Relaxation

Oh it's so great to be done with exams.  I think these three went pretty good, still kinda nervous to find out results though.  Been packing this afternoon, should be able to take advantage of my one free checked bag.

Tonight we have organis(z)ed a Christmas dinner for everyone.  Luckily it's in Milton Keynes, and I can walk there.  Should be a fun time.

My train leaves at 714 for London.  I've probably left too much time, but just don't want to be late and who knows what security and the weather might bring. The forecast is better, so I should be ok.  I'll probably take a bus over to the rail station, which won't really save me any time, but I won't have to walk with the suitcase at least.  Or maybe I'll get up and it won't be raining and I'll just walk, we'll see.

And it's snowing outside!  Really didn't feel cold enough for that on the walk home.

Well I guess the next time I talk to most of you I will actually be home!  Looking forward to seeing everyone and having a great Christmas.

2 More to Go

I think today's exam went well.  I ran out of time to write everything I wanted, which I think is good overall since that means I had plenty of in depth explanations.  We were all expecting some more math intensive questions, so a lot of the equation memory was a lost cause unfortunately.

We're supposed to have a small snow shower tonight, and the cold is coming back at the end of the week.  Hope it doesn't cause problems at Heathrow:

Guess we will see on Friday!

Well back to a little more studying.  Tomorrow is an open note exam, so trying to make sure I have a good handle on where everything is in my binder so I can find things quickly!  I didn't like how we took the exam this time - and presumably the same for the next two.  We had 3 other classes with us, and we were all in the gym, which was cold, and just not a very good environment for the focus required on an exam.  Just have to deal with it though.

Quick Update

I've been busy studying, our final three exams start on Tuesday.  It's coming along pretty good, just hope I'm studying the right specifics!  I have been enjoying the gym which has provided a nice break each day.  Bought ingredients to make a burger from Sainsbury's this afternoon, so I'm looking forward to that. Going to keep studying while streaming the NFL games until I get hungry.  It's really hard to believe that I'll be home in less than a week, these 3 months have flown by.

It has been a bit warmer this weekend, and sunny, which was nice.  It's always good to not have to completely bundle up to walk anywhere.  Minnesota sounds like a mess right now though - can't believe what happened to the Metrodome!

More Studying Today

Back at the library after an early morning workout at the gym.  That was super nice because there were only like 4 people in there.  I've been studying hard in the mornings, and finding that I can't concentrate after say 4pm.  It gets to a point where I can tell I'm just kind of blankly staring at the notes, which is pretty unproductive.  I think I've been making good progress though.  Need to get some vehicle dynamics equations on some flash cards though, have to know those.

It was a much prettier day yesterday, though it was colder.  The sun was out and all the trees were covered in frozen fog.  Today it's just cloudy and still cold.  Amazing how much the sun helps when it is out.  Random - but all of the apples here are tiny - just an observation.

I did break down for a Krispy Kreme this morning, definitely not "Hot Now" like from Person Street, but still tasty.  How much is a dozen back home anyway?  It was 7.95 here, just curious to compare.

Today is also the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's murder.  Quite a big deal here, they spent nearly 10 minutes on BBC this morning talking about it.  I wonder if the event was as traumatic to so many people in the US as it was to the people over here?

Oh, and I'm glad I'm not in Scotland right now! More specifically I'm glad I'm not trying to drive or go anywhere in Scotland, the roads are a mess and it doesn't look like they will get any better any time soon.  I guess salt doesn't do anything at -18C...

Hello from the Library

Nothing too exciting, just getting some studying done.  Didn't realize that most of the stores here close at 4 on Sunday's, so I didn't get my shopping done yesterday.  I used it as an excuse to get breakfast out this morning, I got eggs florentine from a place in the mall near the library.  Not quite sure my plan for the rest of the day, but it will be some combination of shopping, walking back home for lunch, and possibly the gym.  Still trying to decide on that one.

Ah...Studying

Is going ok.  I feel like these subjects are much broader than the last exams we had, so I'm kind of struggling to develop a strategy for studying them.  There are just so many aspects to focus on.  Today I'm going to start going through the old exams we have.  However I don't want to totally focus on what those focused on, because obviously that should change!  The vehicle dynamics one is particularly equation intensive, so it might be flash cards for that.  The engine one is open note, so it is more about understanding, and knowing where to find the equations you need for each problem.  

The snow is all gone, it was misting from late afternoon on yesterday, which melted and washed away all the snow.  It is back to freezing today though.  I have one more day on my bus pass, and discovered that the ASDA in Bletchley is on a bus route that comes very close to my house.  After lunch I'm going to take the bus and some things to study down there and see if I can find somewhere to spend some time studying.  I'll do my shopping afterwards, I don't need a whole lot, just some lunch stuff for the week really.  I just can't do it all here, and I'd prefer to be out during the day when it is light (and the sun might stay out - I'll cross my fingers).  I also found the library by the mall - not sure why I couldn't find it earlier - but it is closed on Sunday.  I'll plan on spending other time this week there though, assuming it is comfortable inside.

I may join the gym too.  I got a free workout when I stopped by the other day, and it's been on my mind ever since.  Just don't know how much I'll use it after Christmas.  It is open till 10 each day, but I don't know if I'll really feel like it after the days at campus.  I'm also not exactly sure of our schedule for the group project, and whether that will make it easier or harder to find gym time.  So anyway, it's a 3 month contract at 30 GBP per month, so not the end of the world if I wound up only using it a couple times a week.  

Snow Cream!

My creation

I decided to make some snow cream before I got into studying yesterday.  Didn't use an egg, and didn't have any vanilla, so I used some cinnamon instead.  I think it turned out very good!  I got in some good studying before walking to dinner, where I got a lamb shank with minted gravy and potatoes, peas and carrots.  I'd been needing a break from cooking and having to wash dishes after every meal, and it really hit the spot.  I can't really find how much snow we got, but I think it was probably about an inch total over the few days, with some melting in between the "bigger" snows.

It is finally supposed to get above freezing this weekend, if only by 3 C.  We'll see if it actually happens.  At least the wind seemed to be much better last night.

I might try and see if the gym up near the mall does week-long or guest memberships.  That would be a great diversion from studying which I will need.  

Chocolates from Newport

The small ones have various hard sugar insides, the white one is blueberry creme, the red circular ring is a dark chocolate truffle, and the other one is a maple brazil nut.  

Done early again today due to the snow.  I think there will be more waiting for me at home, it was snowing much heavier on the walk to the bus than it was at school.  My jacket was basically covered in snowflakes by the time I got to the stop.  Our guest lectures and hands on data lab will happen next week.  That will cut into study time, but I'll have to make up for that with this afternoon and tomorrow.  Wasn't mentally ready for that, but I'll make it work nonetheless.  

I might have enough snow back home to attempt some snow cream, we will see when I get back home.

Snow Issues

Well part of our lecture (a guest presentation) today was cancelled because of the snow.  Our group has been well organized this week and we were able to finish our presentation before lunch too.  So that left me the afternoon free, which was both unexpected and nice.  I spent my time in Newport, studying on the laptop after buying some chocolates from a store there.  I wanted to try this little bakery I've seen, but they seem to close around 1pm every day unfortunately.  It was an enjoyable and relaxing afternoon, until waiting for the bus back home.  I got to the stop a couple minutes before a bus was scheduled, with another a few minutes behind.  Either would have gotten me home.  15 minutes later two buses turned up at once, the same route too.  I got on the first one, which I guess was the one that was actually on time, because he continued to wait at a couple stops as if he was late.  Then when we finally got to MK, the bus that was behind us in Newport was ahead of us and already at the stop.  I really wish I understood.  It's even more frustrating now that waiting 10 minutes means that I'm almost frozen to the core.  And the heating on the buses doesn't seem to work as well now either.

