Tag Archives: car

Donington Race Circuit

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Last weekend I got invited up to Castle Donington in Derby, to Donington Race Circuit so be with some friends on a track day. Everything was arranged for us to meet up at 9am, so I got up at 5am, had a bath got my stuff ready and made my way up there.

After a lovely 3 hour trip I finally arrived at just gone 9am. I was expecting my friends to be there. No such luck. I got a call about 10 minutes after I arrived to say that my friend had been in a car accident. I panicked a little and hope he was ok. I didn’t get any more information from him until they arrived at 10:35am.

Turns out my friend blew shit out of proportion and made it sound a lot worse than it was, as most people do these days. He arrived with a little dent and some scrapes down the side of his car, what a tit. All cosmetic damage – panic over!

After getting all registered to either go out driving on the track or being a passenger ( me ), we headed back to the cars and the track day began. Sadly the photos I took haven’t turned out so great, because they were through a wire fence, but here are some photos of the cars:

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Have I Done Something Wrong?

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Everything seems to be going just a bit wrong for me as of late. I just don’t know what to do.

  • My monitor died on me, which cost a pretty penny to replace.
  • I injure my knee when I fell over at the kid’s school after it snowed last Wednesday afternoon.
  • I have had to take some time off of work because of my knee.
  • I got a call from my step dad saying that my mum had been rushed to hospital with chest pains and they think she is having a heart attack.
  • I got flashed by a speed camera in Kent after picking my sister up on the way to the hospital.
  • My current employer doesn’t want to give up a reference for me for the new job I applied for, which unfortunately they wont continue with until they have it, plus I have just been notified that I may miss out because of it.

Everything seems to be falling apart. The most annoying thing about this is that everything was going so well, then it all fucked up on me. I am hoping for some good luck, I really need it. I have been trying so hard to better myself, and this just puts a real downer on life, which I do not need!

What a pain in the ass!

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The types of people who annoy me most are the people who blatantly and publicly break rules and or the law, then get away with it. For example; I drove to my local Waitrose after picking the children up from school; the car park was bursting, with maybe three or four spaces available; two of these were: a parent and child space and a disabled drivers space.

There were two people in front of me trying to find a parking space. The first person parked in the parent and child space; they didn’t have any children, realised their “error” and reversed out and went to find another space. The person in front of me also parked in the parent and child space and stayed there. At this point, I didn’t think too much about it and drove off to find a space of my own.

As I walked past the car which had parked in the parent and child space, I noticed two old women getting out; no child in sight. Immediately, a wave of frustration passed over my body. I had to park in a spot where there was no safe walking area for me and the children to walk to the elevator, simply because these two lazy people could not be bothered to find a suitable parking space of their own.

I promptly found the parking attendant and made a complaint. Upon inspection of their car, we discovered that they had a disabled parking badge. This however, does not allow them the privilege of parking in the parent and child parking space. That space, has been allocated specifically for us parents to help keep our children safe while walking to the shop by minimising the journey from the car to the entrance.

What annoyed me the most about this “trivial” situation is the fact that right next to the parent and child space was an empty space for disabled people! As I was not disabled, nor do I hold a disabled badge, I was not entitled to park there. They, like most disabled drivers, in my experience seem to believe that they have the right to park anywhere and at any time that is suitable for them. I’m not saying that “all” disabled drivers are the same, but the few that I have encountered, put them in a bad light, which is probably my reason for why I find them annoying.

Have you or anyone you know had a similar problem with “annoying” people who nick your parking space? I feel I am not alone here!

My new, new car!

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As you may know I won a car back in March of this year. A brand new Fiat 500! By winning that car, it encouraged me to get a driving licence and learn to drive. I achieved my goal on June 13th. Ever since I passed my driving test I have been almost non stop driving about in that little Fiat. Until last Tuesday!

Last Tuesday I approached Ford in Winchester to find out how much my car was worth. To find out if it was viable for me to sell it and get a bigger new car. Ford offered me £6,500 for my Fiat! I was ecstatic when I found that out! After offering me the £6,500 I soon enquired about buying a new car from Ford.

Two and a half hours after walking into Ford, I walked out being the owner of a brand new Ford Focus Zetec 1 Litre 999cc Turbo 125BHP car just sky of £18,000.

