1 Degree Magazine Issue 5

With you at every turn New and Approved Pre-Owned sales, parts, accessories and servicing.

Stratton Motor Company (Norfolk) Ltd Ipswich Rd, Long Stratton, Norwich, Norfolk NR15 2XJ 01508 530 491 astonsales@strattonmotorcompany.com www.strattonmotorcompany.com

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Contents

8.Phil Down Under

48.European Master

Phil Spencer

Seve's new courses

16.Departures

54.Fishermans Friend

Private Aviation

20.Cleared For Takeoff

Interview with a fishing legend

60.Who Watches The Watchmen?

Embarer Phenom

Interviews with director Zack Snyder and actors; Patrick Wilson and Malin Akerman

24.Before The DBS

64.Aviator

Aston Martin's DB9

32.Why Does It Always Rain On Me Ferrari's F430 Scuderia

38.Two For One

The rebirth of the airport hotel

68.Grand Designs Oundle Mill

70.Can't Decide?

'Grazing' at the Landau

Lexus RX400h

40.New Beginnings

72.Seasonal Work Late season snow

The best race circuit in the world!

42.Frozen Out Triumph's Street Triple R

44.The Race For Pace Behind the glamour of F1

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76.Back To Basics

Canada to Costa Rica by pedal power

Contributors

Dina Burgess Dina Burgess is an entertainment and features journalist, originally from Scotland but now living south of the border.

Dina regularly contributes to a range of regional and national publications and is also a radio broadcaster. She’s worked behind the scenes of several tv and radio programmes including Panorama (BBC 1) and Four Corners (BBC Radio 4).

She’s interviewed many A-list celebrities, but the highlight of her career thus far is sharing a curry with a former Doctor Who.

Keith Saunt Keith Saunt started in Formula One for Team Lotus International in 1988. He then moved onto Benetton Formula as Head of Purchasing and Special Project Manager. Keith then became Head of Manufacturing at Renault F1 and ultimately Chief Operating Officer and a Director of Red Bull Technology. He is currently taking time out of the sport to develop his company 'F1 Serious Games' and to write.

Damian Harty He's been very keen on motorcycles since his mother told him they were 'weapons of the devil', but has yet to see any evidence of that assertion. He has another life as engineering contractor to Prodrive, and in that role has worked for Triumph, Harley-Davidson, Suzuki, Subaru, Porsche and BMW among others. He has a rich history of breaking and crashing cars but strangely this does not seem to extend to motorcycles.

W

ell here it is, our first anniversary issue, which also marks our expansion in to new territories.

As issues go, it could have gone smoother, but as the saying goes, ‘nothing worth having ever comes easy…!’

In fact, it’s a bit of miracle it made it to print at all, after our usually bulletproof trusty Mac decided to have a midlife crisis two days prior to print…

Thankfully, our Mac genius came to the rescue. After whispering sweet nothings into its USB ports, adding a new hard drive, reinstalling software and a million backup systems, we were back in business some 12-hours later, with all files gratefully recovered. Thanks Luke, you have the Midas touch!

The moral of the story? Always back up – and then back up again!

Enjoy the issue.

Suzannah Sorrell Editor editor@1degreeonline.co.uk

www.1degreeonline.co.uk 5

MotorinG

NETJETS EUROPE IS THE MARKETING AGENT OF NETJETS TRANSPORTES AÉREOS S.A ., AN EU AIR CARRIER. E-MAILS SENT TO THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS WILL BE VIEWED BY NETJETS AND “1DEGREE EAST” FOR THE PURPOSE OF MONITORING REFERRALS.

6 | WWW.1DEGREEOnLInE.CO.uk

StYle

Instrumental Inspired by military aircraft instrument panels of the 1940’s, the Bell & Ross InSTRuMEnT BR 01-92 Heritage is sure to be adopted by Top Gun’s around the world.

The InSTRuMEnT BR collection, which also includes the BR 03 Type Aviation, a multi-function movement that benefits from technical advances in watch making, is just like aircraft cockpits of the 21st century. Designed for The French Air Force, following a request from the general staff to become an official supplier, the brief was to create a symbolic, utilitarian watch that would meet the specific requirements of fighter pilots.

Incorporating Bell & Ross’s four fundamental principles: legibility, functionality, precision and reliability, the collection harks back to their core values; designing watches with professionals in mind.

WWW.1DEGREEOnLInE.CO.uk 7

profile

Phil Down Under Some say he's a confidence trickster', a 'smarmy snake-oil property-porn merchant' and a 'peddler of tripe', all we know is phil spencer, co-presenter of channel 4's location, location, location made our photographer a cup of coffee during his 1º photoshoot, so he can’t be all that bad!

Interviewer: Suzannah Sorrell Photographer: Jarowan Power

Phil, are you sitting comfortably?

Yes, I’m sitting in the back of a Mercedes S-Class, which is nice and comfortable, somewhere between Dunstable and Luton. I end up spending a lot of time in this car, which I quite enjoy. I’m told it was designed with chauffeuring in mind, so the back seats are particularly comfortable. I’ve got toys too! I can control the heating, seating position and darken the windows, something you can't usually do from the back of a car.

You are about to fly out to Australia for a couple of months, what will you be doing out there?

My wife is Australian and every other Christmas we take a month off to spend time with her family and friends in Melbourne. After that I will be filming four programmes of Location, Location, Location. I’ll be following four British people who are moving to Australia, so I shall be looking for properties in Melbourne, Gold Coast, Sydney and Perth.

We’ll use their property searches as a bit of a showcase of Australia and a comparison of property and lifestyle.

The basic scenario will be something like; you could sell your terraced house in Birmingham and move to the Gold Coast and live in a four bedroom detached house with a pool, five minutes from the beach. Although you’ll probably earn half the money, you’ll probably have twice the lifestyle, which is why an awful lot of people are moving out to Australia. In fact, they are now advertising for people to go over and live there. They are making it much easier than they have in the past.

It’s a fantastic opportunity for me and I feel incredibly fortunate, as we as a family are going to be able to spend two months over there, which at this time of the year, will be amazing, especially as the housing market is a bit depressing at the moment.

Ah yes, the property market… Haven’t you been accused of being to blame for the current situation?

Yes, the worst thing anyone has ever said to me is that the collapse in the housing market was entirely my fault…

In fact, my co-presenter, Kirstie Allsopp, was asked that question on Radio 4. The presenter said, ‘with all the goings on, shouldn’t you take the blame for the property situation and she said, ‘you know what, you are absolutely right!

The American sub-prime crisis and all the bank problems, I am to blame. I should take it all on my shoulders!’ She was brilliant and kind of stole the wind out of his sails.

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Didn’t you say earlier on you thought it was a fun industry to work in?

I thought it was a fun industry to work in. Shall I expand on that? Yes please, as I’ve never heard the words fun and property together. (Much laughter) You maybe right at the moment!

I was working as an estate agent in the early ‘90’s and I took the job because you were out and about, not sat at a desk the whole time and you are dealing with people and tying up deals. As it turned out, I wasn’t very good at it.

I never sold a house in six months although it was during a recession. It was a great industry to be in but I wasn’t enjoying what I was being asked to do. It was morally questionable in order to do business in a difficult climate, so I never sold a single house. After that, I decided to go off and qualify as a surveyor.

"Yes, the worst thing anyone has ever said to me is that the collapse in the housing market was entirely my fault…"

Whilst training, a lot of my friends were buying their first flats. The boom was beginning in London and it became very obvious that the way we buy and sell property in this country is so unbelievably biased against the person that is spending the money. It just seemed really, really, odd. I was coming across people who’d never done it before, didn’t know the system, which considering it is one of the biggest deals in our lives from both a financial and emotional sense is crazy. I mean people go through the mill emotionally and they didn’t have anyone on their side to explain the goings on and what happens during a deal; the conveyancing process, that sort of thing.

I had a £1,000 and my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, had a decent job and she was able to pay the rent.

Somewhat naively, I said, there’s got to be a market for somebody to help, guide and advise purchasers, so I thought I’d give it a go and if the £1,000 ran out, then it was a crap idea and there wasn’t a market for it, but if it didn’t run out maybe there was something in it.

profile

profile

profile

So eleven years on, are you finding that lots of your clients are upping sticks and moving to Australia? No, its not really our market to be honest but we have got quite a lot of clients and we are still signing lots up who want to go house hunting and want to buy in this market. They see it as an opportunity, but the frustration is they are not able to complete or simply not finding the right houses or aren’t able to agree a comfortable enough price, so it’s a difficult time. Also, people are changing their minds. There’s a huge amount of uncertainty out there.

Is anyone else in your family in property?

No, they are farmers – beef and arable crops in Canterbury, although there is a fair bit of property in farming.

What’s the strangest thing you have ever come across during your time in property?

I arrived at a viewing at 11am and was let in by the guy who owned the house. He was still in his dressing gown and said ‘I’m sorry, I forgot you were coming but do come in.’ There were beer bottles and pizza boxes everywhere! ‘Excuse the mess,’ he said, before adding ‘I had a late night because my wife gave birth and I’ve only just come back from hospital but help yourself, have a look around.' So I walked round to the back of the house, looking in rooms and just as I opened the door to the bathroom, he suddenly came running down the hall saying ‘oh my god, don’t open the bathroom…’ But it was too late! His wife’s water had broken in the bathroom and he hadn’t gotten around to cleaning it up… it was a fairly unpleasant experience!

Away from the world of property, you are keen on shooting.

What is it that appeals to you about field sports?

I was brought up on a farm so it was something I was always around and very passionate about. I guess it’s a typical male trait – the hunter/gatherer thing in us. It’s also the co-ordination of the sport, the challenge of moving targets and a great interest in nature and conservation. I tend to do clays in the summer and game shooting in the winter.

Kirstie has been quoted as saying you iron your own shirts. In fact, you are pernickety about them, what’s that about?

Yes, I am! I was in the army for a very short period of time and I learned to iron. My wife doesn’t iron, so if there is any ironing to be done in my house it comes to me and I really don’t mind. I listen to the radio whilst doing it. I actually prefer a freshly ironed shirt, so choose which one I want to wear, iron it and put it on. So there’s a big pile somewhere in your house then?…(laughter) Who do you most admire?

Sir Ian Botham for his virtual single-handed winning of the ashes in 1981 and for his incredible talent on the cricket pitch and a real personality to go with it. And latterly for his charity work – his walks have been unbelievably hard and incredibly successful. He really has put himself through the mill in order to raise money for sick children.

He also has a real passion for field sports. The Botham family put on an annual charity clay pigeon shoot and I was invited to have a go.

What motivates you?

Health and happiness.

When you are away filming I’ve read that you are at your happiest if your hotel has a gym…

Yes, I like to have a run around first thing in the morning. I try and train at least three times a week for about 45 minutes. Two runs and a training session including boxing, which I really enjoy. Health is very important to me, in that it’s the foundation of everything. If you are healthy, then you can enjoy things in life.

Is there anything you avoid eating?

Bread but, generally I eat everything in moderation.

What gets you out of bed every morning?

My two small children. We’ve just taken the sides off our youngest son’s cot, which he’d been wanting us to do for a long time but we knew as soon as we did, he wouldn’t just be able to shout at us, he’d be able to come into our room and shout at us!

Memories – if you had to name one thing, what sticks out?

The day I got married in Melbourne 7 years ago. We golfed in the morning and I hit one of the most memorable shots I’ve ever struck. I then went for a walk along the beach, had some friends over for lunch and we got married at 4pm. Lots of friends came over from England, so I wanted to introduce a ‘pommy’ element to the wedding to amuse the Australians, so I hired a double decker bus and then my wife and I went around in a London Hackney Cab. It was a fantastic day.

Worst memory I was mortally embarrassed on the Paul O’Grady show with Kirstie.

Before we went on I rang everyone, including my granny, to get them to watch it. On the show Kirstie recounted a story from when we’d been filming and it went along the lines of, we were in this house and I farted and it stank. She suddenly said ‘someone’s stood in cat shit,’ because there was a cat in the house, so we all said ‘that’s awful’ and started checking our shoes and I did the same. I said, ‘no, I haven’t stepped in it.’ Then it dawned on Kirstie that it was me. Anyway, she recounted this story, but didn’t actually explain that I farted and made it sound like I’d actually soiled myself…!

And another…

I very nearly caused my first son an enormous problem within the first few seconds of his life. As I went to cut the umbilical cord, I very nearly cut his willy off!

And no doubt 2009 will stick in his memory forever, when sadly, his company Garrington became the latest casualty of the ‘credit crunch.’

Interview took place in December.

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Style

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And Relax

The ancient art of Traditional Thai Massage is one of the oldest forms of massage, introduced to Thailand from India

by Jivaka Kumarabhacca, a Buddhist Monk on a mission to spread his religion and its unique medical practices.

K

nown as Siam, Buddhism reached Thailand during the 3rd century BC. Temples were built to practice religion and educate others in medicinal medicine, with massage and other healing techniques also taught in these monasteries. In the beginning, all Monks were male and as women were forbidden to go near them and rarely educated, only men were eligible to learn the special healing techniques, documented in ancient Pali texts, by the monks. The theory and practical skills were then passed down through generations to ensure the survival of this ancient practice.

Sadly, in 1776, many of the texts were destroyed when the Burmese invaded Siam but King Rama III commanded his people to collect any remaining fragments of the original texts before preserving them. The inscribed statues and paintings can still be seen in the Pra Chetupon Temple in Bangkok. Since then, the ancient eastern massage has continued to gain followers but thankfully you don’t have to go all the way over to Thailand to try it.

Thai Wellbeing in Norwich is one of the few places in the UK to offer Traditional Thai massage by fully trained Thai therapists within their spacious spa. In addition to their extensive treatment range, the Sanctuary

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also boasts a state-of-the-art gym and fitness Studio, offering a wide range of classes for both members and non-members.

Often described as ‘yoga for the lazy’, the Traditional Thai massage is very different from other massages practised in the West.

Based on the principals of Ayurveda and Yoga, it combines passive stretches with acupressure and shiatsu massage techniques.

The stimulation of acupressure points across the body is thought to help heal pain, release tension and restore a sense of calm. Regular massages can help alleviate stress, encourage flexibility, increase energy levels, prevent injury and aid sore aching muscles and joints, which appealed to someone like me, who was unlikely to ever volunteer for a yoga class. The long-term benefits of regular Thai Massage should help keep muscular and joint problems at bay, leaving you both physically and mentally relaxed and rejuvenated. A close friend of the owner of Thai Wellbeing had an ongoing shoulder injury from playing Cricket and he greatly benefited from receiving regular Thai Massage with Thai Wellbeing’s head therapist, Moi.

Having experienced first hand the relaxing nature of the treatment, it is easy to understand why many Thai people have become reliant on it over the years to keep their bodies aligned, supple and healthy. I went in there with a painful shoulder after committing the cardinal sin of not warming up before firing off a few balls at a driving range but after Thip, my delightful therapist used her palms and feet to apply gentle pressure, it felt much better, as did my whole body. The aided stretches were just what my body needed, especially in my lower back area. And I was pleased I’d cleared my diary for the rest of the day, allowing me to prolong the relaxed feelings from the hour-long treatment. I will definitely be back to keep up the beneficial effects this treatment has given me.

