Shady Goings On

Get free tickets to watch the Renault World Series at Castle Donnington on the 10th and 11th September 2005 !

It marks the eagerly-anticipated race debut of the awesome Mégane Trophy racer and spectators will also get chance to see Grand Prix stars-in-waiting racing in the brand new Formula 1-style FR 3.5 single-seater.

Spectators will then have the chance to watch the action unfold in the potentially crucial 15th and 16th rounds of the Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin and ELF Renault Clio Cup – both series usually supporting the high-profile British Touring Car Championship throughout the year.

Click the logo below…

++++++++++ UPDATED 15/6/2005 ++++++++++

It appears that all the tickets for this event have now sold out, so if you don’t have a confirmation email then you’re out of luck.

We had a bit of a panic yesterday. The solictor called to let us know that they had received all the moneies and we had completed, therefore we could now collect the keys from the estate agent!
I then rang the estate agent to ask them to confirm that with their solicitor so the keys could be released. It took about two hours for me to get through: it just rang engaged. When I eventually got though a machine told me no one was available and I should leave a message.
Anyway, a long story short, after about another hour of fustrating calls to the estate agent I finally got through, and they confirmed what we already knew.
We both finished early from work to pick the keys up and rushed round to the house, or we tried at least, the traffic at that time was heavy and moving slowly. The house is pretty much as we remember, although now that it’s empty it shows up what work needs doing and well as the need for redecorating. Not such a bad thing.
After unpacking some boxes we had a chinese from the take-away back in Melbourne and packed more of our things away. Tonight we’re having a bunch of people round to help us move in, with pizza and beer as a thank you. The camera will be out and some photos of the house shown on the site.

Today you will find a new category on the site: Home. This new category is witness to the fact we now have a how of our own, rather than one we rent. The Moving House category will now fade away, ready to begin again when we next move house (not for a while I hope!).

I was browsing :amazon.co.uk: today for motorsport books and for any interesting bopks on Rover K series engines, and I stumbled on this entertainment/tutorial DVD Drift Bible.
It’s on order and rest assured it won’t be on the shelf for a month before watching it!

At last!

Our ongoing project of breaking the Rover Metro for parts is complete! With the help of Paul we were able to drop the front of the car down leaving the engine stood proud, we then lifted it clean out and onto the floor at the front of the car.
I’m now sorting the good from the bad, and the car will be taken away by the council for free!
It’s worth mentioning that due to some trade restrictions to China being lifted, steel is now going up in value. If you ring around you will get about £40 per ton for an old car like mine. The only reason than the council are coming for mine is that I don’t have the transport to get it to the scrap metal merchant.
Oh well….

B: Belaying

Generally (when using a rope for protection) rock climbers will climb in pairs: the lead and the belayer. They are linked by a rope tied onto the lead climbers harness and passed through a special deviceon the belayers harness. As the lead climber progresses on the route he/she places anchors into the rockface and clips the rope in, the belayer then lets out only as much rope as is necessary.
By doings so, the amount of slack rope is kept to a minimum and the drop is minimised in the event of a fall. The belayers job is to lock the rope off so that no more passes through the device and the lead climber remains safe. Should the belayer fail to hold the lead climber then the fall could be significant and either party may be injured.

The belayer uses specialist equipment to hold the rope, there are many types but they all have some things in common: depending on their use the friction on the rope will either be minimal (e.g. during climbing) or substantial (e.g. when not climbing and definitley during a fall). Switching between the two uses is very easy and is usually as simple as pulling the ‘dead’ end (i.e. the opposite end to the climber) of the rope in a downward direction to increase the friction. The equipment attaches to the belayers harness using a carabiner with the rope passing through both it and the carabiner.

When the climber reaches the top (or during a multi-pitch route, any suitable position) the roles switch. The lead climber (now called the belayer) anchors themselves safely and then belays the belayer (now called the second) up the route from above. Normally the route would be complete when the second reaches the belayer, but for longer climbs (multi-pitch) the second (now called the leader) will continue up and the whole process repeats itself.

Check out the rest of the Rock Climbing A to Z Series

External Links:
Belaying (Wikipedia)
How to Belay when Rock Climbing (eHow)
Belay Devices (Rock+Run.com)