I picked her up last Tuesday, with 36 miles on the clock!

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Driving – How’s it going?

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It’s been almost four weeks since I passed my driving test and all seems to be going great. So far I have put over 1750 miles on the clock, 800 of which I had done before I passed.

I’ve experienced the long motorway trips several times now, which I do not like! As I have such a small car, I constantly find myself being blown from one side of the lane to the other, so now when I go on the motorway I tend to piss people off and stay between 55 and 60 mph. At this speed, the car is much more manageable.

Going to my mums in Kent was alright. We stopped half way on the M25, junction 8, which took us into Reigate. Lovely place. We stopped for about an hour and had what was essentially lunch at 9am as we were all up at 5am and didn’t have any breakfast before we left.

At present I put £25 worth of petrol in per week. The good thing is, I’m getting almost 200 miles of city driving out of that and I’m still left with some for the following week. I have calculated that even if prices go up to as much as 160p per litre, we should get be able to do the exact same mileage with only an increase of £5 per week.

I have noticed that I tend to have a heavy foot while driving and dump the clutch a lot when changing gear. I am told that this is not good for the car, so over the past week, I have took it upon myself and have been learning how to drive with a much lighter touch and have a much lower rpm. Although this is the way I learnt how to drive to pass my test, I find it very different in my own car, so a change is definitely needed to keep the car in tip top condition.

Frustration

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For me at the moment, time seems to be moving incredibly slow ever since I booked my practical driving test. This is probably down to my excitement. Finally being able to go where ever I like, do what ever I want, being completely independent and not relying on anyone ever again.

As of right now, there are only 8 days left before I take my test, and it seems the closer I get, the more frustrated I am about not bring able to drive my car without a chaperone. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have someone sat in the car with me chatting shit, but it would be nice to finally not worry about if I am taking them away from something that they actually want to be doing.

Luckily I have an awesome friend who knows what I am going through, and is willing to sit in the car with me and let me drive to get some more experience.

Just the other day I went out with Keveena in the car to Andover and back, just so that I could get some more experience driving in a motorway type environment. I will be doing a lot of long distance driving when I finally pass because my mum live in Kent and Kate’s dad lives where ever he lives, I have no idea, but the more long distance driving experience I can get the better!

I have looked at getting a SatNav when I pass which will help me out a lot and make my journeys that much easier. I have been looking at the TomTom Start 60. It seems pretty awesome with its 6 inch screen and the free map updates from the TomTom community, which is a must have feature, that way, no matter how long I have this, it should never get out of date!

You can get a great review of the TomTom Start 60 from Pocket-Lint.com including photos.

Practical Driving Test

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I booked my practical driving test now that I have successfully passed my theory. I have added a counter in the sidebar on the right of my blog.

When I pass my driving test, it will change my life so much. We will be able to go to so many places that we had thought were just too expensive or where the public transport is quite bad.

Having my licence means I will be able to see my family more often. Rather than every 3 months I will be able to see them perhaps every month or even less! It’s all so exciting, I can’t wait!

I passed my driving theory test!

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Since August last year I have been using the Theory Test Pro website to study for my driving theory test. I took quite a few tests between then and now and I passed each and every one of them as you can see below, which is just awesome!

Road safety really is all about common sense!

I am really happy with the results I was getting!

On the 24th April, I finally got to officially prove that I can pass the test. I passed and I am now one step closer to driving my car that I won from JVC!

I was really happy that I passed my theory driving test!

All I need to do now is get some more driving lessons and pass my practical and I can drive my car by myself!

Thank you JVC for my new car!

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On Tuesday 3rd April I phoned JVC and asked about my car. I was told that it was ready for collection and that I could come on Thursday 5th April to pick it up. I arranged for my friend Jonny to come with me to London to pick it up. He had to be there with me, as I don’t have a full UK licence, I am not allowed to drive the car alone or on the motor ways unless I am with someone who has a full UK licence, is over the age of 21 and has had their licence for a minimum of 3 years.

We met up in the Waterloo train station and got on the underground and headed to Brent Cross. 30 minutes later and we arrived. I phoned JVC to let them know we were there and the person who I had been dealing with, Mushtak, came and picked us up from the train station and took us to the JVC headquaters.

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