Brian Hoover's Blog

So we took the kids fishing down at the inlet again on the weekend. We didn’t really expect to catch anything. It was more an exercise in keeping the kids occupied and killing time until dinner. Jett managed to catch a nice sized fish of some description. Ashton felt a bit inadequate with her Blowfish. Those little buggers have strong mouths and jaws; they just don’t want to let go of a hook.

There’s also a picture of a Cat Haven vehicle which took my fancy. We saw this at the Mandurah Crab Festival we visited earlier in the day.

I’ve always loved Hummers, especially the first 1992 civilian release of the original military model. It was big, boofy, chunky and said “Don’t mess with me”. I’m not that much of a fan of the H2, and the H3 not cool at all; I would rather push my Toyota than drive an H3. I’ve bought a small collection of Hot Wheels Hummer which Jett has taken over, and I realise that this is the closest I will ever get to owning the real thing.

From the first time I saw it I thought that it’d make a killer limousine. I started seeing them on TV in around 1995, and I thought that if I could get one out here to Perth it’d make a great business and make me oodles of money. Unfortunately I was never in a position to get the idea off the ground. Still I think it took to about 2004 before I first saw a stretch Hummer limo on Perth roads.

Suzanne made me  insanely jealous a few weeks ago when her school-mum friends got together as a going-away party night activity when ours and another family left our old suburb. She lauded it over me, too. “Guess where I am?” she texted. And every time we’d see a Hummer on the road after that she’d casually mention “I’ve ridden in one of those, you know”.

But, this ride of hers planted the seed of an idea in her mind. This would make a great 40th birthday present for me. I have an aversion to parties and such, especially those in my honour, so this would be a good low-key affair. It took a few weeks of meticulous planning in secret to pull this off without me knowing. And I am so impressed that neither of our kids divulged the secret. I knew something was up about a week ago, but Suzanne made me promise not to pump them for information. I’m pretty sure I could have made them crack, but I was a good sport and didn’t really apply myself.

So we turned up at her parents place and I find a bunch of family there too. OK, good. I knew this much already. Actually, a few things were going through my mind on the way there… perhaps it was a bungy jump; I even thought she might have somehow gotten me onto the show “Wipeout“, but they probably don’t film in Perth.

Anyhow, the limo pulled up and I must say I was really surprised and happy we drove around Fremantle and Perth eating sushi and listening to cheesy rock music videos. See the photos below

I didn’t get to see it and I wish I had. The Brazilian Grand Prix has been run and won with Webber winning for the second time in 2009. Good on him. I understand there was some drama in the pits with Kovalainen deciding he liked being refueled so much he took the hoses with him. As he pulled out he sprayed fuel all over Raikkonen, setting him and his car on fire. It all looked a bit Keystone Kops to me.

But the day belonged to Jensen Button. He won 6 of the first 7 races which was too much for Red Bull to make up. Give it another 2 races for the season and I expect that Vettel would have had it. That leaves Abu Dhabi on 1-Nov.

Nicole Scherzinger’s boyfriend almost made it back-to-back wins, but came second in the European Grand Prix in Valencia. Watch this Youtube video to see how the pit crew cost him about 6 seconds, enough to lose the race. I’m not exactly sure how an F1 GP pit crew works, but as far as I understand the team keeps the tires on the racks in the garage in heat blankets for as long as possible, so they are still toasty warm by the time the get onto the car. These guys who carry the tires out must be called out by another crew member at the right time to allow them to unwrap the tires, carry them out to the pit and be in position ready for the car to arrive. It seems that someone made the call late, and they were walking out just as Hamilton arrived and actually had to move out of the way as they arrived at the same time as the car. It was then a mad scramble to get the blankets off with the mechanics, who had long since removed the old tyres, looking around wondering why the new ones weren’t in place.

At the end of the day, he still gets to go home to Nicole to console him. Not bad for second place.