So it would've been nice to not have that frustration, but overall a good afternoon.  Trying to decide if I want to actually cook tonight or use a frozen meal.  I had kind of decided I'd go out tonight, but since I did have the afternoon off and spent a little money then, I changed my mind and will do something with food I have here.

I did kind of sleep through my alarm this morning, by about 40 mins actually, but was still able to get to the bus stop in time.  Forgot to set my backup alarm, and I usually like a leisurely morning, no sense in rushing things.

Snow in MK

Woke up this morning to nearly all white outside.  All the secondary roads on my walk to the bus were still almost completely white.  The bus was about 15 minutes late instead of its usual 5-8.  I was concerned that the roads near campus might be a bit too snowy, but they seemed fine, the bus wasn't particularly slow or anything.  It's been sunny most of the morning though, and some of it is starting to melt.  I think there may be more coming later in the week though.

The module has been ok so far, still very generic overviews, with not much application specific discussions so far.  I think that is coming though, we have a guy from Motec to talk with us this afternoon.  That should be more specific I would think.  We do have a little group assignment, but it's relatively easy, it's just to get us thinking about some of the concepts we've discussed so far.

Another Week

I had a good weekend, London was fun, though I keep forgetting it gets dark so early, so I didn't really see what I was trying to.  Spent most of yesterday reading through notes for the last two modules.  This week is Electronics and Data Acquisition.  I think I'm ready for a break from the modules though.  The days are very mentally exhausting.  Maybe this one will be a bit lighter than the last two though.

Here is a link to some pictures of the two cars from Friday.  Should be a video of the sand test in there too.

26-11-10 Tests and F1 Car

Last night I did buy some Scottish salmon from the Waitrose, and pan-grilled it with some cajun seasoning.  Used a leftover sweet potato to make some fries as well.  Got in a workout after dinner too, but I really am missing a true gym workout.  It's been too cold to run outside too.

A Short Picture Summary of the Last 24 Hours

I think we got actual snow last night, all the pavement seems pretty white

The nose and rear bodywork was on the floor so we could see the working bits of the car

A simple F1 wheel by today's standards, but notice how small the cockpit is

The Bowler Nemesis stuck in the sand pit

My casserole, couldn't get the marshmallows to brown though.  But it was quite a hit at our dinner, the recipe will be going out by email I believe.

Was a Tiring Week

But enjoyable overall, at least I'm looking forward to studying this module material a bit more than the others.  We did get to walk around and see a 2002 BAR Honda F1 car today, so that was just a little cool!  Watching the Bowler Nemesis sink into the sand pit at the off-road facility was also really neat to see.  Gonna keep this post short, not really feeling like too much writing right now.  I'll try and get up some pictures and a video of the Bowler on Sunday.

The forecast is for below freezing temps all weekend long.  Not sure I have enough warm clothes for that!  I am headed to London again tomorrow for the afternoon.  Going to try and check out Buckingham Palace and a couple of pubs of course too (I found another beer festival, I know, shocking).  The thing is though, it's a cheaper train to London, and almost as quick, than it is to get a taxi to campus.  And my bus pass expired yesterday, but I'm trying to see if I can get by on buying a couple weekly passes instead of another monthly one.

Headed to our Thanksgiving dinner in a few minutes, hopefully I didn't mess up the casserole too much.

Today Feels Kind of Weird

Well I saw the first snow of the year today!  There was light dusting as we headed west toward Shrivenham.  Supposedly there is a possibility of snow here in MK this weekend, but it doesn't seem very certain.

The labs were good, except that our group didn't get to use the 4 post rig.  A rear shock mount broke while we were at lunch and the technicians were running a test to film and take pictures.

The Broken Formula Renault Suspension

Picture a car sitting on four platforms, and the platforms can apply forces and or motion to the wheels of the car.  It can be used to simulate a given track or road condition, or just to see how the suspension reacts throughout the whole travel range.

You can kind of see 2 of the platforms that the car was sitting on.

We also tested the lateral force capabilities of a tire at different slip angles, tested damper settings on a single wheel station, and tested the response of just a single damper.

The slip angle test

There is no assignment, but we are encouraged to try and analyze the data for ourselves.

At lunch we had been told there was a McDonalds, or we could bring our lunch.  I brought a sandwich, but walked over to McDonalds with most of the other guys.  Wasn't planning on buying anything, but then they had a Terry's Chocolate Orange McFlurry.  I had to try it.  The chocolate orange stuff is super popular over here, you can buy it just about anywhere.  It is sold as regular bars, in little slices, and as the whole orange like I'm used to seeing at home. It was pretty fantastic in the McFlurry too!

I'm watching the Pats/Lions now, getting my sweet potatoes ready for the casserole.  I also bought a small carrot cake for dessert tonight, it was as close as I could find to pumpkin pie unfortunately.

Gonna Be a Long Day

But it should be good, we will have 3 presentations from current and former F1 engineers.  The first two are in the afternoon, one about the effects of tire (tyre) temperature on performance, and the next on general vehicle dynamics from a chief engineer at Renault who used to be Mark Webber's race engineer.  The last one is open to the public, but still on campus tonight at 7, with another engineer from Renault.  That one will probably be a bit more general, but we will see, the Q&A session could be interesting.

I think I've finally found a show on BBC that I can actually get into, it's called How Not to Live Your Life.  The 4 episodes I've watched so far have been pretty funny.  The other one's I've watched bits of are a bit too much like a soap.  And of course I don't know any of the characters backgrounds, so overall they just aren't very interesting.

I did buy the ingredients for my sweet potato casserole contribution to the Thanksgiving dinner on Friday.  Almost bought the "Carolina Sun" sweet potatoes from Tesco, but they were 3x the price of the other ones, so I didn't.  Wish me luck putting it all together!

Hopefully

Today goes better than the bus ride home yesterday.  To start off with, I think we were stopping without brake pads, the grinding noise was just awful.  Then there was what I suppose was an accident at the roundabout leading out of campus that caused a 10-15 minute backup.  All of that made the 40 minute ride home into an hour and 10 minutes.  I should've run home I think.  I decided my troubles were worth a stop at "The Barn" a Beefeater chain pub for a pint of Hobgoblin.

The lecture was pretty good.  Some basic things that I knew, but it was good to get reminders of a lot of the math and free body diagram analysis stuff.  I did learn some things too about how to interpret some different plots of data.  The rest of the week should be good.  One correction though - Shrivenham is for the 4 post rig and some other assorted testing equipment, the off-road facility is here.  We also have a few very exciting guest lectures tomorrow.

One thing I've been meaning to mention - a lot of people here who walk in groups like to just stay in the group, as wide as the sidewalk.  I think I will just run into the next one that does it to me, it's gotten a bit ridiculous.  I guess it's mostly on campus though, but it does happen around MK as well.

Hi

The 6:10 wake up call this morning was a bit rough, trying to catch up after a late night with some of the guys on Saturday.  Hopefully today's lecture isn't too introductory and will be easy to pay attention to.  This week is Vehicle Dynamics, which is really the area I'm most interested in.  On Thanksgiving Day we are travelling to the Shrivenham campus for the off-road testing facility.  Don't know the exact details of what we will be doing exactly though.  