So I urge anyone involved in sports, especially cyclists, runners and of course golfers, who generally suffer from repetitive strain injury if they are low handicappers or pulled muscles through bad technique if they are high handicappers, to give Thai Massage a try. The benefits are endless!

Thai Wellbeing Tel: 01603 666050 www.thaiwellbeing.com

Grooming

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2. A Herd of Bullocks

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This wonder cream should be in every man's bathroom cabinet, especially if you've spent too much time in the sun or wind.

Applied sparingly in the morning and night, this ultra-rich cream containing Lavender, may smell like your grannies garden, but it reduces redness and shaving sensitivity like no other, whilst leaving a protective barrier.

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LIFE IS A JOURNEY CREATE YOUR OWN PATH

Time is a precious commodity, with private air travel you choose the schedule, not the airlines. A dedicated fleet of aircraft are available to provide cost effective solutions from locations throughout Europe and our flight crew are always on hand to ensure your comfort and security, allowing you to work and relax throughout in first class surroundings.

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SaxonAir gives you peace of mind, knowing you are in expert hands, operating to the highest of safety standards, with people you can trust.

Web: www.saxonair.com Images courtesy of Bombardier inc.

AviAtion

Departures MAnY POIGnAnT MEMORIES EXIST FROM 2008. HEATHROW’S TERMInAL FIvE BAGGAGE FIASCO, THE OIL SPIkE PRICE, THE LITTLE GIRL WHO WAS CHEATED OuT OF OPEnInG THE BEIJInG OLYMPICS BECAuSE SHE WASn’T ‘CuTE’ EnOuGH, THE ‘PLAnE STuPID’ PROTEST AT STAnSTED AIRPORT AnD BARACk OBAMA’S SuCCESSFuL Run FOR THE PRESIDEnCY. Writer: Suzannah Sorrell

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Aviation

N

ot forgetting the start of what is turning out to be one of the worst recessions in history. And, in the midst of it all, three chief executives from American car giants General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, tarnished private aviation forever after emerging from three individual private jets in Washington DC. They arrived, complete with begging boxes, having all flown from Detroit on the same day, for the same meeting, to beg the US government for bailout funds.

Most watched the news in disbelief at the stupidity and arrogance of the men in charge of the ailing companies. Listened intently as the chair of the meeting, Republican Gary Ackerman, asked ‘why they couldn’t have flown by commercial airline or at the very least shared a jet?’ As they sat in stunned silence, Ackerman continued, ‘It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in a high hat and tuxedo.

It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious.’ Meanwhile, we were left thinking, no wonder the car industry is in crisis if that’s the kind of ill thought out decision the top cheeses are making!

The question is, were they wrong? I don’t think you can excuse the foolishness of the ‘big three’ not sharing a jet, but there is no doubt that private jets have become invaluable business tools, even in difficult economic climates such as the one we find ourselves in today.

In fact, some might say more so. Let’s assume you and three colleagues are expected to attend a meeting in Paris at twelve-thirty pm on the 21st April. It is expected to last four hours. The most suitable BA flight out of Heathrow is the 07:25 arriving into Paris Charles de Gaulle at 09:45. You decide its best to stay at the new airport hotel because of the early check-in and you live in different parts of the UK. There is a slightly later plane at 09:05, but it arrives at 11:25 leaving you with less than an hour to pass through customs and get across town to your meeting, and there’s no guarantee you won’t get stuck in traffic so you are forced to leave London earlier than you would like.

Once in Paris, the meeting runs over schedule by two hours, so you miss your planned return flight and, despite being able to see the plane on the tarmac, you miss the next flight at 19:25 because you arrive too late for check-in. Face pressed against the glass, you admit defeat and head to the sanctuary of your lounge, only to find it shut for maintenance! You sink a beer or two back in the main terminal bar before boarding the 20:15. You arrive into Heathrow’s Terminal 5 at 20:35, tired and grumpy! The price for the fully flexible Business Class ticket is £648 per person including tax. If you times that by four, the total cost comes to £2590.80, plus an additional £16 each for paying by credit card, and another thousand or two for accommodation and incidentals like food, parking fees and taxi fares.

The aircraft you will fly on is an Airbus A320 jet. The seating will be split two ways: 30 business/club, 150 economy – that’s 180 passengers you have to share the lavatory with!

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Of course, none of this takes into consideration flight delays, baggage losses and stresses associated with travelling by commercial airlines.

And assuming you each earn around £300 per hour, excluding bonuses, of course, the cost to your company soon begins to mount up, so it is crucial to get you in and out of Paris as quickly as possible.

If you did the same journey by private charter on a Light Jet (LJ), something like a Cessna Citation, which can transport up to five passengers, the same journey could take just 55 minutes. Alternatively, a slightly larger turbo-prop, like a Beech 200 King Air, can transport up to eight passengers, taking one hour 15 minutes.

The UK’s fastest growing private charter company, Saxon Air, whose client list includes Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Meat Loaf and Blondie, says a journey like this would cost between £3,665 and £5,350, depending on your choice of aircraft. The costs may initially seem higher compared to the commercial flight prices previously mentioned, but when you consider you get a dedicated aircraft and crew at your disposal, offering the ultimate in flexibility, with flights that fit to your schedule not the other way around, it becomes exceptional value for money. If you then consider that each member of the party could be picked up at an airport closest to them, meaning less time spent in the car or needless stays at airport hotels, going private really starts to make sense. And, if you chose to fly with the quicker Light Jet, the last one could leave as late as 10:30am! You could even fly onto another city for a dinner appointment before returning back to the UK, should you so wish, although each stop adds to the price.

Of course all your in-flight meals will be tailored completely to your requirements, as well as the in-flight entertainment, the lighting and the air temperature. You won’t have to share your toilet with anyone outside your party and you’ll have the undivided attention of a host(ess) – there to cater for your every whim – well almost! And, if you are lucky, the pilot might just show you how his cockpit works…! Not that you’ll have time as you’ll be chatting away on your mobile phone, surfing the internet or simply discussing your strategy for the meeting ahead with your colleagues, in the privacy of your surroundings, safe in the knowledge you won’t be disturbed by a hostess desperate to sell her duty-free wares. The whole experience promises to be much more comfortable and a lot more pleasant than flying commercial.

According to The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), studies show business use of private aviation aircraft adds tangible value to a company’s bottom line. Business people can make a trip involving stops at several locations, then return to headquarters the same day, saving time and travel expenses that would be needed to make the same trip over several days via car, train or commercial airlines. Employees can meet, plan and work with each other aboard business aircraft, increasing productivity, all in the knowledge that confidentiality and security en-route is assured.

Add to this the fact that private charters invariably go from smaller aviation centres, 500 of which are dotted around the English countryside. These ‘landing sites’ range from farmers’ fields to regional airports, the most aesthetically pleasing of them all being TAG Aviation in Farnborough. This state-of-the-art, architecturally stunning, dedicated business airport is in a league of its own!

All, however, ensure express check-in, security, privacy, helicopter charters, onward ground transportation, concierge services, free parking and, above all, ‘stress-free’ travel, which in today’s business climate is a welcome relief.

It is not unheard of to park your car and be airborne in less than eight minutes, according to Vicki Lea of Marshall Cambridge Business Aviation Centre. Now there’s no way on earth commercial airlines can ever compete with that.

Suddenly use of a private jet doesn’t sound such an extravagance, does it? Nor does the promise, that once you’ve experienced the effortless relaxation of private air charter, you’ll never want to travel any other way again. Although taking a jet each is probably a step too far!

Aviation

Images courtesy of Cessna

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aviation

Cleared for takeoff In a time when most people can barely afford a paper plane, let alone a private jet, it seems ridiculous to be writing about a new jet that is about to fly into our airspace but, and it is a BIG but, this exceptionally capable Very Light Jet (VLJ) is set to revolutionise the skies.

Writer: Suzannah Sorrell

I

t was back in 2002 when Eclipse Aviation singlehandedly defined the VLJ market with the launch of its Eclipse 500 – a small six-seater business jet, costing just one million dollars. Despite high initial interest, just a year and half after the first plane was delivered, production was halted in mid-2008 due to lack of funding. They subsequently went bankrupt along with their biggest customer, Day Jet. Despite this turbulent start for the affordable jet segment, a number of single-engined VLJs, including the Cirrus SJ50, Diamond D-Jet and Piper Jet, have now filled the Eclipse air space, but it’s the imminent launch of Embraer’s much anticipated Phenom 100 that has many excited.

Embraer, the world’s fourth largest aviation company based in Brazil, began developing the four-seater Phenom 100, alongside the slightly larger Phenom 300 in 2005.

Although officially launched in May, 'the VLJ programme started several years earlier in an effort to bring Embraer’s regional aircraft expertise to the ‘air taxi’ market,’ says Henrique Langenegger, Vice President Embraer Executive Jets Programmes. The idea later evolved into an aircraft that could also be owneroperated but, in either case, the intention was to have a platform that would provide passengers with the room and comfort of an airliner, and pilots with a docile, easy-to-fly jet.

After completing initial flight tests in 2007, the Phenom has seemingly exceeded all expectations by being faster and more economical than anticipated and looks set to mark a massive leap forward in personal aviation. All this in just over 26 months! Most people struggle to build the house of their dreams in that time, something you’ll know if you happen to tune into Grand Designs.

This was no doubt welcome news to the 500 or so customers who pre-ordered the revolutionary and relatively low cost jet back in 2005; companies like SaxonAir, who are eagerly anticipating the arrival of their two Phenom

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100s in September this year and May 2010.

‘When you sign on the dotted line you don’t have much of an idea of what the finished product will be, so it’s been a relief to receive such positive results from initial flight tests, which have far exceeded any promises made by Embraer’s representatives,’ says Chris Mace, Operations Director of SaxonAir, before adding, ‘Having the Phenom Jets will mean we can continue to deliver exceptional levels of service to our existing clients and further expand our operation, which will include a new purpose built business aviation centre at Norwich International Airport later this year.’ Promising ‘clean sheet’ design, low operating costs, intuitive avionics and stylish interiors, born from a successful collaboration with BMW’s US design team, it certainly sounds good on paper and is expected to seal Embraer’s commitment to the ‘air taxi’ market.

Due to its ‘Oval Lite’ profile fuselage, the Phenom boasts the largest and tallest passenger space of any VLJ. To six-footers like myself the 4ft 11in high cabin may sound back-breakingly short, but it is positively huge compared to others in this segment.

Stunning unhindered views are guaranteed from the comfort of the stylishly upholstered, ergonomically designed, leather seats by virtue of the largest windows of any VLJ, ensuring the Phenom cabin has a light and airy feel. When complemented by the calm, almost meditative colours, subtle and soothing textures of fine leather, wood and fabric to produce a serene and elegant environment, these features combine to make the drab interior of the Eclipse look remarkably like a school mini bus! Of course the Phenom can be customised too, with plenty of interchangeable options to choose from. Equally as important, in an age where baggage allowances are diminishing as fast as bank profits, is the Phenom’s spacious baggage capacity, totaling 71 cubic feet. Meaning that the aft fuselage is roomy enough to carry four medium sized cases, four small bags, four laptop bags and either two pairs of skis or four golf bags.

Aviation

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aviation

There is also an additional five cubic feet in the forward fuselage.

And, unlike the first batch of VLJ’s where passengers were expected to bring with them a portable container in case they needed to relieve themselves mid-flight, the Phenom is the first to offer passengers a fully enclosed lavatory with solid door. Many debate the relevance of this given that most VLJ’s will be used for short flights between 300-500 miles in length, taking just 40-80 minutes, but I recall my maiden 40-minute helicopter flight between Donnington and Castle Combe race circuits; an experience ruined entirely by my weak bladder and obvious lack of a loo!

It certainly helps to tarnish the image of the exclusive jet traveller if they have to exit the plane at a sprint in order to find and use the nearest convenience…! So I’m all for the onboard loo, even if it is at the expense of seats. Besides, if I’m spending nearly $3.60* million in the case of the Phenom, I would rather not be issued with an empty Lucozade bottle before takeoff!

Three point six million may be climbing towards the upper end of the VLJ sector and is certainly more expensive than it’s closest rival, Cessna’s Mustang at $2.76** million, but not as expensive as HondaJet. When you consider it has outperformed Embraer’s expectations, in every way, since its maiden flight, it starts to sound reasonable. If you then consider the Phenom’s four basic principals: easy operation, simple maintenance, outstanding reliability and extended economic life, which means long service intervals, low-intervention maintenance and the most astonishing of all, 35,000 economic life cycles, it leaves its closest rivals trailing in the wind with 15,000 cycles. If the average journey is between 300500 nautical miles, it begins to represent exceptional value for money, which in this climate is key.

Despite being at the bottom of Embraer’s business aviation product range that tops out with the $46 million Lineage 1000 – a derivative of the E-190 airliner – you won’t be laughed off the runway, as the Phenom 100 has a pedigree generally reserved for much larger and more expensive commercial aircraft and business jets. This no doubt contributed to Embraer rethinking its marketing strategy, after the Phenom 100 outgrew the VLJ segment and became a direct competitor to Cessna's CJ1+ in the Entry Level Executive Jet category.

Price and aesthetics aside, one of the key elements of the aircraft is that it is designed to make flight more instinctive. The all-glass, dark and quiet cockpit, with its funky dual game console-style controllers, continues to delight the senses and is testament to the faultless flow of the interior design created by BMW DesignworksUSA. The Prodigy flight deck 100 was crucially designed by pilots for pilots, and features easy-read, easy-reach Garmin G1000 avionics, futrher tweaked by Embraer’s technology, for the most highly intuitive, single-pilot-capable interface available.

Powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW617F-E, it has a cruising speed of 390 knots; equivalent to approximately 449 miles per hour, with a maximum range of roughly 1,200 nautical miles, assuming 4 occupants and NBAA reserves.

Direct Operating Costs (DOC) have been confirmed at $955 per flight per hour, based on a gallon of fuel costing $6.13. Obviously these figures will frustratingly be higher in Europe!

The waiting list is long, but we look forward to being one of the first passenger’s to experience SaxonAir’s new addition to their fleet and report back.

All prices stated in US dollars. *SAA Price January 2009 economic conditions. ** SAA Price January 2008 economic conditions.

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Above left: Phenom's interior options emphasing light, space, simplicity and comfort.

Above: The futuristic cockpit.

Right: An example of one of four ergonomically designed leather seats by BMW Group Designworks USA.

motoring

Before the dbs Writer: Suzannah Sorrell Photographer: Jarowan Power

Motoring

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Motoring

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hen not making mud pies, playing in my sandpit or dancing to ‘Devil Woman’ by Sir Cliff in my mother’s high heels and fancy dresses – they were busy times – I lusted after two cars, Knight Rider’s sentient talking car and 007’s DB5.

Kitt was to protect me from the evils of my schoolyard bullies; the DB5 for when I grew up to be a sophisticated young lady, with my own high heels and swishy dresses. Naturally, after I discovered that Kitt was a Pontiac Trans Am, I lost interest (children…so fickle…) but, the Aston seed continued to grow, fuelled by a diet of 007 action. Lets face it, what child wouldn’t be impressed by a car that jettisoned an annoying passenger out of their seat in times of need (every car should be fitted with one!) or produced guns from where exhausts should be, at the mere flick of a button!

