and features the majority of the entrants from the elite Super 1 series as well as over 60 other entrants making up 84 places in TKM Extreme.
I was working with Chris Kasch and his extra large sideburns for the Friday testing at the qualifying sessions, it would give me an idea of how the really big meetings go.

We spent all of Friday in changeable weather conditions battling up against the rain, reliability problems and Chris's love of the grassy part of the track!

We managed to set a reasonable time but Chris was beating himself up for not bettering his previous PB - a difficult task I thought in the greasy conditions.

Saturday brought some luck and with it the rain, in karting circles Chris is thought to be up there with the likes of Senna, Schumacher and the great Jenson Button - he could be seen doing a strange dance in between the tents on the camp site and chanting away as if he was doing a tribal rain dance... can't think why!

He had suddenly found his mojo and set about improving his pace with each session, when it came to the actual timed qualifying Chris had set 6th fastest time in a group of 25 - considering he was almost 3 times the age of the youngest competitor in his class he was happy with that!

In the first heat Chris finished a very creditable 4th after enjoying a bit of bump and grind with the leading pack - an excellent start to proceedings - superstars indeed....

The second heat didnt go quite according to plan, an inspired choice to go out on slick tyres in the rain looked to be paying off in the drying conditions halfway through the race but after making up a huge amount of places a counter attack by a disgruntled competitor left Chris in a muddy puddle and going nowhere - a real shame as he had every chance of winning his heat!

Testing

I recently managed to squeeze a test in at Rye House in between clearing the garden and trying to finish the bathroom - a welcome break!

The weather was extremely hot so the tyres which were just about on there last legs would definately get a work out.
With me was my best mate Vince (grandson of the author of retiredandcrazy.com) and the racer with the best sideburns in karting - Chris Kasch.

We spent the majority of the day changing small aspects of the karts geometry to see if it improved the feel of the kart and I also worked hard at my body positioning, I have recently modified the visor of my helmet so it makes me keep my head up and therefore my shoulders back - the difference this made to rear end grip was astonishing and I learnt a lot and with Chris's help I was able to improve my lines and my consistency - now I just need to go faster!

In terms of lap times i didnt actually improve on my PB but I dont think its quite so easy in testing when you dont have anyone to follow like in a race situation - i'm definately a better racer than I am a qualifier/tester.

What I did manage though is gather a great amount of data from my Mychron4 datalogger so when I have got my head around the software I will compare sessions against each other.

We did manage to find out that my kart is a decent chassis as Mr Sideburns had a session in my kart and immediately put in a bandit lap 9 tenths of a second quicker than me (in my own kart!), was I annoyed? not at all, it means that the kart works and now I just need to work on my driving, easy huh! Just drive faster was the advice I was given...

Vince drove the kart once we had set it up to be driveable, it was the first time he had driven it in the dry and I think by the look on his face he enjoyed himself - I just have to convince him to buy one now...
He steadily improved his times and his lines, he just now needs to be more agressive to improve things further.

I thought i best put a quick update on the latest news in my life.

Karting has had to take a back seat for a while whilst Rachel and I prepare to become parents, a slightly scary prospect but i'm sure we'll cope just fine!

The baby is due on July 11th so it could come any time now!

I have been testing the kart in the wet with interesting results, it is certainly different from racing cars in the rain! At least now I have an idea of what not to do!

Final round

Sunday March 2nd was the final round of the Hoddesdon Kart Club Winter Championship.

My main aims for this meeting where to keep out of trouble and gain another signature on my license, an improvement on my lap times would be a nice bonus!

Well I managed all 3 so i'll call it a success!

Heat 1 was pretty straight forward, I started from the back as normal (being a novice) and worked my way up to 15th from 20th, posting a lap time 2 tenths quicker than last months PB.

Heat 2 I changed sprocket size as I wanted more revs down the straight and this seemed to work with a lap time a further 2 tenths quicker.

Heat 3 was a character building race, I made good progress on the opening laps until another kart turned in on me and the contact resulted in my retirement, it was easily fixed for the final though.

The Final was my best race so far, after making a couple of changes to the setup I reverted back to a setup that worked well previously, on lap 1 I gained 6 places alone, more than anyone else on that first lap!
I set a lap time even faster than my previous PB, improving by almost half a second from the time set at last months meeting!

I'm still learning everytime I go out, my driving is improving but I need more practice to make my style smoother - this will come with time.

Recent news

I will be entering the next round of the Winter Championship at Rye House and hope to improve in all areas of setup and driving.

I have purchased a small 3 litre fuel tank and a longer angled steering wheel boss as I spent most of the first meeting with my hands betwen my knees due to the short steering column - hopefully this will make it a bit easier for me - the small tank is there to allow me to run less fuel - I am around 6/7 kgs over the weight limit so I need all the help I can get, i'm also looking into making a carbon floortray to cut down on some weight.

Any extra weight kills my acceleration and with me being a novice I need every bit of speed possible to keep up with the pack!

1st race - Rye House

Saturday 2nd Feb was spent testing at the Rye House circuit in Hoddesdon near Harlow.

We had a good base set up and throughout the morning adjusted it to my liking - I initially struggled with understeer until we widened the width of the front tracking until the kart would turn in, we added 40mm using 5 mm spacers (2 each side) in 10mm increments - this transformed the kart and I was able to improve on my early lap times by over 3 seconds.

On the race day I was just itching to get out there and actually have a go - there were no nerves, I hadn't put any pressure on myself by setting unrealistic targets, my only targets were to finish every race (4 during the day) and set a laptime under 40 seconds (I had managed a 40.2 during testing).

As I am a novice I have to start at the back of the first 3 races, in this case 14th.

