I’ve added some pictures from my recent holiday in Poole. There are some landscape pictures but the vast most are from a day trip to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. As a motor car fan, this was the highlight of the holiday for me - getting up close to a vast range of vehicles, dating from the turn of the century to the modern day. The full gallery can be seen in my Picture Gallery.

Sometimes I am left wondering just what sport is coming to, with an ever increasing political nature - both in politicians trying to get into the ‘feel good’ factor created by sport (and as witnessed recently at the Olympics after TeamGB’s record medal haul) and also with the increasingly political nature of the sport itself.

This was shown in its truest form after the Belgium Grand Prix last weekend. True fans witnessed some superb driving from the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton (as well as both drivers making a couple of rookie errors). The way Kimi controlled the bulk of the race from the front showed why he has deserved his crown of World Champion for many years (just a shame he only managed to achieve this accolade last year when at Ferrari). This was then followed by a masterclass in wet weather driving from Lewis, as the rain fell in the final few laps of the race. Unfortunately for race fans, the faceless bureaucrats that call themselves stewards robbed Lewis of a well deserved win. He was by far the best driver over the whole race and was substantially quicker than everyone else on slick tyres for the last 2 laps. These stewards decided that Lewis had transgressed the rules and deserved a 25 second penalty as he was forced across the bus-stop chicane whilst dicing with Kimi for the lead. This despite him giving the place he gained in the process back to Kimi and also McLaren seeking assurance from FIA delegate Charlie Whiting that Lewis had done enough when he gave the place back.

This decision also makes me wonder what the reason for Charlie Whiting is if the local track stewards can overrule the FIA delegate, who should know the F1 rules better than anyone else. It is not the first time that McLaren have been penalised like this during the course of this year either.

Also questions need to be asked about the level of penalty given to different drivers for different offences. From recent verdicts it appears it is now fine to nearly cause a pile up at the exit of the pit lane (where there are many different team personnel, media, officials and an assortment of official vehicles (Ferrari’s Massa only got a slapped wrist for this in Spain) but racing in some difficult conditions and some displays of top quality driving & overtaking are now deemed beyond the rules. I find it hard to believe that the treatment being dished out does not have a political motive as well. It is well known the FIA favour Ferrari over everyone else and this now appears to be passed through into racing penalties. The end result can only harm Formula 1 in the longer term as viewers start walking away from the sport to less politically motivated racing (BTCC, WSB, MotoGP etc) and with them also go the sponsors, required to provide the multi million £ budgets a modern F1 team needs.

I personally call on all the major factory teams to walk away from F1 as long as it is controlled by its Ferrari loving leaders and set up a breakaway championship. Maybe then we might see some closer races and also get back to the more friendly racing of old.

Well after a manic week after the decision was taken to prepare a new Saxo for racing this year, everything seemed to cold slowly and we got no further than stripping out the donor car. As yet no clear route for racing next year has been decided which is a shame as it would be nice to have time to prep the car rather than the usual mad rush a few weeks before the first race.

In the intervening time though I have been helping Matt with his karting. This year he has been comepeting in a few championships and race weekends at Little Rissington and Shenington. Although karting is fun, for me it is a bit of a let down compared to car racing I have been involved in for the past couple of years. The team have ambitions next year to race in Gineta G50’s, as long as a budget can be found to run them. These are really good cars which would test both Matt and the team to the limit. I really do hope more money can be found for next year to allow Matt to go racing, but in this time of economic uncertainty I do have doubts whether any large enough sponsors can be found.

As always, anyone who is interested in Matt or the team, please contact me for more info.

After two hard years helping a local racing team (MVRacing) running a race prepared Citroen Saxo VTR in the Saxmax junior racing championship, the team took the decision to not race this year as there was no budget available. This wasn’t helped by a very difficult year last year when we were unable to race in all events due to lack of funds and a car that was in need to work which again there was insufficient budget to perform. Since this decision though (and the selling of last years car), Matt (15)- the driver -  has been racing in RotaxMax karts, but longs for a return to the circuit racing Saxmax offered.

On Wednesday a decision was taken to build a new car with the aim of completing as many races this year as possible. Unfortunately we are unlikely to make the next round since it is only 4 weeks away and we are only just starting to strip the car in preparation for the roll cage to be fitted. The budget will again be tight as we currently have no sponsors but the are now actively searching for companies looking for a cheap way into motorsport promotion. We can offer promotion on the car and team website, use of the team and car for other marketing (please bear in mind that Matt is still at school so this kind of work will need to fit in around his education) & chances to enjoy a day at the races - meeting the team and watching many different racing formulas. Typically we race at many of the UKs finest circuits including Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Donington Park.

