Eating late.

             

   'Too much tarmac after midnight makes for a restless night's sleep.'

Something my mum might have said if she'd have been knowledgeable of such pursuits.I suspect that Dad wasn't lured to such adventures on the (more) open roads back in the late 60's... in his Ford Anglia.

Question is, did they need 'blats' back then? (For it is indeed a 'need'.) They may not have had to make special arrangements to avoid traffic and to rendezvous at ridiculous times of the day just to find some time and space to ...errr... 'get a bit of pace on' with a few friends of similar outlook.The all seeing spectre of spy cameras were still only prophesied in controlling population activities, 1984 and Big Brother dictates were a long way off back then and ANPR systems were the stuff of fantasy. So, maybe they didn't have to blat. Every trip out could have been a wheel twirling self expression event if they chose...now wouldn't that have been nice? Something tells me, that even then, the horse box and caravan would still rule mighty over the need for speed.

A bit of research tells me that caravans were restricted to 30 mph in 1958 ... Has no one told them this has actually changed?

Of course, we imagine that we're the first generation to suffer virtually unusable roads with the burgeoning population of car users ... and we don't want to be told otherwise ! For then, gone is the crusade to find that small window of opportunity for us to conquer the tide that is technological availability, and social necessity, for everyone to have a vehicle and to damn well use it just at the very same moment that we (Sunrisers and similar) have chosen to do so!!

'Rise up and demand time on the road' we say....so we do... rise up, very early as it happens, and demand that our tired aching remnants can make it to the garage and that something of the form enjoyed in the usual waking hours will soon energise the soul enough to make the physics of driving possible and, eventually, enjoyable, at these otherwise unreasonable times.

The truth being is that it's really just an adopted cause, isn't it? A reason to get out in the car when sense would suggest otherwise. It's a raison d'etre that we'll foster and grow, if not for a real purpose, then perhaps for a bit of fun. Long live the thinly veiled challenge that offers crisp clear mornings at sunrise and moonlit sprints after midnight I say!

And so the call goes up on a mid Easter weekend to meet at 10pm for coffee and a few litres of super unleaded, so as to perform a re-run of the Brighton Night Blat ( in May 2009 here). New man Andy hasn't done it before, so there's the reason to carve a different look into a Saturday night. So we did. 4 souls on board and Surrey and Sussex await. 10 pm is too early tho'. As mentioned in the previous post, who is it that uses the roads at this time of night? Where are they going? Fascinating.

Destination: The Market Diner in Brighton. Gone midnight, and the usual cross section of night time population sample appear on the streets and grub stops-

• The Hen party that finished a bit early 'cos mum's friend got tearful
• The lads on the way to a club that they'll never get into, 'cos they're totally muntered, but they want a kebab before they try.
• Two security guards, in black, with belts of radios, torches and egos.Their ID Name badges strapped to biceps and an over loud command for their 'usual, please luv'... outside: the smallest Nissan electric car: 'STRONGHOLD SECURITY' stencilled on it's door. (Oh, the dramatic irony!)
• Hospital staff, not, I suspect, on stand-by in the cafe just in case, but just about to start the late shift.
• Some pale people having their lunch.
• A tramp with a polystyrene cup...no tea in it, not for a long time anyway.
• Five staff cooking and serving, none of it in the right order and all blaming each other.
• Oh, and some 7 drivers, beamed into this 'reality', blinking in the grease filmed neon.

Late night, Brighton back streets, three 7's try to blend in with the graffiti and the gormless. Too often the 'shiny shiny' has the magpie drunk making a lurch in their direction. A taxi driver, again, demands 'how much for this cars??'

We drank tea and ate our choice (or perhaps it was someone else's , the blame game at the grill plate would last into breakfast time for sure.)

And so to the return home.... ahhh, the contrast, from the circus in Brighton to all the superlatives of that barely lit ribbon of road all the way to Guildford.

Other cars? Two maybe, and a welcome distraction in passing them with barely a check of pace. But there is a strange re-appearance: that of cyclists, out at this time? This is the full lycra type, grinding their way along unlit tree lined roads with all the intent and determination of trying to get a marshmallow in a money box. Surely that's not going to work? The chances of running into a pot hole , a badger or a spell in hospital are pretty high? I know they have lovely bright LED lights and that, but no other road user believes that there's going to be a cyclist out there, and in your way, at 1am ... and neither does the cylclmenatlist appear to consider that anyone else will be using the road, perhaps they should still keep to the left, even though it's late. One 7 can come up on your lycra ass pretty fast, three of them even faster. And the late shift at the hospital have just had a kebab and don't want to be stitching up what looks like dinner so that your helmet sits straight again. Two of them were out,separately, so not just an apparition or a single example of madness, and previous late outings on the road have shown it's not a one off. Is it a new thang? Bloody hope not!