My mother's Ford Cortina, despite being a Ghia and stylishly silver, never stood a chance. Had I known about the joys of rear-wheel drive back then it might have gone up in my estimations but, at that point, I was blissfully unaware of such characteristics. So the Aston Martin remained an exclusive, yet elusive, beauty I dreamt of owning one day.

First things first, I had to get a BMW if I was going by my ‘things to accomplish before 30’ plan. The BMW ticked off the list, my interest in Aston stirred again when they announced the stunning V8 Vantage concept car and hinted that prices would be a mere £60K. In my own deluded way I convinced myself it was within reach and promptly

started saving my pennies, only to discover some years later the figure had gone up considerably to around £90K. My hopes of owning one of the most desirable marques were dashed, along with thoughts of private jets, international parties and shaken-but-not-stirred martini cocktails. I was gutted.

That is until the fairy godfather delivered the DB9 Coupe, complete with a sports pack – stiffer suspension, lighter alloys, different springs, modified anti-roll bar and lowered ride height – to my drive one cold February morning. Seeing the beautiful lines of the car that spawned Bond’s new Aston of choice, in the flesh, made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. My, my, how beautiful you are...! Within seconds the years stripped away; I was a little girl again, daydreaming of a life of opulence from the comfort of my sandpit.

I took the ingeniously designed clear block of Perspex and aluminium key – which cleverly becomes a start button when you push it into a slot on the extremely high dash – and waited for the V12 6.0 litre engine to turn over; something the cows in the field next to my drive didn’t appreciate! I’ve not seen them move that quickly since the vet last visited wearing his rubber gloves.

The key, effectively representing Cinderella’s glass slipper, meant I had no time to waste. The clock was ticking. I had just 96 hours to discover what life with Britain’s coolest marque would feel like. Of course, it packed a serious punch, as you’d expect from a V12, just a pity it was raining hard pretty much all of the time, because it was difficult to get the Aston’s power down on the ground without it spinning up it's rubber. A gentler touch was required! Still, I managed to unleash

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Motoring

enough of it's might along the country roads to see what it can really do. It is surprisingly involving to drive, much more so than the Vantage.

I had to be really on my game. It isn’t a namby-pamby GT, thanks to a reasonable amount of power – 470bhp and an outstanding amount of torque – 443lb, coupled with traction control that allows enough slack to get the beautiful Aston derrière to wiggle.

Talking of traction control, when I came across a sparsely populated vast tarmac area I decided to switch it off. I’ve never swapped ends so quickly in my life, despite loads of oversteer training. It has more torque than Arthur Daley so you hardly need to touch the throttle before it glides sideways with the elegance of a swan. It just takes a bit of practise to perfect but certainly beats faffing around with a threepoint turn, especially given its throttle lag. Despite being developed relatively recently with the help of German expertise, the great thing about the DB9 is that it hasn’t been loaded full of nanny-state electronic wizardry, making it dull and boring. Instead the DB9 delivers the good old-fashioned sports car feel we know and love. I guess you could say the DB9 represents Sean Connery and the more muscular, more focused DBS is Daniel Craig.

Thankfully, my fairy godfather kindly organised for a manual version to be sent, acknowledging my loathing of automatic gearboxes in sports cars...It isn’t the best gearbox in the world by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s still preferable to a rubbish auto. It has a seriously heavy clutch, similar to that of a Lotus Esprit, so around town it can get rather labour intensive. There is also a huge amount of throttle lag, which was bad in the Vantage but is ridiculous in the DB9.

Sitting at the lights, revs constant, only to have them disappear just as the lights change, leaving you revving like a deranged dentist with a drill or, horror of all horrors, red faced and stalled. Even Britain’s coolest car can’t compensate for that.

Travelling along in my opulent bubble, mesmerised by the beauty of the subtly backlit bevelled binnacles, which look strikingly like handcrafted Swiss watch faces, it became apparent that my fairytale coach wasn’t quite as comfortable as I’d expected. Despite being longer than its sibling, the front space is compromised, not just by the front mounted engine, as with the Vantage, but thanks to the sad excuse for backseats. Even children have legs, don’t they? Owners of 35” pins have no hope of fully stretching out so long journeys can be incredibly uncomfortable and, before you say there’s not many blessed with 35 inchers, passengers with 31” legs don’t fair much better as there is even less legroom in the passenger side, thanks to a truncated footwell. So, although you are paying ‘first class’ prices you'll probably end up crippled by ‘economy’ space. Of course, you can swap the back seats for a parcel shelf, but I’m not convinced it will make that much difference. Let us be thankful that the average British male is only 5ft 7” and average female is just 5ft 4”!

Still, everything is swathed in leather and touchy, feely Alcantara, the seats are comfortable and the clock, a constant reminder to be back before midnight, is beautiful!

Any grumbles paled into insignificance as a chap in another DB9 acknowledged me in mine. In that single moment, as ridiculous as it sounds, I felt like I’d been accepted as a member of ‘The Club’, a club only accessible to a select few; a private Cambridge Airport gets the VIP treatment world, one that is more beautiful, one

of prosperity, opportunity, success and Capitalising on a growing private business aviation market, high heels!

Marshall Aerospace put the east of England firmly on the private jet radar when it officially opened its brand new business aviation centre, based at the company-owned Airport in Cambridge, at the beginning of December 2008.

Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it has the look and feel of a five star hotel and comprises two beautifully appointed VIP lounges, alongside a state-of-the-art conference facility and WIFI internet connectivity plus secure complimentary parking immediately outside the centre. All of this, plus spectacular elevated views across the airfield and the Cambridgeshire countryside beyond!

They even have an integrated maintenance facility, which our photographer put to good use to get these stunning images of the DB9.

It is interesting to note that in 1967 Marshall Aerospace were responsible for the design and manufacture of the unique droop nose and visor for Concorde.

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No Dress Code Required www.1degreeonline.co.uk

motoring

Why does it always r ain on me ?

Naught to 60 times, engine size and torque figures all pale into insignificance when it comes to Ferrari’s awesome Scuderia. Yes, it may propel you from nothing to 60 in around 3.1 seconds and be powered by a beauty of a 4.3 litre V8 producing 510 bhp, but the true star figures of the Scud missile are its shift-times and boot capacity.

Writer: Suzannah Sorrell Photographer: Jarowan Power

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on capisco? The figures that will really set your hair on fire and leave you salivating more than a dog with a juicy steak are the 60 millisecond gear changes – it takes between 300-400 milliseconds to blink – and the 8.83 cubic feet of useable boot space, making the Scuderia one of the few truly practical supercars around. There’s enough space in the trunk to fit your crash helmet, race suit, boots and a spare pair of underpants, plus a case of bubbly and a laptop to download lap times from a blast around a circuit – something I implore any self-respecting Scuderia owner to do at least once in their lifetime.

Not that I would know what tracking a Scuderia feels like.

Ferrari only import one of each model for us car hungry journalists to play with – sorry, I mean assess – and they cost upwards of £170,000. Even Ferrari can’t afford to insure a car of that value for thrill-seeking journalists to take on a track. Can you imagine the premium? They did concede that I could self-insure however, sorry guys, I wasn’t about to risk it. The odds of me stacking it were high, as typically, it rained non-stop from the moment I picked it up to when I dropped it off a few days later – why does it always rain on me whenever I have a Ferrari?

Once I’d familarised myself with the Scuderia’s unique controls, checked out the abundant use of carbon fibre and got comfy in its Alcantara race-style seats, I fired her up ready for my usually tedious three-hour journey east bound. Engulfed by the sexy bark of it’s race bred V8, my eyes closed involuntarily. Revving it sent my heart rate stratospheric and, according to psychologist David

Moxon, who recently conducted a survey about male and femalesresponses to engine sounds of luxury cars, a huge increase in testosterone was being released into my system, and you know what that means… Slough’s gridlock soon brought me back to reality! Have you tried getting out of Slough at 17:30 during the week? If you think it’s a bore in a BMW, try it in a supercar. It’s doubly frustrating!

Still it didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the extreme stripped-out version of the supremely capable F430. With its trademark distinctive stripes across the top of its body, the Scuderia is as easy to drive around town as a saloon, thanks to an automatic mode that engages as soon as you start it. That, together with its deep boot, means a visit to the supermarket to do the weekly shop isn’t out of the question, making the Scuderia easier to drive and more practical than Aston’s DB9! How mad is that, a supercar you can take to the supermarket! The only foreseeable problem is you’ll be forever swatting away the masses of people who congregate around your pride and joy once you’ve got your Ciabatta and cheese, which gets a bit tiresome after a while unless you like attention, in which case you’ll be in heaven!

Reaching the M40, I switched to manual and deftly made my way through its 6 gears before dropping it back to fourth. Well I figured there was no point allowing the horse’s heart rate to rest too quickly since she sounded so good and, besides, I wanted to fully drown out the sound of the DB9 our photographer was now driving. Heart in mouth, the incredible buzz the whole experience gives you is indescribable, only marred by other road users and

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motoring

Top left: The Scuderia's awesome engine, 510 bhp V8.

Top: The Ferrari hardly breaks a sweat at road-legal speeds.

Right: Despite having a strippedout interior, with carbon fibre and lashings of Alcantara, it's still a pleasant environment in which to spend time and the seats are amongst the best!

blinking speed cameras. The finesse of the F1 transmission is simply astonishing. Some may think spending the equivalent of a 2-bed house on an automobile is preposterous, however, driving it convinces you otherwise!

It’s like gambling or drugs, both are addictive, but to those who don’t partake there’s no comprehension, which is probably a good thing, otherwise we’d have even more semi-professional racing drivers trying to sell their mothers for a quick fix on track!

Continuing my journey on our beautifully maintained B-roads(!?) the F1-Trac traction control system really began to impress. Where the DB9 reviewed elsewhere in this issue fought to get a similar amount of power to the ground in the wet, the Scuderia’s system, is designed to provide you with the amount of maximum power that it can, based on its calculations of the optimum grip available.

Available grip is calculated every 5 milliseconds, so if you ask for 100% throttle but it calculates the available grip to be only 80% that is all it will give you before gradually feeding in the rest of the power when it decides there’s enough grip. Meaning virtually no wheel spin and better acceleration than you get with an ‘Apollo 5’, even under the monsoon-like conditions I tested it in. You know when it’s doing its job, as the off-kilter sound emitted from the engine, akin to a misfire, can be heard, only to sweeten up again as soon as traction is regained. So perhaps that track insurance might have been worth the arm and a leg it would have cost us!

Still I consoled myself that at least I’d come close to experiencing it's real race prowess, albeit as a passenger, on the famous Goodwood Hill, during the Festival of Speed. What an experience that was…

The mid-engine Scuderia feels just like a giant Lotus Exige,

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only much better and more comfortable. It handles corners with the same pinpoint accuracy, it’s focused, it’s raw and uncompromising, but you don’t have to do advanced yoga to get in or out of it, and there’s an evocative V8 in place of the Exige’s frenetic 1.8 litre engine. But it’s the Ferrari’s unique Manettino, an innocuous switch in the centre of the steering wheel, which distances it from its competitors.

Just as the driver of a Formula 1 car can control much of the set up of the car, the Manettino allows you to select what kind of drive you want.

And that’s the BIG difference between Lotus and the Ferrari nowadays. Although both have been prolific in Formula One, only Ferrari remains inextricably linked to the most technologically advanced sport in the world. Everything Ferrari does is born from its desire to win championships and the Scuderia is the by-product. It was designed with racing in mind and it has more F1 technology than any other road-going Ferrari.

The only bad thing about the Scuderia is it’s dreadful Sat Nav system, but that’s not something Ferrari make and, as most will find themselves trackside, shouldn’t prove to be much of an issue, although finding the track in the first place might be. And, if like me you happen to be driving it in the wet, you’ll have to get used to the sound of water, gravel and any other debris hitting the chassis and wheel arches, because it is devoid of any soundproofing, which only goes to further emphasise the Scuderia’s pure, unadulterated, race car pedigree, not to mention the sexiest looking Ferrari since the 355!

So if there was ever a case for selling-up to buy a supercar, the Scuderia is it!

dining

motoring

Two for one We love a good niche. Find one before everyone else and you’ve found yourself a whole new market and the chance of making some serious cash.

Writer: Jarowan Power Photographer: Jarowan Power

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ince the advent of the people carrier, car manufactures have become particularly fond of them. Nowadays there is a car to fit every single niche, and one or two that seem to have invented their own niche – the BMW X6 springs to mind!

Who drives that? Did Chris Bangles know he was leaving BMW when he designed it or did the files just get corrupted?

Anyway, I digress. We have micro mini’s for city folk who don’t really need a car, probably have nowhere to park one, but on the rare occasion they do want to go somewhere, don’t want to use public transport.

Then there are the aforementioned people carriers, with their flexiseat arrangements, popular with tracksuit wearing families with two or more children, perhaps a dog and lots of paraphernalia to carry around.

Then we have 4x4’s, everyone’s favourite hobbyhorse. Initially invented so that the army could drive… well, where ever the hell they liked, but latterly, adopted by those who live in the country (more than five miles from the city centre!) and feel that a four wheel drive vehicle will shield them from the harsh realities of the B-road! Problem is that a Landrover Defender, for example, is er, not the most comfortable vehicle in the world and stunning as they are off-road, they are, how shall we say, slightly out of their comfort zone on the average motorway. Hence the birth of the Range Rover and subsequently the SUV (Sports Utility

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Vehicle); offering the same elevated driving position, enough space to carry the obligatory Labrador and their squeaky toys, only this time in more comfortable surroundings. Perfect! Well no because SUV’s have large engines, are about as aerodynamic as Mike Tyson, use copious amounts of fuel and as a by-product, produce plenty of pollution.

Step-forward the HUV. The Hybrid Utility Vehicle fits the ‘two for one’ niche, lovingly adopted by marketeers and supermarkets, alike. The Lexus RX400h looks like an SUV, but combines a 3.3 litre V6 petrol engine with a 165bhp electric motor in the front and a further electric motor over the rear axle to power the E-Four electric four-wheel drive system, which should keep the greenies amongst us happy. Turn the key and it remains eerily silent! In place of a familiar engine sound you get a few flashing lights and an LCD screen informing you that everything is working ok. Out on the road it feels exactly how you’d expect a Lexus to behave – super quiet, composed and refined with the added bonus of exceptional fuel consumption for its class. 34.9 mpg combined, to be precise.

So for once, this is a genuine ‘two for one’ bargain!

motoring

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motorsport

New Beginning Motorsports legends come in all shapes and sizes, michael schumacher, troy bayliss, Murray Walker, spa, monaco, le mans and goodwood. Touted as the best in the world portugal hopes to add it's new circuit, Autodromo international do algarve, to this list.

Writer: Marc le Scidd

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estined for Portugal’s all-singing-alldancing new race circuit in Portugal, I made a half-hearted attempt to find some directions the day before I was due to fly out. A quick look on their official website and a few unsuccessful Google searches provided no clues however. Nevermind, I thought, how difficult could it be?

I would fly into Faro, head towards Portimao and follow the signs from there. After all, you don’t spend nearly 200 million euro on a new racetrack and not let people know where it is, do you? The Autódromo Internacional do Algarve had provided much anticipation amongst the World Superbike Paddock, destined to be the first major race series to be hosted by the Portuguese circuit. It was to be the final round of the World Superbike Championship, the farewell of outgoing current World Champion and hugely popular Ducati rider – Troy Bayliss. Those in the know anticipated the circuit to be one of the most technically challenging circuits in the world. It promised to be a mouth-watering finale for all bike race aficionados.

