About Me

I have dived headlong into this blog without properly introducing myself - how rude!

There is a bit of a history of engineering in my family and I have continued that theme attaining a MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sheffield. Now I work for a company at the forefront of the tidal turbine industry. That's the engineering "credentials" out the way, now for the car interest...

I'm not totally sure of the root of my enthusiasm for cars, but I do have early memories of F1 Grands Prix and playing with toy cars. This developed into making many cars out of lego (definitely qualifies me to build a Caterham!) as a child. Following the early stuff the interest has always been there, helped by my uncle's build of an Ultima GTR (http://www.m250.co.uk).

The real love of cars blossomed as a learnt to drive. Once I could freely explore the open road and the drivability of different vehicles it was then I knew that cars would be a big part of my life. Early cars consisted of largely driving my mum's cars - a Toyota Aygo, which had a remarkably willing three cylinder engine - and various iterations of the Fiat 500, which is just never going to be a manly vehicle. Then we move onto my cars, starting with the Ford Fiesta (2014), which had an incredibly impressive three cylinder turbocharged 1.0l engine; it was so capable to drive that you never would have suspected that it was such a small engine - managed 45MPG too! More recently I test drove the Fiesta ST from Ford's latest line-up and was completely blown away. Not only did it build upon the great chassis in the Fiesta it felt even more planted and now had a suitable 200BHP. Needless to say it quickly became my everyday car. As an everyday car it is damn near perfect; reasonable space for four, golf clubs fit in the boot, looks great (below), drives amazingly, makes a great noise and does 40MPG - all that for under £20k!

Current Fiesta ST (Nickname Stu) in a moody city centre car park shot

As quick as the ST is the lure of more speed and true track machine has enticed me into building the Caterham, along with the fun of the build!