You've spotted the duplicity here haven't you? We're out taking advantage of the empty roads, so why not them? Good point, well presented. Just wasn't expecting to add them in as a late night category road user. Any way, how much do they pay for their road tax.... ;-)

Another from Ma Carrots:

'You should never jump straight in the deep end of a blat after a whole kebab, you'll get indigestion'

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Renault driver Robert Kubica to leave hospital soon

Renault driver Robert Kubica says he will leave the Italian hospital where he has been recovering from serious injuries "very soon".

Kubica suffered a partially severed right hand and fractures in his right leg and arm when he crashed during a rally in February.

"I will leave hospital very soon," Kubica, 26, said. "I don't have a precise date but I hope within 10 days.

"I am starting to feel a lot better. My strength and weight are increasing."

Kubica was injured just over 10 weeks ago when competing in the Ronde di Andorra, three days after setting the fastest time at the first pre-season F1 test in Valencia.

While Nick Heidfeld is acting as his stand-in at Renault, Kubica has been slowly recovering from his injuries, which could still prevent him from returning to F1.

Renault team doctor Dr Riccardo Ceccarelli warned last month it wasimpossible to predict when Kubica might resume racing but the Polish driver is remaining positive about his progress.

"My recovery is moving in the right direction," Kubica said in a message to his fans on the Renault website.

"The mobility of my hand is limited but this is pretty normal in this kind of situation, because the connected arm muscles are still very weak due to the long period of immobility.

"Things are definitely improving day by day. As soon as I leave hospital, I'll head to my home in Monaco for a short period of rest.

"Then I'll move to Dr Ceccarelli's facilities in Italy where I will start a deep rehabilitation programme."

Despite a few reliability issues, Renault have made a promising start to the season as Vitaly Petrov claimed third in the first race in Australia with Heidfeld achieving the same result in the second race in Malaysia.

Kubica says he has been watching the season from the sidelines and has been keeping in regular contact with the team.

"There's no doubt it's been a strong start to the season," said Kubica. "The potential of the car, which I already noticed in the Valencia test, seems to be confirmed.

"The guys did a great job with this car and I'm sure they'll continue to improve.

"Since the season started, I've been liaising with my engineers on what's been going on over race weekends.

"They are sending me the race reports so I can remain up to date and fully informed, as if I were at the track.

"[Renault team principal] Eric Boullier is also in constant contact, keeping up to date with my general condition.

"From my side, I'll try to use my difficult experience to come back as strong as I possibly can."

from bbc sport

Rallye Des Jonquilles Video clips

Just to re-live the great weekend en Francais...here are a couple of clips that Ian has edited together:

Short:

Stage 1 

Lewis Hamilton storms to China victory over Red Bulls

Lewis Hamilton claimed a thrilling first victory of 2011 for McLaren as he chased down championship leader Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull in China.

Hamilton made one more stop than Vettel and made his fresh tyres work as he passed Vettel with four laps to go.

Button was denied third place on the penultimate lap as Mark Webber staged a brilliant comeback from 18th place on the grid to deny the Englishman.

Scot Paul di Resta finished 11th for Force India.

Hamilton had joined Button in passing Vettel with a brilliant getaway off the line but lost position in the first round of stops.

But Hamilton stuck to his three-stop plan and used his fresh tyres to work his way past Button, Felipe Massa's Ferrari and the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg before he set to work eating into Vettel's lead.

The 2008 world champion comfortably passed Vettel in the dying stages of a dramatic grand prix to move 18 points behind the German in the championship.

Hamilton, whose victory was even more impressive as McLaren had to work furiously on his car to get it to the grid in time because of a fuel leak, said: "I think today the strategy we came up with definitely helped.

"My new option tyres seemed to last longer. The pit stops were fantastic.

"The car felt great and I was trying to nurse my tyres while picking up pace. It was one of the best races I've experienced."

BBC F1 commentator David Coulthard said: "What a controlled comeback.