I wish I had more to tell you.  I should start writing down the things that come to mind during the day to blog about.  I usually write in the mornings and by then all my ideas have slipped my mind unfortunately.

Oh like this for instance - I finally bought a jar of Branston Pickle.  I'd call it relish, that's really what it is for everyone back home.  I bought the seasonal Red Onion and Cranberry variety, and I'm using it on turkey sandwiches for lunch, quite appropriate for Thanksgiving I think!  I'm still curious about the Branston Pickle and Cheese sandwich I've been told to try, might be my next pub meal.

Well it's time to head to class, so hope everyone has a good Monday!

Sainsbury's

I'm finding Sainsbury's to be the best place to do most of my grocery shopping so far.  It's a decent walk, a little over a mile I think, maybe 1.5.  The problem is, it's only really convenient for me to go on Saturday's, and I wind up buying too much stuff and then the bags get real heavy on the walk back!  I do have two nicer reusable shopping bags that help some though.  What I should do is take the bus a few extra stops one night a week and split my shopping up a little.  But during the week the last thing I want to do is make the bus home longer and then the walk home longer.  

I'm going to try and continue my Saturday run ritual here shortly.  Need a bit of a snack though for some energy.  The weather is on the chilly side for a run, but I'll put on another layer and should be ok, I hope.  At least it is not raining.

For the record, the monitor is working out fantastically, it's really nice being able to have a streaming video up on one screen while emailing or reading study notes on the laptop screen.  I've still been working my way through reading the binder of engine design notes we had to print out.  The exam is open book for this module though, which really just means that the questions will be more complicated ;)

Alright, well off for that snack and a run, then back here for some more studying and the State/Carolina game later.

So Glad it's Friday

This week has been pretty exhausting.  The lectures have been filled with information, so the days have felt longer than our previous couple lecture weeks.  I think it is due to the sheer amount of complexity in engine design, and it is a huge amount to cover in a week.  I suspect next week Vehicle Dynamics will be the same way.  I have enjoyed the week greatly though, well especially after I figured out that it wasn't necessary to spend all Wednesday night playing with the simulation software like some of us did.  I had to take the bus back home and get dinner, but some guys stayed until 3-4 in the morning.  The thing is though, the assignment wasn't at all to optimize the given engine, it was to make some changes and talk about why they helped or hurt given performance parameters.  So my frustration Wednesday night was not really needed :)

Today's lectures are on turbo and supercharging and transmissions.  I do find it odd that the module is "Powertrain Design" yet only one part of a lecture is dealing with transmissions!  We will have a bit of time today with the dyno, running some tests on the University's Formula Ford.  That will be good to be out of the lecture room for sure!

I did buy a TV to use as a monitor yesterday.  It will let me play PS3 in some downtime, it has a DVD player so I can rent movies if I want, and it should also be helpful studying to use as a second screen.

Another American here that I met at the wind tunnel (he's doing an Aerodynamics MSc) is organizing a Thanksgiving dinner for next Friday night, so that should be enjoyable.  I'm going to attempt to cook a sweet potato casserole, so if any of you have favorite recipes, please send them my way!

Quickly

I can't write for long because I need to get back to the engine simulation assignment that is due this afternoon.  It has been a neat assignment, though it could've been much better if the network and software ran fast enough for all of use to make our own changes.  Instead we had to work in teams and wound up not trying as many configurations as we would have liked.  We were focusing on changing air/fuel ratios yesterday.  Today we can play with just about anything else on the engine to attempt to make more usable power.  Then we have to write up the report and explain why the changes made power.  Should be fun if the software cooperates.

Engines are Bloody Complicated

It's been a good couple days of lectures so far.  Each point or concept is not necessarily complicated, but as always the devil is in the details.  Where it gets tough is the interaction between all of the design elements and principles that govern the performance.  Add in the fact that almost everything you can do seems to have a penalty or drawback as well as the benefit you're trying to add, and I really have a newfound appreciation for engine design.  We are using a program called AVL Boost to model what effect a multitude of basic geometric changes can have on an engine's performance.  I haven't started modifying anything yet, just analyzing the basic engine we were given as a starting point so far.

The fog was really freezing this morning, it was all over the cars and ground too. It also didn't really lift until about lunchtime.  While eating dinner tonight I was watching a show about a drive up the coast of Scotland.  Learned some interesting things - and I might have to try and find a "Smokie" while I'm over here.  Did you know one citizen had an idea to train sea gulls to spot German U-boat periscopes by teaching them that there would be fish to eat behind them?!

Well it's nearly 8pm, and the bus home was a bit slow, so I'm going to have a go at sorting out some more of the engine design assignment.  You're welcome for all the proper English :)

Back to the Grind

Another 3 weeks of day long lectures start today.  Powertrain design is the first week, then Vehicle Dynamics and then Electronics and Data Acquisition.  The last two might be in reverse order, I'm not sure right now.  I think I'm actually ready to get back to them, though the long relaxing weekend was needed and nice.

The weather when I woke up this morning was "freezing fog".  Now I'm not really sure if the fog was actually freezing, but it was 30F and foggy.  Yesterday I spent watching NFL online after watching the F1 season finale from a pub a few hundred feet away from the Aston Martin site in Newport.  It is kinda cool to say I'm living in the city where the team that won the Constructor's and Driver's Championship are located.  Hopefully they'll have some celebration of some sort, and maybe have the cars out to see!

I was trying to stay up and finish watching the 49ers, but I passed out as the 4th quarter started.  It's probably a good thing, as the game wound up in overtime, and I really really would've been struggling by then!  At least they pulled out the win, as did State.  There is also a chance that I win all 3 of my fantasy football matchups this week, which hasn't happened yet.

We are supposed to have lunch with the Motorsport Advisory Board on Wednesday.  I'm not sure if the whole board will be there, hopefully we'll get some details today.  The list of board members is here.  We had to send CV's to them, so I'm curious to see what the meeting is like.

Where did the Rain come from?

So I assume because I said the weather was good, that is why when I got to London it was raining and cloudy!  I didn't do as much walking and sight seeing as I intended because of the rain.  I did take the Tube to the Embankment station and walked around and got to look at the Eye and Big Ben.  I took some pictures, but because it was raining and not very bright either, they really didn't come out very good at all.  After that I took the Tube to Monument and walked over and saw the London Bridge from a distance.  All I had was my pea coat, and it was pretty soaked at this point!  I did find some dinner at an insanely crowded place called The Ship.  Bangers and mash hit the spot with a pint of Fuller's London Pride.

The Euston Tap was pretty awesome.  It's a tiny little building, but they had a great selection.  They had a good combination of good British beer and imports from the US and Europe too.  The cooler of American bottles was rather impressive, with around 10-12 bottles from Port/Lost Abbey, Goose Island, Victory, and others.  They were very expensive though, so I resisted taking any home with me.  I did buy a bottle of Mikkeller Ris a la M'ale, which is a cherry kriek of sorts, should be very interesting.

Well I can see the sun again out my windows, so I'm going for a run to Willen Lake again.  Not too sure what else I will do today until the State game at 7, maybe some laundry, maybe some vacuuming of my room, maybe something else!

Great Weather for London Today!

It's nearly 50 F today, sunny, and barely a raincloud on the radar.  I believe I'm going to venture to Buckingham Palace, walk over to Big Ben and walk along the Thames River.  I'll be able to see the London Eye too.  I've been advised to wait until dark to actually pay for the Eye, so I think I will save that for a later trip.

