Tag Archives: hampshire

The Complexity of the Floor of an F1 Car

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Anyone who follows the details of Formula One is familiar with the endless efforts that go into the design of the aerodynamics of the car. Anyone that knows me knows that I love the aero side of things. The designs will be updated throughout a season to try and maximise the downforce on the car whilst minimising the drag penalty from that downforce. Taking a look at a Williams F1 car at Beaulieu gave a bit of a hint of the tiny details that are included in the design. There is a good chance that this car was not even an operational example and the aero features might not be representative of an actual racing set up, but they are a good approximation of what is involved, and the reality is that it is quite amazing.

Misty Morning in the Neighbourhood

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Barton Meadows is part of my morning routine on many days and this blog pretty often too. One morning I headed across for a walk and there was plenty of low mist hanging in the air. Sections of my loop were shrouded in mist, and I wasn’t going to miss the chance to get some photos. I hope they convey a little of how great it felt when I was there that morning.

50 Years of Popham

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This aviation moment was a bit of a last-minute thing. We don’t live terribly far from Popham’s airfield, and I have driven past it more time than I can recall including when travelling to visit family in Andover before we ended up living in Hampshire. However, I had never actually been to the airfield before. I had seen that they were having a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the first use of the field, but I did have other stuff going on at home. When I had finished that, I knew I needed to get a bike ride in as part of my ongoing (if feeble) preparation for the charity ride I had coming up. I decided to ride up to Popham and back and swing by the fly in.

The weather was really nice and there seemed to be a ton of planes that had made the trip in to join the celebrations. The road into the airfield goes right under the western approach end and I did stop there on my bike for a while to watch the arriving and departing planes. Then I rode into the airfield itself and had a brief wander around. There were plenty of people out walking amongst the parked planes and, if I hadn’t been in cycling shoes and pushing the bike, I would have had a longer time exploring. Instead, it was a brief stopover before continuing my ride. I hope they had a successful day.

This Boathouse Looks Like It Has Been Around for a While

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I was heading from Gunwharf Quays around to Spice Island before heading to Southsea to meet my mum from the hovercraft. I ended up following a trail that was marked on the pavement, and it took me around the harbour near where the old Camber quay was. I didn’t know the area but figured I couldn’t get too lost if I had the water on one side. As I got to the end of the dock, I saw this building. It has that great look of odd angles that old buildings often have. I don’t know how long this boathouse has been here, but I would guess it is quite a long time!

How Many Cameras Do You Need?

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While waiting for the ferry at Lymington, I saw this post with the various cameras that Wightlink uses to keep track of what is happening in the loading area. There are quite a few cameras here. I wonder whether they are all in use or some have replaced others that haven’t been taken down. Either way, there are a lot of cameras on this one pole!

Generations of F1 Racing Cars

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The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu has an F1 exhibit running throughout the summer. There are a number of F1 cars from across the decades on show along with some images and information displays. I imagine that a few competitors were willing to collaborate on this because several of the cars seemed to have the same heritage. For example, the Jaguar is from the team that became Red Bull, so they were probably owned by the same entity and there were some Williams cars too.

Here are a few shots of the generations of cars that were on display. It is interesting to see how much the size and look of the cars has changed as the rule structures have evolved and the technology has advanced. The 70s cars really do look incredibly flimsy, and it is no surprise that drivers died a lot in those days.

Snow Leopards Make a Highlight

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I have posted about our visit to Marwell after hours. What I didn’t include in that post was the snow leopards. They have a couple of snow leopards at the zoo and, when we came up, one was resting up on some rocks while another was more active. It headed to a hole in the rocks as we got there which had me wondering if it was going inside to avoid the visitors. However, it was passing through to another part of the enclosure where it then came right up to the glass walls and walked back and forth throughout the space.

It was so close and really looked amazing. Supposedly, the way to get their attention is to have toddlers with you. Not sure if they think they are snack worthy or not, but they do like following the kids. We didn’t have many in our group, but this one was still very active. I spent some time trying to work out where it would go so I could position for it and get a shot. Mixed results were had but sometimes the phone was all that was needed! What beautiful creatures they are.

I Guess the Train Used to Come Here

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Walking along the street on Spice Island in Portsmouth, I noticed that the road had rails in it. Clearly, in the days when the area was getting freight traffic, rail vehicles would have come in to pick up and drop off cargo. While that is no longer the case, the rails were apparently easier to leave behind than remove. Even some points were still on display. It looks like there was a small passing loop on the street. Now it is just cars that come this way.

Hunting More Bluebells at Hinton Ampner

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We took a walk through the area around Hinton Ampner a few months ago. This was in the spring and was a time when the bluebells were at their peak. There is a footpath around the grounds that takes you through a couple of areas where the bluebells are at their best and there is little chance that you will be alone on this walk if it is a nice weekend. Even so, it did not feel like we were somewhere busy as we took the paths.

The focus for the flowers was when we entered Joan’s Acre Wood. The conditions here are clearly ideal for bluebells and we soon found ourselves transitioning from normal woodland flooring to a sea of blue. It is hard to get an image that really conveys just how much the flowers take over your senses. The blue is intense and contrasts starkly with the green of everything else. In person this is much starker. Hopefully some of these shots will give some sort of impression of what it was like. We were surrounded by bluebells and quite blown away by it.