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!