Got in a workout and watched the F1 practice session this morning.

I want to know how I did on exams though!  Not sure when we will find out either.

And We're Done

Well this was a long week.  Even though the exams were only 2 hours each, it felt like much longer.  The first exam, metallic structures was awful.  Two of the 4 questions were on material that was very very briefly covered in class.  And nothing about titanium, or high strength heat treated steels, which was discussed a lot during the lectures.  I think I did alright from talking with most of the others, I think I had the right idea on the unexpected questions.

The composites exam was great, we had been told what to expect, and that's what we got.  I am interested to see how strictly the exams are graded, as passing is only 50%.  The aerodynamics exam today was somewhere between the other two difficulty wise.  Aero is not my best subject, but I had studied a bunch and knew what to do with most of the questions.  A couple I was lost on but hopefully used enough keywords to get some points on them ;)

The bus again failed to show up after the exam so I wound up having to split another freaking taxi back to Milton Keynes.  I don't understand what the problem with having buses show up when scheduled is.  Very frustrating.  I don't even want to think about how many hours I've wasted already waiting for buses that were late or never showed up.

My care package from Jess did show up yesterday.  Cookies, some spices, waterproofing spray for my jacket and some other things that I'd been waiting for.  Unfortunately I can't get the usb video capture device to work so that I can play some PS3 this weekend.  I was really looking forward to that, but the drivers will not install correctly and Windows will not recognize the device when I plug it in.  I don't get it!

Tomorrow I am venturing into the North side of London.  There is a new craft beer bar that opened last Friday, and it just happens to be outside Euston station, which I think is the first stop on the way into London from here.  I'm hoping to find some more adventurous brews from around the UK.  There seems to be a lot of beer culture up north, towards Manchester and Leeds.

Not quite sure yet where else I will venture out to while I'm in town.  The tube does run to a couple of convenient places from Euston, so I will strategize tonight.

I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend, I'd like to go for a nice run or two, get in some workouts, and I should probably clean up a bit around my room.

Into First Exam

Here we go, I'm ready, just hoping for no surprises or unexpected questions!

Easy Sunday Morning, Sort Of

It's been a relaxing Sunday morning.  Done a little laundry, a good bit of studying, and just finished lunch.  Yesterday was fun, met a few alumni, and watched some good racing.  The historic car races were the most interesting, and the American cars stood out drastically because they were huge compared to everything else.

The Formula Ford races were as usual very close and competitive, the cars just aren't all that interesting to look at.  I think my favorite car was this black Chevron.

I took this video of the cars rolling off the false grid:

An original Mini and a Lotus were also in the field

From 6-11-10 Walter Hayes Trophy

With sunset somewhere around 4:45, the racing was over by about 4:15, which worked out perfectly as the F1 qualifying session began at 4:00.  Watching with a few F1 engineers in the house made it a little more interesting!  It was even more interesting when Hulkenburg unexpectedly took the pole by over a second.

Studying is coming along pretty good.  Feeling pretty comfortable about the exams at this point.  I do need to remember that here they expect explanations for all answers, not just the answer.  So I just need to give much more detail than I am used to from my schooling back in the USA.  

Guy Fawkes Day

So, on top of all the engineering knowledge I've learned, I learned about a new "holiday" today.  November 5th is Guy Fawkes Night.  The English celebrate with bonfires and fireworks and the burning of effigies.  The burning part might be a bit tough tonight though, it's supposed to keep raining like it has most of the afternoon.

My week was a lot of studying, and I still have a bit to do tonight, Sunday and Monday.  Honestly what I'm struggling the most with is math - integration mainly, but also some simplification of algebra.  It's coming back, but I just haven't had to do math like this in over 5 years, so I either forget or have to remind myself of things that should just be second habit. Saturday will be a diversion though, we are all invited to Silverstone for the Walter Hayes Trophy, which is basically another Formula Ford event, similar to what I saw at Brands Hatch a couple of weeks ago.  Our event is in the Brooklands Suite, which must be close to the BRDC clubhouse that we visited last time.  It is also an alumni gathering for all former Motorsport graduates, so it should be a great place to make some new connections and enjoy the racing too!

I have gotten in a few more workouts this week, which has been really nice, including a morning one on Thursday.  Can't think of much else right now.  I'll try to write tomorrow after I get back home as well.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Study Week

Our first set of three exams are next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  So this week is a ton of study time.  We have some sample exams, so I will work through those, and spend a bunch more time just going through our notes and beating information into my brain.

I'll try to find interesting stuff to write about, but I may be a bit distracted this week.  I did make a big portion of an Indian chicken and vegetable dish last night, enough that I'll have leftovers for probably 3 more meals out of it.  The time spent cooking was a good diversion from studying though.  We do have a couple library sessions in the mornings - talking about all the journal databases, and how to reference them and things like that.  I think I'm heading back home after the one today though, so I should be back home by 12:30 which will be nice.

Most of you will find it funny that I seem to have become accustomed to the 6:20 alarm clock and getting the bus at 7:30.  I find the time in the morning before class to be very productive actually.  Though I am still staying up until 11:30 or 12:00 most nights, so I hope I can keep up the schedule.

Comments

So I know a few of you have asked about how to add comments or replies to my posts.  The easiest way is if you just sign up for a Google account.  You can use your existing email address, just go here and enter your details.  Alternatively, I've set up a second email address if you do not want to post the comment publicly.  Email me at this address please if you have questions.

I know from the page views that plenty of people are reading, I would enjoy it being a bit more interactive.  I want to know if I'm staying entertaining, at times it can seem like what I'm writing might be a little mundane to some of you, but maybe not. Also, if you have questions about anything technical that I'm learning and writing about, please ask me with an email.  I've gotten quite used to explaining things to Jessica ;)

So in summary, I just want to make sure I'm telling you all about what you are interested in, so please don't be shy about giving me feedback.

Cheers!  (I guess I'm English now)

Fish and Chips, Niners Win!

The Brothers Fish and Chips Bar 

So last night I decided to walk to the closest take-away food. It is "The Brothers Fish and Chips Bar" and it is quite a short walk.  The place has been around since 1966, and does have a good reputation from what I have read.  I got a large cod and medium chips for 5.30.  It was more fries than I think I've ever had in one serving, and the fish was great.  Very meaty and great flavor.  I'm sure I'll be back, it's a great quick cheap dinner option.

Today I spent studying for the most part, and walked to Sainsbury's for a grocery trip.  I probably shouldn't have worked out before hand though, as the walk back with 3 bags of groceries got heavy!

Then I headed out to try and find the 49ers game at a pub.  Unfortunately it took me 4 pubs and at least a mile walk to find a place that had enough TV's that I felt comfortable asking about switching the channel from soccer.  The Niners did pull out the win, and made it more interesting than they should have.  But hey, for the 2nd win of the season you can't complain too much can you.

This week will be tons of studying, as our exams are next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  The clocks are already turned back here, so it is just a 4 hour difference if any of you want to call me on Skype this week.

Enjoying the Weekend

I took advantage of some great weather today to take a run to Willen Lake.  It is about 2 miles to the lake, and then the trail around the lake is about 1.5 miles I think.  The lake itself is quite nice, there were a few sailboats on the water.  They also have a motorized watersport park.  Instead of a boat, there are lines that are suspended overhead that pull you along to wakeboard or waterski.  There are assorted ramps and things if you are advanced enough.  More info is on their website WakeMK.