"It was a fantastic drive. He controlled his emotions and bounced back from a difficult race in Malaysia not to mention pre-season testing.

"I think Hamilton is really overcome with emotion too."

After straightforward victories in Australia and Malaysia, Vettel had to work hard to hang on to second place as he just could not eke out enough performance from the hard tyres.

Vettel explained: "We came out in the lead and then I think we tried too hard to stay on two stops.

"I saw Lewis coming closer and there was no point defending too hard - he found his way past.

"We did a couple of mistakes but still finished second so I'm very happy with that. We can learn a lot today."

In contrast, his team-mate Webber displayed his characteristic grit to fight back from 18th on the grid to snatch his first podium of the season.

Yet more problems with the power-boost Kers system and electrical issues meant the Australian had to battle his way through the backmarkers.

But Webber used his superior race pace and his three sets of soft tyres to deny Button on the 55th lap of the race.

Webber said: "It was an interesting GP. We started on hard tyres, got that out of the way.

"It wasn't easy. To still see P17 after 15 laps you think - 'when is it going to come'.

"It was a good day for racing (with Lewis winning) and a good day in terms of points for the team."

It was a disappointing end to the grand prix for Button, who had qualified behind Vettel in second place, but who lost position to his team-mate before Webber zoned in on him at the end.

Button had lost the lead to Vettel when the pair made their first pit stops at the same time only for Button to stop first at the Red Bull garage.

The mix-up meant Vettel returned to the track ahead of Button.

"It was absolutely bizarre," said BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz. "The McLaren mechanics didn't know what to make of it. He lost at least three seconds there."

Button said: "First of all massive congratulations to Lewis. It was a great race to be part of but I wasn't quick enough.

"Fourth place was as good as I could get out of the car. You're a sitting duck when people have got newer tyres.

"It was a tough afternoon for me and for some reason I didn't have the pace."

Rosberg chalked up a best finish of the season for the improving Mercedes with fifth place but it could have been better had he not let Button and Massa past in the closing stages.

Ferrari's toils continued as a two-stop strategy scuppered Massa's podium hopes as he lost ground over the last stint on the hard tyres and finished sixth.

The Brazilian will at least take a fillip from finishing ahead of his team-mate Fernando Alonso, who lost ground to Massa at the start and appeared to have problems with his rear wing.

Alonso finished seventh and rued a lack of race pace for another troublesome weekend.

"It was a tactical race," said Alonso.

"With this year's tyres in some part of the race you feel competitive, you feel good.

"In other parts of the race you feel very slow because people on different strategies can overtake you without any real problems.

"When you have a quick car any strategy is good as we saw with Vettel. When you have a slow car you have to get the right one."

Michael Schumacher had to pull out some defensive moves to hang on to eighth place ahead of Vitaly Petrov's Renault.

Kamui Kobayashi picked up the last point for Sauber to deny Di Resta, who went backwards from eighth on the grid as he struggled for grip with his rear tyres.

There was an encouraging day for Team Lotus who were satisfied to beat two midfield teams for the first time as Heikki Kovalainen finished ahead of Sergio Perez's Sauber and the Williams of Pastor Maldonado to claim 16th.

"It's not the highest place we've had but we beat two midfield cars in a straight fight so I am very happy," added Kovalainen.

from bbc sport

Sebastian Vettel beats McLaren in Chinese GP qualifying

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel set a scintillating lap to take his third pole position in three races in 2011 at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Jenson Button was second, 0.715 seconds behind the championship leader, with McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton third.

Nico Rosberg took fourth place on the grid for Mercedes, while Force India's Paul di Resta will start eighth.

After electrical problems in practice, Red Bull's Mark Webber was eliminated in qualifying and will start 18th.

For the third race running, McLaren were the only team who could get close to champions Red Bull.

McLaren kept faith with their upgrades - which included a refined exhaust system, floor and front wing - for qualifying despite niggling problems during Friday practice.

Button set an early benchmark in the chase for pole but Vettel responded with a blistering lap of one minute 33.706 to better the 2009 champion by 0.715secs.

The pair watched as none of the other seven cars came close to matching their times and neither Vettel nor Button emerged again as they chose to preserve their tyres for the race.

"I thought we could fight for pole, but the pace of Sebastian in Q3 was phenomenal," said Button. "This is my best grid slot of the year and from where we were on Friday we've improved the car a lot.

