This section covers all the Ws: who, where, why, what, when, and, erm, how. 
A daily record of the plans made and the decisions taken. 
Click on the articles below for the latest news.

Can you believe this is the 200th blog post on our pokey little corner of the internet? If that isn't a good enough reason to write a post taking stock of where we are, our achievements and what is still to do, I don't know what is. So where are we? We have registered three cars for the event and have five of the six drivers sorted. Carl is still looking for his co-driver, but Lisa and I are completely invested in driving Team: Dirty Martin around Europe, as are Richie an

So the Facebook algorithm has been doing its job, as it started showing sunglasses ads after I clicked on one link. Now I'm being bombarded with adverts for eyewear endorsed by everyone from Oasis' Noel Gallagher to F1 driver Oscar Piastri.   The Gallagher offerings are designed by FINLAY, an independent British eyewear brand founded in 2012. They handcraft their own frames and grind their own lenses, and have stores in Notting Hill and Soho, so you get the picture of the qua

According to reports, the UK is the second-largest market for aftermarket vehicle upgrades in Europe. The industry was valued at around £7.8 billion in 2025, and is forecast to reach £9.5 billion by 2030. The manufacturing sector is worth around £12 billion, with approximately 1,600 businesses operating in it. The Top 10 most popular modifications in the UK are: 1. Alloy Wheels 2. Number Plate Personalisation  3. Exhaust Upgrades  4. LED Lighting  5. Suspension & Lowering K

We visited Colour Create yesterday and met Barry and Kevin. I rambled on about the trip born from a stupid idea, fuelled by alcohol and fed by a 'you only live once' attitude. They initially looked at us like we were daft, I reckon they are right to be honest! I showed them images of what we would like. I explained my reservations about sticking a magnet over the contours of the car. They had a sample of the automotive-grade magnetic sticker, which was thinner than I expe

I've been scouring the internet for a good, reliable local printer to see if they can help us with our livery. There are lots of choices, but I was struggling to find one that stood out and that I felt comfortable with. I was in the office and noticed our company had big displays, so I got in touch with our Communications Manager, who tipped me off to a company called Colour Create. She raved about their service and quality and advised me to drop her and our company's name,

The new year has seen Carl ramp up the work on Bert, his beautiful black Abarth. The little fella was in for a service and MOT. What he left with was £1200 worth of work! Ouch! As part of the MOT inspection, the mechanic found a few jobs that needed to be done, including the strut top mounts on both sides, the wishbones on both sides, and the front discs and pads. The good news was that the parts were relatively cheap; the bad news was that the labour charges were crippli

I stumbled across this advert from the 2012 Super Bowl the other day. I'd never seen it before, and it had me giggling. No spoilers here, except that the title of the post is a translation of the first line spoken in the ad. Oh yeah, it is all in Italian...deliberately. Click below to watch. The full translation is: Line 1: “Che cosa guardi, eh?” (repeated twice… followed by a slap!) Translation: “ What are you looking at, huh?” Line 2: “Mi stai spogliando con gli occhi?”

Ever experienced that sudden jolt of panic when your engine light unexpectedly flickers on? That's exactly what happened to Carl, as he was happily cruising in to Cheltenham this weekend.  He messaged me to say the dreaded light had come on on his way down south, not long after he stopped for fuel at a 'dodgy petrol station'. 'Bert' was limping along, but he wasn't well. After spending a few days down South, Carl was preparing for the long journey home by filling up Bert. H

It is official, we are officially registered for the Monte Carlo or Bust Rally: Black Forest Gateau 2026!!! It has been a long time...

If I change the car's scheme to the new, fresher Martini Racing or the Castrol Oil one , I will be copying Scalextric vehicles rather...

It wasn’t just Abbie the Abarth that got a runout to Scotland at the weekend; Richie drove the Kuga to The Trossachs, too, as we went ‘Up...

I’m trying to add more content to the site that doesn’t revolve around my ongoing updates and issues with the new car. This is probably...

It's the weekend.  How about something fun? After a break from chasing down unicorn cars and perfect alloys, I made a playlist inspired...

With Carl settling on a black Abarth with beautiful gold stripes and logos to ape the JPS race cars of the 70s and 80s, and everything...