Day 1 (27th June 2009)
This is it. Today is the day I make the long trek to Denver, Colorado to join a tour group and go storm chasing! When I say storm chasing, think Discovery Channels program ‘Storm Chasers’ and you are on the right track. Severe thunderstorms, high winds, large hail and tornados are all on the menu for the week.
The aim of the trip is to join other like minded people to actively track down and chase severe weather in the American Midwest. Severe weather constitutes supercell thunderstorms that are capable of producing tornados. The group I am joining is run by Storm Chasing Adventure Tours and claims to be one of the most well equipped chasing companies in Tornado Alley. Never having done this before, I have taken their word for it.
For the next week I will be living out of a SUV and staying in a different motel each night, so packing relatively lightly is essential. Hard cases are banned and duffel bags are in. I set off for the airport feeling like I didn’t really have enough clothes to see me through the next week, but I had enough clean undies and socks to last me the week, plus a few days extra.
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Storm Chasing
Those of you that know me are probably aware by now that I am off to the US of A next week (27th June), minus the wife and children (woo) for a week to go storm chasing! When I say storms I am talking about supercell type storms that produce severe thunderstorms and more importantly TORNADOS! Everyone has a list of things they want to do before they peg it and for quite some time – probably about the time the movie Twister came out, I have wanted to experience/see a tornado up close and personal (i.e. at least a quarter of a mile away).
A couple of months ago I found an online company selling spaces on tours set up specifically to chase storms. As luck would have it there was a single space left on a tour that fell into a small window I was free in June/July. Having gained permission from the wife, who laughed at me and said I was mad, I booked the space that was left and a return flight to match.
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Storm Chasing, Travel
Just a quick post to say I am still alive! I have been so busy since the BTCC season kicked off and with work and holidays, I have struggled to find time to write. I have a few blog posts planned before the end of next week.
Sorry if this annoys those who have me loaded in to their RSS feedreaders, pointless post I know, but if I don’t write this I will NEVER get around to writing anything, you know how it is 
Chris
Personal
I am going to try and write this blog post without gags about the sunshine.co.uk being out this weekend etc but it’s going to be tough after such a fantastic start to the 2009 BTCC season.
Sadly due to work commitments in Spain, Paul O’Neill was unable to race at Brands Hatch, however he WILL be out fielding the second car at Thruxton Circuit on the 26th April.
The weekend started off well after a strong qualifying session by Martyn which saw us settle in 15th place on the grid. Despite being more than half way back on the grid it was great for a number of reasons. Firstly, by his own admission, Martyn is a racer not a qualifier and prefers to race against other cars as opposed to the clock. Secondly we were only 0.143 seconds off the fastest time posted by Dave Pinkney in his Team Dynamics Honda Civic – a newer car run by a team with a much bigger budget than ours. Finally, last season Martyn qualified in 24th position. We had been set to qualify a strong 13th however we missed out on the last few minutes of qualifying after Jelley put his Team RAC BMW in the gravel trap, bringing a halt to proceedings and loss of the heat in our tyres with not much time to get them warm again. Pinkney and George just finding a tenth of a second before Jelley’s off.
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BTCC
I have just had to close one of my credit cards for the most obscure reason… I have used it too much. Ok it’s worse than that, much worse. I have used it too much and made to many payments to it. MBNA who ‘did’ look after my Virgin Atlantic American Express, have told me that I have broken the terms and conditions by using my card too much.
When they approached me last year I told them that I was in the habit of clearing my balance each month – saves interest, so based on this the advisor recommended the Virgin Atlantic Black Card. It has a higher interest rate an annual fee of £115. The benefit being that I would receive 2 virgin miles for every pound I spend, or 4 miles for each pound when I use the card to buy Virgin Atlantic flights. Being a regular flyer with Virgin it meant I could add miles monthly to my Flying Club membership. These ‘miles’ can ultimately be used to book Virgin flights with ala Air Miles.
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Personal, Travel
Rockingham Circuit in Northamptonshire once again hosted Media Day for the forthcoming HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship. It also gave the media the first look at the Team sunshine.co.uk liveried Honda Integra that we will be campaigning this season.
I travelled up to Rockingham on the Wednesday morning with the other half, with the aim of arriving just before Martyn and Paul were due to film their pre season introduction for ITV. Sadly due to unforeseen circumstances (The wife took ages to get ready), we didn’t arrive at the circuit until 12:30 – we were hoping to be there about 11:30. Martyn and Paul were already ‘having fun’ in front of the cameras when we eventually arrived.
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BTCC
During an open testing session at Silverstone circuit on friday the 13th March, Citroen were seen testing what looked like contenders for the 2009 British Touring Car Championship. Citroen, who have never before entered the BTCC look like they could be set to replace SEAT with a couple of unlikely drivers.
The cars spotted were carrying the livery of what could be a works team and also a independents livery. The biggest shock however was the drivers themselves, none other than Fabrizio Giovanardi (#1) and Erkut Kizilirmak (#90). The pair were snapped during a cold and wet day, rounding Becketts in to the Club Straight…
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BTCC
I didn’t want to write a ‘salesy’ post but what the hell I am going too.
This season you are able to purchase tickets for the BTCC from us which will include the following.
Race Day Entry
Team sunshine.co.uk goodies, which include a new and improved team drawstring bag and money can’t by team cap – which either of the drivers will be happy to sign for you.
Access to the Team sunshine.co.uk hospitality marquee all day which will include Breakfast, Lunch and afternoon tea. In addition tea, coffee, soft drinks beer and wine will be available to you all day, as well as somewhere warm/dry to escape if the weather is poor. Inside the marquee we have a plasma TV showing the days racing live.
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BTCC
In the office at sunshine, there are only 10 of us and one of those people doesn’t drink tea or coffee, so just 9 hot drink consumers. To save the arduous walk to the kitchen to get tea, we have a kettle, fridge and all the tools in our small office. So as you can imagine, when one person makes a cuppa, they tend to ask everyone if they want a drink too, very rarely will you get everyone say ‘Yes Please’. So at worst you might get done for 5-6 brews. Every one takes turns so it isn’t all bad.
However, recently it has come to light that we have, what has been named as, a ’Stealth Brew Maker’. A stealth brew maker or SBM, is someone who quietly makes them self a cuppa and then sits back down again, citing that they are too busy to make everyone else a drink, but when one is offered to them by another equally busy person they always accept the offer of a cuppa, even though they have no intention of returning the favour.
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Personal
As the home counties became covered in 6+ inches of snow I started to wish I had ordered the wooden Toboggan I wanted the last time it snowed. Of course the kids would be the main beneficiary of such a purchase – honest.
With the kids off nursery on Monday morning I decided to have look and see what was about to buy, so that I had something for ‘next time’ it snowed. Bearing in mind that the press were reporting that 65% of the UK’s work force had taken the day off I didn’t think I would see anything I ordered until at least late this week or early next.
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Internet, Personal
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