The wind tunnel testing we did yesterday was good.  We were given a car model and told to find the best setup of ride height and wing angle.  It was up to us to decide what values we tested at.  I think we had a good strategy and will be able to come up with a good setup for the lab report.

A view from the control center of the tunnel

Adjusting the rear wing angle

The leaves around here are slowly changing, nothing like the dramatic colors we get back home, but here is a picture.

Leaves are changing some

Well I will get back to "revising" (studying) as they seem to call it over here.  I think I might go find some fish and chips for dinner tonight actually.

Hey I Could use a Car!

I'd drive this!

Since my bus ride takes me by the former Aston Martin headquarters I figured this was appropriate. The original site is still functional as a repair and renovation facility. I think the last car produced there was the Vanquish until around 2008. There's always some nice expensive eye candy in the parking lot.

TGIF

Today is only 2 wind tunnel sessions, our group got the late morning session.  So that was good, but it also means we have the late afternoon session.  It only ends at 5 though, so it's not too big of a deal.

I watched the recorded State game this morning since I had some extra time.  I've never enjoyed football with breakfast before, it was quite nice!  I didn't quite make it through though, and accidentally checked Twitter before I left for the bus.  Someone we know had mentioned the word win, and so the last 10 minutes of the 4th quarter were spoiled.  I wound up watching it on the bus though, and it was still great.  Although knowing FSU was going to screw up the last drive somehow made it less exciting when they fumbled.

I'll write another post about the tunnel testing later so I can add a few pictures that will make things clearer.  So NCSU win, plus hands on lab session, plus maybe more beer fest time tonight = happy Friday.

Oh, and I do wish I could be in Charleston for Will and Laura's wedding, so hope you all have a great time this weekend!

Xscape

Xscape is a big entertainment center in Milton Keynes.  It is probably best known for the indoor ski slope.  I always walk past it on the way to the bus stop, but had never ventured inside.  Yesterday was a classmate's birthday, so a group of us met there to go bowling.  Well the inside was nothing like I expected.  I thought it was mostly the ski slope, and the other restaurants and stores were just kind of there.  That was hardly the case, it's basically a mall with a ski slope on the side that you barely notice unless you go in.

Bowling was fun, I missed the first game, but wound up posting the high score of the night in the second game, with a 151 (I know, it's no Lighthouse bowling).  I probably won't go back too often, it was really crowded with teenagers and the restaurants are all mainstream, chain, themed restaurants.  Most of the group hadn't eaten, so we wound up going to Frankie and Bennies, which claims to be a New York Italian kinda place.  I had eaten at home, so just got some garlic knots, but I guess it was good to check it out.

There does seem to be a fair or carnival of some sorts being set up in Campbell Park.  The rides have been under construction all week.  I'll have to find out the details for this weekend.

I think I am all set up to record the NCSU FSU game tonight.  I tried with the World Series game last night successfully.  The only problem was that the stream I had cut out about an hour in.  With the new Time Warner ESPN feed that shouldn't be a problem for tonight.

Some Updates

Our group had the first time slot in the wind tunnel at 2:00, and we were done by 2:40.  Luckily one of my team members needed to do some shopping in Milton Keynes so I got a ride with him instead of waiting 30-40 minutes for the next bus.  I took the extra time to finish folding some laundry, get what qualifies as a workout for me these days in, talk to Jess, and write this post.

The wind tunnel experiment went well, at least we think.  We won't really know until we analyze the data though.  The test is to determine the lift and drag produced by a standard wing profile at a certain velocity.  Pretty standard stuff, but I've never used a wind tunnel before, so it is good to see how it all works.

Some more on my Paris trip - I used the metro to get around, which let me get all over the city, I tried to explore a little bit all around.  The best deal was a 10 pack of tickets for 12euro.  Each ticket gets you one trip, no matter how far you go.  I also never waited more than 3 minutes for a train, which was absolutely wonderful.  With just the weekend, I decided to see as much as I could, and decided for example not to go up the Eiffel tower, or go in the Louvre.  It helped that the lines were long everywhere, and I didn't want to waste time waiting.  I was amazed that at the Sacre-coeur, which I got to about 11am on Sunday, they let tourists walk in while Mass was going on.  I would've assumed it was closed then.  Inside was very beautiful and majestic, but they wouldn't allow pictures unfortunately.  The area around there was tourist central - more so than any of the other areas felt.  The view was well worth the hassle though.

25-10-10 Paris

I did order food and drinks in French, which was a little difficult, but I always got what I ordered, and the servers seemed to at least know what I was trying to say.  It was a very expensive city to eat in, I kept thinking about how easy it would be to spend tons of money if Jess had been with me.  It's probably a good thing I had limited euro's, otherwise it would've been way too easy to buy bread and crepes and pastries all day long.  I was really surprised at how expensive the coffee was, I don't think I saw espresso or cappucino for less than 2euro.  And people live off coffee there apparently, an expensive habit!  Also wine being cheaper than beer was a real culture shock.  3-5euro glasses of Bordeaux, Cotes du Rhone, etc. were great.  Beers were at least 4 euro for a half pint!  And not for really great beers either.  I would've liked to sit outside at a few cafe's, but the problem is the people that sit there seem to all smoke.  So instead of sitting in smoke I just went inside.  I was disappointed to see Pizza Hut and McDonald's packed on Saturday night.  I'm really glad I went, I probably spent a little bit too much money, which was probably inevitable, but uh, yeah, I went to Paris :)  I am still enjoying my cheese and saucisson selection.

On a completely unrelated note - well it is about food - I somehow lost a bag of lettuce that I had in the refrigerator.  Roommates don't know anything about it, I used it Thursday and have no idea what I did with it.

I think that's all for now.  If any of you ever have questions, feel free to ask by email or just in the comments.

P.S.  It is still raining

Finally Raining

So it's finally been raining most of the day today.  Not heavy, but enough to be annoying and keep the temperature feeling pretty chilly.  The wind unfortunately got a hold of my umbrella, so I'm afraid I"ll have to buy a new one.

Well our lab session is starting shortly.  Thought I'd have more time to write, but anyway.  I'll try to get a better update this afternoon, should have a good chunk of time for studying at home.

Back to School

Paris was a great weekend.  I'll get pictures up at some point this week.  Class is going to be pretty busy this week though.  The module is aerodynamics, and we will have a project in the wind tunnel to complete.

I think I packed a lot into 2 days in Paris.  Went to the Boulogne market on Saturday to buy some charcuterie and cheeses.  Wound up with a camembert, a goat cheese, and a "stinky" sheep's milk too.  The goat wound up being my favorite.  Also enjoyed plenty of baquettes, a croissant, chausson pomme (apple), and pain au chocolat.  Sights I saw included the Eiffel Tower, the entrance to the Louvre, Champs Elysses, Arc de Triumph, Grand Paris Opera, Bastille, Sacre-coeur, Parc Floral, Chateu de Vincennes, and I suppose that was all.  It did rain both days, though there was plenty of sunshine on Sunday.  Overall I think the most impressive part was simply the architecture of the whole city.  Most all the buildings are so interesting to look at.  I wish I remembered more of my architectural history class!

Well I'm back in freezing Milton Keynes now, it was 30F (not C if you read this earlier, thx) this morning.  Frost was everywhere.  Glad the 49ers are so bad that I don't want to go watch them in London this weekend (the Panthers got their first win against them yesterday).  Well anyway, I should head over to class.  I think it's going to be fluid dynamics basics this morning, really hope I can stay awake...

