For a long time, I’ve wanted to thank you people of Oppo and now I’ve got two reasons so I may as well do it now.

Firstly, I need to thank Oppo generally for being nice. I don’t think I’ve been much happier than when I’ve been providing content to you forgiving souls despite it not being a particularly thrilling time. So firstly, thanks for reading it and leaving comments which I enjoy reading (and replying to).

Secondly, I need to thank anyone and everyone who’s given me pointers on grammatical things. I recently got some coursework back after marking and one of the comments was that it was one of the best-written reports she’d ever read, and I’m putting some of that down to you. Every little thing you’ve picked up on, I think about, if I use that word again I always think whether I’ve done it correctly, so thanks for that too.

To sum up, thank you Oppo!

There’s been a lot of interest in my BMW Isetta profile pic, so here’s the story behind it (reposted from DriveTribe)

Boston, Lincolnshire. Known for a very tall church and for having a namesake in Massachusetts. And probably lesser known for being home to the Bubblecar Museum.

The Bubblecar museum is nestled among Lincolnshire countryside (and fields) and is therefore in a very rural area. It's one of those places which if you are unaware that it exists, you probably won't find it. I don't live far away from the museum itself and managed to get lost on the way there.

When you do arrive, the building looks like an industrial shed rather than a well-kept museum and it is located on a caravan park - that's right, classic cars parked among caravans. Upon entering the building you walk straight into a tea room (not convincing you here, am I) but once you get to the actual cars it's very exciting indeed.

Now, this is probably the time to confess that I know nothing about Bubblecars, I went to the museum because it's near my house and a particular car interested me, but I know very little on the subject so there are few pictures and even fewer in depth descriptions. What I do know about, however, is Jonny Smith's Flux Capacitor.

This car was designed to break the record for the world's fastest street legal EV (which it did), to set blisteringly quick quarter mile times and had 800 bhp (100x more than the Enfield Electric on which it is based).

I spent around 10 minutes absorbing every detail of this car as it really is quite special to me and can be considered a pioneer when it comes to hot-rodding EVs. At the museum besides it was a Bond Bug which I also find an excellent car to look at.

First time in a classic car (the Isetta bit)…

BMW Isetta

At the museum, I also had the opportunity to go out in a classic car - a BMW Isetta, before this point the oldest car I had been in was from 2001 (not very old at all), so this was a real experience.

The interior of this particular example included beautiful tartan seats - which were incredibly comfortable. The interior is dominated by a large steering wheel and there is no dash area to speak of due to the front of the car also being the door.

The BMW motorbike engine is placed directly behind the occupants of the car and makes an excellent racket (although trying to have a conversation is almost impossible). On some pretty atrociously kept rural back lanes the car felt solid (at least I didn't feel scared of its flimsiness in the event of a crash) and the ride wasn't too bad - more plush than some cars I've been in. On a couple of occasions during the 15 minute journey the engine did cut out (but where's the fun in a fully functioning classic) but overall the experience was brilliant.

Today I got the results for the mock exams I did before Christmas that I briefly disappeared from here for…

*For those who aren’t in the UK, grades are from 1-9 with a 4 being a pass and the highest you can get on the business exam is D2.

I’m really happy

Do comment your thoughts below.

Today, another living creature joined our household…

A beautiful little domestic shorthair cat that we’ve named Dodds (after McDonald and Dodds of course).

Right now he’s making an awful lot of noise and has taken to sleeping on the windowsills.

Any other cat-owning Oppos have any tips on what’s best for cats?
Do comment your thoughts below.

It’s my birthday and today I’m 16

!

A caterpillar cake (what else?!) from Aldi, picture from last night as we couldn’t go out today for other reasons

Very pretty table (also from yesterday).

Balloons! You can’t beat a balloon arch

Cards (and my mate’s business work because she forgot)

Presents. Some very pretty stuff (I’m especially fond of the bag).

Do comment your thoughts below.

Last year, I began to watch F1, I didn’t really understand it (at first I didn’t know the difference between the tyre compounds ) but I instantly loved it and began to learn as much as possible.

Fast forward around a year and F1 had completely took over my life. Every weekend everything else stopped and it was F1 time. By the end, I spent an evening reading the sporting regulations (bit of a shift).

Also around that time I started writing about the sport, and that went well. And today it got a whole lot better…

My first published article in an actual publication!