After arriving at Faro airport, I collected my hire car and studied the map – no circuit could be found, so I headed towards Portimao, as planned. A quick call to a team boss I was due to meet at the circuit, didn’t help even though he was nearly there. He had left the motorway and followed the signs to the circuit only to discover they hadn’t finished

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Above: Aerial photo of the new Autodromo Internacional do Algarve near Portimao in Portugal

building the road and there were no diversions! After a dozen phone calls to my UK office to ask someone to trawl the internet, I plotted my way through narrow country roads and after what felt like days, arrived at the track, thanks to some strategically placed cardboard signs. Only to be greeted with chaos. Wherever I looked workman worked, some frantically, some not so. With the race meeting due to start the following day and the grand finale only a couple of days after that - it was a bit of a shock. We drove around the perimeter only to discover they were still building the perimeter walls and installing turnstiles, amidst a sea of mud.

I eventually parked up in a muddy car park in front of the incredibly impressive main stand – it wouldn’t have looked out of place at Old Trafford or the Emirates – to greet the team boss I’d come to see, before heading towards the paddock. I negotiated what I thought was a grass bank, only to discover it was cloggy clay, painted green! Once through the tunnel, into the main paddock area, it became an oasis of calm. The army of workmen replaced by an army of cleaners; the final touches were somewhat more advanced in the inner sanctum. It was like a bath that hadn’t been cleaned for a while – nice and clean in the middle but with muddy rings around it. I shouldn’t have been shocked.

A few days earlier, a colleague had pre-warned me of the impending mess, ‘The circuit is awesome, but it is a building site!’ he’d said. Two weeks prior, many of the teams had

motorsport

tested the track and although many complained of lack of grip, due to the lack of rubber present and building work deposits, the riders universally acclaimed the circuit.

Describing it as a cross between Africa’s Kyalami and Italy’s Mugello, two of the most technically challenging circuits in the world. I’ve never been to Mugello, but could see the Kyalami in it, with its natural flow and undulations.

Before leaving the circuit, sadly before the racing got underway, I managed to borrow a paddock scooter and set off with the intention of riding the track to get a better idea of what lay in store for the cream of biking talent.

Unfortunately I was seconds too late. With face pressed against the fence, I could only watch enviously as cars, scooters and anything with wheels, buzzed around the 2.9 mile circuit made up of blind climbs and complex, linked corners – half expecting a coach load of grannies from South Wales to pass by! Despite many pleas to the gateman, I admitted defeat and embarked on a final tour of the circuit, marvelling at the huge luxurious garages, the stylish boxes within the circular VIP Tower until I came across the best media centre, featuring 450 TV screens for watching the action, I’ve ever experienced. There is even an Olympic-sized swimming pool, football pitches

‘you don’t spend nearly 200 million euro on a new racetrack and not let people know where it is, do you?’ and squash courts within a 10,000 m2 Sports Complex; home also to a clinic specialising in physical recovery – vitally important for bike racers! Why can’t UK tracks be like this… Leaving the paddock, I wondered if by being on track all the scooters and cars would make it even slippier by laying down mud rather than rubber. I hoped not, as I, like the rest of the paddock, were desperate to see a fitting finale to an exciting WSB season. Of course no one was disappointed. Troy Bayliss concluded the 2008 World Superbike Championship season in superb style by taking a double win. The hugely likeable Australian drew down the curtain on a remarkable career, finishing the season as World Superbike Champion for the third and final time with Portimao providing the perfect swansong for the season finale and farewell from the legendary Ducati and World Superbike rider.

As I watched an emotional Bayliss take to the podium, I was in no doubt that the Algarve circuit would become a mecca for British bike fans when this year’s final round – confirmed for 23rd to 25th October – plays out. Well I know where I will be. Faced with a cold and damp Britain, versus the Algarve; famed for its beautiful beaches, endless sun and now, one of the best modern racing circuits available. No contest! And at least I’ll know how to find it…

Top: Multiple F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher borrows Troy Bayliss's Ducati 1098.

Middle: Portimao proves to be the perfect venue for the final round of the 2008 World Superbike Championship.

Bottom:Troy Bayliss doing what he does best.

Superbike World Championship – 23rd – 25th October www.autodromodoalgarve.com

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Motorcycling

Frozen out Writer: Damian Harty

O

ur esteemed editor gave me both a blessing and a curse over Christmas.

On the blessing side and in her role as the Goddess of Provision, she arranged delivery of a Triumph 675 Street Triple R for testing. It seems important to Triumph that the R be italicised. It has the same great 675 engine as in the normally-written Street Triple but improved suspension and fashionable radially-mounted brakes. I bet you hardly noticed my carefully italicised rs there, did you? Still, it’s all in the detail.

In her part-time role as Weather Goddess, the she-ed also decided to turn the world’s thermostat right down and to cover my road with ice. Past the end of my road – a distance of some 80 tantalising metres – lay salty, greasy, slimy tarmac. While not ideal, this is an entirely tolerable surface on which to ride. It was just that I might as well have laid the bike on its side and pushed it the first 80m.

So apart from a chilly ride back from Hinckley, the poor thing stood under a carport for my entire tenure. Those poor radial brakes sat and glued themselves to the disk, releasing themselves only when Man And Van came to retrieve said triple and we both pushed it into the van, both of us noting the ice had vanished from the road approximately 4 hours previously after hanging around for over a week.

It hasn’t been that cold in winter here for decades!

It was so cold that a large part of the emotional vacuum left by not motorcycling in any form had to be filled by playing “Motorcycle Madness” on Facebook. A friend who is into computer games told me it was a pretty standard RPG, which apparently means ‘Role Playing Game’ in those circles, and not a Rocket Propelled Grenade! After fumbling around with the default Kawasaki KX250F and buying upgrades, including a ‘stealth radiator cover’ that gave ‘plus 20 traction,’ I got the hang of it and am now at ‘level 25’.

If I keep going I can get a Dodge Tomahawk, a BatMoto, a Ferrari V4 or a Ducati Rage. It’s obviously written by an American teenager because it includes said Tomahawk, and the actual racing action is felt to be too difficult to include – it consists simply of pressing a button marked ‘Race’ and then waiting for the server to tell you if you’ve won or not. Winning and losing is more or less a foregone conclusion based on your and your opponent’s power, traction and aerodynamic ratings. I was nearly interested enough to undertake a systematic reverse-engineering activity to understand the equations by which the races were calculated.

But only nearly.

about being apart from all them in their cars. About being able to ride past traffic queues. About the whole motion of it all, which is spectacularly pleasing to me in a way that defies any logical sort of expression.

Brass Monkeys is one of those expressions with a wellknown and entirely false ‘folk etymology’ – which I think is a posh way of saying ‘internet B***S***’. Apparently the idea of being cold enough to fracture something metallic appeared in print in 1857, when Charles Augustus Abbey wrote, ‘it would freeze the tail off a brass monkey.’ There seems to be some support for the idea that a brass monkey is a small swivel gun on a ship, and the tail is the lever used to aim it. It’s only as we’ve got generally naughtier that we’ve become obsessed with primate privates and invented all that nonsense about cannonballs to pretend we’re not being naughty at all – the stacked cannonball idea doesn’t pass a moment’s scrutiny.

So anyway, back to the Street Triple R. The adjustable suspension seems like a mixed blessing to me since I can’t help thinking it will always be set wrong. Still, if you are going to fiddle with it, start with the preload to get in the right part of the travel – a normal rule of thumb is to get the bike 1/3 into its travel from full rebound with you and your kit aboard it. If you can’t work out how to do that with a tape measure and a mate, perhaps you shouldn’t be adjusting anything.

Sensibly, Triumph have opted only for the low-speed adjustment provided by Kayaba, who seem to me to be unsung heroes of suspension by providing great kit with a brand nobody recognises.

Making a note of the factory settings in case you need to run home to momma, wind both damper adjusters out to full soft and go for a cautious ride.

You should notice the bike is very comfortable but a bit wayward when you chuck it around. Pull in (i.e. set harder) on the rebound adjuster until you like the feel of it over crests and the like, then pull in on the compression adjuster until you like the bite under braking and as you crack the throttle. Finally, having got the feel for what the adjusters do, ride round for a good while and make small moves until you stop noticing anything particular about the suspension. At that point, stop obsessing about it, go learn to ride it better.

Just in case you were fooled by the word ‘fully’ in the description of the adjustable suspension, you’ll be interested to know that you can also get three- and four-way adjustable dampers, which one might describe as super-fully and über-fully were one so inclined, plus adjustable gas charge pressure and oil weight if you want the opportunity for it to be really really wrong.

I would go on and on about suspension, but that would bore the balls off a brass monkey and since the poor chap’s already had them frozen off, we’ll spare him further discomfort, shall we?

All of this is really a pale reflection of the fun of really riding a bike. Even in brass monkey weather there’s something

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The r ace for pace

Sunday Afternoon, 100,000 people watch live. Broadcast to more than 160 Countries, cumulative global race audience over a billion. The famous and elite are sunbathed and pampered in the F1 paddock. There are more Ray Bans, Rolexes and designer clothes than you can wave a flag at. This is glamour at over 360 clicks per hour!

For two hours this is drama on a global scale… Meanwhile, back at the Factory…

Writer: Keith Saunt Photos: GEPA pictures / Red Bull Photofiles & Luca Mazzocco / ING Renault F1

Photo: GEPA pictures/Red Bull Photofiles

motorsport

GEPA pictures / Red Bull Photofiles

GEPA pictures / Red Bull Photofiles

I

t’s June, the sun is shining and the British Grand Prix is just around the corner. The season is going quite well, there are points on the board and a couple of podiums secured, still, that first season win remains elusive. Surely it can only be a matter of time?

The factory floor guys were hoping for a quiet summer, they have all been racking up the unpaid overtime since around September last year.

There was a time when this kind of work was seasonal but not anymore.

Departments have grown, milestones and deadlines shortened and the hunt for that extra tenth or even a couple of hundredths has intensified.

Will there be any rest? No! The aerodynamicists have been working flat out. This week they are looking into a new front wing – particularly the endplates, there’s track time in those endplates, they are sure of it. Next week it’ll be a new rear crash structure or mirror bodies. So fifty or so aero’ guys dream, design and plot, literally, dozens of iterations of the same piece.

Maybe a radius here or a sweep there. Dozens of model size front wing endplates, will be made. Again and again they'll appear like ‘Excalibur from the lake,’ out of the stereo-lithography baths. They'll clean them up, bolt them on and run the wind tunnel. Run, after run, after run.

Compare the results, check them, maybe another six iterations, three either side of the most promising design. 'Make those ones, run them and check them.'

'Have we run out of time yet?' 'No!' 'Okay give us three more hours. ''Right, we'll call it…iteration 32, hmmm... yes 32 it is..!'

Two hours later and the ‘full size’ designers get involved (Those responsible for real car components, not bigger people, of course!)

‘Okay so we are going with iteration 32 front wing endplates? Right, we need the Finite Analysis’ guys to run the numbers. How thin can we make the carbon? What are the forces calculated at? What material are we going to use? I think we will go for the unidirectional cloth on these ones, as they need to be super stiff. Okay, these are meant to be on the car for Hungary – How long does the Production team need?

Six weeks hey, what about three? We can get the pattern sizes sorted, you can start cutting those?’

‘Well, if you can give us the rough sizes, we can block them up and rough machine the first couple of patterns. But if they are like the existing ones we are looking at about seven pairs of patterns to make one mould. We could start the five-axis machining tomorrow, first patterns ready for preparation at the weekend and then we shall get a double-shift in to run around the clock on Saturday and Sunday. I’ll get the Prep boys in as well, they can paint the patterns up as required and we can start moulding Tuesday. We’ll look at the templates for cutting the cloth in parallel and we shall cut a couple of sets to get ahead of the game. So moulds will be cooked by Friday, we can cut the carbon inserts and honeycomb them the Thursday before and get the kits readied. Is there any final machining?’ ‘ Yes but just on the feet - okay!’ ‘We’ll have to get them back up on the five-axis Sunday week, that’s if we can get the first set in the Autoclave next weekend –

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we could double up on moulds and give ourselves some leeway. Then assemble. We will need some jigs designed or just cut and shut the existing – Yeah… Okay.’

‘Yes I know we’ve got 65 people in the Composites Department, but most of those are on the new floor for Germany and the brake ducts for Valencia. The rest are on the replacement of the shunt damage from Monaco – we lost three sets of front wishbones, and they’re a week each without the final machining or Inspection or load testing, call it 10 days. Good job we tripled up on moulds.’

‘Okay, do we have to paint the new front wing endplates or, if we have to, can we colour tape them? It’ll save us a 24-hour turnaround at the painters and some cash… Okay so we’ll paint them, after all, what’s budget for eh? Right so we need pattern block-up information and tool-paths tomorrow by midday.’

‘Hang on… we’ve just had a big off at the ‘test’ session, have we got the damage report back yet?’ Three pages of A4! ‘ I thought you could only do that if you spun into the spares boxes in the Pits’ – Three pages! ‘ Race Team will have to borrow the spare suspension for the next race from the ‘test team’ and, if needs be, we will have to race the front wing ‘6.2’ if we can’t get any of this stuff made.’ ‘Put the hours up again.’

‘Well the shifts are 24-7 already so we’ll have to tack an hour onto days and two onto nights – It’ll be busy for a while out there on the floor.’

‘Oh and get the canteen ready for evening meals and breakfasts!’

‘Anyway what about these Valencia brake ducts, can we use the existing if we have to?’ ‘What? The drums are okay but not the ducts?’ ‘What’s wrong with the ducts?’ ‘We cut them all for Monaco because of the steering lock – We need that lock range every year, why are you surprised? More importantly, why am I surprised?’ ‘ I guess extra brake cooling for Monza should be catching us out soon then? I look forward to it.’

‘Okay, we’ve extended the day and nightshift back to November working hours and we’ve organised for three Programmers to come in late tomorrow and work until its done. We’ve got full five-axis cover for the entire weekend and we’ve got end-to-end Clean room guys ready. I’ve got Inspection and Sub-Assembly coming in to cover and arranged the transport to and from the painters for two runs, one set each run – I think we’re covered.’

‘Hey, they might have found a new front wing main plane for Belgium – It needs all new front wing end plates and new front wing flaps.’ ‘So the new current versions are obsolete?’ ‘Redundant – Oh I see, for now at least…’ ‘Oh and there may be a new top body for Japan, but we aren’t sure yet and what was that last thing, he’s not happy with his current seat and needs a new fitting? - Okay, keep me informed. I’m going for a lie down now...’

Golf

European Master All high profile sports need a ‘special one’ to elevate status and create interest – remember the golfing ‘bally-hoo’ back in the eighties? After a decade marking time with ‘big three’ Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, golf urgently needed new heroes to champion and advertise its cause on TV; out of the Spanish ‘bunkers’ came Seve Ballesteros!

Writer: Jeffrey Ross Images: Supplied

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Golf

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Golf

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Golf

Left: View of the incredible 13th hole at Porto Santo Golfe.

