Caffeine and Machine "Hot Hatch Heaven" - 21st Jan 2024

I dropped by Caffeine & Machine's The Hill venue during a "Hot Hatch Heaven" weekend. As expected, there were plenty of hot hatches in attendance from the likes of Ford, Honda, VW etc. coupled with several Porsche 911s, Audi R8s and a rare Aston Martin Vantage GT08. 

Check out the highlights video below followed by the full gallery.

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Great Driving Roads: A4069, Brecon Beacons, Wales

Below is a video showing the excellent A4069, a five mile stretch of road across the Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog) in south Wales. We kick off with some aerial drone footage followed by an in-car trip across the mountain. 

A few years ago this stretch of road had a 60mph speed limit but I assume there were too many people using the many corners as a race track as it was lowered to 40mph and now average speed cameras have been added to its length to ensure compliance. You don't need to speed to enjoy the road though, and take in the wonderful views on offer (which increase significantly if you're there when it's not shrouded in mist!).

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Bicester Heritage - Sunday Scramble January 2024

A bitterly cold (but thankfully rain-free) first Sunday Scramble of 2024, with lots of vehicles on display. Check out the slideshow video below for highlights from the event, with a full gallery of the images below.

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Armoured Vehicle, Ambulance and Military Truck Driving

My wife bought me a driving experience for my birthday and last weekend I was let loose in a Spartan armoured personnel carrier, a Dennis Sabre fire engine and a Leyland 4-tonne army truck. The Spartan was fun to drive (and pretty quick too). I'd enjoy trying that out on some properly rough terrain (preferably without being shot at). The fire engine was surprising. Again, it was pretty quick for its size and (with rear wheel steering) it's surprisingly manoeuvrable with an incredibly tight turning circle. I even managed to parallel park it without killing the cone markers...

The Leyland was pretty much what I expected. I've spent some time in the back of these things and I remember the sharp brakes sending unsuspecting people flying, so the grabby brakes were no surprise. Good levels of grip though. All in all, it was a fun (and informative) couple of hours!

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Car Stunts and Monster Trucks: California Motor Show

Here's a brief highlights video from a car stunt show which I attended with my son, on a whim, while on holiday in Spain. Apologies for the phone camera quality! 

Anyway, it was a decent show and you'll see stunts from cars, quads and monster trucks.

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Caffeine and Machine 5th Birthday - 25th October 2023

Caffeine and Machine ran a number of events for their fifth birthday week, of which this was one. A good turnout of cars braved the chilly (but thankfully dry) October weather ensuring that there was surely something to interest anyone.

My highlights video and gallery is below.

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Lakeside Motor Museum

On a family weekend in the Lake District (north west England) we made an impromptu stop at the Lakeside Motor Museum. It turned out to be a diversion well worth taking. 

There's a good variety of vehicles displayed, from vintage cars and vans through to rare sports cars and a stand dedicated to Isle of Man TT legend John McGuinness.

There's also a room dedicated to Donald and Malcolm Campbell and their land speed record attempts and vehicles.

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Limitless Club Meet - Kingsley Café 8th October 2023

I stopped by Kingsley Café (in Eynsham, west of Oxford) while heading home from Bicester Heritage's Sunday Scramble show. Limitless were holding a car club meeting there and, although I dropped in many hours after it had started (when, I suspect most people had left) there were still a few interesting cars hanging around. 

Gallery below.

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Bicester Heritage - Sunday Scramble October 2023

Another excellent Sunday Scramble in Bicester (although the unseasonably warm October weather certainly helped!). There was plenty to see and many interesting vehicles were in attendance. 

Check out the highlights video below and the gallery of pictures after.

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Hardknott Pass, Lake District - Drone and In Car Footage

Following my recent video from Honister Pass, this one shows Hardknott Pass (also in the Lake District, a few miles south of Scaffell Pike - England's tallest mountain). Hardknott is a lot less accessible, with the uneven and undulating road (and its very poor surface quality) causing my car a couple of traction and clearance issues. That said, the view from the top at sun rise was stunning! This video starts with some drone fly overs, showing the route from above, before switching to in car footage. Below the video are some photos from along the route, including that sun rise.

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