Over to Heckington tomorrow to see a man about some alloys !

The man in Question is my new best mate (sorry Glen!) John Leeson who has decided to assist the Scirocco 50 LLR project by sorting us out some rather nice spanking new alloys.

It will be great to see the new wheels and replacing the very tired looking Wolfrace Octanes that have been her shoes for the last 2 years, and as it is Scarlett's birthday the following day (she will be 23!) it is rather right that she gets a nice gift after all of her hard work over the last 3 years.

Will get a few pictures when the wheels are on...can't wait :-)

Oh yes, if you want your alloys sorting or replacing have a gander at John's website to see what he can do for you. Click HERE to see his site.

NOTE:

Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances..............well OK, I forgot to pick up the tyres from Pitstop for John to fit!,so the wheels have not yet been fitted, but will be soon.....bl**dy memory like a sieve sometimes!.

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Austrailian Grand Prix.Jenson Button may be disqualified for being too cool!

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Well actually this is a complete pack of lies, but what the heck I just wanted to stand out from the mass of other headlines on Google!.

Anyway, now that I have got your attention let me bring you up to speed on the latest developments in our motor sport project, Scirocco 50 LLR!.

On Friday I took a trip over to "Biff", the graphics man's,house to let him take some measurements of the car to work out the size of the graphics that will be applied sometime in the next couple of weeks. We spent about 40 minutes on the pavement outside his house making notes of what size the sheets of vinyl will need to be in order to get the best finish.To be honest I was naive enough about the process to think that all he would do is stick the JPEG images into his computer,print them off on vinyl and there you are sorted!. The truth is that converting Benn's design from simply an image into graphics on a real car is a lot more involved than you would imagine and is going to take at least 2 weekends to finish.

The good news on the Alloy wheel front is that John has promised me that irrespective of Team Dynamics involvement in sponsoring the project, he will ensure that the new set of wheels goes onto Scarlett this week,probably Tuesday AM. I really hope that Team Dynamics does decide that this project deserves their backing, after all its not often that a company making alloys is offered the chance to advertise on a car with 6 wheels!........A bit like a shoe manufacturer finding a model with 4 legs to promote it's footwear range.Hey, that's an idea, maybe next year (if they sponsor us, we could drive around with 3 different types of their alloys on the car at one time, a sort of mobile display stand!....Mmmmmmm, got me thinking now :-)

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Scirocco 2 Morocco make an appearance in April's Top Gear Magazine !

Hoorraaahhhh!......At last, after many failed attempts at getting a mention in a national motoring magazine we have succeeded :-).

My co-pilot Glen sent me a text on Friday night saying that he had been made aware of a picture of us and the Scirocco which has been published in the most recent edition (April) of the Top Gear Magazine.Apparently he had emailed them a few snaps some time back, and against all the odds they decided to publish one.

Ok, so it is only a small picture on page 12, but the fact is that we can now honestly tell people that we have appeared in Top Gear......it's nice to be able to tell them we have appeared ON Top Gear but hey, you never know,perhaps one day we might even manage that.....well after Misters Clarkson,Hammond and May grow tired of driving supercars and decide to turn their attention to much more interesting stuff :-)......this may be of course be a long way off in the future !

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Street Racer.One life lost to Leukaemia,2 lives shattered.A story of love and salvation.

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Firefighter Ally doesn't let deadly disease stop him helping others

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FEARLESS firefighter Ally Boyle is a lifesaver on and off duty. His world collapsed after he was diagnosed with a rare disease which doctors predicted would kill him.

Overnight, Ally - who has worked shifts alongside 9/11 heroes at Ground Zero in New York during a 17-year career with Strathclyde Fire Service - faced the prospect of not even living to see his baby daughter grow up.

It might have been easy to give up but Ally launched a campaign to persuade Scots to pass on the precious gift of life by signing up for the bone marrow register.

Ally, 38, said: "You get the cards you're dealt in life.

"When things go wrong, you can either be miserable about it or turn those same cards into a winning hand. That's what I'm trying to do.

"Sometimes, I'll pick up my daughter Jessica and have a wee cry but it's not in my nature to feel sorry for myself. I'd rather help other people."