The race was won by Rubens Barrichello who came in two seconds ahead of Hamilton making him this years fifth unique winner. Webber came in ninth. It’s a win for Jenson Button who stays at the top of the championship standings as he picked up 2 points for 7th and Webber, who was in second place in the standings, picked up none.

Yay, racers. It’s GP time again this week. I know this image isn’t the Valencia circuit, but it sumarises my thoughts on American motor racing pretty well. NASCAR is a stupid sport. You can’t test a car or a driver by driving around in almost perfect circles. The cars may be somewhat fast, but the pit crews are slow and the spectators are ugly. Compare this to F1 where the cars look and handle great, the pit crews are lightning fast and the spectators and grid girls are attractive, intelligent and discerning.

Too bad Schumacher is not able to compete. It would have been good watching him race again.

This is an onboard picture of the spring which worked loose from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn during the middle 15 minute qualifying period of the Hungarian F1 Grand Prix. The spring was mostly stationary in the middle of the road as Massa, driving at over 200 km/h, slammed into it. The spring struck his helmet just over his left eye and delivered enough force to give Massa a fractured skull. I beleive Massa was knocked unconscious, and ran his car over the kitty litter and into the tyre wall at considerable speed. He can be thankful that it didn’t strike him square in the visor or he may nat have survived. He was flown by helicopter to hospital and had surgery straight away. According to formula1.com, he might be well enough to walk out of hospital next week. It’s just such a bizarre, freak accident you’d be unlikely to ever see again. F1 cars don’t usually fall apart on the track. But then again, Alonso’s wheel fell off after a pit stop so Renault are serving a one race ban from the European Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, Nicole Scherzinger’s boyfriend went on to win the race which, funnily enough, was his first win of the season despite taking out the championship last year.  This all leaves Mark Webber in unfamiliar territory at second on the Drivers Championship leader board, 20 points behind Jenson Button and a real chance at winning. All it’s going to take is a few DNFs for Button and a few more podiums for Webber and it could happen.

What a day for Webber! He was so far ahead when he served his drive-through penalty on lap 14 for his brush with Barrichello approaching the first corner that he was able to rejoin still in the lead. Five laps later his first refuelling stop dropped him to eighth, but once he regained the lead on lap 33 nobody could touch him and he sped home to a popular triumph. Vettel had a tougher time after losing ground behind the KERS cars of Kovalainen and Massa early on, but good strategy helped him to climb up to second for Red Bull’s second consecutive one-two and their third of 2009. Both drivers moved ahead of Barrichello in the drivers’ world championship, and with 92.5 points the team are fast catching Brawn in the constructors’.

Webber qualified on pole for the first time in F1 at the Nurburgring for the German Grand Prix on Saturday, 11 July. This was the first time an Australian driver had claimed pole position since Alan Jones in 1980. He went on to achieve his first F1 victory despite the drive thru penalty early in the race for causing an avoidable collision at the start when he hit the Brawn GP of Rubens Barrichello. Webber went on to dominate the race and win ahead of his teammate Vettel, heading a Red Bull 1-2 and closing the gap on the Brawns in the constructors championship. Webber moved up to 3rd in the drivers championship (his best position in his Formula One career) after his win, passing Rubens Barrichello in the championship and stood behind Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel. I was glad to watch it live on One HD, but after I heard he had the penalty I was so close to going to bed. I’m glad I didn’t. Good on him.

I’m looking forward to the German F1 Grand Prix this weekend. It’s been a while since the British GP, so I’m quite excited. It’s at Nürburgring which is a great track, but what I’d really like to see if F1 racing 10-15 laps on the Nordschleife course again. I’ve made up my mind that I’d like to get a PS3 Formula 1 game and race these tracks myself.

Some of the finest examples of concept cars and digital design I’ve ever seen can be found at Cosmic Motors. I’m just blown away by the appearance of these vehicles, and the realistic settings, props and chicks. This is exactly the kind of stuff I have wanted to get into ever since I got out of Uni; design and render cool futuristic vehicles. Animation isn’t so much part of that desire, and while I can see that it’d be a natural extension it would introduce rather a lot of complexity.