T

all, good-looking and decidedly Spanish, this improvisational talent bestrode the scene at grade one level for a decade and certainly captured the hearts and admiration of the public.

There were periods when Seve seemed to dominate the back pages and it was a great thrill to watch him in major tournaments; he won three (British) Opens in ’79, ’84 and ‘88 and two Masters in ’80 and ’83, in addition to 50 victories on the European Tour. Ballesteros was generally recognised as the saviour of European golf, especially when engaged in match play.

After successfully lobbying for the Ryder Cup to include ‘continental’ Europe in ‘79, Ballesteros certainly contributed to the defeat of the United States in ’85, beginning two decades of almost total European dominance!

Now that pales into insignificance when comparisons to Jack and Tiger are made but Ballesteros was, in his heyday, brilliant and had colossal flair for the occasion. It was never dull when Seve was in contention, which was often! So many times Seve was 'down and out for the count’ only to claw his way back with a steely determination and fighting spirit that defied comprehension; golfing fans loved him and still cherish the memories.

I’ve got one! In the early ‘70’s I was breakfasting with racehorse trainer Peter Robinson in the Chase Hotel at York, in readiness for the ‘Ebor’ meeting on the Knavesmire; Seve came and sat down at our table. He smiled, we smiled, said ‘good morning’ and he ordered by pointing at the menu. We continued to chat, he didn’t!

Peter spoke to him, Seve smiled (looked just like Elvis Presley!) and replied ‘no comprehende!’ He couldn’t speak English!

Later on Seve went ‘down the road’ to nearby Fulford golf course for the highly-prestigious Benson & Hedges Tournament; guess who was the winner!

Since his retirement in 2007, due to a long history of back pain, Seve has concentrated on golf course design, until struck down with a rare brain tumour in 2008. Let’s sincerely hope, his steely determination and fighting spirit can get Seve through what is undoubtedly another ‘Major’ challenge!

Despite his illness, it is business as usual back at Trajectory, Seve’s company, with one course currently at construction phase, a second one just opened and another, which has just played host to the Madeira Island Open.

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Golf

The Porto Santo Golfe course is truly magnificent. With such a variety of play all in one course, its testiment to Seve's skill not only as a player, but as a course designer.

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Golf

Royal Obidos Spa and Golf Resort is situated north of Lisbon, in Costa de la Plata, Portugal. The 18-hole par 72 course and accompanying practice areas, occupies 80 hectares of land – that’s 107 football pitches, if my numeracy skills are up to scratch! Measuring between 7398 yards from the championship tees and 6747 yards from yellow tees, the gently sloping course has been designed in such a way that it is both versatile and adaptive to all handicaps, male or female, which is sure to make it a hit with holidaymakers and residents of the resort alike. Capitalising on its stunning coastal location, Seve has created a synergy by intermingling lakes and streams throughout; aside from being important hazards, they add to its aesthetic appeal. The second and third holes, (par 5 and par 3 respectively) with greens surrounded by water, promise to be the most spectacular!

Staying in Portugal. The Eastern Algarve, between Faro and the Spanish border, is an area of outstanding natural beauty and the location for Seve’s second design – the 7119 yard course – Quinta do Vale. Although only a few months old, it is already being lorded as Europe’s best new course and due to its championship layout, will no doubt play host to a major tournament or two in its lifetime. Cleverly integrated into a natural valley, overlooked by the clubhouse, it offers six par 5’s, six par 4’s and six par 3’s, wide fairways containing plenty of doglegs

and water together with outstanding views over the Guadiana River.

Quinto do Vale’s bunkers promise to be particularly challenging as they are deeper than usual and super effective at guarding the precious greens, but If you are a top bunker player like Seve, you’ll no doubt find them a welcome challenge.

And finally, Porto Santo Golfe, the only golf course on the unspoilt island of Porto Santo and recent host of its first major championship, the Madeira Island Open. Stretched across the island from beach to dramatic basalt cliffs, Porto Santo Golfe offers the ultimate test of skill.

Set over 7036 yards, it has two distinct personalities. The front inland nine, on the south side, is dotted with lakes, demanding a long precise game, whereas the back nine is played along spectacular cliff tops.

Seve’s signature hole, the par 3 thirteenth, is one of those drawdropping amazingly spectacular holes, which has to be played to be believed! This 200 yarder demands a purely struck tee shot over a 500 foot cliff face, into a whirlwind and is pure golfing heaven (or hell!) A stunner, which will go down with legends such as the 17th at Sawgrass and the 17th at the Old Course. A testament to the Spanish icon, a statue of whom stands proudly at the entrance of the Porto Santo’s Clubhouse.

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Fishermans friend The ‘Cod-father’ of Soul is Upset. By his own admission, John Wilson, a-fish-ionardo, is an angry and slightly grumpy old man but, for the most part, he doesn’t let such emotions get the better of him; unless you mention our government, Robson Green, or anything else that entangles his line…

Writer: Suzannah Sorrell Photographer: Jarowan Power & John Wilson

Fishing

Left: John with his trademark smile in place and a large fish in hand.

Right: Who couldn't like fishing with views such as this.

“I truly believe John could catch a pike in a puddle!”

H

e is angry with Maggie Thatcher’s government for ‘selling off’ our water to the French; he is angry with current government for telling him how he should think and if it wasn’t for the fact he is nearly seventy, he’d sell up and move to Canada.

Not surprisingly he’s also angry he can no longer get programmes commissioned thanks to actors and celebrities like Robson Green, presenter of Extreme Fishing. ‘He can’t even fish!’ commented a frustrated John, during our interview. You’d better watch out Robson, otherwise you might wake up one morning with a carp’s head in your bed…!

That said, a quick check of Robson’s biography shows he’s an accomplished fly fisherman but who are we to argue with the ‘Cod-father?’ After all is said and done, John has been fishing in the premier league for 60 years; for 20 of those years he presented Go Fishing, followed by Fishing Safaris and Dream Fishing. All his dedication helped raise the profile of this long-established licensed sport and no doubt encouraged thousands of fans to visit his fishing tackle shop in Norwich, over a period of 25 years.

His natural chatty delivery, infectious laughter and exceptional talent for catching ridiculously large fish anywhere where there is water, won him respect with angling devotees around the globe and probably with Robson Green. I truly believe John could catch a pike in a puddle!

Having briefly watched Robson in action, my only complaint is the sheer amount of times he says ‘man,’ I know he’s from Newcastle but its incredibly irritating, man! But, it’s not just Robson who has taken to the waters recently. A sport that apparently has 5% of our population hooked, has captured the imagination of TV programmers and is now shown on TV as much as Top Gear and that’s a lot; soon to increase when Dave launch Dave+1.

There’s the Accidental Angler, which given I’m not into fishing except if its served on a bed of seaweed as Sashimi, is vaguely watchable and Mitch and Matt’s Big Fish. The latter is definitely the best of the bunch. Ex-rugby star and Celebrity MasterChef winner Matt Dawson and restaurateur Mitch Tonks mix humour, fishing and cooking, Keith Floyd-style to great success.

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Chances are John would disagree with me; he doesn’t eat fish!

John however doesn’t think there are nearly enough fishing programmes shown on mainstream TV; there again irritation sets in when he happens to flick onto the nations favourite sport – football. In fact, he thinks it’s so dominating that it prevents other sports, hobbies and such like from getting a look in, especially on the TV. ‘I can’t bear to watch a football match these days as it makes me so cross!’

Certainly not hooked then!

His way of coping with all his frustrations is to pack his bags and six or so rods and head off from his home in Norfolk to a far-flung ‘plaice!’ In this instance, Madagascar, to do what he does best, fish and film another TV show. ‘You can think, listen and simply drink in the beauty of the place. Even if you don’t catch anything, it’s about being outdoors, away from everything,’ he says.

Obviously for John, fishing, the great outdoors and his two dogs – Alfie, a Dogue de Bordeaux French Mastiff and Bola, a West Highland White Terrier are his life, not to mention wife and fellow fishing enthusiast, Jo, ‘we are made for one another. She’s my soulmate!’ commented John. There are also his two children and grandchildren, to whom he dedicates his latest book – ’Sixty Years A Fisherman.’

Having grown up in a small flat in Enfield, North London with no electricity, no bathroom or garden in the 1940’s, John was always itching to spread his wings. His dad’s allotment gave him his first taste for the outdoors and nature but, he says ‘I used to get bored so I’d wander off and start looking at things. I loved to turn over stones and see what was underneath. I was a countryman trying to get out. I loved to explore ditches and streams and there were a lot of bomb holes in London then, so there was always something to dig out!

An uncle first introduced him to fishing. ‘When I was eight we’d walk the mile or so to the New River in Enfield and the rest, they say, is history…

Sixty Years A Fisherman The Autobiography of John Wilson ISBN: 9781905828395

Fishing

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Review

Justice!

What do you do when you are bored of writing advertising copy for an insurance company? plot your first novel or go down the pub or walk the dog? thankfully, steven chose the former and the latter!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Nope, not that one. Hunter hit the eject button on his car stereo and out popped another language CD. He’d bought ten of them from a Borders first thing that morning in an attempt to identify the native tongue of the assassin, and thus far he’d listened to various strings of incomprehensible gibberish from the Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia, without any luck.He pulled his Barracuda onto the Harbour Freeway and accelerated past a diesel big-rig in the inside lane. The rig was headed for the port, belching a thick cloud of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere as it went.

Thousands of trucks made the same journey each year, so LA’s smog wasn’t likely to clear any time soon.

The warning he’d received late last night had done little to quell his desire to close the case, although it had shaken him up a little. For a few minutes he’d been totally at the assassin’s mercy. But why had he been spared? Whatever the reason, he couldn’t allow himself to get caught cold again. From here on in, he had to be at his sharpest. He popped another foreign language CD into his stereo. He’d ruled out France, Spain and Italy from the get-go as he figured he’d have recognised the sound of those languages, if not the words, but that, unfortunately, was the sum total of his linguistic abilities. So next up was the rest of the Baltic states. Voices from far-away lands reached out to him as the streets went by in a blur. Estonian and Latvian weren’t what he was looking for, but he was getting closer. Lithuanian was a maybe, as was Russian. Polish also resonated, but something about it wasn’t quite right.

And that was the last of the CDs. So was it Lithuanian or Russian?

The Soviet Union. Now, that was one for the history books. All those years of Communism, and where was it now? Capitalism had arrived, corruption had flourished, and the countryside dachas had swapped hands from the privileged bourgeoisie to any low-life criminal who’d mastered the thriving black market. Good sporting nation, though. At one point, their trips to the Olympic podium had been so frequent he could almost have hummed along to the Rodina as the Red Flag had billowed overhead. The Soviet flag…now, why had that prompted alarm bells to go off? He visualised it—all red, with a gold hammer and sickle crossed in the upper left corner. The hammer! That was it. Another link in the chain. The T-shaped tattoo on the back of the assassin’s hand was a hammer.

And that made him a Russian!

He eased off the throttle and swung over to the exit ramp, headed for the Compton district of South Central.

Of course, you weren’t supposed to call it South Central any more, just South LA, as the city had decided that the original name had become synonymous with criminality, but changing the name hadn’t made it any less dangerous.

Take Compton—it was on its way to becoming the murder capital of America, with a homicide rate ten times higher than the national average, all thanks to streetgangs just

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like the one that Hunter was about to visit.

The basketball court where Rhythm Ray had been executed was only a couple of blocks away. Traffic was light, which didn’t come as any great surprise, as the drive wasn’t overly scenic. Tired-looking apartment buildings loomed large to block out the sun. Half the ground-floor windows were boarded up.

Indecipherable graffiti was spray painted across any spare patch of brickwork.

Surly-looking kids loitered on stoops, blasting out angry gangsta rap from their oversized beat-boxes. All things considered, you had to be a bit desperate, or a bit crazy, to roll into this neighbourhood without an invitation.

Hunter’s eyes skipped from alley to doorway on the lookout for trouble. Compton had been bad news for some time, so bad that the LAPD had pretty much given up trying to police parts of it, and now that the psychotic Furious and his Renegades were in control, it looked like things had taken a turn for the worse. As he crossed the corner of Chester Avenue and Cypress, he cut the car’s speed to a near crawl.

Traffic went from light to non-existent. The streets were empty, save for a couple of youths stationed on opposite sides of the block. They each wore black jeans, black shirts and black shades – come dusk, they’d be almost invisible.

Both kids had red bandanas tied loosely around their left wrists – the only splash of colour in their otherwise monochrome ensemble. As soon as they realised that Hunter intended to drive on through, the bandanas were raised high overhead to flutter in the breeze like flaming torches. The kids were lookouts, the bandanas a warning signal, which meant that Furious and his men would be waiting up ahead. Hunter tightened his grip on the wheel.

There was only one way to find out what sort of reception they’d laid on. ‘Ain’t life sweet.’

Furious took a long draw on his oversized blunt, followed it up with a swig from his magnum of Cristal, then raised his pockmarked face to the heavens to wallow in the warm morning sun that fell from on high.

‘Fo’ real, boss,’ chorused three of his lackeys.

If there was one thing he never grew tired of, it was their fawning adoration, particularly as he knew that it was based on a healthy undercurrent of downright fear. When it came to keeping your men in line, fear was the only way to go. A man that respected you would go so far, a man that loved you like a brother still had his limitations, but a man that feared you would do whatever the f*** you wanted him to, otherwise he’d have to face the consequences.

Furious was sat in his favourite easy chair while his three lieutenants lounged around him like courtiers before their king. One of them, Slice, was leaning against a large tribal drum, his dreadlocks pulled back in a ponytail. More men were stationed around the edge of the playing area, each within touching distance of the chain-link fence. Niggahs on sentry duty.

Hard-ass muthaf**k*s toting guns on full auto that were there to keep the general populace

Review

at bay, not that the general populace had any business here, but Furious wasn’t one to take chances. He had the whole block sewn up tight.

First line of defence – the lil gangsta wannabes acting as lookouts on the street corners. Next line – the aforementioned sentries. And the last line – da bunker. Da bunker was an eight-by-ten cinderblock structure slap bang in the centre of the court. Its walls were reinforced with oneinch-thick steel plate, and its roof was made from the same material.

You entered in a half-crouch through a gap at the rear, and once inside you tried not to die through dehydration, cos on a hot day it heated up like a muthaf**k*. But da bunker hadn’t been built for comfort – its primary purpose was one of defence. At the first sign of a drive-by, Furious was buried deep inside those four walls like a rock-hard c**k in a whore’s warm sn***.

Its erection at half-court had been no accident. When construction had begun, Furious had decreed that the bolthole was to be built on the very sight where his brother, Rhythm Ray, had bought it. So da bunker’s secondary purpose was to serve as a shrine. Photos of Ray adorned the walls and stolen church candles burned slowly down to the wick in each corner. Two of the younger members of the crew were tasked with the responsibility of making sure that these eternal flames never went out. Lucky them. Truth be told, da bunker was becoming more shrine than defensive stronghold nowadays, as there was no one left to stand against Furious.

His enforced succession to the Renegades’ throne had resulted in a bloodbath of biblical proportions amongst the neighbourhood’s gangs.

A bloodbath that he’d initiated. Whole crews had been wiped out by the brutal war, the pussyass competition surprised by both the velocity and ferocity of his attacks. He’d waited a long time to lead the Renegades, and he sure as shit planned on making the most of it. Ray, God rest his soul, had been a good boss, but he’d lacked the requisite cruelty to be great, which was one brotherly trait that Furious didn’t share.