In Paris

Very quickly, because I should be sleeping - but I'm in Paris for the weekend with a classmate.  Also got to see up close and personal some parts from the current RB6 Red Bull F1 car today!

Pretty exciting day I suppose ;)

An Interesting Night

After laying up all of the other components of our wing, and getting them in vacuum bags and in the oven or autoclave, we were done a little earlier than usual.  Luckily for me it was just in time to catch the early bus, which is much less crowded.  I took advantage of the extra time and ventured down towards the rail station and "The Hub".  I stopped in the Wetherspoon's to have dinner and get a bit of studying done.  The place has an odd reputation, of being the place for young kids to go get drunk cheaply.  I guess I was there a the right time, as it was nothing of the sort.  The cask ale was cheap, but very good selection, and the food was good, affordable, and they had a good variety of choices.  I'd say I was more impressed than expected after what I had read online.

For dinner I had British beef casserole, basically thick beef stew.  My first real English meal actually.  On the way back I needed to pick up some fruits and vegetables for the next few days, so I stopped by the Sainsbury's.  The best part however was as I was walking in, across the street a random (I assume) fireworks show started.  It went on for a solid 10 minutes.  And very impressive at that, a good mix, honestly it looked professional and better than some of the shows I've seen back home at things like Bull's games.  No clue who did it or why though.

A final thought - A lot of English people do not like Milton Keynes.  I think mainly because it is not very traditional.  It was all built in the 60's and 70's and so therefore has very little history like most English towns do.  I however think it isn't quite so bad.  I can go to the Centre for just about any shopping I want, The Hub for nightlife and higher end dining, and if I want traditional English towns, they are a bus ride away.  Basically it is a good compromise for me between the conveniences I'm used to and the traditional English town.  Maybe I'm completely wrong, but I think it will work for me.   If only the buses were a little more convenient and better scheduled for getting to campus...

Buses

I finally think I figured out the options for buses to get back home.  There is either one at 5:36, 7:20, or 8:50.  A bit frustrating since the 536 is hard to get if we have anything to discuss after class.  I'll probably wind up using the 7:20 a lot.  I also found a cheaper cafe for coffee and tea on campus, and it has a view of the tail end of the airport too.

Yesterday we laid up the first section of wing.  The carbon fiber comes in pre-woven sheets that have resin already applied (so they are sticky).  The term for this kind of carbon is "prepreg".  To put the part together, you start with a mold, and carefully lay down multiple sheets on top of the mold.  Then it is put in a bag (with various other layers to control moisture, air and resin transfer).  The bag is hooked up to a vacuum port while in the autoclave overnight.  This heats the assembly to allow the resin to cure.  The vacuum compacts the carbon sheets and resin together.  Over the next two days, we have 4 other parts to assemble, and then on Thursday we will combine them all together for a final cure.

Oh, and I don't think I've mentioned this, but there is another American guy here.  He wasn't here yet when we all did introductions.  He is from the Philadelphia area.

This was the coldest morning yet, the weather said it was 32 F, and I believe it.  It's only supposed to get up to 44, but it should be sunny, so that shouldn't be so bad.

Wings and Things

A quick update for the night - I was right, we will be building carbon fiber wings this week.  They will be of a prescribed design though, so it's more about getting experience with the materials.  The carbon fiber we were supposed to use might not be here, so we might be borrowing some of Red Bull's material, since they are only about 8 miles from the school.

I again tried to get the 630ish bus, and again it did not show up.  I double checked the timetable tonight too, and it still shows a bus around that time.  I'm going to ask the driver tomorrow morning and hopefully figure out what the problem is.  There is also supposedly an 850 bus, but I'm scared to wait for that one.

Either way, should be a fun week, almost 3 full days will be in the lab working with carbon fiber.

Sunday @ Brands Hatch

As I mentioned yesterday, a group of about 10 of us made the almost 2 hour drive down to the Brands Hatch circuit for the Formula Ford Festival.

17-10-10 Brands Hatch

The drive was actually very enjoyable, the weather was good and there was some nice countryside scenery.  Brands is unique in that the circuit is just a little bit over a mile long, leading to lap times well under a minute for most cars.  The benefit to the short circuit is that you can see nearly every single turn from the grandstand.  A hairpin called Druids is obstructed by trees.  The cars were very evenly matched all day, making for some very exciting racing.  There were also quite a few accidents, including some big pile-ups and a car that got airborne for what seemed like an eternity.  He apparently forgot to brake, ran up onto the back of the car in front, got launched into the air, and when he came down in the gravel he started doing flips, then bounced up off of the tire wall for another pirouette until finally landing almost upside down.  Amazingly though he was out of the car and walking in less than 5 minutes. 

The pile-ups were related to cars who had left oil on the track at Paddock Bend - a tricky downhill right hander.  I guess the drivers were ignoring the debris flags!  One race was red flagged (stopped and resumed) after a car slid down the hill and impacted another car that was already stuck in the gravel with the driver still in it.  A note that some of you will understand - the corner workers were doing "hot-pulls" (recovering cars from the gravel while other cars were still racing) all day at Paddock bend.  What I'm used to at VIR is nothing like it was yesterday.  Corner workers were out attending to the cars in very very vulnerable situations.  It was an interesting contrast to the approaches I'm used to seeing both at VIR and other races on TV.

Damon Hill, 1996 F1 World Champion and president of the BRDC was there with his son who was racing in the Formula Ford Duratec Championship.  We did get a group picture with him after a classmate approached him and told him who we were - and he knew about the program.  I don't have the picture yet though, it was taken with one of our classmates DSLR.

This week is the module about composites, and from the schedule it looks like we will be having a lot of hands-on time.  We will learn how to actually manufacture a composite (presumably carbon fiber) structure.  It should be fun and more enjoyable than just a full week of lectures.

  

Workouts

Workouts have been hard to come by, about the only time I have to fit one in is on the weekends.  I did finally take the bus to the nearest Tesco Extra (Super Wal-Mart basically) and picked up a set of dumbbells.  Wish they were heavier, and I might go buy some add on plates at some point, but they are better than nothing.  Heck they were a workout just carrying them back from the bus station!  The Tesco was crazy busy.  I did buy a couple of food items for lunches next week too.

Tomorrow a group of us are going to Brands Hatch for the Formula Ford Festival. Hopefully we'll get some good weather!  Tonight I think I might actually be able to watch the ALCS game online, since it starts at 4ET.

Oh, and there is a Krispy Kreme in the mall here, and they had them in the Tesco too.  But they were £ 1.20 for just one original glazed!  I abstained, but I'm sure I'll get a few at some point.

I spent most of the morning studying info from the week.  I'll study some more this afternoon while watching football too.  I haven't been able to find a stream for the NCSU game yet though.  Stay tuned for pictures from Brands Hatch tomorrow!

Don't we all love computers?

So today we found out that the ANSYS model we built is not going to work for the optimization program that we learned about this morning.  It needs to be the current version of ModeFrontier, which for some reason isn't installed on the university computers yet.  Why, I don't know.  Luckily another team member had built the model in Abaqus mainly to verify that we had ANSYS configured correctly.  However, we cannot get the Abaqus input to work in the optimization program.  It cannot find the command .exe to get the program running.

ModeFrontier is a neat concept.  In the simplest terms, you can give it a range of inputs and outputs, and it will run as many different combinations as you tell it to.  That way you can find the optimum combination of inputs to meet the output conditions that you specify.  Audi supposedly gained 2.3 seconds of lap time around LeMans on the R8 with the program.  No details on the specifics of what they wound up changing though.