"We should be happy with what we've achieved. Our best chance of winning the race is to challenge Seb into Turn One."

Vettel said: "The gap surprised us as well. Obviously we did it again but I try to remind myself and the team that every time is tough. It wasn't straightforward, in Q2 I had a bit of a mistake but in Q3 we improved.

"It all starts from zero again on Sunday. All it is is eight metres (in front of Button). We are as happy as we can be with the car, we had good long runs on Friday so have reason to feel good."

Hamilton finished 0.747secs off Vettel's leading time and said he was "much happier with the car," despite looking rather despondent when he faced the media after qualifying.

"I'm quite happy," he said. "To have our team up there still and to have one of the Red Bulls out of the fight will give us an advantage. Jenson did a great job. I'm hoping my extra set of tyres will give me the edge in the race.

"Compared to the last strategy it will be a massive difference. It's always good to have a fresh set of tyres. They are saying it is a two stop race but it's potentially three.

"It will be a serious battle into Turn One. Jenson and I want to finish ahead of the Red Bulls so we are going to push hard."

The 2008 champion lines up on the second row in Shanghai alongside Nico Rosberg in an improving Mercedes.

Ferrari were unable to find more pace, despite senior figures returning to their headquarters in Maranello to check on the latest car developments before flying on to Shanghai, with both drivers more than a second behind Vettel.

The Italian marque occupy the third row as Fernando Alonso, who had braced himself of a "difficult weekend", narrowly beat Felipe Massa to fifth spot.

A thrilling qualifying session also saw some of the less experienced drivers in the field move up the grid, with Di Resta marking his 25th birthday by claiming eighth.

The Scottish rookie is sandwiched between the Toro Rossos of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi, with Renault's Vitaly Petrov taking 10th place despite not running in the final session.

Renault were hit by more reliability problems when the Russian caused a red flag in the second phase.

Petrov had set the fourth fastest time before his Renault lost power and he ground to a halt on the track.

"After the second corner something was wrong with the car," explained Petrov, who claimed his first podium with third in Australia.

"It was not working and we need to analyse what happened. I'm disappointed as we had improved quite a lot."

Formula 1's rulebook meant Petrov could not re-start qualifying even if Renault could get his car up-and-running and he starts the race in 10th.

The red flag proved to be more than a nuisance for Mercedes, Sauber, Williams and Petrov's Renault team-mate Nick Heidfeld, who were all vying to make it into the top 10, especially as the delay meant their tyres lost precious heat.

With just two minutes left to run after the re-start there was a desperate scramble for position as the drivers tried to squeeze into the top-10 shoot-out.

Michael Schumacher and Heidfeld joined the Williams and Sauber drivers in dropping out but Di Resta out-qualified his team-mate Adrian Sutil to make it through to the final stage of qualifying for the first time.

A difficult weekend for Webber got worse when the Australian dropped out in the first phase of qualifying.

Problems with his Kers power-boost device in final practice and contributing electrical issues meant that his mechanics were furiously working on his car until just before he was due to go out.

A decision to stay on the hard tyres on a cool Shanghai track proved costly as he struggled for pace and was knocked out of qualifying by Pastor Maldonado's Williams, who demoted Webber to 18th.

"My first run was a second shy of where I needed to be so we were on the bubble," explained Webber.

"We decided to go for another run on the prime [hard] tyres and have a few laps at it but we didn't get out quick enough so we only had one timed lap, and on top of that the tyres weren't up to temperature.

"We all started to panic a bit at the end and we snookered ourselves really. I don't know the last time a Red Bull was out in Q1 but it's been a long time.

"We just need to put some Saturdays and Sundays together. There are flashes there of what we can do, it's just pulling it all together."

BBC F1 analyst David Coulthard added: "If he had put the soft tyre on his Red Bull, there would have been an extra second available to him and he'd have gone through.

"Vettel has now out-qualified Webber at the last eight grands prix, including last year. You know what they say, if Webber didn't have bad luck then he'd have no luck at all."

Webber joined Team Lotus, Virgin and Hispania drivers who exited qualified in that order to fill the back rows of the grid.

Sitting pretty at the other end of the grid, Vettel, who won the Chinese Grand Prix in 2009, is now aiming to become the first man to win around the Shanghai circuit more than once.

from bbc sport

Gran Premio de China

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Yet Again

Yet Again

I'm here alone, yet again;
Where there isn't the light of all that is good,
Where a thin veil so impregnable covers my stubborn eyes,
I'm here yet again.

