Goodbye 2007 , hello to 2008 - a whole new year for playing poker

The end of another year of poker playing, so time to see how I fared... particularly in relation to my intentions from last year !

Financially, 2007 was not a great year for me, being around $650 down for the year (Internet poker) I started well in January (despite playing a lot of HORSE tournaments) but a couple of larger than normal buy-ins (without cashing in) and trying to qualify for Ladbrokes Cruise and Late Night Poker tournaments substantially drained my bankroll.

October was the first month where I decided to follow a more professional approach to bankroll management so my losses were only $25 in the last 3 months of the year, which is much more like it and probably reflects where I feel I am at with my game.

My live casino games in 2007 were two £10 rebuy tournaments (only documented one of these trips) and one £200 freeze-out, but didn't cash in any of them.....

The monthly game was pretty successful in the end, being about £26 up on the year, so am pretty happy with that...... (despite missing out on 2nd place trophy)

So for 2008, my resolutions will be to :-
1. Continue with the stricter bankroll management
2. Apply the bankroll management to the live casino games as well as online !
3. Be more selective about the "special" tournaments I play in (although rule 1 will naturally limit the MTT games I can play in anyway)

I think applying these rules will allow 2008 to be my breakthrough year in terms of financial improvement and hopefully give me a solid basis on which to start pushing my game to a higher level.

Whatever happens, I am sure I will be enjoying it, and is still a cheap hobby :-)

Cars: which car to choose.... the final decision !

After a lot of umming and ahhhing.... I decided to go for the Lotus Elise R but without the sports pack and 4 point harnesses.

In a slight twist, after I placed the order it turned out that the 2008 specification has changed (compared to the 2007 spec) in that the Touring Pack is no longer standard on the Elise R, so then had to decide if I really wanted the leather and extra comfort. In the end I thought I better had, as it will be an everyday car. Being given the opportunity to change the order, I nearly decided to go for the Sports pack as well, but have to be a little bit sensible :-)

I am expecting the car in March, but even now am starting to get excited.... seems I made the right choice then :-)

Poker: Home Tournament : December 2007 and end of year thoughts

The game went ahead as normal, but unfortunately I got side tracked and only just got around to doing the write up !!

Naturaly I have no recollection of the details now..... so apologies to anyone who avidly reads the write ups, you will have to miss one

Steve made the final table, so got the years consistancy prize.... there was a small worry a little later as there was a possibility he would make the top two and have to give the prize back ! but when he got knocked out in 5th it was no longer possible.... he did take 3rd place in the championship though (bumping me into 4th place in the process and just by 1 point ... dammmittt.... )

Bill got taken out in 6th, and as Jon was still in the match, Jon became undisputed 2007 Champion with Bill in 2nd place. Well done to both, well deserved in both cases and also shows that two opposite styles of play can both do well in the longer term (some may say Bill is just a lucky sod, but you wont hear me saying that ;-) )

Looking back over the year, everyone seems to enjoy the games and so decided to leave the structures as they are for 2008 (why fix something that ain't broke !) The points system is a huge success and although everyone still wants to get into the top three... most are more concerned by getting the points rather than the cash (a good sign I guess) Interestingly the finishing order by cash winnings was Bill, Derek, me then Jon (rather than Jon, Bill, Steve then me by points)

For myself, the year got off to a shakey start, but my run of results in the second half of the year put me into contention for the last game. It all starts again next year of course, so I have high expectations of myself and expect to do well again :-)

Can't wait.....

Cars: Which car to choose ?

I really want a Lotus but decided to test drive some other sports saloons to see if anything can tempt me away from the Lotus

The Mercedes was a good car, but was auto only, felt bulky and you do feel a little isolated from the driving experiance by the electronics

The BMW was a better, but didn't do it for me

Vauxhall's VXR8 is a serious contender to the Lotus and could be considered a practical option in comparison. It is a big car though.... and doesn't even have a sunroof... but could live with that

So what is it to be ???

Ummmm, still not sure actually..... I need to decide in the next few days......

