Ayrton Senna drove my Mum’s Car…

   

Bit of nostalgia this…but back in the early 80’s…the 1980’s before you suggest otherwise…my mates and I had just learnt to drive, passed our driving tests and were relying on our Mum’s to let us practice our skills. After all Mum’s car was just there, parked outside…

Unfortunately my Mum’s car was a maroon metallic Austin Rover METRO…not cool!


We’ll gloss over the fact this replaced her Volvo, which I crashed…though in truth the sight of the Police car passing the crash site…backwards…followed by the appearance of the two officers…walking…clearly “upset”…carrying the “Road Closed” sign...along with the expleatives with which they described the road…suggests it wasn’t all my fault…honest Mum!

With new found opportunity and interest in all things smelling of petrol we quickly developed an interest in all motorsport, particularly rallying, as around us…well a short drive away…in Mum’s car…you’re seeing a theme here…were the great forest stages of North Yorkshire.

I still vividly remember the blaze of lights and blarring howl which heralded the sudden appearance of the first AUDI Quattro we’d ever seen…”seen” being a slight exaggeration, in the freezing cold and driving rain of a night stage in Cropton Forest! Too quick even for the whistled warning of the marshals…the shockingly efficient appearance of four wheel drive was a revelation…the future in rallying was clearly 4x4!

So when Rover unveiled the “visually challenged” Rover Metro 6R4 I didn’t feel quite so bad…because it was my Mum’s car…well the roof was, but apparently not much else! When Aytron Senna got behind the wheel of one… well that was it, Mum’s car was clearly a bit cool…ish!

I’ve always had a soft spot for the “ugly duckling”…I think it’s got charm, character and looks great…purposeful. I did back when I first tried to capture them with a Pentax ME Super, Fuji 400D E6 and with “on camera flash” (moving on now…nothing to see here…quite literally, most times!!) Better above…Canon 5DMk2, EF 400 F4 DO IS…a few years of practice helps...and whilst shooting a stills package on a video shoot last month I met a kindred soul…who actually now owns one…but that’s another story…

The Fastest Sign Maker in the North East...

I've lost count of the number of times I've been told that photography must be a great life... I'd be a very rich man if I'd kept collecting every time I heard that... but the one thing I do cherish is the opportunity it gives to meet some amazing people... talented people... very funny people... and people who you'd never think had an alter ego.

Forget Clarke Kent... I'm not talking about somebody who wears his pants over his clothes... but it's just reminded me I forgot to mention the "weird" people that I've also met through photography. That's an entirely different subject! No what I meant are those people you talk to, who you drink a coffee with... then they drop the bombshell and tell you their secret.

For a number of years I've chatted to Paul Moss, as he worked for a sign makers not far from the studio who we've occasionally used for projects... indeed we've even bumped into each other at north east karting circuits... whilst taking part in charity events, and laughed that we know each other. What I didn't realise was his alter ego... "The Fastest Sign Maker in Darlington!"

You see it was only when Paul decided to start his own company that he bought a van, as most businesses do, and using his obvious ability decided to create his own livery... and that's when I realised that Paul has been Northern Saloon Car Champion 3 of the last 4 years. He's just missed out on the title this year by 2 points, and wants it back next year!

Former NCSS Champion Paul combines his business with his alter ego as a professional race driver and display/stunt driver... and if you want to see what I mean check out this award winning Ad for Audi R8 convertible, where he and his colleagues from Paul Swift Stunts are millimetre perfect on slick concrete flooring, just inches from a very expensive new car...

My interest in cars is well know to all who know me, so my apologies to Paul for wasting so much of his time talking about something we both love... and which only one of us is good enough to get paid to enjoy... he's a luck so and so! To in some way recompense him for the time wasted, not to say have some fun I offered to take some images for the new website he is having built, which brought us to a windy cold Croft circuit...

After these shots were taken he suffered a serious engine failure... I still don't know the full costs, but I guess "if he wont say, then I don't want to know" is the way you approach it... which pretty much ended hopes of championship success this year... and no I didn't touch anything!