Yet again I'm cold,
Not sad or despaired,
but utterly cold.

Yet again I find myself at the bottom of a cliff
Way up high there she stands, my life.
She's golden and she's standing beside me.
I can see her and I want her and I know she is within me.
But yet again, the cliff is slippery
That wall of stone is wet,
Yet again.

Entente Cordiale! The Rallye des Jonquilles 2011.

.

 A little idea back in December that became a great big rolling road of reality come the event!

As mentioned here previously, one of our members spotted a posting on a forum out there, inviting participants to a rally event out of Bethune, an hour or so in from Calais just over there in French France. Now, the Sunriser's have had some good runs in France for track days, multiple Le Mans trips and various touring holidays and, well , the roads are better, petrol's cheaper and the French public seem to enjoy the cars as much as we'd wish people over here would. The French hand signals, flashing headlights , turning heads and 'tres bons' are always in encouragement to 'vite, vite, allez allez!!'...rude not to oblige.

Ever seen a 'tulip' diagram in a road book?  Neither had some of us before:

Holes in training!?

But this is what you get in the nicely bound road book instead of a map. Clear, concise pictograms with distances in kilometres between each, with 6 instructions to a page ...easy, if your trip counter was in kilometres..and your speedo was working ! ('Packed up on the way onto the ferry, officer, nothing to do with running the video camera, no.') Simple 'shout out' instructions from the co-driver (co-pilote) are expected from these diagrams ...but it stops you working out short cuts for an early coffee or lunch stop, miss one of these suckers and you're right up the merde de rue.

So the gathering took place , Sunday morning in the town square of Bethune ....first one :

...and eventually more and more: 

The ancient belfry would chime the countdown to departure at 13 and 3 minutes to and past the hour, tunefully, but timelessly, each of the four faces of the clock reading an approximation of the other, the chimes matching none. Faceless chimes then? 

This is the fifth Daffodil Rally (for that is what 'Jonquilles' are, n'est pas, Rodney?) run by the Ecurie La Grange Aux Damiers, a local and enthusisatic car club. It was the joint organiser, a certain Bruno Le Cocq that extended the initial invite to us, and promptly won the award for the best name in my in-box! It's the reverse of 'your first pet's name and your mum's maiden name' game isn't it? At a guess, James was his hamster and Smith his mum's name.

The doors of Bethune's great gothic revival town hall were opened to serve croissants, coffee and orange juice to the participants in welcome of the day to come.The level of organisation was pretty astounding already, is there anywhere in the UK that would contemplate handing the keys of the square (freshly jet washed overnight) and the town hall to an enthusiasts car club for a Sunday? I won't mention how little the fee was to participate in this event, suffice to say : an amount that wouldn't have paid for the lunch alone in Blighty, not sure how it's done...might be something to do with their liability laws and socialism framework? 

The staggered start, with PA announced departures and details of the cars, was MC'd by Jean-Pierre Degand of the 'Ecurie'.The surreptitiously spread collection of British 7even'esque cars still made up a larger % of the numbers than was probably reasonable in our class, but we made for some good noises as we cobbled our way off the square, clutching at the first bunch of tulip directions. Close behind: another 7 of Mark's SKCC , an original mini and an Alfa...we'd lost them by mile 3 ...or was that kilometre?

It was junctions thick and fast from the outset, it needn't have been, but the sense of being pursued, and wanting to catch, had the instructions pages turning rapidly.

So,with clear blue sky overhead, tarmac rally roads ahead ,welcoming spectators (willing direction givers) in each village and a Château destination for lunch, what more could we possibly want for? Other than petrol... at some point. Ian kept an eye on the wavering gauge. Of the other Sunrisers and SKCC chums? Occasional news of a broken clutch cable and an unhappy text of navigation issues, but the spirit of the rally would persist and the pages kept turning.

Co-pilote:  'Right at the big tree, follow that Testarossa!'  'See if you can get passed, he's being too careful' 

 Pilote: 'He's being too bloody wide' 

We did pass the Testarrossa, mid village, when he hesitated just for a fraction...oooh nice feeling! 