Cars: BMW 335i M Sport (convertible) Test Drive

I am thinking of the Saloon rather than the convertible, but this was the only demo car they had that was similar. They were only able to give it to me for one night, so have driven it 38 miles in the dark (and slightly dank conditions)

First impressions are overall good, with the biggest problem being the seat ! The wrap round padding for the sides is great and makes you feel really dialed in to the car, but found the padding under the top of the thighs a little uncomfortable and slightly disconcerting. I didn't really get time to fiddle with the seating position to see if it could be improved, but made me wonder if I could live with it or not.

The performance seemed to be pretty good and the car felt stuck to the road. I hadn't got used to the dimensions of the car, but did feel fairly confident in placing the car in the road.

Compared to the other cars, it did seem quite compact and low slung. There was plenty of room for the front passengers but no way would you get anyone behind me in the back and the boot was pathetic (but these would only be an issue with the Cabro)

The only other criticism was the heavy steering at low speeds... I don't see the missus being able to manoeuvre the car unless she takes up weight lifting ! (that might be a good thing :-) )

Overall, a good car with a couple of niggles. In all honesty I am prejudice against BMWs (for no rational reason) and this car is not good enough to overcome these feelings.... so will it be the VXR8 or the Elise ?

Cars: Vauxhall VXR8 test drive

Imagine my surprise and delight that I was able to get a Vauxhall VXR8 for a three day test drive, and that my three days also spanned a weekend !

My first impression was that this car is a powerful beast !! but the driving experience was tempered by uncomfortable seats and a HUGE steering wheel (the rim must be at least 2 inches in diameter so very difficult to get a natural feeling grip on the wheel)

The plus points of the car are its obvious power, performance and handling. Looks-wise it is a little bit OTT with the spoiler and meaty looks, but is by no means offensive to view.

On the negative side, the seats and steering wheel are the big put-off, but also suffers a little from a twitchy ride, restricted visibility backwards via the mirrors and also the HUGE A pillars block the forward vision. The indicators/wiper stalks are also reversed from most cars, so is a bit annoying at the moment.

Having said all that, now I have driven the car for a few days and experienced it in various driving conditions, I have finally managed to adjust the seat to find a position that does feel comfortable and have also adjusted my grip on the steering wheel and think I could live with that as well now.

As the other negative issues are all relatively minor and would get used to them over time, I think this car would be a serious contender if I don't get the Lotus ! The wife is not too keen though, finding it noisy and uncomfortable (not compared to a Lotus though :-) )..... so she hopes I like the BMW that I am testing next week !

For me, the VXR8 would likely have been crossed off my list had it only been a normal test drive, but the extended experience shows the car does grow on you over time

Cars: Mercedes C350 sport test drive

As I am looking to change my Subaru in March, I am test driving some cars so I can place my order before Xmas for my new car.

First up was the Mercedes C350 Sport which I had for two days

Unfortunately I only got to drive it from home-->Work-Home in the dark on wet roads so couldn't really push it too hard, but got a good feel for it

Being a Merc, it was auto gearbox only, in this case with the flappy paddles as well. The car was about what you expect from a Merc. Refined, comfortable, quiet and a huge amount of power and torque from the silky smooth V6

There were no "faults" with the car as such, other than no manual gear box..... but didn't feel involved and felt the weight/bulk of the car when I did push on down some country roads.

In the end, if it was the only choice of car I had, then I would be happy with it... but am not convinced it is for me

Computing: Cisco Certified !

I have fancied achieving Cisco Certification for a long time, but only recently could I justify the time and money investment.

It seems I have been studying for years for my Cisco Certification exam (CCENT) , but probably only the last 4 or 5 weeks. I bought three books to read, although in honesty I have only really read "CCENT/CCNA IDNC1 Official Exam Certification Guide" thoroughly (ISBN 1-58720-182-8)

Having read the book, I bought a Cisco CCNA Lab kit from eBay, which consisted of a 1600 Router and 1900 Switch. Unfortunately the switch was useless as it had the old operating system but at least provided me an environment I could use. The Router was good as it allowed me to review and practise the commands.

Luckily I was also able to go on the official Cisco course with Global Knowledge in Wokingham
The course was great as it gave good hands on experience with some "proper" Cisco boxes and also gave the WAN routing as well. It also gave further confidence as the instructor was adamant the exam is based on the courseware rather than the book (the book goes into a lot more detail than the course itself!)