Now his bravery has been recognised with a nomination as an Our Emergency Services Hero in the Daily Record Our Heroes Awards.

Despite fighting a devastating disease which leaves him in pain 24 hours a day, Ally, who is area commander for East and West Dunbartonshire, organises clinics in fire stations across Scotland where potential donors can sign up for the bone marrow register by giving a tiny sample of saliva.

Thousands of patients all over the world have had the chance of life through a transplant thanks to the register which matches up donors with potential recipients.

And teaming up with the Anthony Nolan Trust, who run the database, is the perfect partnership for dad-of-one Ally.

To see the full article click HERE to visit the Daily Record website.

Well done Ally, your courage and commitment serve as an example for many others around the world.Best of luck with your own fight, and the utmost respect to you for still helping others even though you are fighting your own battle.A true hero :-)

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If only.....

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If only there was as much money spent on finding a cure for cancer as there is spent on Televised sport events!.

Flicking through the channels you find footballers earning £70'000 per week, Formula one drivers earning £4-5 Million per year.Golfers playing a round in Morocco for a top prize of 1'361,205 euro's.
In a world were sport and entertainment pay such riches, yet the people that we trust the lives of our loved ones with,doctors,nurses ,care workers etc are so poorly rewarded by comparison, is it a surprise that modern day youngsters aspire to be singers,actors or sports people.
One day maybe far off in the future, the world may realise that if they want to save the seriously ill, feed the hungry and put a roof over the homeless, they need to re assess their love affair with celebrity and start to put more of their adoration on the souls in this world who truly do make a difference to the lives of others, and lets stop paying actors who pretend to be doctors more than real doctors...you know it makes sense!.

Leukaemia patient Maddi Green to walk with Sir Ian Botham

A ten-year-old leukaemia patient from Worcester is going on a charity walk with Sir Ian Botham.

Maddi Green will join the cricketing legend in the grounds of Croome Court, near Worcester on Monday 12 April. The walk begins in the Worcester High Street, and goes for ten miles through the city, before ending up at Croome Court. Sir Ian is walking through ten towns over ten days, to raise money for the charity he is president of.

Maddi was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in February 2008. Her father Jerry said: "Maddi had been feeling unwell, had lost her appetite and was looking pale - which is why our GP had asked for a blood test.
"Twenty-four hours later Maddi's diagnosis was confirmed, and in that single day, her life and the lives of everyone who loves her, changed forever." She has lost her long brown hair three times due to chemotherapy treatments, and is due to finish her treatment in April, the same month as the charity walk.

To join Sir Ian and Maddi on the Croome Park Walk on the 12th April or any of his other walks, follow this link to sign up for Beefy's Great Forget-Me-Not Walk .

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Scarlett's first outing.Beefy Botham's walk at Croome Park Worcester.

The date for Scarlett's first "official" outing in support of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research has now been decided. She will be attending Sir Ian Botham's Forget Me Not walk at Croome Park on the 12th April 2010. If you are attending the park for the event then please feel free to pop across to the registration area and say hello and have a closer look at the car.

Worcester is approx 125-130 miles from Sleaford, so do also keep a look along the route out as you drive down there for a 22 foot long 6 wheeled,articulated Red Scirocco driven by yours truly !.

Right, all I have to worry about now is getting the graphics on the car, sorting out the fitting of the alloy wheels and giving the car a bit of a polish.....still, got a good 20 days to do it in.....gulp!.

If you are not already aware of the 10 day "back to back" walk itinerary that Sir Ian will be doing, here is a link to the website for more details: http://www.beefy25.com/

And this is a map of our suggested route down to the venue at Croome Park: ROUTE .

:-)

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Anyone want 4 used Alloy Wheels ? Now on Ebay.

I have decided that in order to fund the wheels for the new look Scarlett, I need to sell the old Alloys.These have now been posted for sale on Ebay and fingers crossed will not take too long to find a buyer :-).

Bargain at only £99 for 4 alloys!.Some people that I know spend £200 on 2 tyres!.

