Welcome to this week's blog, the final blog from a European race for 2011, which feels very strange indeed.
I can scarcely believe I'm writing that; where is my life disappearing to?
Firstly, let me apologise for the lack of a blog after the Belgian Grand Prix.
The only holiday I've managed to grab this season was the week after Spa and I would have been in serious trouble with Harriet, my wife, if I'd spent the first of our five days away writing a blog.
Anyway, back to last weekend, and the end of my love affair with a truck for another season. OK, you're probably thinking a love affair with a lorry is rather strange, but it's more than that, it's our European home.
You see, for the grands prix that are referred to as 'fly-away' - the long-haul races outside Europe, that is - the circuits provide the hospitality suites for the teams and the production offices for the television stations.
It is essentially to cut down on costs so the huge team 'paddock palaces' aren't transported the other side of the world.
But at the European races, we take a truck, which we occupy from the first European race in Spain to the last one in Monza.
It's a dressing room, edit suite, production offices and kitchen all rolled into one. It has even been known to accommodate the odd overnight stay if someone's working particularly hard and late in Monaco and can't face the drive back to our hotel on the way to Nice.
But now our European adventure is at an end for another year and so it was with a heavy heart on Sunday evening that we waved off Pete D'Lemos and the trusty silver truck he looks after; we'll see him next in Spain in eight months.
It feels like two minutes since I walked into that truck for the very first time in 2009. It was the same one ITV had been using, but their presenter Steve Rider's office had been turned into an edit suite so I couldn't quite say I was walking in his shoes.
Talking of getting his job, remarkably it is three years ago this week that the then BBC head of F1 Niall Sloane offered me the chance to be the presenter, and what a learning curve it has been.
I can still remember the fear and apprehension as I walked into the F1 paddock in Australia for the first time, and the nerves as I started listening to 'The Chain' down my earpiece, hoping the words would come out in the right order.
The good news is that doing this job never becomes 'normal' or mundane and I still cherish every moment.
For that reason, I asked someone to follow me with a camera this weekend as in years to come I'll fondly look back on what it was like to share the pit lane with Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard as a 30-something guy, lucky enough to see the world and follow the sport I love.
I managed to capture Paul di Resta's Force India while taking this shot of the Monza track from a gate near the pits
I've posted a selection of pictures with this blog. Have a look through and see what you think. The one I'm most proud of is the one directly above - and it doesn't actually feature much apart from a big silver gate!
You see, one of the oddities of this job is that I very rarely see a car actually on the track.
We must be out of the pit lane with 15 minutes to go before qualifying and the race and so by the time the cars are track I'm in the paddock and there is nothing to see.
An hour before we go on air and Eddie Jordan, Ted Kravitz and I have to cram ourselves between Ferrari and McLaren's motorhomes to get our gear on for the show
One of the most common requests I get is from people who have tickets to the race asking to get into the paddock. I tell them they would soon be bored of sitting around drinking coffee and would see more in the grandstand.
Anyway, in Monza on Sunday, I walked out of the paddock and along the back of the garages and the photo is testament to how tricky it is even for me to get to the track during the action - I always say that in front of the TV you get the best seat in the house and this is proof!
And why am I so proud of the photo? Well, Paul di Resta's Force India is passing by me at full speed and somehow I managed to press the button at just the right time - trust me, it was far more luck than judgement.
Talking of luck, some people may well think that Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has had his fair share of it over the course of the year, but perhaps in Monza he finally put the doubters to bed by doing something a few were questioning - pulling off a cracking overtake!
Vettel knew he had to get past Fernando Alonso's Ferrari for his race strategy to work, he managed it really early on, then delivered the lap times and the consistency to take another win.
I think that perhaps it was the race that finally broke his challengers and since then we've seen a few of Seb's rivals declare that he has now won the title.
Spa and Monza were the races where McLaren and Ferrari were expecting to challenge Red Bull, but Vettel won both. As for Seb's team-mate, Mark Webber, well, he only managed to collect 18 points to Vettel's 50.
So, with that in mind we had a meeting back at BBC HQ on Wednesday to discuss how we tackle the Singapore race weekend.
Our mantra is 'fail to prepare, prepare to fail'. With that in mind, we need to fly into Singapore fully ready to do justice to Vettel if he manages to win the title there.