After a week revising after the course I went to the exam. I was feeling a little nervous as the exam itself consists of multiple choice (Which I am used to) but also gives you simulation questions where you have to remember roughly what you need to do and then go and do it ! Most of the multi choice questions were fairly straightforward and felt I knew the answers to most of them. For my first simulation I struggled to remember some of the (very simple) commands to begin with, but used the help and managed to get back on track.... in the end the tasks were quite straightforward but not knowing how many more of these questions to expect, I was worried about running out of time. As it turned out, I only got two more simulation type questions and they were both quick and straightforward, so actually finished with 15 minutes to spare.

On clicking the button to end the exam and get the results, the wait seems interminable (around 30 seconds probably!) but I got the good news that I had passed :-) My score was 909 out of 100 (804 was the passing score) so had actually passed with margin to spare

I am very pleased to have got this first level certification and now hope to take the second stage (ICND2) to achieve the full CCNA certification (then maybe the Firewall Specialist) Of course, this would all be after learning the new Oracle technologies I need to understand, so a busy year or so ahead for me !!

Poker: Home tournament : November 2007

Only a quick update today,as being slightly snuffly still from my cold, I dont remember much !

11 players for this increasingly tense tournament. My recent run had me in a good position to take the lead of the championship but my form wasn't great this month. I played quite steady, albeit a little agressive, but with Sean and Bill on my table, there was always a showdown. In the end my raise in early position with KTs on the first hand after the rebuys stopped was my downfall. Sean reraised and bill called all-in which made the decision to fold quite tricky (as both players could have been behind) In the end I did call for another 1000 and the flush draw on the flop made it an easy all in for my remaining chips. Seans pocket KK was a great hand and beat me, but Bill's AT took the main pot and I was first out.

The game was quite close but Alex was soon out then Bill took out two players in one hit to get us down to the final table.

Steve was down to big and small blind when he went all in under the gun, but tripled up. Soon took another couple of big pots and before anyone realised we were down to the final three players. Jon was happy to see Bill out in 3rd, with Steve and Derek having a battle but Dereks chip lead and aggression soon taking the top spot

Jon is favourite to take the top spot, Steve is favorite to take the consistancy prize, but the 2nd place spot is wide open to about half a dozen players, so all to play for in December !

See statgenie for the full analysis

Poker: Home Tournament : October 2007

Although the turnout was a little disappointing (compared to the rest of the year) the game dynamics were very different which led to a different atmosphere and different play for a lot of people, so very interesting game.

Some things didn't change though, with Bill being all-in for the first three or four hands.... although unusually it was often against an also all-in Alex !

Jon and myself were noticeably playing very tight games but I seemed to be getting some cards to play with ! I won a fair few chips early on, but later on gave a chunk of them to Jon when he re-raised by QQ all-in with J9 and hit straight on the river !! I was quite low for much of the game after that with only around 2500 chips at the end of rebuys, although was probably around 4th in chip count of of the 10 players at this stage

It took ages for the first two players to go, and we played with 8 for a long time also (or it seemed a long time!) but the increasing blinds were starting to hurt so the players were dropping quickly. I am a bit vague on the details now, but managed to knockout Roger, then Jon taking me to the chips lead... then Darren and then Andy to win the game with time to spare ! Not sure how it happened, but was either superior playing skills or I just got lucky at the right time (know which one I prefer to think ;-) )

The league positions are looking fascinating now... and although there are only two to play, there is still a lot to play for !

See you all next time (results at http://www.statsgenie.com/Poker/ as normal)

Cars: Brooklands for e-Type Jaguar day

Today was e-Type Jaguar day at Brooklands Motor Museum (http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/) As the E-type (http://www.web-cars.com/e-type/index.php) is one of my all time favourite cars, I just had to go and take a look at them :-) Brooklands Museum always has a magic feel to it for me, so really enjoyed walking around looking at the old Jags

After our picnic lunch, as per our normal schedule, we also walked round to Mercedes World (http://www.mercedes-benzworld.co.uk/) and Lynn decided she likes the £65k SLK 55 better than the £115k AMG SL (yes..... the colour was better !)