Check out the sale if you are interested.....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=140392673706&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT#ht_1556wt_1165

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Reaper In Sicily guitarist Matthew Jenkins diagnosed with leukaemia

Sad to hear that the rock group " Reaper in Sicily" guitarist Matthew Jenkins has been recently diagnosed with Leukaemia.

Reaper In Sicily shot to fame last year by winning the Kerrang!-sponsored Black XS Livesound battle of the bands competition.

Here is a video showing Matthew and the band performing their track "We are the show"

S2M wish Matthew all the best in his Leukaemia Journey.Take care, you can beat this thing! :-).

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New cancer treatment gives hope to lymphoma and leukaemia patients

Cancer researchers have high hopes for a new therapy for patients with certain types of lymphoma and leukaemia.

PCI-32765 is a new drug being assessed in a Phase I clinical trial at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Centre in collaboration with the Clinical Division of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).
This is one of 35 such trials under way through a partnership between the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Centre at Scottsdale Healthcare and TGen, which enables molecular and genomic discoveries to reach patients through Phase I trials as quickly as possible.
'Progress in developing new treatments for cancer has been painfully slow as only 2-4 percent of all cancer patients enroll in clinical trials. This is especially true for uncommon cancers such as leukaemia's and lymphomas,' said Dr Raoul Tibes, Director of the Haematological Malignancies Program at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Centre and an Associate Investigator at TGen.
Clinical trials test the safety and effectiveness of new drugs prior to approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Participants are volunteers for whom other cancer treatments have failed. Arizona is one of many states in which clinical trials often are covered by health insurance.
'This study is going very well. It is a very promising agent,'' Dr Tibes said of PCI-32765, which uniquely targets the molecular abnormalities of lymphoma cells. 'This is a recently identified cancer mechanism that we are going after with this drug in lymphoma cells.'

To Read more about this news click HERE to visit the Science Centric Webpage.

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Flemish Researcher Finds Leukaemia Gene in Half of Patients.

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A Flemish researcher has made an important discovery in the war against acute leukaemia in children. Pieter Van Vlierberghe discovered a defective leukaemia gene carried by almost half those afflicted with the disease.

The discovery was published this week in the influential journal 'Nature Genetics'. Van Vlierberghe (39) made the discovery while working at the University of Ghent, just before his departure for a three-year stay at the prestigious Columbia University in New York. Further research is being undertaken into the discovery in both Ghent and in New York. The `leukaemia gene' appears to be on the X chromosome, of which males have one of and females two. This means that males with a problematic X chromosome do not have a backup 'copy', which explains why boys suffer more from leukaemia than girls. The acute form of leukaemia, or blood cancer, is a disease that mostly afflicts children and is much more aggressive than the forms that strike in adulthood. 'The traditional chemotherapy already provides an 80 percent chance of survival,' says Professor Frank Speleman of the Ghent team. 'This discovery is important for the 20 percent that still succumb to the disease. We are also keen to develop less aggressive forms of treatment, as chemotherapy has many side effects, such as growth retardation, teeth problems and so on. Chemotherapy increases chances of getting cancer later in life too.'

Het Laatste Nieuws /Oostkust ; Tuesday 16 March 2010 ; p.8
Editor in chief: Paul Daenen
Address: Brusselsesteenweg 347 1730 Asse-Kobbegem
Phone: +32 ()02/454.24.01
Circulation: 345877 ex.

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Car-puccino Scirocco runs on Coffee...honestly !

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This must be the most weird Scirocco project that I have ever seen, and I have seen a few!.

Apparently the car runs on Coffee, although checking out the text of the article a little closer it may not be the most efficient or cost effective form of fuel as it needs a "refill" every 30 to 45 miles and a top speed limited to 60 mph.The makers estimate it will take them about 10 hours to drive 210 miles!. Never mind, still is an amazing machine...well it is a Scirocco after all :-)

Just as a footnote to my post its worth mentioning that I have seen this particular car before.In fact it was once owned by a fellow member of the Scirocco Register!. Last year at the annual national meeting of the club at RAF Cosford this Scirocco was the subject of some..erm....fixing, after its exhaust snapped off on our return to the campsite after the meet.
Sander, one of our mates from Holland (and an excellent car mechanic), spent a couple of hours using several of my tools (including a wood chisel which is now completely blunt!..thanks Sander!) to separate the 2 halves of the exhaust before fashioning a temporary repair on it. As far as I am aware it is still on the car now. I have the "nub end" of the section that was chiseled off in the boot of my car....in fact I may yet make some sort of trophy from it and give it to Sander at this years meeting in July :-)

To view the full article click HERE and to go to the Mail Online article click HERE.

