Press Truck

Wanted to get a bit of training in at driving an artic before the FH16 tour (where everybody would be watching) so me and Johan (well just Johan actually) managed to borrow this brand new FH16 Press fleet truck. I managed to take a few people out in it from the studio, including Yeom and Klara...although I am sure Yeom was sure that I could nt actually drive it!! Me and Johan then took it on a 300Km round trip, where we concluded we didnt actually like the handling...although it was very windy to be fair. I also managed to practice a bit of blind side reversing in a huge empty yard where nobody was looking. I id fine, but was glad I got a shot at it out of prying eyes first though. We also managed to fully park it inside the viewing garden at design. i dont think anybody has ever put a full size semi fully in there before. And we have the photos to prove it!!!

Comments

I have now modified my comments section. I have taken off the moderation as it was just to much of a pain to check. So dont be too rude, and leave your thoughts.

Peter Guthrie

Had an enjoyable weekend just gone, having both a house party and a visit from an old school friend Peter Guthrie (for those interested he is the second in from the right in the back row). The house party was pretty good with about 25 people...and nothing got broken. Had many...many beers and woke up with a huge hangover. Hope your weekend was good Peter, perhaps we will see you over here again. Say hi to Tina. Oh, and dont forget to write an article or tutorial for www.designertechniques.com

Really Cool Website

Came across this a little while back and thought I would share it. I dont get what the point is, and it is completely useless. It is however the most addictive thing ever. I wont even try to explain, just take a look.

www.sodaplay.com/

London Motor Show

Decided I was going to try out the London Motor show this year. Although the show doesnt have the big vehicle launches like Geneva, Paris and Frankfurt, there was enough happening to convince me to have a look. For instance they had a stunt driving arena, an off road course, a demo driving area and even a rock concert in the evening. I also managed to take a shot at the Mazda Zoom Challenge. Three laps in both a MX5 and an RX8 round a tight handling circuit. I am disapointed to say that my time was only average. Was really impressed with the MX5 though. Its a really cool car, and the folding hard top may force me to consider one (pay rise required however)!

The standard part of the show was pretty much as you would expect. A large car showroom. With the only launch of real significance being the new Vauxhall Corsa (and perhaps the new folding hard top MX5). Not much point in putting my pics up here as there are plenty on the net if you want to see.

I also took some time to head to Designers Night as well. I have only been to one of these before, but it was fun, as was this one. Got a little too drunk, met a lot of people I had not seen in a while, and generally had good fun. By the way, sorry Jez for beating you (was it 4 times in a row) on the Playstation racing game.

In amongst all this, the day I chose to go to the show also turned out to be one of the hottest days ever. 36 degrees if I remember correct. It meant the tube was pretty warm anyway!

Summer in Göteborg

Surely one of the best reasons for living in Sweden. Fifteen minutes in the car and you can be lounging around in heaven. Just remember to pack the BBQ and your guitar.

Umeå Degree Show

Took a road trip up to Umeå (just over 1000Km each way) for the Transport Design degree show. Congratulations to all who graduated from Umeå this year. It was a great show, and I had a great time. The afterparty was superb (many thanks to Kristen and others who allowed me to run up a bar tab......have I paid that??). I look forward to seeing Hirash and Yeom in Göteborg.

Radio Controlled Airplane

Anybody who does not yet own one of these MUST go out and buy one. It only costs 200SEK (Toys R Us), which is about 14 quid in real money. It needs a pretty calm day (or a spacious design studio) to fly well, but when it does it is awesome. You can do it all, buzz people in the park, scare pidgeons or get it stuck on the roof outside McDonalds (I had to wait an hour until it blew down by itself).

Truck Driving Holiday

I didnt have many plans for the easter break this year so decided to book myself a truck and go on a driving holiday to Götland. I had heard that it was pretty nice over there, and since I dont think I have done enough sightseeing in Sweden I thought why not. The truck part was just an added twist. It took around 7 hours driving to get to Stockholm, and my charts show that many solid hours of this were spent at exactly 90Kmh. Once there I spent the night at Ingrids mums place (much to the delight of Leah and Mia, who woke to find a big red truck in the garden), and then it was on to the ferry.