Having enjoyed the cars, on the way home we dropped in on a new house development at Chobham Lake, just for a laugh...... £475k for a 2 bed terrace house is a lot of money to me, even for the semi-rural location..... and you don't even get allocated car parking spot ! (you have to buy at least the £600k 3 bed terrace to get 2 parking spots allocated) (http://www.surreyproperty.com/photos2/Large/003DSC_0210.jpg)

Oh well, will have to fill out those lucky lottery numbers on Saturday again....

Poker: Home Tournament : September 2007

Results and league standings available at http://www.statsgenie.com/ as normal

This months is the quarterly no-rebuy, no-limit format so tends to be a more tense, tight and serious affair.....being down to 9 players as well, I thought the game would be over quickly tonight, but turned out to be a wrong assumption

The game was tense and tight, although lots of table chat going on as well (Bill, don't forget to do that quote for Sean :-) ) Mick started out the early winner of several reasonable sized pots so looked to be his night. Andy had lost a few chips then decided to make an all-in lunge at the pot when I raised with my A-K. I also had a few more chips than Andy, so decided to call, with Andy showing 9-8 suited.... I was ahead and neither improved, so Andy was first out and the only one with no points tonight!

That set me up nicely but continued to play quite tightly. I built up a nice stack of chips but then had a run in with Jon and dropped back down to third in chips. Jon then took a big chip lead with everyone else being slightly below average except Mick and myself by the break.

As the blinds went up, there was more action, but everyone was still playing tight, solid poker.... Bill managed to survive three all-ins by splitting the pot, normally by hitting a miracle card on the river... but Derek's luck deserted him and got taken out by Mick by a cruel card on the river

After the second break the blinds were high and only Jon had enough chips to sit back and relax for a while. I decided to step up a gear and won a couple of uncontested pots to get a good sized stack. In the final round, there were still 5 players left, although Mick immediately got taken out, then I got lucky as Darren decided to make a stand when I had him dominated and that left 3 players. Steve got whittled down and was out next, leaving Jon and I to play the last 4 hands of the tournament. I won the first couple of hands and with the chip counts almost identical was over aggressive on the 2nd last hand with T-7 and when Jon called my pre-flop raise we were both committed to play out the hand. The flop was checked, but Jon bet the turn. I had to make a crying call and sure enough, Jon had paired his Jack and took the pot and a well deserved victory

Phew, another points/cash finish for me which does my league position the world of good (that's what it's all about :-) )

The game overall was great, it seemed everyone was really on their best game tonight which made it fascinating and huge fun to play, so well done to all

Even better, we only have to wait three weeks for the next game :-)

Holiday: Spain - September 2007

We went to La Carihuela on the Costa Del Sol for a week last week and had a lovely time.

The journey out was uneventful and was in the bar by the beach before 6pm (local time) so was a good start to the holiday :-)

Most days followed a pattern of Breakfast, Beach, Lunch, Beach, walk (to Torremolinos or the Port at Benalmádena) then Dinner....... so didn't have to think to much about what to do

Weather wise, apart from Thursday every day was hot and Sunny (about 35 C) Thursday was cloudy until late afternoon (but still hot!) but had previously decided this was to be our adventure day, so we walked around Torremolinos town and along the beach.... (OK so wasn't all that adventurous ;-) )

In many ways we were sad to come home, but actually after a week of sun and heat we had had enough already so wasn't a great wrench really.

Journey home was also uneventful and even got home in time to watch the England match :-)

Great holiday, deliberately slow paced and relaxing, just what was needed to recharge the batteries

Music: Newly aquired CDs

It has been a while since I bought some new CDs, (although am sure I bought some more recently than last year ! http://sceaga.blogspot.com/2006/06/music-recent-additions.html)
but have been listening to the 5 CDs I recently purchased in the car over the last few weeks, so can now reveal whether they were sound investments or not (pardon the pun!)