Sharing the roads with such a great selection of classic cars was a real treat. The theme of the rally is to run on roads originally used for three regular tarmac rally competition events held up until the mid 80's : Le Béthunois Rally, Les Routes du Nord and the Cedico Rally. The cars participating in our event were chosen to reflect that era, but not restricted to the actual types of cars that competed at the time. Which is how we managed to mix Caterham 7's , a Ferrari Testerossa and a Lancia Montecarlo all on the same farm track enjoying the incongruity of the moment! The 'newcomer' class (of which we were one type) was at the discretion of the organisers and allowed for a few 'crowd pleasers' of modernity. We listened to a DB9 bouncing off the limiter for it's audience at the first champagne stop, a clutch of latter day TVR's were in the mix and, of course, a selection of Lotus Elises and Exiges made up a few more in our class. All perfectly well placed in the French countryside on a Sunday morning of course ...and mainly British cars. The Ecurie La Grange Aux Damiers are supporters of  British marques,and with Triumphs and MG's a plenty, we felt at home.

Stage 1 included a 'stamp' stop at the club house of the Ecurie La Grange Aux Damiers. It turned into a longer stop to take advantage of the facilities, and Bladder Boy , who we hadn't seen all route,was right there in the line up waiting his turn! He's go to get those kidneys checked out.

  

What a great place, a petrolhead's clubhouse in your own back garden. Just brilliant.It even had a chandelier to add occasion to those awards dinner nights! And the 'facilities' themselves? Best bog in France I'd say! only here,with the matter in hand , could you share the passing moment in the company of the most relevant of all benefactors...Colin Chapman of course!

And on to the lunch stop.

Parked up on the drive in front of Château Tilques is not the usual Sunrise Seven habitat, compare and contrast Delia's Diner on Hayling Island or Loomies Cafe on the A32, but today, it suited very well. Picture the French in their pressed trousers, elegant denouement and string backed gloves (yup, I actually saw some being worn, and not on a stall at the Goodwood Revival)... and then there's the 7even driving Brits: in oil filmed Craghoppers , long passed event emblazoned poloshirts and tourette laden conversation about passing a Testerossa this or Alfa Romeo that. All with a slightly boiled tinge to our complexions.And with this, we sat at the reserved Union Jack flagged tables for an immaculate multi course meal, served by string backed waiters (not really.) 

There was wine a plenty on offer too: co-pilotes drank their fill whilst pilotes took Evian well chilled.

The afternoon's Stage 3 was to begin again with a staggered departure. Not as a consequence of the long lunch you understand, but so as to maintain the traditions of Rally starts with appropriate timing intervals.Despite the relaxed nature of this event, for us in car 92, these intervals gave us a target to catch   and a gap behind to extend, which is what rallies are all about in real life, so, in this instance, a TVR behind and that Teterossa ahead...again! What is French for move over wide boy!? 

This stage was relatively straight forward by comparison, no additional nav duties to perform in naming French villages that you didn't go through, or spotting and noting locations of carefully camouflaged jars of Foie Gras at the side of the road...or was that a wind up? Just some more great roads that simply needed dispatching on the loop back to Bethune. 

Back across countryside and canal side we set off in pursuit of the Red Italian Fiat. Ahead, under a tree, in shade, the familiar green and yellow flash of Cannonball Bob's 7 ,Miss England...taking the 'elegant pace' option and having a moment's respite from the ever present and beautiful sunshine. By now,with only a few miles to go, the pack had caught up with itself on the relatively open roads. Ahead, now, an MGA, a Lotus Elite, a Lotus 7, another Elite, an original (looking) M3,That Red Fiat, us and behind a Chimera TVR with wind screen wipers all awry in their default 'failed' configuration ! An open view into a tight 90 left would see all but the 7evens braking into the bend  (best not accelerate to take this one at speed) and, then, the evocative view across the field as the convoy accelerates away,  a selection of 4 , 8 and 12 cylinder engines harmonising when the sound wave nodes synchronise...I wanna' join the road side locals and watch this stuff! 

And so our parade makes it's return to the square at Bethune.Back onto the cobbles and the madly chiming clock.This time to a reception of Sunday afternoon enthusiasts lining the street, camera and phones flashing/clicking accordingly (when was it that 'phones' could colloquially be described as flashing or clicking and that factually be so?!) All great fun, such attention for such a small car, I kid myself...perhaps it was the Red Fiat just ahead? Or maybe Ian's long locks attract the Gallic eye?

