April 2007
Friday 27th April 2007
Had quite a busy week, with two trips to Doncaster and one to Stockport. I went to the EWS (English Welsh Scottish Railways) head office at Doncaster, which is where we're building a data centre to support the Thales UK business. And whilst I was there we had a look at the NRCC, which is where all the incidents on the UK railways are co-ordinated. Thales, the company I work for, is winning some very exciting bids at the moment, providing Oracle hosting solutions etc, and I'm now involved in a very large bid to provide Desktop Automation to a very large business. Should keep me extra busy for a while.
On my drive from Stockport to Doncaster on Wednesday afternoon, I made a detour so I could drive the A57 Snake Pass road. It runs from Glossop to Ladybower, and is a wonderful stretch of road, with hair pin bends, long straights, and some very challenging switchbacks. Well worth the detour, though the disk brakes on the Mondeo look a little worse for wear. The 2.2 Diesel is ideal for the steep climbs and fast descents.
I'll be at the FITP show in May, on the Performance Ford magazine stand. My first outing this year with the Fiesta. I cant wait.
Friday 20th April 2007
Yeah! The airconditioning compressor that I imported from Ebay USA actually fits the Quattro. My local garage fitted it today, and it was a perfect match for the one they took off the car. Now I've working aircon, with no horrid noises or vibration. And I saved myself over £500 by importing it myself. Where would we be without the Internet?
The rear spoiler has arrived. I need to get it spray painted and fitted to the car. No urgency, but I'll get it done in the next month.
This weekend (22nd April) the Midland Speed Championship goes to Curborough. If I get a chance, I'll go over in the afternoon to spectate. Both Bernard Armitage and Graham Millar are out in their Escorts, which should mean a good scrap in the Sports Libre class.
Thursday 12th April 2007
First blood in the 2007 Midland Speed Championship Sports Libre class goes to Bernard Armitage in his 2.6 Millington Diamond Escort at Croft last weekend. Well done Bernard. Next event in the calendar is at Three Sisters sprint and Harewood hillclimb, both on this weekend.
My new Airconditioning compressor has cleared customs and is waiting for me to collect it from Parcel Force in the morning.
The Fiesta in the Park show this year has changed venue. Its on May the 13th at Huntingdon Racecourse, on the A14. I'll see if I can get the time to drag the Fiesta to the show. Her last outing was at Cadwell last September, and she could do with seeing some daylight again.
I've ordered a genuine RS6 rear bootlid spoiler for the Quattro, from www.vagparts.com. I'll get it sprayed and fitted in the next couple of weeks.
Sunday 1st April 2007
No April fools jokes from me today. I've been working in Doncaster this week, which is a far nicer part of the world to the Crawley site where I've been based since January 2007 (and it's closer to Harewood and most Midland Speed events). The air conditioning compressor on my Audi has finally given up the ghost. I've made enquiries in the UK for a replacement unit, and everyone says that I have to go to Audi for the part. I rang Audi and they quoted £770. However, via tyresmoke.net I was sent a link to an auction on Ebay in the USA where I could buy the exact part I required, for $250, which is £125 in todays money. Thats a no brainer I'm afraid, so I bought it there and then. Delivery should be this week, and I'll soon see if it fits. The part numbers are the same, so it should....
Its my little boys 2nd birthday this month, so I've sourced a pedal go kart which is currently being modified. The steering linkages aren't much cop, so I've bought some ball joints and thrown away the bent piece of wire which the front wheels were steered with. He'd expect nothing less.