‘We gotta delivery coming in from the coast tonight, boss. You want me to take care of it?’ The sonorous tones of Slice, his gargantuan first lieutenant, broke Furious out of his reverie. If you asked Slice about his moniker, he’d tell you that he’d earned it with the aid of the Bowie knife that was strapped to his leg, although it probably had more to do with the vicious scar that ran the length of his jaw line.

‘Na. Don’t sweat it. I be there.’ Furious liked to take a hands-on approach when it came to the product, and if that made him a control freak, then so be it. Besides, tonight was important, there were ten keys of powder coming in, 100 per cent pure, and once that shit was cut up for street consumption it would equate to a whole lot of green. He took another long hit of skunk and sank deeper into the easy chair. Man, that was good weed. Just as he was about to doze off, a shout from one of the sentries caused his eyes to snap open.

‘Heads up! Heads up! We gots company…’

Slice started to beat out a staccato rhythm on the tribal drum as Furious jumped to his feet and stared outwards towards the source of the commotion. Red bandanas were flying a block down the street and that meant danger. His well-trained men had formed a defensive perimeter just back from the fence, each of them down on one knee with weapon at the ready. He felt a fleeting moment of pride – those muthaf**k*s were like a well-oiled machine, ready to lay down a wall of fire at the slightest provocation – and then he was making for the sanctuary of da bunker in double quick time. No point in having protection if you weren’t gonna use it.

Hunter rolled past the bandana-waving kids at low speed with his hands digging into the top of the wheel, taking care to ensure they remained plainly in view. How young were those sentries? And why weren’t they in school? Still, he guessed they were getting an education of sorts. The sound of tribal drums started up somewhere in front of him, their insistent rhythm bouncing off the surrounding buildings to take on a hypnotic quality. Jesus, he’d heard of the urban jungle, but this was ridiculous.

A burst of movement from the apartment block on his right caught his eye. He looked up to discover an elderly lady staring back at him from

one of the second-floor windows. More faces began to appear, men, women, and children, until almost half the windows were occupied, the residents drawn to the show by the beating drums. Goddamn ghouls. The whole block was starting to feel like some kind of Roman amphitheatre as Hunter marched out to face Furious and his hungry lions. Guards were stationed along the rooftops overhead, but they were more for show than defence. As Hunter rolled forward the basketball court came into view. It didn’t look like much b-ball was played there any more – you’d need one hell of a crossover dribble to get past the strange little building at half-court. He pulled over to the kerb, cut the engine, and took a quick head count. Fifteen serious-looking guys packing heavy calibre, all of it aimed in his direction.

This was shaping up to be one of his more challenging interrogations.

He opened the door and climbed out, both hands raised high above his head. When no bullets came flying in his direction, he shucked off his leather jacket to reveal the Patriot shoulder holster strapped underneath. Using just thumb and forefinger, he withdrew the Beretta from its rig and deposited it on the hood of his car. When you were this outgunned, it was wise to play at subservient. Sometimes, making friendly with the natives was the only way to go.

‘Da f*** you want?’ shouted the nearest of the Renegades. As opening gambits went, it wasn’t the most polite. ‘Take it easy, I just wanna talk.’

Hunter walked over to the court and quickly found himself surrounded by a ring of angry faces. A huge guy with natty dreads and a nasty facial scar got up close and personal. ‘You trippin’, boy, ain’t no one here wants to talk to you.’

‘Figure he’s 5-O, Slice, figure he’s come to stir up some shit,’ whined a voice to his right. ‘We gots to in-ter-ro-gate him, make him talk.’

The ring closed in and someone spat at his feet. He ignored it and stood his ground. This wasn’t going well. Time to lay on a little more of his patented charm. ‘I think we might be able to help each other out.’

‘Don’t need no help, less you wanna come suck on my d***,’ said Whiny Voice. Laughter rang out from the rest of the crew.

‘Sure thing. Anyone lend me a straw?’ Hunter deadpanned.

The laughter stopped dead, the aggression level went off the chart. Hmm. Maybe that wasn’t the best of wisecracks, given the circumstances.

‘Dumb muthafucka axin’fo’it, Slice,’ slurred another one of the guards.

‘You gonna cut him up? Murderise the muthaf**k*?’

The guy called Slice withdrew a huge Bowie knife from the sheath that was cinched tight to his right thigh. He raised it skywards in a clenched fist. The sunlight glinted off the serrated blade as his knuckles stood proud. Two Renegades stepped forward to take a firm grip of Hunter’s arms. He didn’t put up a fight – now wasn’t the time. The knife danced in front of his face, then he felt its point press into the soft skin just under his left eye. A warm trickle of blood ran down his face. He forced himself to stand still. Slice’s voice rumbled out like a warning from the gods.

‘I’m gonna f**k you up bad…’

Justice For All By: Steven Hague Published by: Mira ISBN: 978 0 7783 0198 1

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review

Who Watches The Watchmen…

Imagine a world where the threat of nuclear war is a reality, President Nixon is still in the White House and once revered superheroes are forced to hide their identities from the rest of us. And, the US government has the ultimate weapon in the form of a giant blue naked guy with a pretty impressive bunch of powers.

Writer: Dina Burgess Photographer: Clay Enos

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his is the world of the Watchmen – a group of superheroes who were once idolised, with their own range of merchandise, but have now been forced to hang up their costumes and hide among the rest of us after the government introduced an act banning masked vigilantes.

Because, apart from one (the big blue naked guy), these are men and women without superpowers, they just want to help fight crime in a world smothered by intense fear and paranoia. And they like dressing up in daft costumes…

Set in the 1980s (the decade the 12 award-winning comics, which later formed the now legendary graphic novel, were first published), Watchmen takes a dark and twisted look at how our world would be different if superheroes did exist. If a giant man with ultimate powers teamed up with the most powerful government in the world, how would that affect politics, religion and popular culture? Would it allay our fears or make them even greater?

Watchmen is widely regarded as the best graphic novel of all time and has won a string of literary awards never before given to a comic book. Fans are hugely possessive and in some cases, obsessive, about the work, which meant anyone trying to adapt the novel was in for a tough ride.

Enter director Zack Snyder who stood up to the Hollywood studios who wanted to cannibalise the novel and turn it into a fluffy PG rated franchise. Instead he stayed true to the story and fellow Watchmen fans and created about as faithful an adaptation as you could hope for.

He says it wasn’t an easy task though and even he wasn’t sure he could do it: “It is a weird movie, there’s no two ways about it, but I think in a good way. I wasn’t sure I would have the ability to make it the way I thought

it should be made. I didn’t know what that would take. When I got the project the studio had in mind a PG-13 (certificate), a two-hour movie along the lines of Batman’s Dark Knight, so what you end up with is a sequalable franchise of Watchmen. So I knew it was going to be a hard and slow process to convince the studios to allow me to turn it into a 18 rated, two and a half hour, morally ambiguous, philosophical experiment. It’s a big difference to what they expected, but to their credit, they let me have a say.”

Purists might argue a vital component (the story of the Black Freighter, to those in the know) is missing, but even then, Snyder has shown his respect for the novel and its fans by releasing the story separately on DVD with Gerald Butler starring as the voice of the Captain. He’s even planning to interweave that back into the main movie to create the ultimate three and a half hour long Watchmen film later this year.

It’s hard to believe Watchmen is only Snyder’s third film as director – previously he directed the remake of the George Romero’s classic, Dawn of the Dead and the adaptation of graphic novel, 300.

I asked him why he decided to take on a project that many have described as ‘unfilmable’. With so much pressure on him was he never tempted to walk away and leave it to someone else?

“It was tempting and difficult. It was a little bit of acting. They asked me what I thought and I was going ‘Hmmmm, well, it’s… interesting.

I’ll er…take a look at that.’ Then I’d go home and go ‘They’re CRAZY!!!’

But that was part of the problem, I couldn’t just walk away. I had to give it a try because if I’d said no they may have just gone down the street and called the next guy on the roller-deck. It could have been some super-faithful freak like me, but it could have been a journeyman looking for a step-up.”

“I missed the individual comics, but read it as a graphic novel when

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Review

it was first collected in 1988. I was aware of it and my friends were all comic-book freaks and were saying how cool it was…. I was in film school and I finally got around to reading it and was pretty gung-ho. I thought I could make a movie out of anything. I could make a movie out of this coffee-table, of that door-knob! The problem was I read Watchmen and it scared me. It didn’t occur to me it COULD be a movie. It blew my mind. It was its own thing. The thing that was interesting was that it stayed with me and was always on the shelf and I’d crack it open every now and then. When they called me I re-lived that moment again of ‘IS this a film I could make? It was a little… daunting.”

The film is a proper family affair with Zack’s wife Debbie as co-producer and his son even making an appearance as the young Rorsach, one of the key characters in the novel.

Casting the movie must have been a minefield, as the filmmakers were never going to please everyone. With social networking groups and forums speculating on who should play which character, it must have been an impossible task.

“It’s a true ensemble piece with no real character outshining the others, so to have a ‘star’ in any role would have undermined that vital element of the plot.”

To Snyder’s credit he didn’t opt for obvious crowd pulling big names, but instead cast established, less mainstream actors, who were able to embrace the characters and really make them their own.

Award-winning theatre actor Patrick Wilson is gradually making a name for himself on the big screen following movies like Little Children, starring Kate Winslett – the one with the washing machine sex scene! Lakeview Terrace and Blue Monday, out later this year.

He plays Dan Dreiberg, aka The Nite Owl, who has the best gadget in the movie – an airship called Archie. His character is an ex-superhero who has swapped his costume for a quieter life, although he still keeps his superhero gizmos under his house.

Forced to resurrect his alter ego when one of his former colleagues is murdered; “Dan has gotten soft physically, politically and sexually.

Without the costume he doesn’t have an identity. He has no place in society and feels impotent in the face of its problems. He’s terrified to put the suit on, but can’t seem to live without being Night Owl. He has an old-fashioned sense of values. He sees the good in people. When he went out and fought crime, it was about justice and helping people,” said Wilson.

And this is one of Watchmen’s strongest pulling points, the fact the characters are so well rounded compared to other, more traditional superheroes. In this world the heroes are realistic, they have sexual and behavioural problems and not all the Watchmen have the same selfless motivation as Dan. For example, The Silk Spectre is now an alcoholic living in a retirement home who passed the superhero mantle to her daughter who just wants a normal life.

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Although that’s kind of difficult when your other half’s a supersize, superbeing with the power to control matter.

Malin Akerman plays Laurie Jupiter aka Silk Spectre II. Her journey is one of coming to terms with who she is and where she comes from.

She says it was refreshing to see rounded, morally dubious superheroes in a world where ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’ are not that easily defined: “The beauty of this novel and film is that it’s the deconstruction of superheroes… I think Patrick’s character is the most similar to, say, Batman. The whole idea is that this is NOT your typical superhero film, it’s asking ‘if superheroes were real what would they be like? If you can relate it to things in real life, which this film often does, it’s all about people on a regular basis and how they wear masks. There is a lot of sadness in the world, there are a lot of questions. You don’t see people walking down the street laughing their heads off. More often than not they’re looking down. This film is about the truths behind the masks - both metaphorically and literally.”

She says having the graphic novel to refer to was a great help. I asked her if her skin-tight, latex costume made it easier or harder to get into character?

I couldn’t hide much in my costume, let’s put it that way!

Two months before the shoot-date I started training with a Navy SEAL and went to a boot-camp. I’d never done anything that heavy or harsh before. It was exciting and horrific at the same time. But, ultimately, I got a bit of muscle and a month out, we started doing the fight choreography and did that through the full six months of shooting. On the days off we’d try rehearsing in our costumes and that’s very different from doing it in running shoes! It was all challenging, but in a great way. I think I had four or five changes in outfits. The problem is that every time you put on latex it stretches a bit so the next time you put it on, it’s a little easier. But they always want the tighter one, so each day it’d be a new one. It’d take a good half-hour just to peel it on and off!

It was actually a pleasure to play characters that were fully fleshed out and to have the visuals and all the details that are in the novel and then the fun of living vicariously and learning how to fight and do all these amazing fight sequences.”

Whether Malin Akerman in latex and a 7ft naked Billy Crudup are enough to pull in mainstream audiences, with no prior knowledge of the Watchmen phenomenon, remains to be seen. Comic book fans will no doubt have their own opinions of the slight changes made in the movie, but will hopefully appreciate the effort Zack Synder has put in to try and stay true to the soul of the novel.

One thing is certain, with the adaptation of Wanted hitting our cinemas last year and Watchmen and Kick Ass (out this Autumn) following in its wake, the superhero movie has grown up!

To answer the question asked throughout the graphic novel, ‘Who’s Watching the Watchmen?’ We are…!

All the images used in this article are taken from Clay Enos's book Watchmen portraits. The book is published by Titan Books.

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trAvel

necessary evils THE SCARY THInG ABOuT THE WEB IS THE AMOunT OF SITES YOu CAn unWITTInGLY FInD YOuRSELF On. IT’S LIkE GOInG TO THE SuPERMARkET FOR A PInT OF MILk AnD EMERGInG HALF An HOuR LATER WITH A LuMP OF CHEESE, A BOTTLE OF RED AnD A REDuCED PRICED PIZZA, OH AnD A BOX OF BISCuITS TO STAvE OFF IMMEDIATE IMAGInARY HunGER. Writer: Suzannah Sorrell

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Travel

Left: Aviator's Sky Studio's with walk-in wardrobe, free mini bar, large bathroom complete with separate shower and bath and waterproof TV. Top: The Gaudi-esq central staircase.

Far Right: Aviation themes abound, right down to little blue aeroplane within the rooms.

A nice friendly touch against the slickness of the decor.

Far Right: Aviator's sumptiously decorated Sky Lounge, which is sadly no longer available to Sky Studio guests.

O

n a recent research expedition I discovered the wonderful world of www.motorwayservices.info, which needs no introduction, as it does exactly what it says on the tin. The worrying thing about this tale is the amount of time I spent on this site. It was riveting stuff and, no, I’m not taking the Michael, honest!

Within seconds I was intrigued by the blog headlines in particular one which read, ‘The 49th worst thing about modern football is…

Motorway Service Stations.’ It turned out it was a quote from a recent article in The Times. Next up was a posting entitled ‘In The News…’ where the website owners proudly state that the site has been featured in the Daily Express. My mind raced. What sort of person sets up a site about motorway service stations and, more alarmingly, who posts comments on a blog about them, and why do I care!? Forget big brother, this is far more interesting. All they needed was a celebrity chef and they’d be away…

Hang on a minute, hasn’t Heston Blumenthall, the three-Michelinstarred chef famed for his ‘mad scientist’ approach to cooking, just completed the challenge of turning around ‘70’s icon, Little Chef? The proof of this particular pudding is now available for all to sample at the Popham branch on the A303 near Basingstoke. Thanks to the ‘bluesky-thinking’ obsessed Chief Executive, this is the only restaurant to receive the ‘Heston’ magic. The rest are still as dismal and as empty as ever.

Service stations are without doubt a necessary evil; for the most part unavoidable, mostly horrible, some tolerable, but all outrageously expensive, where a cup of dirty water masquerading as coffee is invariably served at 4am by disillusioned Brian, 24, from Birchanger.

