Between "live" sessions we had time to lark about. This is me on a Hoverboard. Not quick but fun all the same. It has a bag skirt 4 stroke engine (Briggs I think) which drove a single wheel at the back. Also underneath were freely rotating brushes to aid stability. Driving the thing was entirely through shifting body weight. Compared to throwing my weight around the Eagle the Hoverboard was very sensitive to body position. and took a little practise to settle to it.

For the camera's I had to fire up the Eagle spin it round a couple of times and then blast out of the loading area through a gate and down an access road. The studio complex security, closed the road when the programme was on. Just as well, as I was "blind" until going through the gate (at speed) and the low morning sun also made things tricky.

I practised the run the night before in the pitch dark..... That was fun!! To see more, go to the Photo & Video page of this site.

My Father knew early in the year that his work commitments would not enable the trip to the USA so the team generally elected to forgo competing in the championships. This was much regretted by all of us particularly as the Eagle Mirage has been getting better all year and the latest exhaust mod has given the craft more speed, however we are a real team and collective decisions between Ken, myself and my parents are the order. At least I got to go as "pit crew" for Conrad Beale and Dan Newton. The trip turned out to be hard work and real fun.

After our tent got flooded out I ended up bedding down in the sports centre. I had some real laughs, The showers were on one side of the dance floor, my clothes and sleeping area on the other. Gate crashing a 60th birthday party and then a wedding reception wearing nothing but a smile and a towel sure did break the ice. I got to dance with both the birthday girl and the bride!!

That's it for the moment, I have just finished my apprenticeship. I am now a qualified shipwright, and have been given new responsibilities which also require me to get up to speed with Autocad, as I will be involved in yacht interior design as well as supervising some manufacture. So I don't have much free time at the moment, nevertheless ideas for the 2003 season are being kicked around......

Great weekend in Cheltenham attending seminars and (mainly) the bar.

Some of the games in the evening after the presentation dinner were a laugh. This was a race around the ballroom on bouncing balls. Each table bet on the outcome (hence the cards with letters on).  The cheating was outrageous. All of us were set upon by other tables betting on other contestants. In the foreground Ken and my Mother with me getting ready to race the blue bouncer. 

Team Eagle with the F1 Trophy. Ken looks happy about it.

See you next season................