Did we win anything? Nope, just some sunburn, an oily sheen and a whole bag of smiles. The award presentation did see mark of the SKCC collect a 'spirit of the rally' award on behalf of the British contingent, he got to shake hands with the mayor of Bethune, which was nice. We felt that Mark represented us well in his 'two day's later' stained Gulf T-shirt as he mixed with the elegance of the French winners.Champagne under the chiming madness of that belfry had us finishing the day off in style. Pizza's and beers would have  our feet right back on the ground come the evening though ...and all was well en-Francais.

Thanks to Bruno and Jean-Pierre of the Ecurie la Grange Aux Damiers for having the Sunrise Sevens and the SKCC to your brilliantly organised event.Thanks also to the weather men for sunshine for the whole weekend in France... but not for the sharp downpour on the M20 on the final stretch home! Thanks to the French public and authorities for still embracing our enthusiasm for such an eco/politically incorrect activity, how many times was it repeated during the weekend that 'this would never be allowed in the UK!' Vive la France! And a final What-Ho! to the Sunrisers and 'Sunbeams' © :-) for making it a great few days...so much so, that we wanted to stay longer and missed the ferry!!

(Kerlique ici) The Photo Album 

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Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso hit with penalties

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso have been hit with 20-second penalties following a collision in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.

The verdict means that Hamilton drops from seventh to eighth place, although Alonso retains sixth.

Hamilton's penalty was for making more than one change of direction while defending in the build-up to the clash. Alonso's was for causing a collision.

Alonso clipped the McLaren when trying to pass Hamilton after Turn Three.

The Spaniard had quickly caught up with the Englishman, who was suffering from tyre problems.

On lap 45, with 11 remaining, Alonso challenged Hamilton on the long straight to Turn One. While defending, Hamilton made more than the permitted one change of direction, resulting in his penalty.

On the following lap, Alonso got a better exit from the tight Turn Two, and closed on Hamilton through the flat-out Turn Three before making his move.

But the Ferrari's left-front wing snagged the right-rear tyre of the McLaren, forcing Alonso into making an additional pit-stop for a new wing.

Alonso had been much quicker than Hamilton at that part of the race, but found it difficult to overtake as the DRS (downforce reduction system) on his rear wing, which decreases drag and makes it easier to pass, was not working properly.

That meant that it was very hard to overtake Hamilton on the run to Turn One, which was the nominated area for use of the DRS on the Sepang circuit.

"It was close and the rear wing (DRS) didn't work for me in the last part of the race," said Alonso, "so I couldn't overtake him on the main straight, which is the best possibility.

"So we had to fight in some corners, and unfortunately we touched each other. I broke the front wing and had to pit again. So it cost me maybe the podium today."

Both men said they accepted the penalties. "From my side I'm not allowed to move more than once," said Hamilton.

"Do I class it as dangerous? No, but that's the rule. Twenty seconds is not such a bad penalty for it."

Alonso said of his penalty: "It doesn't change positions, so there is no a big drama. I finished sixth in the race anyway (even after the penalty)."

But McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh described the decisions as "disappointing and surprising.

"They make those sorts of decisions and that's how it is, but a penalty to both drivers is fairly harsh."

from bbc sport

Sebastian Vettel beats Jenson Button in Malaysian Grand Prix

I believe i can fly! petrov goes wide and then takes off after hitting the runoff area

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was in a class of his own as the world champion won a dramatic Malaysian Grand Prix.

McLaren's Jenson Button was runner-up to go second in the championship and Renault's Nick Heidfeld was third.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were penalised after clashing on track while disputing third place. Hamilton dropped to eighth but Alonso kept sixth spot.

Scot Paul di Resta picked up his second point with 10th for Force India behind Michael Schumacher's Mercedes.

Vettel ran a sensible race, handling his tyres well on Sepang's blistering circuit and coping with intermittent use of the Kers power-boost system in the second half of the race.

The German comfortably collected the 12th grand prix win of his career to stretch his championship lead to 24 points.

"The fight behind him is close but Vettel has such an advantage out front in the championship now," said BBC commentator Martin Brundle.

"It was a tremendous effort from Button and Heidfeld but can anyone stop Vettel from dominating grand prix racing at the moment?"

Vettel added: "We could control it, but it was never easy. When Jenson was behind me I could control the gap.

"Kers was a little bit on-off during the race. Two weeks ago [when he won in Australia] we never raced it at all.