Admittedly it’s in the Spalding Guardian (not exactly going to set the world alight) but you’ve got to start somewhere. I’ve actually put the picture on here before it gets published so if you buy the Spalding Guardian firstly, wow, someone actually buys the thing, and secondly enjoy your blurry sneak preview.

Now going to watch a video about F1, nothing changes, eh.

Do comment something below (not sure what, preferably something relevant).

In the past few weeks, I’ve mentioned a bit about the fact I was trying to be head student at school. After a letter and an interview (that went an awful lot better than expected although my standards are pretty low) the school came to a conclusion.

They picked me to be one of the three head students!

This is news I’m very, very happy about (and a lot of other people are too) and my ‘duties’ will be starting imminently. I’ve had to write a paragraph about myself (hated doing that) and tomorrow have to spend the evening greeting people (and then ‘hiding’ in the business department for most of it meeting more people).

What could possibly go wrong?
Do comment your thoughts below.

Many times I do something or go somewhere and then retrospectively decide it would make great article content and write about it after, never do I go somewhere with intention of getting a story out of it, until now.

I’ve often thought about writing/doing car reviews but have often decided I wouldn’t be very good at it. Until I got invited to an event at the local Hyundai dealership where I would see an IONIQ 5, then it became something that was going to happen.

In preparation for this tentative foray into what I consider to be ‘proper’ automotive journalism I made notes. Lots of them. I wrote down anything I found interesting from Hyundai’s spec sheets and attempted to cover the points that I enjoyed from other people’s reviews.

Part of the reason for my (potentially excessive) note taking was to make my first trip out in the ‘motoring world’ a little bit more bearable. I rarely find it easy to have conversations with people at any car events I attend but this time it was going to be different.

As we pulled into the car park I saw one of my favourite electric cars. The IONIQ 5, the car I was there to hopefully get some time in.

To be honest, the event was not about the IONIQ 5, not about EVs at all, but it was not going to deter me from spending time in such a special car.

After some awkward conversation (need to improve on that) we were presented with the keys to the IONIQ 5 in order to have a poke around. And all the preparation and attempts to be professional went out of the window.

Climbing into one of my 3 favourite EVs made me realise why I love cars and why I have to try and get into the motoring journalism industry. Seeing the unique features that the car has and immediately noticing them because I’d seen them before is something that probably may have skewed my perception of the car as I was less analysing the car more ‘ooh, look at that’.

’Annoying’ an Electric Car

As my time with the car came to a close, the task of locking the thing awaited. Now, that should be as simple as pressing a button. But it wasn’t. Every time we pressed the lock button the car emitted a loud beep in a annoying way for no obvious reason.

After explaining to the (rather kind) man from Hyundai that we seemed to have upset his car the reason for its anger became clear. We were trying to lock a car from the outside that was on.

Nobody said it was on, and of course there was no noise coming from the car’s powertrain so there was no clear way (to someone with little experience with modern cars) of telling what we done. Either way, it was amusing for a first ‘review’.

After the ‘incident’ with the locking of the car, the kind man from Hyundai offered us gifts. We hadn’t purchased a car, nor expressed an interest to and all we did was poke around in their EV. Yet still I received cake and chocolates and my granddad received a bottle of wine.

I hope you enjoyed the ‘behind the scenes’ of my first car review and seeing one of my favourite cars.

If you haven’t read the review yet do click this link Hyundai IONIQ 5 Review.

Not done a cat picture in a while and Dodds looked cute today

Also found some nice badges for my trip next week.

Anyone else have nice pet pictures?
Do comment your thoughts below.

Sometimes, we see a car in photos and they don’t give the full picture. Sometimes the photos don’t do the true car justice. Sometimes they hide a multitude of sins. In the case of the IONIQ 5, the pictures got it about right, except one thing. The size.

When I first saw the pictures it was different to establish what size the IONIQ 5 is. City car? Hatchback? Full-size SUV? With no reference points it was pretty hard to tell. Spoiler alert: the IONIQ 5 is big.

The wheelbase of an IONIQ 5 is 3m. 3 whole metres, longer than a Range Rover, so it’s a big car. But although it is massive, it doesn’t feel excessively big to look at (unlike some SUVs that look like small tanks heading towards you).

The exterior of the IONIQ 5 is, controversial, but I love it. All the creases and retro boxiness just works for me. At the front, it’s bold. Some may hate the looks, but I like it. Towards the rear, there’s a beautiful pixelated rear light clusters. In fact, pixels are all over this car, in the charging port and moving through to the interior.