Race 1 was a bit of an eye opener but it went pretty much as expected - I gained a couple of places after taking advantage of other karters mistakes and finished 11th.

Race 2 was a disaster as someone spun in front of me and I had to take avoiding action onto the grass which dropped me far behind the pack although I did set a 40.0 lap time I was dead last in 14th.

Race 3 was my best of the day, I was able to hang on to the mid pack for a while and it was only my inexperience and inconsistent lap times which slowly dropped me back, I finished 9th and set a 39.98 lap time - that was one target acheived!

Race 4, A final - I started 13th as the A final starting position is a combination of the 3 heats finishing places, I just kept my head and out of trouble - I set a 39.90 lap time and came home in 12th place, I had survived my first kart meeting!

Overall I am delighted with how the weekend went, we made changes which worked on the chassis and my driving steadily improved over the whole weekend, I will be taking part in the next round of the Hoddesdon Kart Club Winter Championship at the start of March and I cant wait!

Countdown

I have entered the 2nd round of the Hoddesdon Kart Club Winter Championship at Rye House for this Sunday coming.
The kart is 99% ready with only a few minor jobs left to complete, the timing transponder will be fitted tonight and I need to install the datalogger software onto my laptop.

I will be testing all day Saturday to try and dial the kart in as best I can, fellow karter Chris Kasch has offered to help me during the day and his knowledge will be invaluable.

On Friday I am aiming to take the kart to the Brunswick workshop and set it up on the weighing scales, the minimum weight for the TKM class is 148kg (kart and driver combined) and I suspect that I will be some 6kg overweight so I'll see how little fuel I can use to see if I can bring the weight down.

The Finished Article

Today I finished the kart build and I must say i'm very pleased with it.

Had a slight hitch when I tried to fit the starter motor and found that the shaft was not long enough due to the new wider bodywork! A slight modification using a 6" extension bar and a mig welder sorted that out.

The kart runs and sounds awesome, the carb needs setting up and the geometry will need some fine tuning trackside but now all that is left to do is drive it!

I am planning on testing it on the first Saturday of February at Hoddesdon Kart Club and i'm aiming to take part in my first kart race on the Sunday.

Hopefully I may get the chance to take it out to Wildtracks in Red Lodge to give it a shakedown, it really depends on time as i'm a fairly busy boy at the moment!

A few pics were taken when the rain stopped briefly this evening.

Techy Stuff

This shows the engine set up more closely, the chain guard is an essential item and keeps my fingers nice and safe whilst adjusting the carburettor!

Patience, Not One Of My Stronger Points!

Over the christmas period I was waiting for some essential components to turn up so I spent my time fitting the graphics, this is extremely difficult to do neatly and took a very long time.
You might notice that I have changed the airbox for an updated 2007 spec item, this makes access to the carburettor easier whilst driving.

Starting To Look Like a Kart

It is now getting the bodywork fitted temporarily to see how it all goes together - this has to be done outside as the kart will not fit in my shed otherwise!

Build Pics

The chassis has now had the seat fitted acording to Project 1's advice, the engine has been installed and the rear axle fitted.

Build Pics

Chassis now has the fuel tank, steering column, steering wheel with datalogger and brake system.

Naked!

The bare chassis - all the works chassis's were not painted, this was to make it easier to spot stress cracks.

Class in a glass

Well very briefly the kart uses an air cooled 2 stroke TKM engine (BT82) which produces around 18/19bhp at 16'000rpm - my particular engine has a clutch so that if I spin (very likely to begin with!) the engine shouldnt stall.

The tyres are Maxxis and are controlled so only one set can be used on a race day.

My kart uses an AIM Mychron4 datalogger which records lap time, engine revs, engine temp, and has the option of connecting a GPS sensor which will record a map of the circuit as I have driven it - I can download this information to a laptop to see where I can improve my times during test sessions.

A new dawn?

Well I can finally reveal my plans for this year.

I have sold my Alfa Romeo and have purchased a 2 stroke go kart which came 2nd in a national championship 2 years ago.

The change in direction has come for 2 reasons, The kart races are a quarter of the price of an Alfa entry and the other far more significant reason is that I am to become a father in the summer!

The kart was purchased from someone who only raced it around 6 times after they purchased it from the Project 1 company, this particular chassis was used 5 times by Scott Malvern who won several races on it before finishing runner up in the prestigious Super 1 championship.

Since buying it I have stripped it down to a bare frame in order to fully understand how it all works, a lot of the parts have been replaced with new high quality items such as bearings, bodywork, datalogging system, tyres and graphics.

I have spent the last 2 months cleaning and assembling the kart, i'm taking my time as I want it to be right first time.

I have taken a few pictures that shows the progress I have made - I have changed a few things from when I bought it as some bits needed updating, the great thing about the class I will be runnng in is that there are strict regulations governing the class, it means that you cannot just walk into the class with a blank cheque and buy success, talent will shine through.

Good news for 2008!

Excellent recent news;
I have secured a sponsorship deal from a very good friend of mine, Ann Cordner who writes the fantastically funny www.retiredandcrazy.com blog.

Ann along with her husband Davy founded the sucessful Infotel group which over time expanded and created sister companies such as www.findmeahotelroom.com (who sponsored me last year) and www.findmeaconference.com.

The couple have recently retired and are enjoying the fruits of their labour, Ann spends her time travelling the world and writing about her exploits on her blog whilst Davy tries to convince her he's not grumpy, bored and past it by rebuilding their house, learning to roller blade and keeping the grandchildren entertained.

Many thanks to the both of them for their constant support!

New Blog

My old blog has done a runner on me and it seems I have lost all the data so I'll start again with a blank canvas!