On a completely unrelated note - washing your hands here is a pain.  They have separate faucets for hot and cold, and the hot is definitely not turned down any.  Makes it very hard to properly wash your hands....cough cough  head cold  cough cough.  Don't really understand why mixing faucets aren't more common - even in new buildings I haven't seen many of them.

Engine Design

Today was all about the considerations in actual engine design.  It was all very detailed and interesting.  There is almost always no one right answer.  The most exciting part was that both lecturers brought in pieces of old F1 engines, and one cylinder head of an IndyCar too.  The pistons and crankshafts are so much more complex than a standard road car, obviously, but it was eye opening to feel how light an F1 piston is.

We did get out at 4:00 today instead of 5:20, so that was nice.  The time was spent on making sure our ANSYS model was ready to use for tomorrow's class sessions.

I did have a slight panic session this morning, I couldn't find my bus pass.  Wound up just paying the fare for today, and luckily when I got home I did find my pass.  I had pulled it out with the empty box of cold medicine and put it in the trash in my room.  That was a relief, as it's not exactly a cheap pass!

Also, I'm still waiting on the bank to get my account opened.  They certainly are no BB&T...I've been told to come back twice now just to get my basic account information.  That isn't even getting my cards either, those get mailed to me.  So I've been promised that it will be open tomorrow, we will see I suppose.

Head colds make lectures fun

Well I've had a small head cold the last couple of days.  It makes a long day of lectures feel even longer unfortunately.  Today we continued metal properties and behavior discussions.  Elastic behavior, plastic deformation, that kind of stuff.  In the afternoon, the lecture was on friction and wear and lubrication.  This was pretty interesting, since I don't think I've ever had a specific class or anything on wear, or anything this detailed on lubrication.  We went into the different modes of friction, which simplified are varying levels of metal to metal contact.  For example, engine components wear the most during startup because the lubrication is not thick enough to keep the surface irregularities from contacting each other.  This is because the components are acting in the boundary lubrication mode.  You want to be in hydrodynamic lubrication, as that means the oil film is thick enough to prevent surface contact.

I stayed on campus working with our second group project.  We are modeling a seat support bracket in ANSYS to analyze the structure and try to optimize it.  Dinner was a frozen chicken biryani meal, that only cost 1&pound and was actually very good!

Off to bed for me, wish me luck getting rid of the head cold please...

Real Class

No more easy intro week stuff, we're getting down to business.  First module (class) is Metallic Structures for Motorsport.  Today we talked about basic structural analysis - yes I need to brush up on my statics and dynamics :)  Also went over the effects of various heat treating methods and varying steel compositions.  The afternoon lecture was on material coatings which is now starting to become known as "Surface Engineering".

The bus ride back home was particularly crowded today and not comfortable.  I'll make due with it, but it sure would be nice if you could at least make some of the time useful for reading or something.  It's just too cramped to do anything worthwhile.

Cooked a burger for dinner, with some sauteed peppers and tomato slices on the side.  It was pretty good I think, I put some mixed herbs in the burger that really helped the flavor.

Wish the Braves game was an afternoon game though, then I might be able to catch a little of it.  The 6:30am wake up call isn't very helpful when first pitch is 12:30am.  I'm gonna finish up some laundry, and study a bit of the material from today while watching yesterday's F1 race (even though I know who won).

Good Time in Bedford

I took the long bus ride to Bedford - it was about an hour and 15 minutes. There was a quicker express bus, which I wound up taking home, but my monthly bus pass is only good on the long route. The parts of town I saw were an interesting mix of old historic looking buildings, and new looking shopping and retail sections. It was very crowded too, lots of people walking around the streets. Street vendors were very popular, there was a fairly large farmer's market, as well as food carts and also just generic merchandise for sale too.

Eventually I found the Corn Exchange building where the festival was being held. I walked in around 1pm, and it was already packed. There were at least two levels of seating, so they did a good job of keeping where you ordered beer accessible. They were selling half pint and full pint glasses for 2£. If you didn't want to keep it, you could just return it for a refund after you were done. I kept mine because, well I don't have any pint glasses here.

I was immediately impressed by the organization. As the fest had been going on since Wednesday, not all the advertised beers were still available. They had a printout, in alphabetical or ABV order, of everything that was still available when they opened. The sheet also said what style the beer was, and had a 1-4 number of how much was left. The casks were ordered alphabetically, which made finding what you wanted very easy. In addition, each cask had clearly marked on it what the beer was, what the abv was, and how much a pint and half pint would cost. Most of them were about 1.5£ for a half, and 3 £ for a full.

I think my favorite of the afternoon was probably the Potbelly Beijing Black mild. I found overall that I enjoyed the dark milds, porters and stouts much more than any of the bitters or lighter (color) beers. It is also tricky because some beers are called IPA, but they are 4% abv, and technically they are classified as bitters.

I did wind up stopping by a pub recommended by a guy at the fest for Belgian beers - The Wellington Arms. They had a ton of hand pumps available - 16 I think and a nice cooler of European and Belgian bottles. I wound up with a De Graal Dubble that was very tasty.

I'm glad I took the time to venture to Bedford, it was an enjoyable time.

9-10-10 Bedford Beer Festival

Picasa is being funny this morning, so I'll go through and caption these pictures later.

Hello Again

It's Friday night, and might be my last truly free weekend for a few months.  The intro week was good, we had presentations from alumni working for Red Bull F1, Renault F1, Flybrid Systems, ART Grand Prix and MIRA.  All very interesting, though some focused a lot on CFD, which I don't really have a lot of interest in.  Still very useful knowledge though.  We got to see a cutaway of a mechanical KERS system (almost exactly what is on the Porsche GT3R Hybrid, and likely very similar to what might be on next year's F1 cars).  The system was surprisingly small, and could have a footprint the size of a 8.5x11 sheet of paper in the near future.

I did find out that the Social Club does curry on Friday's, it's only 4£ for a full plate with crispy naan. It wasn't as spicy as I might choose, but still very flavorful. We did have group presentations on the paper we were supposed to write this week. I think our presentation went well, even though one of our members had to go back home to France, so we had 2 less people presenting than the other teams. We were given a 10 minute time limit, which no one else really adhered to. Luckily we did, and got complimented on it too. Hopefully our content was as good :) Our paper got scored by another team, and we had the best score on that as well.

Instead of going straight home to MK, I got off the bus in Newport Pagnell and had a drink at a 2 different pubs. The town is very small, but there were lots of people out and about. I will probably wind up spending more time there, it is an easy bus ride from school, and the bus runs back to MK until 10 or 11 at night. There is a nice little river running through the town too, with some nice park areas around.

Tomorrow I am going to venture to Bedford, which is about an hour ride on the bus (unless I pay 12£ roundtrip for an express bus). There is a CAMRA beer fest there, free admission, and you just buy the beer you want in pints or half pints. Should be over 130 real ales and ciders, in addition to an international beer section. I'm curious to see what if any American beers might be there. Other than that I'm just trying to enjoy my truly free weekend, as life is about to get seriously busy. I do need to get important dates into my Google or Outlook calendar and finally do laundry too. I'll probably try to get a run and workout in tomorrow morning too. Hopefully it doesn't rain.

I did buy some Fox's bars (wafer and chocolate) and Cadbury's Caramel and Fruit and Nut bars too on the way home tonight. The first few bites of the caramel bar are pretty tasty!

To Bed...