"Today if I didn't have it at the start the race would never have unfolded as it did. Then we had a problem and had to turn it off, but it came back on again."

McLaren had a hectic race in which Hamilton and Button were both hustled by Alonso

It was Button who ultimately came out on top as he collected his first podium of the season to kick start his championship charge.

He said: "It was a really confusing race in a way, understanding the pit-stops and wondering if it was worth looking after the tyres.

"The last stint, on the prime tyre, the car came alive and there was so much more grip.

"I had the team telling me to back off and look after the tyres, but in the racer's mind you always want to attack.

"If you try to preserve them by backing off then sometimes you make the situation worse: if you back off, you can lose downforce and that damages the tyres a lot more [because the car is sliding around due to lack of downforce]."

Alonso was the architect of his own downfall when he tried to pass Hamilton for the final podium place with 10 laps left.

The Spaniard clipped Hamilton's right-rear tyre and lost some of his front wing as he attempted to pass his former McLaren team-mate.

A stewards' investigation into the incident later found Hamilton of making more than one change of direction in his attempt to defend from Alonso, while the Ferrari man was charged with causing a collision.

Both drivers had 20 seconds docked from their overall race time but only Hamilton lost position as a result. The McLaren driver dropped one place to eighth and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi moved up to seventh.

Hamilton retained his third place in the championship but is now level on 22 points with Red Bull's Mark Webber.

"It was close and the rear wing didn't work in the last part of the race so I could not overtake [into Turn One]," the Spaniard said. "It maybe cost me a podium."

But he was encouraged by his strong pace in the race after struggling in practice and qualifying.

"Today we were fighting with the McLarens and Webber - and that was a surprise for us," Alonso said.

Alonso was forced into a fourth stop for a new nose and finished sixth overall but he still managed to finish ahead of Hamilton, who was struggling with excessive tyre wear for much of the race.

Heidfeld easily passed him to take his first podium since the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix before Mark Webber followed suit to take fourth place for Red Bull and complete his own comeback from a dreadful start.

"This is racing, I guess," Hamilton said dejectedly. "I started second and did everything I could to keep up and I don't really have too much to say.

"It started [when] I got stuck behind Heidfeld, I had Jenson on my inside and Heidfeld on my outside so squashed into Turn One.

"It was difficult to defend without hitting them but that's racing sometimes.

"Through the race, my tyres went off, we boxed [pitted] too early, that made us box earlier again, all the time we were boxing early.

"My tyres were done on the end. I have to take it on the chin and see how it goes."

The race pattern was set at the start, when the Renaults surprised the pack by coming round the outside and Heidfeld displaced Hamilton as he moved up to second, while team-mate Vitaly Petrov also gained three places.

"The start was very crucial," Vettel said. "I thought I had a very good start, but then I saw Lewis coming up, and then all of a sudden I saw something black [Heidfeld's Renault] in my mirrors! That was a good thing to happen to me for my first stint."

For the second race running, Alonso got caught up in the scramble and saw his team-mate Felipe Massa sail past him.

Massa had his own work cut out during the race defending his position and the Brazilian did well to collect sixth ahead of the recovering Alonso.

Webber had to run the entire race without Kers - which he later admitted was a major disadvantage - and he was the biggest loser at the start as he found himself 10th at the end of the first lap.

The Australian, who arrived in Malaysia desperate to return the second Red Bull to the sharp end of the field, dug in and moved forward with a four-stop strategy, passing Massa right at the last, to claim a hard-won fourth place.

"Webber was just swamped into the run down to the first corner," explained BBC analyst David Coulthard. "It's a great comeback."

Di Resta was beaming after he passed Nico Rosberg on his way to 10th place and had a go at Schumacher, who finished ninth, in the second Mercedes.

"I'm quite happy, I must say," said Di Resta. "I knew it would be too tough to keep Michael behind us.

"We have to be confident that in China we can be battling cars that are a bit faster."

Petrov had another lively race but retired late on when he misjudged his return to the track after running wide.

He bounced over a kerb, the car took off, and as it slammed back down on to the track the steering column broke, and the car careered uncontrollably into a polystyrene marker board.

There was further disappointment for Williams with Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado both failing to finish for the second race running. The team are hopeful that planned upgrades for China will turn around their fortunes.

The 24 drivers will re-enter the fray in just five days' time for Friday practice in Shanghai for next weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

race report from bbc sport