Keane : Hopes and Fears
Good CD. Lots of the songs on it you would recognise..... mainly laid back and some inspirational tracks. Overall well worth the listen and has longevity

Lily Allen : Alright, still
Heard a few Lily tracks on various music shows on TV, etc... so knew some of the songs. The first time I listened to the album, I found it amusing but was worried I'd get bored with it after a few listens... as its quite basic structure to the tracks and quite naive sounding production. I needn't have worried, as after several listens I still enjoy a lot of the tracks (have got bored with some though...) I am just worried about poor lily's state of mind, as the lyrics are quite vicious in places !
Overall a good buy and still happy to listen to it

Hazel O'Conner : Breaking Glass
Always liked this soundtrack, takes me back to my youth :-)
Songs are still relevant today and music is pretty lively in the main. At on £2.99 great value as well

Muse : Black Holes & Revelations
Fantastic album, been meaning to buy it since I saw Muse on TV playing some tracks from this album... Great inspirational stuff....songs are spinning round in my head when not actually listening to it :-)

Arcade Fire : Neon Bible
Heard couple of tracks on radio and TV, slightly wacky but very likeable. Problem with the album is I only like the two tracks that they keep playing on the radio and TV... the other tracks are not all that good (in my view)
The one album of the five I could do without

All in all some great music to listen to, must get my music budget sorted out so I can buy albums more regularly

Poker : So many tournaments, not enough time....

Having had a bit of a "rest" after my so far unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the Ladbroke Cruise (http://sceaga.blogspot.com/2007/06/poker-ladboke-cruise-weekly-final.html) I decided this week to have another go, so loaded up my account again. My first evenings work paid off and managed to win half the fee for a daily final. Thursday night I dropped a little but still up so far overall...so progress is slow but steady.....

Next thing I know, I get an email about the next Late Night Poker series qualifiers which look really exciting (http://www.partypoker.com/tournaments/late_night_poker/)

I really want to get into BOTH of these live finals, so am going to have to get creative with my poker playing time (and maybe a bit lucky as well :-) ) Its very exciting to be a poker addict at the moment, with so many quality tournaments to play for.... can't wait to get cracking !

General: Gym Regime

Having suffered last year with "Joggers Knee" (aks Runners Knee http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=438&sectionId=10 .... at least I didnt get "Joggers Nipple!) so decided to join the Gym from January this year and go swimming instead of running on the road.

Unfortunately after several months of swimming 4-5 days a week, I started suffering from "Swimmers Ear" (it is quite funny really, but actually is pretty painful! http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=272 ) so settled on a new regime of mixed activities which will hopefully be easier for my poor body to cope with

I guess I've been doing the new regime around 5-6 months now, so decided to take stock of where I am at....

Monday (Running)
Run at 10 kph for 20 minutes plus 5 minutes cool down. Total of 3.8 km covered. Peak at 154 bpm

Tuesday (Rowing)
20 minutes plus 3 minutes cool down at maximum resistance (the hard seat gives me a sore bum, else would do more cooldown :-) ) Do around 30 strokes per minute and cover 5000 metres

Wednesday (Cycling)
Pedal at around 80 rpm at level 11 resistance (25 is the maximum setting, so a little bit of a wimp) for 20 minutes plus 5 minutes cooldown. Cover 9.5 km and peak at 134 bpm.

Thursday (Swimming)
Swim 20 lengths in around 20 minutes. Do alternate breast stroke and crawl, with 1 minute rest after 10 lengths

Friday (Running again)
Same as Monday

I normally make 4 times a week, but often do all 5 days.

My weight in the morning was 12 st (75 kilo) and my tummy/waist ration was 91cm/96cm = 0.948 (just below the recomended 0.95 !!)

So what does all this mean ? Well, hopefully it means I am fit and healthy... but maybe still need to cut down on the vast qualtity of chocolate for the truly healthy lifestyle (like that's gonna happen :-) )

Will re-check these stats in another 6 months or so to see how I improve (or not)

General: Day trip to Arundel

As the weather forecast was hot and sunny we decided to go to Arundel for the day (http://www.sussexbythesea.com/arundel_general_info.asp?menu=1)

It only took about 75 mins to get there and easily found a parking spot, albeit deciding to pay in the long stay car park ! It was a lovely town steeped in history, so decided to walk round the river first. The towpath was pretty busy with people, but turns out the pub on the river just out of town was having a Bath Tub race and we got there just as they were about to start... seemed like all the townsfolk were there ! As it was so hot, we didn't go on the full walk up the hill and round the lake, and ended up just doing a couple of hours walking by the time we got back to the car, just in time for lunch !

