Mattoid

Quite a lot has happened since I last blogged! Well quite a lot, considering just how little else happened before this week. Firstly let me talk a little about my experiences of Goodwood Festival Of Speed.

Although, some might call the time we left early, after a demanding exam period it felt relatively normal to be out of the house by half past 8! The journey down to Goodwood was eventful. One wrong turning turned into one of the best wrong turnings in human history as we managed to trip over, what is in essence, one of the best roads around to drive. Now of course I wasn't driving but that didn't exactly stop me from enjoying it. It also made me remember I forgot the email I was supposed to bring to collect the tickets, but fear not, one driving license and one credit card allowed me to collect the tickets anyway!

The first thing you encounter is the car park. One those 3 days it has to be the most expensive car park (in terms of overall value of cars) in the world. Purely ridiculous. Seriously. Anyway... The festival starts off with the Formula 1 Paddock. It was nice to see some old favourites (Damon Hill's 1994 Williams for example) and some of the newer chassis' (BAR for example). At this point I was a little disappointed to only see 5 teams there, but it turned out that the Renault team were sat in front of Goodwood House. Back to them in a moment.

After the Formula 1 cars comes the sports cars of history. In this group were plenty of record breakers (in their day). The Audi R10 from Le Mans was impressive, as were the Jaguar E and D types to mention but a couple. It was in this paddock that the wonderful aroma of Castrol R can be smelled (Racing Oil). A truly wonderful smell it is too! As we left these paddocks and headed towards the main House, we could hear Renault firing up their 2006 Formula 1 car. Normally this would be just slightly special. As it happens, it's a little better than that. It took a moment to work it out, but after a few seconds it dawned on me that by revving the engine to specific revs they were playing the National Anthem. The noise was incredible and I am near certain that it is the coolest thing I have ever heard. Later in the day they managed the French National Anthem as well. Now they were just showing off.

And so on to the Supercar Paddock. Let's face it. I paid £22 to see one car while I was there, and I had already justified the ticket price at the Renault stand. Nevertheless, this did not detract from the awesomeness of seeing the Bugatti Veyron in the flesh. What a car it is too. It is even nicer in person than in pictures or on video. It truly is the greatest supercar ever built (although Jon would probably argue for the XJ220). That said it was surrounded by some terrific competition. Not that any of it really comes close, but worthy of mention include: Pagani Zonda, McLaren Mercedes SLR, Ascari KZ1 and the Maybach monster (purely for its ridiculous size).

The final paddock, at least for me, held less interest than previous locations, but it was still impressive. Let me put this into perspective. Arguably the most beautiful car ever made, and as it happens right now the most expensive to boot, is the Ferrari 250 GTO. The last one to go at Auction went for an 8 figure sum. To see one of these cars (seeing as only 39 were produced) is incredible, but to see 2 parked next to each other is just superb.

From here it was a visit track-side to watch some of the cars we had already seen go up the hill. It was so nice just to listen to them! Highlights include, the Audi R10, for its pure lack of noise (incredible for a racing car, but that's Diesel for you!), The Renault Formula 1 car for its ambitious doughnuts, and the Bugatti Veyron... Just because... After this we were off to visit the car stands. I managed to sit in quite a variety of cars, from the ridiculous (the pink Nissan Micra C+C) through the Audi RS4 (major disappointment), BMW Z4M (too small... and no I'm not too big!), Toyota Aego (surprisingly impressive for such a cheap car), Mercedes E63 AMG (a ridiculously over powered saloon) to my personal highlight the Mercedes SL500.

Going round the stands occupied us for a while. The artwork is truly incredible, but after spending so much time looking at it last year, it interested me less this year. We finally met up at the cricket pitch with the magnificent sand sculptures showing the progression of thoroughbred race cars. And that was it. We went to the pub. We eat some food. We went to bed. And that was Goodwood. A fantastic day out for even the mild car enthusiast and even for those with less of an interest (read Rachel, who I am so impressed with how she managed to put up with it all!).

Since then, an uninspiring weekend and more job hunting. This time however, Monday was to be a decisive day. I had an interview for a Shell STEP position at a company based just the other side of Farnham. Basically they are looking for someone to rebuild their corporate website. Now when I say corporate, one has to bear in mind that there is just 6 employees. This does not stop them from selling software to Multinational Conglomerates. Well since the interview yesterday they offered me the job this morning, and ever since I have been over the moon! I now have something to occupy me over the summer months.

I have also been to the cinema. Now I know what you're thinking. Hadley going to the cinema? Well it is true. I actually went ahead and paid to see a film! And it can only be one film can't it! Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. All I will say is: watch it. It is an amazing film and a worthy sequel to the original film.

Well... If you have been bothered to read all of that, I applaud you. Look forward to updates by the weekend on how my new job is going (I start on Thursday). Ciao for now.