After arriving in Götland late at night in the pouring rain, it was nice to wake up the next morning to glorious sunshine (the first pic). I generally spent the next two days exploring the island.

Its a pretty small place and I managed to cover almost all of it, although I was unlucky enough to be their in the off season. This meant that most of the normal tourist stuff was closed. The weather and scenary was plenty enough to compensate though.

After a relaxing couple of days, it was time to get back on the ferry. I decided however to lengthen my holiday once back on the mainland by heading down to Malmo. I have always wanted to see the Twisting Torso building, so thought i would just pop down. It took 12 hours driving to "just pop down". It was well worth it though. The building is awesome, and if you get the chance I would go take a look. Especially at night.

After a day in Malmo it was on the road and back to Göteborg. All in all I covered around 2500Km (Didnt even use a full tank of diesel though) and decided that I really want to do it again sometime.

DesignerTechniques is website of the month

After only a few short weeks on line CarBodyDesign.com has named DesignerTechniques their website of the month. The jump in traffic since this has been noticable, and I hope to keep updating the site enough to make sure they all keep coming back. I owe a big cheers to all the guys over at CarBodyDesign. Take a minute to visit their site at www.carbodydesign.com

Sunset Balcony

Came home from work today and was treated to this awesome sunset from my balcony.

DesignerTechniques online

Well I finally did it. After a lot of thought, and thinking, and then some thought, DesignerTechniques is now on line. Managed to launch with 5 tutorials and my own designer profile. Now it is up to the public to decide. I am really hoping that it will turn into an exciting and popular project. So if there are any designers out their who want to contribute, just let me know by e-mailing me at suggestions@designertechniques.com I look forward to hearing from you.

Snowy Vacation

Spent a lovely weekend at Ingrids (designer from Volvo) mums, with Leah and Mia. It was deep snow and we spent a lot of time making snow angels and sledging around.

The girls were not too happy with being in the snow at first (understandable when it comes up to your waist), but by the end were very happy being thrown into huge snow drifts!

Salen 2005

Went for the yearly pilgrimage to Sälen for a well earned break and some snow boarding. I am getting better every year but still managed to fall really heavily this year and lose a half day of boarding. The best part of the trip though was the 10Km cross country snow lift journey that myself and Taris took. Taris fell off the ski lift about 1Km from the end. I had time to do a whole run, and buy a coffee before he reached the top.

David Briodys Wedding

Took a quick trip back to Scotland for David Briodys wedding. With everybody in kilts it was a real flavour of Scotland after being in Sweden for so long now. Met up with Lucy and Barry as well, and had a great gossip about what everybody from school is up to now. No billionaires or murderers that anybody had learned of.



After the wedding drove south to my parents, and took the scenic route down the "Devils Beef Tub" and also managed to drop past the "Grey Maires Tail". Great countryside (and driving roads) and very different to Sweden.

My First Artic

Well I finally did it. I now have my full C+E (class 1 to the older folk) driving license. This is the first truck I borrowed after coming back from the UK (where I passed first time). Taking one of these out on the road for the first time by yourself is pretty daunting, especially when it is your first time in a fully loaded (40 tonnes) truck as well. Nobody died, and for that we can be thankfull.

Lads Visit

Great weather, so we sat in the park all day drinking beer (or at least some of us did.....cheers Wayne!) Then it was out clubbing at night. Excet has a lot to answer for in my life! I also managed to blag a truck to borrow for the weekend.....a concept truck no less. Finally, a big thank you must go out to Boris. Once again he made what could have been just a great night, into one of the best. The dubliner will never be the same!

Camping by the lake

Decided to make good use of the good weather and went camping with Wayne, Michael and Jason. Micky went on his new Harley and nearly came a cropper after hitting a wasp the size of his fist. Took the guitar, a BBQ, beers and the tent (although it was so warm we didnt need it) and had a great night singing songs and talking crap all night (the girls we met MUST have been a little hungover the next day though)!

The lake was as calm as you can imagine in the morning . Kind of made me wonder why we dont do this more often. Next year we will have to do this again.