|
Headed off to The Box in Crewe last night to see The Sumo Kings. My friend Steve is the guitarist, so I'm biased and there's little point in me writing a review. The headline act arrived late at the venue so the Sumos didn't get a proper soundcheck and had to do a quick run through after the doors had opened. Despite the lack of soundcheck, they gave it loads of welly and the crowd seemed to enjoy it.
First blog of the New Year and we have snow. These are the plants outside our house looking all Wintry!
About 6 weeks ago I joined a gym - one of those 30 minute circuit ones. Well miracle of miracles - I'm still going, still enjoying it and best of all I'm actually seeing results too! Bonus!
There are loads of great apps available for the iPhone and iPod touch once you do the software update including Typepad so you can blog direct from your device. Brilliant!
None of my usual suspects are out this weekend. NASCAR has a weekend off ahead of Talladega next week, F1 are gearing up for Barcelona next weekend and whilst Super Aguri have sent one of their transporters already, there's still a great deal of doubt as to whether they'll be able to race unless a rapid injection of funds is found.
BTCC have a few weeks to the next round at fantastic Donington. It's an amazing track with longer straights, a range of exciting corners and ups and downs around the circuit which all contribute to close fought racing every time. I don't think I've ever seen a dull event there! Almost makes you wish they'd move the British Grand Prix there!
Just returning to NASCAR for a second, I was on the edge of my seat for those last laps at Phoenix, not knowing if Jimmie had enough fuel on board to get him to the line. Once again, an awesome bit of strategy from Chad Knauss. I loved hearing that telling Jimmie to slow down, no, slow down more! You've got 20 seconds on the next guy. It was a real nail-biting finish. Can't wait for Talladega next weekend. Such a huge legendary track!
It's quite literally blowing a gale here. The wind is howling around the house, and buffeting against the walls. It's been raining most of the day and it's pretty wintery.
The howling of the wind reminds me of the film Twister!
It's always hard over the Winter to keep busy when the motor racing is off. We have A1GP, but the first few races of the season are usually a few weeks apart and in countries that mean they're on the telly in the middle of the night here.
Today I watched both races from Durban, South Africa and it really reminded me what I've been missing - some very close racing, in fact so close that they ran into each other, over and over again! I thought Oli jarvis did a great job considering he was run into on the first race and drove to second with a damaged car, and in the second race got taken out by Team Canada trying to spin themselves back on to the track. DOH! Either way, it was plenty entertaining. Shame it's another 3 weeks til the next race in Mexico City.
My salvation when it comes to the off season is that the NASCAR off season is very short - they finish in November and we're already on the third race of the season. Well, we would be if it hadn't been raining since yesterday in Fontana California. I'm sat here watching Sky and waiting for the race to start. These two blokes in the UK studio are so dull I think I'd rather be watching them drying the track!!!
Last week's Daytona 500 wasn't a good race for my driver of choice, Jimmie Johnson, after he crashed out with a loose car. Here's hoping for a better time in his home race at Fontana, if they ever get started!
Following on from my sad post at the end of August mourning the closure of the New Frontier it's time for Las Vegas to give the ole joint a send off in the only way they know how - BLOWING IT UP!!!
See below for a You Tube video of the implosion courtesy of the Las Vegas Sun...
Part of our recent vacation included a trip to watch NASCAR at California Speedway, Fontana. I've been following NASCAR for a couple of years now, but only on TV. Up until last week, I'd never witnessed the sight and sound of these cars up close. It's loud and quite breathtaking.
I've been supporting Jimmie Johnson for the last couple of years, so I was really excited to see him win at Fontana. I was on my feet for the last few laps as he was being caught by Carl Edwards, but he finished well. It was brilliant to see him collect the checkered flag and then do a couple of doughnuts for good measure.
If you get a chance to see once of these races, don't pass it up just because everyone says it's full of beer swilling rednecks. That wasn't my experience at all, and the NASCAR organisation put on an awesome event!
