California

Hi there!

Tomorrow morning bright and early I am going to be boarding a plane bound for the sunny left coast of America specifically to Buttonwillow raceway. This weekend I am going to be working with the North American Road Racing Association as a race instructor helping the owners in the 'pro' group get the most out of their automobiles. From what I know about NARRA is that it is a tiered track day company where novice drivers can get involved in performance driving. From the entry level it progresses up to a medium group, then an advanced - time attack style group who is entered into a fastest man competition. This concept seems to be popular in England and apparently generates a lot of excitment in this organization as well.

I am especially looking forward to the weekend since a number of my old colleagues are going to be there. My friend Josh Gilbert who went with me as my 'crief chief' on my last trip to California to be on a reality racing TV show which never took place. Additionally I will get to work with my friend Ruth and Kevin who run the organization who have enjoyed their own very interesting career in motorsport. Their speciality is safety and are a wealth of information which they have acrued from around the globe visiting different racing circuits and participating in the different events.

Hope you are all doing well, wishing you the best!

Cheers

Michael

Now on for something completely different

Dear Friends,

It has been ages! My appologies, especially to those of you in England who are probably wondering if I am still alive or not!

Things have wrapped up at the kart track in Houston. We made a lot of significant improvements in their factility, operations and program, now time to move on.

There is a lot taking place in American motorsport at the moment with the new season kicking off along with significant changes to the landscape of the international motorsport scene. The Grand Am championship started its season in Daytona a few weeks ago, and this week (15 February) will be the most prestigious stock car race in America, the Daytona 500. Internationally Formula 1 has gotten a swift kick upside the regulatory head and all of the teams are scrambeling like made right now to build new cars with the intent of lowering cost and improving the 'show.' The changes are certainly dramatic, we will see how it goes, and how the grid shakes out! I am very excited to see Formula Two unveiled in England this year as the newest feeder series to Formula 1. A brilliant series philosophy which brings costs down to a more reasonable level.

Now I am based in Dallas and have a few things up my sleeve for the 2009 year. I still have no idea when I will be able to get back to England but hopefully I will find out soon!

Hope all of you who occasionally check this are doing well. Would love to hear what you've been up to.

Kindest regards

Michael