Speaking of the interior, it’s lovely in there. There’s 2 12.3 inch screens, one touchscreen, one not. The latter displays all the important driver information (speed, state of charge, etc) and the touchscreen delivers all the information you’d expect. But not the climate control! Thankfully, it’s a separate cluster of touch sensitive buttons near some physical buttons to accompany the touch screen.

However, a car interior is way more than touchscreens. The IONIQ 5, like many EVs, has a completely flat floor and many, many spaces to lose store your precious belongings and two USBs in the front. A further point to note is that the IONIQ 5 bears a very nice two spoke wheel.

Moving to the back seats there is more flat floor action and some very comfortable seats (made from recycled materials). Also in the rear is two USBs and (in the UK at least) a 3-pin plug socket.

As with any EV, many of you will want to know about charging and range. The IONIQ 5 I was in had the lesser battery pack at 58kW with a WLTP range of 240 miles. However there is a 73kW option that in rear wheel drive configuration can travel up to 300 miles.

As for charging, the IONIQ 5 can rapid charge at up to 350kW. If you can find a charger that quick, the big battery, 73kW car can charge from 0-80% in 17 minutes.

Hopefully you enjoyed, and learnt something from my first car review. If you did, do leave a comment, if you didn’t, also leave a comment.

@Old-Busted-Hotness I have no idea, should probably count

@ttyymmnn I know (annoyingly).

@flatisflat It’s not brilliantly done as I was writing it when they made the announcement and didn’t want to redo it so just added some words in.

The 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was an eventful evening under the lights as there were battles all up the field and a few controversies and questionable decisions along the way.

Red Bull: This season looks to be Red Bull’s to lose as they take another 1-2 but this time the other way around. Perez dominated the race from lights to flag and took yet another street race victory while Verstappen fought through the field to claim P2.

Mercedes: A confusing evening for George Russell after he was ‘fighting like a madman’ to ensure that he was a beneficiary of Alonso’s inevitable penalty that was then revoked. Hamilton put a decent fight in to take P5.

Aston Martin: A mixed day for the Aston Martin team as everyone thought Alonso lost out on his 100th podium despite partaking in the ceremony due to the FIA taking an absolute age to decide whether he served his penalty correctly or not then changed their mind. Stroll failed to finish the race due to mechanical failure.

Ferrari: After being disadvantaged by the safety car, Ferrari failed to make inroads on the cars ahead with Sainz taking P6 and Leclerc fighting back to finish just behind in P7.

Alpine: Another strong but uneventful drive for the Alpine pair as they both scored points. Ocon was ahead in P8 with Gasly P9.

Haas: A solitary point for Haas after Magnussen drove well into P10. Hulkenberg also put in a decent performance to take P12.

AlphaTauri: Still not a point on the board for AlphaTauri as they have another slightly dull week. Tsunoda did well to take P11 (so close) and De Vries wasn’t miles behind in P14.

Alfa Romeo: A disappointing day for Alfa Romeo as Zhou lost positions to come P13 and Bottas languished at the back after having problems leaving P18.

McLaren: A poor performance from McLaren as both drivers were engaged in contact and had to have replacement front wings with the pair then fighting between each other in the final stages with Piastri the victor in P15.

Williams: A woeful day for Williams as Sargeant fell down the order into P16 and Albon’s brake issues led to him having to retire from the race relatively early on.

Do comment your thoughts below.

@Italia Photo is of plaiting it. It’s now quite a bit shorter.

@ttyymmnn He should! I think the Lewis contingent hoped expected him to play the Bottas role. I think they’re pretty equally matched but when George is leading he should be treated as No 1!

@Italia Like braiding it. I don’t know how to explain it.

@MisterButtercup I’ll see. I can still type a bit and more importantly I can still write!

@ike808 I’ll change it.

George got a podium at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Admittedly he didn’t actually stand on the podium but it’s still a very exciting moment for the great George Russell and for the Mercedes fans.

I’d normally commemorate such an occasion by plaiting my hair for school the next day however that won’t be happening this time.

Firstly because I’ve cut my hair and it’s not long enough to do it anymore and I also might have broken my finger (I trapped it in a car door) so even if I did have long enough hair I wouldn’t be able to do it.

Still, we can be happy for George (but not Alonso).
Do comment your thoughts below.

Edit: The incompetent FIA have reversed the penalty so now Alonso now has a podium and George has lost out.