We had taken our picnic so found a nice spot to sit in the shade by the river and had a lovely leisurely lunch with great views.

With the choice of walking round town or going round the castle, Lynn prefered to look round the shops !! Lot of antique shops, 9 pubs and a generous assortment of restaurants and cafes abound, but was old English feel to the town.... especially with loads of Morgans buzzing around the roads as well. Looked like there was a Morgan do on at Goodwood and Arundel seemed like it was a place for all the cars to stop at for some reason.

Was definitely a nice place to visit and was lots for us to do and see... most of it we didn't do or see yet, so will have to go back another day :-)

Cars: Brooklands Club Lotus day

Brooklands held a Club Lotus day, so of course I had to go and check it out !

Got there around 11am, and was worried that no Lotus were in sight.... but rounding the club house, there were some, albeit only 6 cars ! 3 x 7's, an Elise and a couple of Elans

Took some pictures, but bit disappointing turnout... although soon after, some more did turn up so by the end of the day there were around 25 cars there to see and I think most models were reprosented. It was only a static display, but they moved around occasionally so you did get to see and hear them

After lunch we did also go into Merceded world again and sit in the £150 K AMG mercedes :-)

It was a loverly day, with great weather as well, so great day out. Was a little disappointed there weren't more Lotus to see and that they didn't do the hill climb, but you can't have everything I suppose

Looking forward to our next trip to Brooklands

Poker: Home Tournament : August 2007

Slightly down on numbers this month, but also see the welcome return of Colin to the fold.... and Martin also managed to make it as well.... and with only one of the White clan, the evening had a different feel to it.

My tournament got off to a dodgy start... dealt pocket 3's first hand decided to raise... but ended up with 4 players all-in ! Sean took the first hand and went on to start calling with all sorts of rubbish (normal game for him then ;-) )

My chips kept going down, but got a breakthrough against Roger and managed to get a bit of a stack together, but never really got a stack going through the early levels. In the last session before buy-in I managed to accumulate more chips, so went into the break with around 3000 chips (slightly above average) Alex had been struggling all game and had lots of buy-ins so inevitably needed two buy ins at the break (as did Andy)

After the break Alex raised and I put him all-in with my pocket 4's which he called with A-6 Nothing came to help either of us, so I managed to take Alex out. Couple of hands later I put Andy all-in and we had another race, but this time me having two overcards. Luckily one of my cards came and I took Andy out as well... giving me a decent number of chips. Unluckily for me, I then get a good hand and only Sean calls my raise. My AQ looks reasonable with KQ5 flop, but Sean calls my flop bet and goes all-in on the turn. I decide to call and of course he has the K, and my AQ gets turned over by K-6

The final table is with us quickly this evening due to the number of players and only Mick has less chips than me, but at least I have made it into the points. Two players go out in quick succession and I am roaring up the points positions by not playing a hand. I win one small pot uncontested which leaves me with 2000 chips and the blinds 500-300

I look for a place to go all in and soon get a good opportunity. My 76 on BB sees two 7's on flop. Roger bets the flop and both me and Jon call. The 6 on the turn means I want Roger to bet out again, but he checks. Having only 1500 and a huge pot, I go all in and Jon calls me with a straight against my nut Full house.... so nearly tripled up

A couple of hands later I am lucky to take Roger out when I hit a card on the River and I am chip leader and in the money

It is definitely my night tonight, as I flop a straight draw and Jon prices me in to see the turn when I hit the straight. He bets out and then calls my re-raise but he has no hope and I take a massive chips lead. I even manage to dodge Jons AA next hand, although it got done by Dereks K-5

It was soon all over, when I take out both Derek and Jon, so Jon gets another 3rd place but I make my first win of the year !!

I am really pleased especially as I really felt I was up for it this time round.... and didn't play badly (admittedly did get lucky a couple of times, but hey... :-) )

As ever a great game, but have to wait an extra week for the September game, so looking forward to that !

Results posted to http://www.statsgenie.com/Poker/ as normal, make interesting reading...

Cars: Car profile

I have always been a keen driver, especially when someone else was paying for it ! So what cars have I owned over the years ? (in some form or another)

• Mini Clubman 1000cc (1980)
  Company Car. Engine kept having problems, rebuilt a couple of times. (don't know why, I never revved it more than maximum revs....)
  