I always enjoy Singapore. And if you want to read about how strange it is for us as a production team, as we stay on European time, which is eight hours behind where we are, my blog from 2009 will tell you about the perils of trying to get dinner when the city is asleep.
Before I sign off, I'm sure that there will be plenty of people reading this who are keen to know about our plans for the 2012 F1 coverage.
As soon as there is something concrete to announce, I know that the BBC will do that. However, I can tell you I am committed to helping the BBC make its F1 coverage next year as compelling as it has been for the last three years.
And thanks for your continued loyalty - all 5.8m of you who watched the race with us on Sunday.
Jake.
Lee McKenzie looks on as EJ and I check comms. It involves talking to each other while the team in the gallery talk at the same time to make sure the sound levels are workable
Roger Bines, our rigger, is our unsung hero. We wouldn't be on air without him and I've spent the past three years with him in the pit lane. He retired after 15 years in F1 on Sunday. We'll miss you, Rog!
Two minutes to on-air and Rob Smedley, Felipe Massa's race engineer, pops over to say hello and have a chat.
Post-race and I am busy noting down the race finishing order, the championship standings and any other notes I need close at hand for 45 minutes of unscripted, unplanned post-race analysis
I love this snap.. Eddie Jordan doing what he does best... having an opinion!
Whil you at home are watching the top three drivers' interviews, we decamp to the paddock, where Toro Rosso's Jaime Algersuari pops over to see what we thought of his charge into the points
This photo sums up the job for me, and I love it. The team, all four of us, owning the paddock as we go looking for stories. On screen it just seems to flow
The last photo I took on my way out of the circuit. The Monza banking is a reminder of how much has gone before us, and that F1 will continue to evolve long after we've left
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey/2011/09/saying_goodbye_to_europe.html
After years of speculation, our spies have snapped the first pictures of the 2013 Mercedes B-Class AMG.JeanPierre Beltoise Olivier Beretta Allen Berg Georges Berger
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Volkswagen’s predicted domination of the automotive world just launched its next attack with three production versions of the Volkswagen Bluesport concept. According to Volkswagen, the BlueSport will see three different levels of performance illustrated in three different badges: Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche. It can go without saying that the Porsche model will be the most powerful and, up until now, it was just known as the "baby Boxster." Well, that baby Boxster has finally been named. Say hello to the future Porsche 550.
The "550" name was first used in 1953 when Porsche unveiled a sports car inspired by the legendary 356. At that time, the 550 was not considered a successor for the 356, but Porsche’s future 550 will more than likely carry that title. The new 550 will be the first model to be built on Porsche’s new sports car architecture and will be offered with a mid-mounted, turbocharged 1.6-liter engine that will deliver around 200 HP. This engine will be mated to a dual-clutch seven speed transmission.
The future 550 will be launched in 2014 and, on the European market, will be priced about ?8,000 ($11,500 at the current exchange rates) less than the current Boxster. That difference accounts for about 20% of the current Boxster’s price tag, which means our fellow Americans will have to pay about $38,000 to purchase it.
UPDATE 09/30/2011: British magazine CAR reports that the upcoming Porsche 550 will feature a new trademark horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine developing a total of 210 HP and 215 lb-ft of torque. If Porsche decides to create a more powerful version for the 550, that would mean it will use a 2.5 liter flat four turbo engine that delivers a total of 360 HP and 350 lb-ft.
Stay tuned for more details on the 2014 Porsche 550.
Porsche 550 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 30 September 2011 14:00 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/porsche/2014-porsche-550-ar111772.html
Hi again I just finished this one today and watned to post it here for all of you to look.I'm not sure the car came in vapor silver but I wanted to do one in this color.The paint is from scalefinishes it is a bccc paint then I also cleared it wet sanded out and polished to a high gloss.The interior was painted in satin black engine,trans aluminum I was going to srip the rims and go with aluminum but I went with the chrome look I was going to paint them a gun metal color or even black but I'll do that on the next bukd of one of these. I sure wish Revell would fix the darn ride height!!!! I know you can fix it but this is somthing they overlooked and need to fix!!!!.Other than that it is a relly nice kit to bulid up as the other newer Mustangs that aer out from Revell.Well here are the pics and thanks for looking too!!.
Source: http://cs.scaleautomag.com/SCACS/forums/thread/979870.aspx
Clemente Biondetti Pablo Birger Carlo Abate George Abecassis