Wound up with some real relax time tonight.  We got done with our paper a little early so I had around an hour and a half to burn until our free buffet and pub quiz at the social club.  I used it to call Jess for a while and then found a few classmates and hung out with them until the buffet at 6pm.  The food was pretty good, chicken pasta, rice with garbanzo beans, an assortment of cheese, and some deli meats too.  It turned into quite a late night, I got a ride back home with a classmate, and got back home at about 11pm.  I'm hitting the bed, I need to get a bit of sleep, that bus comes awfully early :)

Going to sleep to a stream of the Yankees and Twins game.

Silverstone!

The important stuff - pictures:

6-10-10 Silverstone

The school arranged a nice tour bus for us to get to Silverstone.  The trip took about 50 minutes, through some nice English country landscape.  Once we arrived we were led through the Silverstone Innovation Centre, where the track leases office space to various firms.  The CEO of Silverstone Holdings went through a presentation describing all the different functions the track has going on.  They are very much focused on making the almost 800 acre property a multi-function business.  Interestingly though, the whole "empire" is owned by the British Racing Drivers Club.  It was intriguing to hear the business side of running a race track, as an engineer and enthusiast you rarely think about the things that it takes to keep a track running.

The next presentation was from the architecture firm that was responsible for designing the new Pit Complex.  Populous has an extremely impressive resume of motorsport complexes and sporting venues.  Originally the building was estimated at 40 million (don't remember if that was $) but due to the economic decline and value engineering, the cost had been reduced to 27 million.  The structural engineers also supposedly reduced the amount of steel in the building by half!  Along with the pit complex, the firm has an in house circuit designer.  His presentation was really interesting, especially hearing about how he has to balance the various run off and safety barrier requirements between the FIA (F1, GT1/GT3) and the FIM (MotoGP).  The redesign of Silverstone accomplished many goals, from updating the circuit to all current FIA and FIM standards, to making more land accessible without having to cross the racetrack.  The original proposal had a Laguna Seca style corkscrew that dropped 8 meters.  Unfortunately this was scrapped because of water table and flooding issues.

The next stop was easily one of the highlights and could be a once in a lifetime opportunity.  We were welcomed into the British Racing Drivers Club by the current club secretary, Stuart Pringle.  This club is very exclusive, and to even be in the building is an incredible opportunity.  We got to see all three levels, the top level being an outdoor deck and great view of the final few corners of the Grand Prix circuit.

After the BRDC we got tours of Race Control and the Medical Centre (one of if not the leading facility of its type in the world).  In essence a complete small hospital.  Race control was impressive to see how much camera control and capability they have.

To finish the day, we got to experience one of the Circuit's driving experiences.  They maintain a fleet of "Formula Silverstone" cars at their Stowe circuit (completely separate from the main Grand Prix and other track configurations). The cars are something like Formula Fords with wings added on.  A Ford Duratec 1600cc engine is mated to a 4 spd manual racing gearbox.  No synchros, straight cut gears, and no reverse gear.  The transmission was the hardest aspect of the car to get comfortable with.  One time down the straight I kept grabbing 3rd gear, so I just kept bouncing off the rev limiter.  It wouldn't take a lot of time to get used to, but definitely more than the 20ish minutes we had.  The experience was absolutely great, easily the fastest and most responsive car I've ever driven.  I'm sure they are setup this way, but they were surprisingly easy to drive, you could feel the back end sliding if you were doing something too quickly and correct it very easily.  The entry to the pit straight and the chicane following the pit straight were the coolest bits of track.  At the end of the longer back straight you could very much feel the wind pulling up on your helmet - not a comforting feeling!  There was no speedometer in the car, only oil pressure and water temperature gauges and a tachometer.  I think I was getting to a little over 100, maybe 110 on the back straight.  The tach was too far down in the car for me though.  You are supposed to keep your eyes ahead when driving, and while doing this it was difficult to pick up the tach or the shift lights.  The view of these was basically through the bottom half of the steering wheel.  I mostly shifted based on sound, which worked out for the most part.

A very long, full, excellent day.  I do have to edit some of our group assignment though, so it's going to be a bit later night than I was planning on.  

Long Day

Today was one of those necessary evil days - we had 4 hrs of auditorium presentations on using the Library, IT Services, Plagiarism, and the Career Service.  Some useful information, but most of it could've been found on the internet.  On top of that, I waited around while working on our assignment to intentionally take the 6:20pm bus, that turned out never coming.  It is a different route and run by a different operator.  It wound up working out because there were others waiting for the same bus, so we split a taxi 4 ways back to Milton Keynes.  That turned out to only be 2£ each.

I did finally find a few water coolers around, I hadn't noticed any before.

The exciting stuff though: our bus leaves for Silverstone at 9:30am tomorrow morning.  It's too bad I have to go 30 mins to campus just to take the bus back towards my house to get to Silverstone.  None of us are really sure what all the day will consist of.  I'm sure we'll get a tour of everything, and one of the lecturers strongly hinted that we would get to drive something that was both open wheel and single seater, so that should be cool.  Maybe we'll continue to get lucky with the rain too (knock on wood for me please).

It will be weird to not be able to watch the MLB playoffs start tomorrow.  If we had Sky Sports in the house I might have a slight chance of catching some, but we don't.

I should probably go now, hope to have some pictures for you tomorrow.    

Another Sunny Day

I know the rain is coming, but the weather has been better than advertised these last few days, and I've been enjoying it. The process of getting to campus and the lecture hall is much more enjoyable without rain. Buses were much more crowded today though, and unfortunately the seats are not very big and don't provide much legroom. We have a week of introductory lectures, today we covered the basic course manual, schedule, some background, some of the computer programs we have access to and a brief history of motorsport.

We do have a small group assignment, which is to prepare a paper discussing some aspects of technical innovations in a particular type of racing. My group chose to cover drag racing, as we were given "all other motorsports" that weren't covered by the other 6 groups. After getting home and cooking some chicken and vegetables for dinner I did my research online so that the group can discuss tomorrow at lunch.

I did bring a sandwich, some fruit and a granola bar for lunch and our breaks during the day. I'm going to try to avoid having to buy meals on campus every day. On the way home I stopped in the Iceland to find some water as I haven't been able to find water fountains on campus. The store seems very cheap for things like milk, water, eggs, bread, but most of their other food is frozen and doesn't look too healthy. Maybe I can find some good options next time though.

Pictures From Yesterday and...

I uploaded some pictures from yesterday to Picasa. The link is:

Cranfield and Other Surroundings

Let me know if anyone cannot get to it, it should be public if you have the link.

I did get a cell phone yesterday. A Samsung GT-S3370. Seems good so far. Twitter and Skype are free to use, they don't even count against my data limit. I'm on a pay as you go plan where I can get 300 minutes, 3000 texts and 500mb of internet for 10£. The top-up as they call it lasts for 30 days. On a slightly related note - I don't understand how they can have so much more technology in their basic phones, but yet the sinks here have totally separate spouts for hot and cold water!

There has been rain off and on this morning, but I caught up on college football and MLB scores. I also worked on a short presentation we have to do tomorrow. We are supposed to talk for about a minute about our CV (resume). I'm gonna go make some lunch here in a few minutes, and walk to the store a bit later. I'm gonna try and buy some things so that I can take lunches to school with me and not have to buy food from the cafe every day.

It really is too bad how the NCSU game turned out yesterday. I knew that the second half meltdowns would come back to hurt against a good team, and it certainly did. Let's hope they can keep improving and continue to fight for an ACC title.