• Austin Allegro
  Company Car. Surprising how many people you can get in an Allegro
  A different Austin Allegro
  Company Car. First experience of lift-off oversteer. Luckily Tree wasn't damaged..... car written off. Oops.....
• Citroen Athena
  Bosses car, used fairly regularly whilst I was "rested" from company car ownership..... first experience of 3 figure speeds (it was socially acceptable in those days) however was unable to think of suitable reasons to explain to boss why his fuel consumption halved whenever I drive his car..... so fun was seriously curtailed after various "discussions" on driving technique.
  
• Talbot Solara
  Company Car. Rubbish car, but permanently on the road again! Learnt about weight transfer when swerving to avoid truck pulling out in front of me. Luckily the barrier on the A3 Hook underpass wasn't damaged.... car written off....... probably did car loving humanity a favour though....
  
• Talbot Solara Series II
  Company Car. Very exciting as the first car I had from brand new. Also first one I had with 5 speed gearbox ! (it is some new fanged gadget, will never catch on..)
  
• BMW 316
  Company Car. Only had it for a month.... didn't want to give it back, as in those days it was cool to have a Beema
  
• Ford XR3i
  Company Car. Ended up with engine on fire when starting it one day, probably petrol leak in engine bay... write off of course (but not my fault this time !!)
  
• Ford Capri 1.6L Laser
  Company Car. First real experience of rear wheel drive. Also first experience of a big tank slapper.... luckily didn't hit anything, and my passenger ended up marrying me, so couldn't have been that bad :-)
  
• Cant remember what I had next (1990)
  Company car of some sort.
  
• Saab 900i auto (1990)
  Company Car. Working in London now. Daily commute, yuk.
  
• Saab 900s manual (1991)
  Company Car.
  
• Cannot remember (1992-94)
  Company Car. Some repmobile or other probably
  
• Rover 216 (1994)
  Changed company, this was obviously a company car !
  
• Rover SDI 3.5 V8 (1994)
  First car I owned myself. Changed company and decided to get car allowance. Only lasted about 7 weeks before it collapsed in a heap of rust and mangled bits (£50 for a car wasn't much even in those days)
  
• Renault 19 1.3 (1994)
  My car. Great car actually.
  
• Cannot remember (1996 )
  Company car. Doing high mileage so went back to company car.
  
• Renault Laguna 2.0 Sport (1997)
  Company car. Sport meant you got the "firm" seats (i.e. - your head doesn't touch the side windows when you turn the steering wheel)
• Saab 900 Turbo (1997)
  My car again. Changed company just as Tony Blair got into power... bound to hammer company car drivers, so I went for a car allowance. Very quick car (once Turbo has spun up that is, none of this namby-pamby low-pressure turbo rubbish)
  
• Lotus Elise (1997)
  "Our" weekend car. until wife wanted to sell her half..... Hmmmm, OK. Absolutely wonderful car though, would love to race one. (we all need to dream)
  
• Subaru Impreza Turbo (1999)
  My Car. mine, mine, mine.... one of the most reliable cars in the business, so why did it throw a rod through one of the cylinders then ? Complete engine rebuilt under warranty (luckily) Great car, but refused to be driven sensibly. I must be getting old as started worrying about my Driving License.
  
• Jaguar XK8 Convertible (2002)
  My car. Fantastic car, not just for posing in either. Only sold it to provide my racing budget (and some stuff for the house, but hey....) Might own another one again (or maybe an Exige would be better..)
  
• Land Rover Discovery Td5 (2003)
  Company Car. To tow my race car of course. Tax liability is a bit of a bugger, but you can't beat it for towing.
  
• Range Rover (2004)
  Company Car. Temporary arrangement from May-Sept. Unbelievably, you cannot buy a new Discovery at the moment !
  
• Jeep Grand Cherokee (2004)
  Company Car. Temporary arrangement from Sept 04- Apr 05 Auto gearbox, but fantastic V8 petrol engine. Great for towing and not bad in a straight line :-)
  
• Subaru Forester 2.5 XT (Mar 2005)
  Own car Can tow 2 tonnes and goes like stink as well