Another of life’s necessary evils is the airport hotel – invariably expensive, transient and soulless. Fortunately, it has dawned on a few forward-thinking hoteliers, no doubt as they tossed and turned in an uncomfortable shoe-boxed sized room at some airport or another, that they don’t have to feel like featureless detention centres. They too can be luxurious, design-lead and as comfortable as any premium hotel – perhaps even become destinations in their own right.

Take the Radisson SAS at Zurich airport, the vision of Italian architect Matheo Thun, famed for his retreat-style hotels in stunning Alpine locations. The cutting edge design, complemented by up-to-theminute amenities, even incorporates the world’s tallest wine tower – a 45-foot, 4,000-bottle colossus. Then there’s the InterContinental O’Hare in Chicago and the six-month old Sofitel at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, designed by the same people responsible for Dubai’s Burj al Arab. And, it’s not just at major airports where you’ll find this new style of airport hotel.

TAG Aviation, the super slick private aviation centre in Hampshire, has designed and built a fabulous property, appropriately named The Aviator. Cleverly designed to look like a propeller from above, it is a stones throw from the terminal and has full vantage of the vast runway.

And to be honest, it couldn’t have come soon enough. For those fortunate enough to fly from TAG, the only alternative is a particularly gruesome Holiday Inn. Instead of recounting my own dubious experiences there, I’ll let you check out the comments for yourself on Trip Adviser!

The Aviator’s unique and grandiose modern central staircase sets the scene for this bold statement hotel, offering the quality you’d expect to find in a great city such as London or New York. This architectural masterstroke both greets and encourages you to forgo the lift in favour of the stairs, and look skywards to view it in its entirety as you make your way to the first floor reception.

Book one of the 19 sumptuously decorated sky studios on the fourth floor, all offering superb views of the runway, which, until recently, offered access to the nearby private sky lounge and bar – unfortunately the latter is now used for private functions, which is a shame as exclusivity is now lost. The other 150 beautifully-appointed bedrooms are located along the ‘blades’ of the building, further divided into 12 Aviator-plus rooms on the third floor and 138 Aviator rooms, offering views of either Farnborough Road (not very inspiring) or the airport and runway (a bit more like it!)

There is no doubting that the Aviator Farnborough is a modern architectural success story, but they’ve also managed to create a relaxed and inviting environment, something that the corporates crave but can rarely deliver. The Aviator is warm, sexy and sassy with Gaudi-esq curved walls in deep plumb tones, lit with low-key lighting to produce a calm and restful ambience. Textures of modern wood panelling, autumnal coloured leather, velvet and fabric soft furnishings, together with aviator-themed pictures and effects and further accented by vivid raspberry-toned flower arrangements, create an interior-design masterpiece!

Add to that a refreshingly affordable restaurant, headed up by the talented Allan Pickett, serving simple elegant dishes with a touch of indulgence for those in the mood for something special. For those in a rush to catch a jet, the hotel even boasts its own New York styled deli.

The only foreseeable fly-in-the-ointment is that after the Aviator your onward destination hotel had better not be too beige otherwise you’ll be sorely tempted to get back on your plane and return to the Aviator!

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Travel

Gr and Designs Ever renovated, built or developed a property? Then you probably have, at some point or another, been glued to an episode of Grand Designs. Listened as Kevin McCloud encouraged, criticised or praised the efforts of those brave enough to take on a monumental project, for the most part without prior experience, just a passion for doing things their way.

Writer: Suzannah Sorrell Photographer: Jarowan Power

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A

s the trials and tribulations unfold during the hour long programme and the rollercoaster ride of emotions play out, a ‘Yoda-like’ Kevin is always on hand to question the integrity of the design, the building materials used and to air his frustrations as to why no one seems able to follow schedules or complete projects on budget.

One wonders what Kevin would make of Oundle Mill, a recently renovated watermill at the edge of the historic market town of Oundle, although we’ll never know as it was a commercial project rather than a personal one. Formerly Barnwell Mill, the landmark building dates back to the times of the Norman Conquest and is noted in the Domesday Book. A working mill up to the Second World War, utilising the power of the River Nene, it fell into disrepair some years later.

Fortunately its current owners, Sarah and Mark Harrod, discovered it in 2005, by which time it was called Oundle Mill, and embarked on a conversion which works in sympathy with its traditional structure.

Transforming it into a restaurant of substance with luxurious rooms atop. As with any Grand Design however, it took a lot longer than planned. Two and half years in fact, thanks to the usual problems with builders, planners and bats! Speaking of which, planning permission has just been granted to add a further 19 rooms, bringing the total to 21 by 2010.

Arranged over four floors, connected by a glass-walled central staircase, the mill has certainly been given a new lease of life. Exposed stone

Travel

walls, elegant flagstone floors, wooden beams and ‘wow factor’ glass floor panels – a window to the millrace below, all provide clues of what to expect in this confidently-styled property. Great service and attention to detail can also be expected and is key to the success of the project.

On the first-floor, you’ll find a relaxed rustic European-style restaurant, with a stylish bar running the width of the building. Here exquisite wines by the glass, cocktails and a good selection of beers can be enjoyed on large comfortable sofas, where patrons can ensconce themselves, allowing diners and drinkers to coexist happily.

The clever use of up-lighting along the stone walls, funky background ‘lounge’ music and stylish Italian furniture, provide a sense of seamless fluidity throughout.

On the next level, to the right of the staircase you’ll find a fabulous fine dining restaurant, which has two very distinct personalities. By day, light floods the low beamed room; by night, elegant, intimate and seductive. And to the left is the heart of Oundle Mill, a viewable kitchen full of the happiest chefs we’ve ever met, turning the whole restaurant into a chef’s table, but on a grand scale – one where everyone gets to enjoy watching the amiable chefs prepare their creations, which are ever evolving, exciting and creative. We tried Venison from the nearby Denham Estate with chocolate parfait, and roasted cannon of local lamb with artichokes and beans. By the time you have devoured every last morsel, which includes their signature pre-dessert, ‘the egg’, (its ingredients are a well-kept secret but you just have to try it) polished

off a couple of desserts, wine and coffee, retiring upstairs to the large and sumptuously designed Mill Room is the only viable option.

Set in the eves, tradition and technology collide with aplomb. From the remote controlled natural flame fire to the state of the art Loewe TV and Bose entertainment system, gadgets are aplenty. Romantics can relax in the enormous oval bath and infuse in the unisex aroma of Jo Malone’s bath oil before sinking into the 6ft bed. You will also find a characterful state-of-the-art meeting room and clever Lucom bedroom on this level.

Oundle Mill is so well executed that on visiting one had to ask if an interior designer had gotten their mitts on the place but, no, it was all their own work, right down to the last minor details of which there are many. And that’s where Oundle Mill will win over the competition. The attention to detail is second to none, the location and views fantastic.

And, of course, there is Stopit! This delightful Lurcher is ever ready to encourage you to walk off some of your indulgence and throw him some sticks along the way in the nearby Barnwell Country Park.

Oundle Mill – a delight for the senses in every way. Kevin would be proud!

Oundle Mill, Barnwell Road, Oundle, Northamptonshire 01832 272621 info@oundlemill.co.uk www.oundlemill.co.uk

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Dining

Can't decide?

I don’t know about you, but the biggest problem I face when eating out is choosing what to eat. It’s as though I get attention deficit disorder whenever a menu is presented. My eyes rove the menu like a crazed rabbit caught in the headlights. I just can’t lock onto one particular dish.

Writer: Sam Ross

P

erhaps it’s borne out of fear, fear that I’ll choose the wrong dish.

And guess what, I invariably do.

Take the other week. I was dining with a recently crowned Michelinstarred chef and was torn between the Sea Bass, chicken and something else. Eventually, I passed the buck and he chose for me. Big mistake, as I still found myself battling food envy, convinced I should have gone for the simpler chicken dish, which my partner was happily tucking into.

‘Tasting menus’ solve this problem to a certain degree, as invariably they offer an opportunity to try between five to eight of the chef’s finest selections from their à la carte menus, but in miniaturised form, akin to Spanish tapas. The only downside; you find yourself strangely drawn to the largest one, as it usually has all the dishes you’d have chosen for yourself.

This happened when my friend Ian and I visited the Landau. The flagship restaurant of the Langham Hotel features an impressive, vaulted, glass-fronted wine corridor, that tempts the taste buds with rare and unique wines from around the globe as you pass by en-route to your table, or booth in our case – a much more private and cosy way to dine.

From this position we were able to appreciate the vast, gilded décor of our surroundings, with partial wood panelling and elegant horse figurines dotted above the booths, doorways and around the central light fixtures.

We hadn’t intended to order a ‘taster menu’ or ‘grazing menu’ as they call it, to be honest, as it was after 9pm when we sat down, but we, sorry I mean I, couldn’t decide what to have, and as starters varied between £13£17.50, mains £30 and desserts £8, they

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looked to represent good value for money.

No wonder the Landau has become popular with ‘Top Table’ devotees. Through them, you can tuck-into three courses for around £32, including a glass of bubbly! This also means you get a strange cross-section of diners.

Predictably, the ‘eight course’ menu priced at £72.50 per head was favoured and won the ‘eyes bigger than your belly’ battle over the more manageable five-course menu at £50.

‘All the courses are perfectly balanced so you won’t get overwhelmed,’ promised the rather suave restaurant manager, Franco Becci, whose eyes twinkle as he welcomes you to his domain.

With caution gone to the wind, we plunged in and ordered a bottle of Chablis Domaine La Boissonneuse ’07 to get things rolling, but not before I decided to complicate things by requesting a change of starter…!

Oh how I wish I hadn’t meddled with Chef Turner’s carefully constructed ‘grazing menu,’ especially as he invented the concept!

Although the Ravioli of winter truffle, Beaufort cheese and thyme with an almond and wild mushroom velouté was nice, it was usurped by my companion’s chicken consommé with truffle bonbon. No words can describe the intensity of flavour. It was without doubt the star of the night!

Next came the carpaccio of milk fed veal with hazelnuts, Parma ham and white balsamic, followed by an enormous helping of foie gras and apple which, despite being served with some sweet wine, to counteract its richness, just about finished me off. It doesn’t matter how much I try to like foie gras, I just don’t!

Seared scallop, caramelised cauliflower puree with black pudding, capers and raisins merged

into the Cornish turbot with savoy cabbage, squid ink and liquorice pasta with broccoli, which was somewhat disappointing as the delicacy of the turbot fought for attention amidst the other ingredients.

After this, we opted for a short break to aid our stomachs and take in the ambience of the recently refurbished restaurant that opened last November. This also provided the perfect opportunity to chat with the extremely accommodating, mostly Italian and northern European staff all of whom served us with a smile and a sense of humour – a rarity in establishments such as this!

Whilst we chastised ourselves for choosing eight courses – it was simply too much and too rich for our thimble-sized stomachs to take – we did manage to munch our way through a dish of succulent slow cooked Castle Mey Angus beef, served with wild mushrooms, ox tongue and sweet meat sauce – delicious!

The least successful of all the courses were the desserts; a little strange to say the least.

The mango egg was so well executed it had the look and texture of a semi-boiled egg, a fact our brains struggled to compute and comprehend, especially after so much food.

Once the brain registered mango rather than half-cooked yolk, we were fine, but it was an odd dish to get your head around. And finally, the orange parfait with banana, allspice and fromage frais sorbet didn’t rouse much response either.

Although we enjoyed the experience, we found the menu somewhat convoluted for our palettes, but as my guest said, it’s a great place to entertain clients! www.thelandau.com

DrinKS

Drinks trolley Jose Cuervo Platino Tequila Most banish Tequila to shot glasses, with the obligatory salt and a wedge of lime, usually to mark the end of a good night out. Tequila aficionados however, wouldn’t dream of ruining the complexities of this undervalued spirit by drinking it like this.

And no one in their right minds would serve Jose Cuervo Platino, one of the most prestigious silver tequilas made from 100% blue agave, Mexico’s prized native plant, with anything other than ice! www.josecuervoplatino.com

Snow Queen Vodka Snow Queen, the award-winning Vodka, has got more gold medals than Olympic cyclist Chris Hoy! Distilled five times and 100% organic, it is one of the purest and smoothest vodkas available. The only vodka to be sold by the Magnum at Nobu Berkeley Square, it is now available in 50cl bottles, although it is so quaffable, we’ll be sticking with the Magnums! www.snowqueenvodka.com

Kasteel Cru Lager Made using Champagne yeast, Kasteel Cru is one of the finest lagers available. Light in appearance, delicately carbonated, with a slight fruit-like characteristic and not a hint of bitterness, it delivers an immediate ‘zing’ in the mouth and is exceptionally refreshing and moreish.

An elegant alternative to Champagne! www.kasteelcru.com

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A Rare

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Lifestyle

Seasonal work

Image: Courtesy of Mattias Johansson

Writer: Simon Skeffington

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Lifestyle

Above: Artist impression of what the main entrance to the Snoasis development will look like.

T

he ski season is almost at an end, or is it? Traditionally, Easter marks the official end to the ski season, with most resorts closing their doors straight after the Easter fortnight whether there is snow or not.

But due to heavy snowfall over the past two months across the majority of the worlds ski resorts, many are opting to cash in by staying open long after that, even though Easter falls incredibly late this year.

American resorts like Mammoth Mountain in California, Alapahoe Basin in Colorado, Snowbird in Utah and, finally, Mount Bachelor in Oregon, offer very long seasons typically closing between mid May and late June. In select resorts in Europe however, the season never actually ends. Zermatt in Switzerland offers 365 days of skiing, Europe’s highest ski lifts and a clever new snow-maker that can produce enough snow even when temperatures are above freezing.

Another option is to head to the Swedish resort of Riksgransen. This incredible northernmost ski resort sits 200km above the Arctic Circle and generally rewards die-hard skiers with plenty of action, made even more fun towards the end of May, when visitors can expect 24hour daylight and lifts that stay open until midnight! How cool is that, if you’ll pardon the pun? It gets better; throughout May heli-ski is offered at reasonable prices.

With the exception of Zermatt, however, resorts can rarely guarantee the white powdery stuff will still be around late on in the season, so it is always a gamble. Although not quite the same, you could travel six hours to the desert and head indoors. Ski Dubai offers opportunities to hone techniques on five different runs, practice your jumps on its 400-metre long snowboarding run or improve tobogganing skills before enjoying some après-ski – a walk along pristine, albeit manmade, beaches.

Come 2012, however, all this uncertainly will come to an end as SnOasis, the worlds first indoor winter sports resort, will open its vast doors and, in so doing, usurp both Ski Dubai and any of the five indoor ski domes around the UK – Chill Factore in Manchester, Sno!zone in Glasgow, Castleford and Milton Keynes or, The Snow Centre, the newest one, in Hemel Hempstead.

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Right: Dan Wakeham, one of the UK's best snow boarders, doing what he does best.

Based in Suffolk, the epic ski, leisure and tourism complex will house Europe’s largest indoor ski slope, measuring 415m long by 70m wide, with a 100m vertical drop; a 1.5km dedicated cross-country skiing track, the UK’s first 400m ice speed skating track and 100m dry bobsleigh push start, to name but a few. SnOasis will have the capacity to cater for 2,400 skiers per hour and 14 different winter disciplines will be able to train under one roof, which is simply astonishing.