If you are interested in supporting the team and wish to discuss any proposals further please contact me - initially by email to vince[at]marsters.co.uk.

I’ve nearly finished creating a new website for a friend and local motor sport enthusiast Joy Rainey. This time it is to promote her latest ‘mad’ adventure of driving from San Francisco to New York in a 1904 Oldsmobile. The website is built around the excellent Wordpress blogging software with a number of plugins to provide enganced functionality, in much the same way this one is. I’m interested to know what you think of it so please let me know.

The trip itself should take around 5 weeks in total, covering approximately 4000 miles at an average speed of only 20-25mph. Whilst modern cars are all enclosed, the 1904 Oldsmobile is completely open with limited feature comforts so the trip should be interesting as the planned route covers both high and low areas of the States.

The answer is when you are Tesco.

Whilst shopping at my local Tesco yesterday, I saw what was an excellent offer on the shelf-edge labels and barkers (the larger shelf edge point of sale) - 2 boxes of Quaker Oats Granola (including premium) for £2 when 1 box of Premium Granola usually costs £2.59. Since I was looking for some cereal then it made sense to buy 2 boxes and save myself £3.18. The problem was the till system was set up with the offer at 2 for £3 and I did not notice until much later when I was back at home.

Considering how customer friendly Tesco have been to me in the past I saw no issues with getting this oversight sorted so didn’t rush back late at night, but instead decided to call today. When I called I was told that since the shelf edge was now saying 2 for £3 then it was basically tough. Calling the national customer service number in Dundee also proved frustrating as they even tried to tell me that Tesco had no idea what previous Point of Sale or promotions they have run.

Eventually I managed to get the over charge refunded after speaking to the Duty Manager at the store, but it should never have needed this. Tesco had become aware of the mistake (I believe they always intended for the promo to be 2 for £3 but produced incorrect POS in error) sometime after my sale, so should have a record of when the prices were changed. A simple lookup would of told them that I purchased when the POS was wrong so I was due a refund. This promotion was also revealed on HotUKDeals where others have reported seeing incorrect POS and getting a refund, followed by the POS being removed.

 This isn’t the first problem I have had with my local store recently. In fact customer service has being heading downhill recently. The first was when I noticed the store were selling Belgium chocolate covered Orichard Fruits which were over a month past their best before date. Despite me letting the store know, they were still on the shelf 2 days later, and it took my taking a Manager directly to them before they were removed. The second problem has been ongoing and is the unhelpful staff currently being employed. They are more interested in chatting to their friends than actually serving the customers that provide their pay. In the past I have waited for long periods of time (by long I mean up to 5 mins) just to get security tags removed from my purchases. Perhaps I should just walk out with them still on and see how quickly the staff come running when they think something is being stolen? (I would of course have paid for it, just failed to get the tags removed by the lazy staff)

The movie business is cut-throat so at sad times like the recent death of Heath Ledger, credit is due to Warner Brothers who have made their Batman: The Dark Knight website a simple tribute to Heath (who plays the Joker). This at a time when the studio would normally be promoting the movie at every opportunity.

Screenshots taken directly from http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/.

Well done Warner Bros and it is nice to see commercial marketing take a back seat.

Last week was the sad news that promising young actor Brad Renfro (The Client, Sleepers, The Bully) had been found dead with many websites highlighting his battles with drink and drugs. Today we get more bad news that Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain, 10 Things I hate about You, Knights Tale) has been found dead. Initial reports on BBC News suggested that drugs could well of been involved here as well.

Both actors had successful careers which would surely have only got better. They both starred in some memorable movie moments - who can forget Heath Ledger singing Cant Take My Eyes Of Off You in 10 Things I Hate About You - and put in some award winning performances in their short lives.

It is also worth remembering Brad Renfro played in a school production for DARE, whose aim is to teach youngsters about the dangers of drugs - unfortunate that Brad himself did not heed these warnings

I remember back in 1993 hearing the news that River Phoenix (one of my all time favourite actors) had died from a drug induced heart attack outside Johnny Depps’ Viper Room nightclub. It seems that today’s young actors haven’t learnt the lessons that drugs don’t work and do kill. It seems that all the fame and fortune that comes from movies may be too much for some.

Here’s hoping that the new generation of actors are more sensible and we can stop seeing senseless wastes of lives like this.

RIP Brad Renfro and Heath Ledger.