UKPylot’s MINI Blog

Maybe not so new but I am seeing a lot of this recently: people driving on the hard shoulder around ‘tight’ curves. So, a typical US-style clover-leaf on-ramp to the freeway, the driver in front of me takes it on the hard shoulder. And not just a little but all the way over. Now this in itself wouldn’t grind my gears but they take it slowly, so I am going faster than them and still on the road and I have to decide whether to overtake or slow down. I always slow down but I just don’t get it.

In other news I am 3 miles away from 123k on the odometer, never had a car do this many miles. Still going strong though.

One of my pet peeves is cars refusing to go faster than any law enforcement vehicle on the freeway, even if they are going below the speed limit. So Tuesday on my way to San Diego I am about halfway and there is a longish incline to go up before a long (and fast) descent. A third of the way up the hill a black and white SUV joins the freeway and a quick check of the speedo shows under 75 so I’m not bothered.

The SUV turns out to be a Sheriff, I pass him as he accelerates and I watch in the mirror just in case for some reasons he wants to pull me over (yeah, paranoid much?). He starts to catch up but I am already watching my speed as just the other side of the crest there is a CHP about 50% of the time, and with such a nice steep downhill it is easy to get up quite some speed.

Looking in the mirror I see that everyone who was behind me is alongside or behind the Sheriff, it’s like the start of a race, everyone following the pace car. I notice the Sheriff is getting further behind, he must be slowing down, and yet still no one will go by him. I reach the top of the hill and sure enough there’s the CHP vehicle; I don’t even brake. The SUV must now be doing about 55 and still no one will pass. Ugh, it’s making me crazy.

The Sheriff pulls over to talk to the CHP and within minutes I’m being passed by vehicles doing at least 80 or 85. CA drivers, I can’t stand most of them.

Thought I’d share my latest, um, pastime – I’m going to try building my own plane, and so I’ve created a website for it:

Not sure if I have the skill, time or money to get it done but we’ll find out, click on the image to go to the site.

So I was at E3 this week and one of the games on display was the (heretofore) mythical Gran Turismo 5. I remember when I joined Sony 4.5 years ago GT5 was “imminent” and yet only this week has it actually been seen in the wild, for real. But what does this have to do with you, dear reader? Well, GT5 is the ultimate driving sim (my own loyalties totally aside) and in this demo video premiered at E3, you get to see The Stig driving the Top Gear test track….. start paying attention around 58s into the video.

Coming November 2010 for PS3. Too right, it only does everything

So, being a Private Pilot, I thought the Aero kit for my MINI was a must-buy. Imagine my disappointment when I found no propeller, no wings, or anything that turned it into a flying machine.

Folks, I am here all week!

Caught this on BBC Radio One today and found the audio online. Not MINI-related at all, but I know there are some Top Gear fans out there.

No, not referring to an (inevitable) MINI repair bill, but rather a short video of the storm that came in So Cal yesterday. I didn’t quite get home in time to catch the real rain, but you can see by the flow down the hill that we got a bunch of it (1.25″ at Lindbergh Field).

Rain from Paul Sanders on Vimeo.