Engine Punk

And awwwaaaayyyy they go In reverse order, there was the CCM 604 of Geoff Westcott and Michelle Maidment. I seem to have taken one of them leaving as well. I am still getting used to the various modes on my digital camera. In the middle is a Troll, a familiar enough car to me (I really like the colour) but I can't make out the number to determine the crew. The one of the Imp smoking its tyres is, unfortunately, of Bill and Will Rosten coming to grief. Bill suffered a puncture and by the time he got past us the tyre was spinning on the rim. We had a quick word with him and he'd been doing well until then. My biker mates Pete and John noticed Bill was wearing motorcycle boots. This caused no end of ribaldry because they know I like Imps and - I am sorry to say - that mention of The Flintstones was made and aspersions were cast. Thanks to Mr Robinson-Collins who, with Dave Turner, was next in the running order to Bill and Will, I can now reveal that Bill is a...

The boys dun good! Dave Turner and Rob Robinson-Collins cleared all the sections in Dave's BMW 318S, which means they won a Triple award. This is the first time ever for Rob my erstwhile sidecar pilot. I think Dave has a few under his belt. He certainly looked very nonchalant going up Fingle but apparently just floored it at Simms and cleared it in style! Here are some more photos. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready when Dave and Rob came by, either, because I swapping tales of derring-do and mechanical mayhem with my mates on that corner, plus a couple of knowledgeable strangers and - well - anyone who would listen, actually. And I didn't take any of the yellow Dutton, probably for the same reason (see comment on previous post below - can't believe I was first on the web with some smudges of the Trial!). First is John Adams on his Honda MT5, yes that's a 50cc sports moped that somehow survived all the learner abuse over the last 25 years. An astute choice of mach...

Geoff Westcott and Michelle Maidment climb Fingle on their CCM oufit I've just got back wet and muddy, cold and tired but very happy from Fingle Bridge, near Drewsteignton on the northern edge of Dartmoor. I was spectating on the Exeter Trial. This is real grass roots motorsport and a few tree roots came past my ears today not to mention mud and stones. Anecdotal evidence suggested that it was wetter this year but last year I got soaked watching at Simms, near Ilsington. Bill Rosten was really unlucky with a flat tyre As usual, I saw quite a few of my mates. I've either marshalled or competed for some years now and sometimes we often don't see each other for years but we just know that we're out there, somewhere. It's a Troll On a price per mile basis, classic trials are brilliant value. Sadly, the organising body, the Motor Cycling Club, has to put in a tremendous PR effort with each event to allow them to continue. The fun police are sniffi...

So what is an engine punk again? An engine is any sort of mechanical contrivance. The original calculator was described as a difference engine. My interest is mainly internal combustion engines and the uses to which they can be put. Or put-put-put-put. According to Wikipedia a punk is "a young male hustler, a gangster, a hoodlum, or a ruffian" and for many years it had that kind of negativity. But with punk rock came the kick-ass, DIY sub-culture thing and that is pretty much mainstream these days with the internet and all the connectivity that it offers. I'm not a gangster or very young any more but I certainly feel like a punk and if my Stiff Little Fingers will let me I can bash out "I wanna be a Ramone" by The Scopies.

Somebody said they found the 5 star review on Amazon useful. This morning my ranking leapt up to 36,762! It's now back down to 73,576 but I am 76th in Contemporary Sci-Fi! That's in the top 100! I didn't realise I was "urban fantasy", too. I now declare a moratorium on bragging about my Amazon rankings. I expect it's getting a bit boring for you (although the novelty obviously hasn't worn off for me). I had intended to do this when I received the much coveted three digit Amazon ranking but reckon 76th beats everything. Thinks - if 73,756th overal relates to 76th, where would I have been at 36,762th? In the top 50? Okay, that's all on this subject I promise. It's not my fault if I'm popular.

My New Year's resolution this year was to not keep checking my Amazon ranking. Okay. So that resolution didn't last long. My Amazon ranking has leapt up to 66,262. Amazing! But how? I wasn't looking really, just checking something else on the page for The Horsepower Whisperer. Maybe I'll still be able to ignore my website hit stats instead of my Amazon ranking - not.

For a long time, the lamb looked too cute I haven't posted a picture on here for a while so here's a preview of the recently completed drawing for the rear cover for The Wormton Lamb. This will become part of the final cover design, which will be similar to that for The Horsepower Whisperer, except that a grassy green go faster stripe will replace the red one. It gives an idea of what Wormton looks like from inside and depicts a scene just after the Giant Lamb has de-railed the Wormton Tram out on the moors. That's the tram on the left, hiding from the monster. Later the lamb grows much bigger, acquires its own weather system and a red eye from an abortive attempt to kill it by Mr Heckmondwike, its shepherd. By then the Giant Lamb is being blamed for all manner of misfortunes. It's entirely innocent but soon lives up to its monstrous reputation. Although The Wormton Lamb won't be released until Easter 2008, now is the time to establish this book's web p...