And here is the BBC Video explaining the project:

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Sergeant Susan Luther, con artist and poor speller...you have been busted !

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Time again then for another example of an Internet scam that is currently doing the rounds at the moment.This one claims to be from Sergeant (NOT Sergent!) Susan Luther who is based in Iraq (NOT Irag!) and who would like me to launder $3.2 million Dollars for her!.......what should I do?

If you get this awful,terribly spelt piece of junk sent to you, try not to laugh too much as you drop it in your SPAM folder!.

Anyway,without further ado here for your entertainment is the afore mentioned piece of comedy junk mail (Although I get the feeling that whoever sent it really thought the rest of us are as dumb as they are!)....

"Dear Friend,

My name is Sgt,Susan Luther. I am an American soldier with Swiss background,
serving in the military with the army 3rd infantry division.With a very
desperate need for assistance, I have summed up courage to contact you. I found
your contact particulars in an address journal. I am seeking your kind
assistance to move the sum of ( $ 3.2 million u.s.dollars )three million, two
hundred united states dollars to you, as far as I can be assured that my share
will be safe in your care until I complete my service here, this is no stolen
money, and there are no danger involved. I am presently in a hospital
recovering from injuries sustained in a suicide bomb attack.

Source of money:

Some money in various currencies was discovered in barrels at a farmhouse near
one of Saddam's old palaces in Tikrit-Iraq during a rescue operation, and
it was agreed by staff Sgt Kenneth buff and I that some part of this money be
shared among both of us before informing anybody about it since both of us saw
the money first. This was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No
compensation can make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell
hole. Of which my brother in-law was killed by a road side bomb last week.
Please view website for confirmation;
http://www.voanews.com/burmese/archive/2003-04/a-2003-04-20-1-1.cfm

The above figure was given to me as my share, and to conceal this kind of money
became a problem for me, so with the help of a British contact working here and
his office enjoy some immunity, I was able to move the money to a security
company in bangkok thailand as a diplomatic baggage. They are now waiting for
us to provide the name of beneficiary who they will transfer the funds to. The
reason i want you to claim the funds on my behalf is that as a soldier,

i cannot present a concrete evidence on how i made such a big amount of money
down here. Besides the US Government is trying their best to keep their eyes on
soldiers here inorder to effect a high level of discipline among us.The moment
i am sure that you are willing to assist me, i will give you the information of
the security company and the security code of the baggage.I want
you to tell me how much you will take from this money for the assistance you
will give to me.

One passionate appeal I will make to you is not to discuss this matter with
anybody, should you have reasons to reject this offer, please and please
destroy this message as any leakage of this information will be too bad for us
soldiers here in Iraq. I do not know how long we will remain here, and i have
been shot, wounded and survived two suicide bomb attacks by the special grace
of God, this and other reasons i will mention later has prompted me to reach
out for help, i honestly want this matter to be resolved immediately, please
contact me as soon aspossible, my only way of communication is email.

Yours in Service.

SERGENT SUSAN LUTHER Camp MXP-512 Third Infantry Division Unit(T.I.D.U),
Abul Uruj,bagdad,irag "

Lol, i so can't believe that anyone would fall for such a comedy effort of a scam...they can't even spell Sergeant or Iraq correctly!..

:-)

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Now.Empty your mind of pointless thoughts and worries..and listen to this :-)

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A Glorious Dawn.Symphonies of Science feat Carl Sagan.This mix puts into perspective just how immense and wonderful the the life we have been given is, but also how important we all are to the bigger picture......the story of creation itself,A Glorious Dawn.

Enjoy :-)

For more "Sciencepop" visit the Symphony of Science Website by clicking HERE

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