Currently a muddy 50-acre building site near Ipswich, the £350million privately funded development will be transformed into the UK’s first ‘centre of excellence’ for competitive snow sports.

SnowsportGB, the governing body for the British Ski and Snowboard Teams, has announced a major sponsorship deal with SnOasis which will become the first UK-based training home for the British Ski and Snowboard Teams, comprising top athletes such as skiers Chemmy Alcott and Noel Baxter, plus Dan Wakeham, the successful halfpipe snowboarder, who became the first British male to complete at Olympic level in Turin three years ago, together with future ski and snowboard stars.

For athletes like Wakeham, SnOasis should revolutionise their training schedules, as there will be a massive 22ft super pipe for him to practise on. “I’m stoked to hear about the SnOasis development. Having a World Cup standard halfpipe in our own back garden will be a huge boost for our training programme, cutting down on a lot of our travel.

I hear there is an indoor Halfpipe in Japan which the Japanese Team use a lot for training and they are currently producing some of the best athletes in the world. I wish there had been a similar facility when I was learning to ride”.

1 Degree will be visiting the site to follow the development of this exciting and ambitious winter sports project. Updates will be available on our website www.1degreeonline.co.uk, so all you snow lovers can log on and track its progress.

In the meantime, wherever you decide to ski, have fun and don’t break a leg!

Lifestyle

Image: Courtesy of KAOS

‘resorts can rarely guarantee the white powdery stuff will still be around late on in the season, so it is always a gamble’

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Back to basics We locked the bikes together and descended the steep stone steps to the lake, where tiny fishing boats sauntered across the surface, entire families on the shore awaiting their catch.

Writer: Greg Hardes Photographer: Greg Hardes

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ur half-hour break inevitably turned into two hours, but we eventually mustered the energy to leave. Reaching the top of the steps, our brains were slow to react to what our eyes could clearly see - both bikes, complete with all our worldly possessions, being hauled onto the back of a pickup truck by four Mexican men! We ran to the truck, surging with adrenaline, and physically hauled our bikes from the pickup, dumping them unceremoniously but safely away from the vehicle, whilst the driver attempted in vain to reverse away. The bikes were still locked together – the combined load proved cumbersome enough to delay the would-be thiefs. We stood guarding our precious bikes, exchanging bi-lingual insults, caught between anger and shock. One of the men, clearly the scummiest of the scumbags, a walking offense to humanity, persisted to shout abuse at us and our 'madres'. Thankfully this disgrace was driven away, though not before drawing the blade of his knife, threatening us, and aggressively ripping open his white vest. Looking back, we thought he probably regretted this, as he would have to buy a new vest, and noted that he should probably do some pectoral and ab

work before repeating such a gesture. Pumped with rage, tempered with relief, and barely able to comprehend how close we had come to being 'two guys walking to Costa Rica' Rewind two months; Mark and I are sitting at our homes in Southend and Enfield respectively, despairing over the ill-timed liquidation of Zoom Airlines, the evening before our planned flight to Vancouver, that would have set our long-awaited adventure in motion. By this stage however, calling the whole thing off was out of the question, after the hours upon hours spent raising money and awareness for our cause, not to mention our bicycles, kindly donated

by Muddy Fox specifically for the trip. The money raised for the trip was to be donated for a project set up by Plan International, which entailed the construction of classrooms and facilities in a primary school in the north of Guatemala. We bit the bullet and booked another flight, accepting that our already tight budget would need to be squeezed even tighter.

The two of us had met in 2005 whilst coaching tennis at a summer camp in New Hampshire, USA. Our friendship went from strength to strength after returning to England

Travel

Far Left: Mark and I heading for the hills...

Middle Left: A pumkin patch in California in preparation for Haloween.

Top Left: Gaint Cacti at sunset.

Top Right: Yet another hill, Mexico.

Right: Fishing boats and market, Mexico.

Bottom Right:Rainbow in Panama.

Far Bottom Right: A child at the Candelaria Primary school in San Pedro Carcha, Guatemala.

and regularly meeting up to write songs on our guitars, busk and occasionally play the odd gig. We began to speak of travelling; drooling over world maps for hours and fantasising about the unlimited potential for adventure once our respective commitments had come to an end (after graduating from Loughborough Mark was undertaking a two-year teaching course and I was studying Graphic Design in Norwich). As our impending freedom grew closer, so did our eagerness to explore the world. We were determined to undertake something big – something challenging that would really push our mental and physical capabilities to their limits and beyond. And so, after much deliberation, we came upon a plan to cycle across two continents, from Canada to Costa Rica.

Our objective was to live as simply and as cheaply as possible; cooking our own food and sleeping in a small tent wherever we were allowed to pitch it. These elements coupled with the fact that our mode of transport was obviously free of charge meant that we were able to limit our spending to as little as $5 each per day. We went with the mentality that excessive amounts of money equalled unnecessary comforts - which in-turn meant a diluting of cultural experience. It was important that our travels went beyond a checklist of places on a map; where situations of adversity are equally important to moments of joy, and where appreciation of every single meandering experience is essential. We wished to completely immerse ourselves in the everyday realities of life in each respective country.

Nowhere was this ethos so important as in Guatemala, a country that we fell in love with from the moment we pedalled across its border from the giant land-mass that is Mexico. We were excited to finally observe first hand, what the considerable amount of money raised through the generosity of friends and family back home – not to mention the people we met along the way on the North American leg of the cycle – would contribute towards, and we were not disappointed. Despite being informed that the school was on vacation for the next month, what greeted us upon our arrival was far from the empty institute we had expected. The whole village of Candelaria had gathered on the school grounds to greet us! It struck me that for the past three and a half months we had been nothing more than glorified hobos and yet suddenly, we were being held in esteem, and treated like celebrities.

I enjoy a small ego massage as much as the next guy but this was something else – a situation in which I felt distinctly uncomfortable.

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However, as the morning unfolded with speeches by the heads of the village, singing and dancing from some of the kids, the formal nature of the event had all but disappeared.

We were able to talk to some of the children, who we found out had been specially selected by their peers to be representatives of the school, and spoke to us ingenuously about their aspirations for the future; aspirations that seemed to have been instilled by some of the excellent projects already undertaken by Plan International over the past few years.

Things happen when you travel on a bicycle. We have seen the vast sandy beaches of Oregon, the redwoods of Northern California, the lavish glamour of LA and the bohemia of Santa Cruz and San Diego; the culture shock of Mexico with its dry, suffocating heat and dangerous roads, illness and exhaustion, hospitality and hostility.

Throughout the course of our journey we have slept on starlit Mexican beaches, by a railway line, on a yacht, on the gravel floor of a Nicaraguan bar, in which UB40 was blasted from a jukebox into the small hours! On a building site by a ferry port, in a lakeside hammock surrounded by volcanoes, in a Guatemalan family home where 4 generations slept, and in a beachfront villa owned by a flamboyant Mexican motorbike enthusiast.

I have lost a tent while running away from a dog. We have wrestled our bikes from the pick-up truck of four wouldbe thieves. I have watched the sun set over deserted cliffs feeling like the king of the world, and laid in the roadside dirt under the baking sun next to a roadkill dog, unable to move through sheer exhaustion.

But, I can think of no better way to appreciate the intimate details of a place than by bicycle. In a motorised vehicle one may appreciate A, then travel to B. On a bicycle the very concept of A and B is academic. Travel is slowed to a pace where one can appreciate every single inconsistency in the road and subtle changes in landscape, culture and even atmosphere. On no other form of transport would we have had the opportunity to meet so many local people, allowing us to get a very real insight into subtle cultural quirks that simply would not have been accessible in the more tourist-friendly areas. Our journey seemed to flow like a river, steadily working its way through the landscape, never rushed, yet constantly on the move. The way life should be. www.onyerbike08.com www. plan-international.org

Directory Broad house hotel

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iscover Broad House, a unique boutique hotel offering 24 acres of secluded parkland on the edge of Wroxham Broads. Offering nine individually designed suites and bedrooms all with large spa-style bathrooms.

So whether visiting for a weekend break, celebratory evening meal in the fine dining restaurant serving local produce, vegetables and fruits from its own market garden or simply sipping a glass of Champagne out on the terrace, Broad House will deliver an unforgettably tranquil experience. Broad House Hotel lends itself to exclusive hire and is one of the finest venues in the region to celebrate your wedding day.

Broad House Hotel is, by far, one of the most

Broad House Country Estate Hotel, The Avenue, Wroxham, Norfolk NR12 8TS 01603 783567 info@broadhousehotel.co.uk www.broadhousehotel.co.uk

Cinema City

St benedict's restaurant

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t. Benedict’s restaurant, small but beautifully formed! Owned for 16 years by Jayne and Nigel Raffles, St Benedicts really is the flagship restaurant for the three other sites; Pinocchio’s, Pulse Café Bar and the wow factor Library Bar and Grill. All are located in Norwich city centre but manage to cater for many different styles of customers. St Benedict’s strengths are easy to see with fine food cooked by former Tom Atkins Chef Stuart Duffield, who concentrates on flavour and quality whilst not compromising excellent value for money. Jayne and restaurant manager Tom look after customers with friendly welcoming service and a well-chosen wine list. Not just for special occasions with lunch prices just £8.95

tuddenham mill

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stylish and luxurious boutique bolthole in an idyllic, rural Suffolk setting.

Combining years of history with a chic yet sympathetic refurbishment, this traditional watermill brings together an exceptional environment, a genuine passion for great food and wine, the ultimate in bedroom comforts and discrete yet attentive service.

With fifteen rooms featuring Italian designer furniture, over-sized beds, Bose sound systems and Loewe flat screen TVs, walk-in showers and Jo Malone toiletries, the hotel offers the ultimate in comfort and luxury.

In the restaurant, Head Chef Gordon McNeill and his team have created exciting, contemporary menus reflecting their passion for fresh food and local produce.

Whether a light snack by the mill pond, a traditional Sunday lunch with a twist or a romantic dinner in the elegant restaurant each dish is expertly and carefully prepared on the premises.

From £175 per night for a double room inclusive of breakfast and VAT. Tuddenham Mill, High Street, Tuddenham, Nr Newmarket, Suffolk, IP28 6SQ 01638 713552 info@tuddenhammill.co.uk www.tuddenhammill.co.uk

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beautiful places in Norfolk, to just be at peace with yourself, the beautiful countryside, the wildlife, and life in general. Travel to Broad House by boat, luxury limousine or helicopter and simply relax. New for the summer – cruiser available to charter for conferences, meetings for up to 12 people or just to spend time with friends enjoying Champagne.

for two courses, St Benedicts is testament to a well-run establishment with people that really care.

St Benedicts Restaurant, St Benedicts Street, Norwich.

Open Tuesday - Saturday for lunch & dinner 01603 765377 www.rafflesrestaurants.co.uk

Directory Jarowan power Photography

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ormer staff photographer for Group Lotus, Jarowan has photographed some of the world’s fastest and most beautiful cars. His work has taken him all over the world and is published internationally in books, advertisements and many magazines, including this one!

For the first time, Jarowan is taking private commissions. This exclusive service allows collectors the opportunity to commission ’brochure quality’ images.

To enquire, please email: info@jp-photo.co.uk www.jp-photo.co.uk

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acknowledgements

1 Degree Issue 5

We at Big Dog Consultancy would like to extend our sincerest thanks and appreciation to everyone who has contributed in whatever way to this issue of 1 Degree.

To our readers we hope that you have enjoyed the fifth issue of 1 Degree. Below you will find the contact details for the products, companies and services we have mentioned within the issue.

FRONT COVER

Photographer: Jarowan Power Model: Phil Spencer Location: London

Phil down under www.garringtoncountry.co.uk and Relax www.thaiwellbeing.com Departures www.saxonair.com

1 DegrEe Magazine

A new breed of gentlemen’s quarterly is published by Big Dog Consultancy Ltd – a new breed of creative agency. It is available at premium car dealerships, golf clubs, hotels, marinas, gastro pubs and menswear shops. It is also available on private jets, private helicopter charters, fairline yachts and at Honda Powerboat races through the UK. 1Degree is also mailed to an exclusive readership of racing drivers, golfers and international travellers.

1Degree is available online and an html link is emailed to each of our members every quarter.

Big Dog Consultancy Ltd Quorn Cottage, Horse Shoe Road, Welborne, Norwich, Norfolk, NR20 3LF www.bigdogconsultancy.co.uk Tel: 01362 858862 Email: enquiries@1degreeonline.co.uk Visit: www.1degreeonline.co.uk Advertising Sales team Tel: 08443 578244 sales@1degreeonline.co.uk Editorial Team Editor-in-Chief: Suzannah Sorrell Motoring Editor: Suzannah Sorrell Staff Writer: Simon Skeffington Contributing Writers Dina Burgess Damian Harty Jeffrey Ross Keith Saunt Greg Hardes Sam Ross Marc le Scidd Design Team Art Editor: Patrick Benjamin Photographer: Jarowan Power

Cleared for takeoff www.embraer.com Before the DBS www.marshallaerospace.com www.astonmartin.co.uk Why does it always rain on me www.ferrari.com Two for one www.lexus.co.uk New beginnings www.autodromodoalgarve.com www.worldsbk.com Frozen out www.triumph.co.uk The race for pace www.redbullracing.com www.ing–renaultf1.com www.f1.com European masters www.seveballesteros.com www.porto-santogolf.com www.royalobidos.com www.quintadovale.com

Copyright: Big Dog Consultancy Ltd Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the information in this publication is accurate, Big Dog Consultancy does not accept, and hereby disclaims, any liability to any party to loss or damage caused by errors or omissions resulting from negligence, accident or any other cause. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission of the publisher. All material has been published in good faith as having been supplied for publication. Information correct at time of going to press. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of material used in this publication.

Big Dog Consultancy does not offically endorse any advertising material or editorials for third party products included within this publication. Care is taken to ensure advertisers follow advertising codes of practice and are of good standing, but the publisher cannot be held responsible for any errors.

Big Dog Consultancy Ltd VAT number GB 907415041 Registered in England under number 5499878 1 Degree magazine is avaliable by subscription.

For further information, please visit the website www.1degreeonline.co.uk and click subscribe.

The cover price of the magazine is £5.00.

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Products with a Mixed Sources label support the development of responsible forest management worldwide. The wood comes from FSC certified well-managed forests, company controlled sources and/or post-consumer reclaimed material.

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Controlled wood is not FSC certified, but is controlled by the company to exclude: a) Wood from forest areas where traditional or civil rights are violated. b) Wood from forests where high conservation values are threatened. c) Wood from genetically modified (GM) trees. d) Illegally harvested wood. e) Wood from natural forests which have been harvested for the purpose of converting the land to plantations or other non – forest use.

Fishermans Friend With thanks to John Wilson Who watches the watchmen www.watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com www.clayenos.com can't decide www.thelandau.com

TT-COC-002452

Aviator www.aviatorfarnborough.co.uk Seasonal Work www.snoasis.co.uk www.danwakeham.blogspot.com Thanks to Andrew & Alicia www.lge.com back to basics www.onyerbike08.com www.plan-international.org www.greghardes.com

Consultancy A New breed of Creative Agency www.bigdogconsultancy.co.uk

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