Demon-Drome.Wall of Death

One of the highlights of the 2012 Le Mans Classic for me was the Demon-Drome-Wall of Death.A real live piece of nostalgia.The saying goes that "nostalgia ain't what it used to be" but that does not apply to this Wall of Death.This one was much better than those I remember from long ago.And those crazy people will be at the Le Mans Classic 2014.Worth flying over just to see them.

On the street-Hong Kong and Terrigal

Not exactly low profile.An SLK 200 AMG Mercedes spotted on the street in Kowloon ,Hong Kong.In both China and Hong Kong you see many big cars with small capacity engines.That's not to say that there are not quite a few cars with big engines.Early on a Sunday morning I saw the ultimate group of rich boys toys blatting down the expressway at Causeway Bay,Hong Kong.They were driving like they were on the opening lap of the Le Mans 24 hours-dodging and weaving at very high speed.There was very little other traffic around which is just as well.There were about 20 cars made up of the latest models from Ferrari,Lamborghini,McLaren,Porsche and Aston Martin.It was an extraordinary sight.If they had driven like that in Australia and most other countries they would have been in jail by now.
It's easy to look askance at the small engined big cars but in Hong Kong in particular and also in Chinese cities there really is no need for big engines.Driving speeds are low and distances travelled are small.And modern small engines are surprisingly powerful anyway as well as being very frugal.Perhaps the AMG SLK200 is unremarkable -- apart from the numberplate - after all.Makes more sense than the ML630 AMG biturbo spotted on the street in Terrigal.Overkill in its purest form.

Twenty six years on

The sight of the now Australian owned Porsche 962 racing at the recent Retro Speedfest prompted me to find in my archives a photo I took at Le Mans in 1988 which may be of the very same car or one ot its team mates.It is a small world

Postcards from Hong Kong -part 2

If you live in Hong Kong you work,you shop and you eat.Eating can be at home or in anything from a Michelin starred French restaurant to a hole in the wall noodle take-away to a Chinese restaurant seating hundreds or even thousands.The Chinese eat quickly so there is a very rapid turnover in the big Chinese restaurants particularly at lunchtime.It can be like eating in a big railway station-all movement and noise.
Here are some photos of eating,food and food shopping in Hong Kong from my visit last month.No Michelin restaurants but some hole in the wall eating and some very in your face butchers.Don't you like pig's trotters? Not for me either but I do like warm egg custard tarts.
I really enjoy this sort of photography.Hong Kong has a unique atmosphere and even smell.Not as distinct as it was 40 years ago see Hong Kong -then and now but it is still there and these photos evoke that atmosphere and that smell for me.

A Japanese Pale Ale in Hong Kong

I never thought that I would ever find myself drinking an Indian Pale Ale craft brewed in a Japanese microbrewery.But I did in a Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong and it was absolutely delicious.

Not just the 919

The Porsche factory are seriously back into racing and Le Mans in particular.There was long drought spell probably down to having a CEO-Wiedeking- who did not believe in motor racing but since he has gone it's all on again.Mind you it's not surprising that Wiedeking did not like motor racing.His hobby is growing potatoes.Yes potatoes.Apparently he is an expert.I can't imagine a man who appreciates growing potatoes ever enjoying motor racing but each to his own.And with Wiedeking now long gone but still counting his termination payment the enthusiasts are back.

Last year a Porsche Team Manthey -- the works team for the GTE category-with the then new 991 GT3 RSR won the GTE Pro category and they are hoping to repeat that performance again in this year's race.The switch to the 991 which had been designed with input from the competition dept has also been a critical factor in the return to form.

During the works team's long absence it was down privateer teams to keep the Porsche flag flying at Le Mans. Overall they were succesful but for a few years leading upto last year's Le Mans comeback Ferraris and even Corvettes were leading Porsches home in the GT classes which was pretty distressing for Porsche fans.
2009 was one of those bad years.Pictured is the 997 GT3 RSR of IMSA Matmut Performance Racing.They finished way down in their class and 38th overall.They will be hoping to do a lot better in this year's race.A Canon G9 photo .

Postcards from Hong Kong -part 1-

More photos from my recent China/Hong Kong trip -these from Hong Kong.As always I used my Leica X1.
Presumably younger Chinese go to gyms but first thing in the morning Hong Kong's few empty spaces and sad,worn out parks are full of older Chinese doing exercises and tai chi sometimes singly but usually in orchestrated groups.There is enormous pressure on facilities and as you can see from the photo of the swimming pool the lanes run across the pool so that presumably more swimmers can use the pool at the same session.
One of the main parks on Hong Kong Island ,Victoria Park, used to be a wonderful oasis of green.Now it is a sad space with worn out grass-mainly bare earth- and litter and corners annexed by flyovers and expressway ramps.Very sad to see particularly in a city where there is so much wealth.
To find colour in Hong Kong you have to look.Otherwise it can look uniformly grey.To live in Hong Kong it seems you have to love buildings and expressways because the parks are worn out and even the harbour has lost its lustre and is actually getting smaller as they reclaim land on both sides.

On the rolling road again

I'm off travelling again.This time to Germany and Austria.Time for some fast driving and to see a few castles,some proper alps,hopefully some interesting museums and cars and to sink a few good beers.And of course take more photos.
I don't plan to blog on the road although I'll keep an open mind on that but in any case I have more than enough posts to pending to keep the blog running for at least the next three weeks without any new input from me.

Staring out to sea

Although according to a local TV station the whale watching season starts in 11 days no one told the whales which have already started their migration north.Some were spotted in Sydney Harbour yesterday so I climbed up the Skillion at Terrigal this morning with my binoculars and scanned the flat ocean for 50 mins.Not a sign of a whale.I managed to capture on my iPhone the most exciting moment when a yacht sailed past.
Waiting for whales can be like waiting for a bus.Nothing for a long time then a few arrive at once.But as there are apparently very large numbers of whales migrating this year I am sure that in a few weeks I will see plenty of them.
An iPhone panorama photo and that is a join in the panorama not a step in the sea on the horizon.I should not whinge.Twelve years ago I spent $85 on some clunky panorama stitching software for my PC.Now even my phone takes and stitches panoramas.

Indian summer

The east coast of Australia is having some extraordinary weather at a time when we should be transitioning into winter.It's the warmest May on record.Here in Terrigal we have had daytime temperatures of 23ºC to 28ºC for over a week and the sky has been clear with just some early morning wisps of cloud giving us some beautiful sunrises.

Everyone's watching that beautiful sunrise .

Some had front row seats.I don't know how their fishing went but at least they caught the sunrise.

A rare Mini?

I went to a local car show at The Entrance today.Pretty standard "meat and two veg" cars on show except for one possible gem-a Broadspeed Mini GT or a very good replica of a Broadspeed Mini GT.
The Mini GT was a cut down coupe version of the Mini Cooper made by Ralph Broad's Broadspeed Engineeering in the UK in 1966-67.Not many were made -it was expensive and really rather pointless.Broadspeed went on to bigger and better things in the world of motorsport leaving the Mini GT as a curiosity.
I can't tell if this car is the real thing.If it is it's nicely restored.And if it is a replica-which I rather suspect it is-it is an excellent piece of work.