Engine Punk

The Wormton Lamb has just had a 4 star review on Amazon. Apparently Mr B (me) is not in the same league as Mr A (Douglas Adams) but I would have agreed with that. Get this - "I was frequently completely taken aback by the inventiveness, cleverness and downright absurdity of many of his ideas." That's me the reviewer's talking about, not Mr A. There are 6 new copies available from ₤11.97 and 3 available from ₤17.24 – so there’s already a cachet associated with secondhand copies. No ranking yet but with three secondhand copies somebody must have been buying it. Buy why are they re-selling it so quickly? Or is Amazon operating true to form again? Are these prices simply meaningless? There was me wondering if The Wormton Lamb was doomed to a life of obscurity. This is just the beginning.

While I was competing in the Land's End Trial, The Wormton Lamb became available. I know the timing of my book becoming available should have been part of a finely co-ordinated promotional campaign involving lots of media interest and an attention grabbing launch party but that doesn't sound much fun to me. Leave that kind of thing to the professional book promoters who operate hand in glove with mainstream media. They're good at it and they've got it all sewn up. Your book is called "product". It's a production line and you fall off at the other end. My idea of fun is doing just what I've been doing - connecting to like minded souls whether they are motor sport enthusiasts, fans of artists I like or readers of my books. I have many other interests besides book promotion - writing is one of them for goodness' sake - and while some say I spread myself too thinly I view it as achieving the right balance. I enjoy doing it and I think I come ...

Every modern convenience on the Candidi Provocatores Allard J1.   My involvement in this year's Land's End Trial occurred at the 11th hour when my scrap buddy, Rob Robinson-Collins, suddenly found himself without a navigator. This was particularly disappointing because Rob had arranged to borrow the Candidi Provacatore Allard J1 from Roger Ugalde. Rumours soon abounded that Rob’s navigator had fled to the country at the prospect of writing in such an awe inspiring open top car. Some of my local trialling friends pointed out that Roger's nephews ran the principle undertaking business in Liskeard and there was even more ribaldry about my life expectancy. But I wasn't listening. Rob and I already had some minor trialling history with this car and for a couple of years we had campaigned the Cox-Triumph sidecar outfit. Team Robert were about to be reunited, even though according to the programme I was masquerading as Robert Hall -- that would have been Robert “Facom” Ha...

I discovered this book in the best way, by chance and through a personal recommendation. If I had not sat next to Peter Jenkin on the train and fallen into conversation with him he would never have told me about the book he was reading. It was the traction engine on the cover that caught my eye. Although I prefer the internal combustion engine, external combustion varieties - where the fuel is burnt outside the cylinders - still appeal tremendously. Railway locomotives may have a literary presence but road locomotives rarely feature in fiction of any sort, let alone sci-fi or fantasy. A pavane is a dance of Spanish origin popular around the time of Queen Elizabeth I and this story is divided into measures and a coda. Now, I know nothing about music but I know what I like and I quite like this musical example of a pavane. Not sure how you dance to it, though - probably too courtly and graceful for my usual enthusiastic outbursts of physical musical pleasure. Keith Roberts' ...

I'll post more about this when I've calmed done a bit/managed to get some sleep but... I had a great time with great weather, great people and great machinery. Rob soon got to grips with the vintage nature of Roger Ugalde's Allard and considering it was our first time out in a strange vehicle I say we did remarkably well even though we finished out of the awards. And it was brilliant fun! Thanks to Pete Cross (author of Shadows in the sky a great story for children about Cornish choughs)here is a video of our ascent of Blue Hills 2 - after failing to negotiate the corner just after the re-start box. Doesn't the Allard sound great?

Goff Imhof's competition Allard J1 This picture of a splendid old war horse basking in the sunshine at Wiscombe Park hillclimb back in 2008 defines the concept of Vintage Thing. The ghosts of many competition successes hang heavy on this Allard J1. Not many cars have been haunted by so many benign (petroleum) spirits. It started life as Geoffrey Imhof's works team car and he campaigned it vigorously in trails, rallies, hillclimbs and races until the powers that be decided Allards were a bit too successful. Never knowingly over-restored but extremely sympathetically maintained, it bears its history proudly and although some people may turn their noses up at its allegedly scruffy appearance, to me it is a thing of great and brutal appeal. To learn more about this car's illustrious history visit the Candidi Provacatore site here . For some years it's belonged to Roger Ugalde who still campaigns it in classic trials whenever he gets the chance. With a 3917cc (8...

I was back in Falmouth on Saturday for the Sham 69 gig at the Princess Pavilions . I was a student at the art school during 81/92 but don't remember this venue at all. The first time I ever visited this place was last year but it has a great atmosphere, is well-organised and the sound quality is good. (Photo from Sham 69 official website ) Support was from Distortion UK and The Surgeons . Distortion UK were just a bit too much thrash-metal band and disjointed for me but they can certainly play. And don't lack energy - I never thought I'd hear a faster version of Motorhead's Ace of spades but I have now. The Surgeons are a long established local punk band.I reckon they improve with hearing and they certainly went down well. Frontman Pete Kliskey said one song had already been performed in a support set for Sham 69 at a Penzance punk fest back in the 70s. Sham 69 did not disappoint. They rocked. And the appreciative crowd responded in kind. The set reminded me w...