Motors and Me

Funny how songs can bring back specific memories so vividly. Here I am, sat at my computer, and I put on OK Computer by Radiohead. Airbag kicks into life and I'm instantly transported back to 1998, designing my first track using the Grand Prix 2 Track Editor . Based on the Estoril circuit — as nearly all early tracks were, thanks to its simple pitlane layout — it swept down and to the right from the start/finish straight. The opening bars of Airbag often accompanied this stretch as I popped in a CD before starting play-testing. That first corner will forever be strongly connected with Radiohead for me, which is no bad thing. I loved creating tracks and I still love OK Computer. The track, I believe, was called Cheviot, named after the hill in Northumberland . This was a highly apt name, as I completely misunderstood the editor's height settings. What I thought was a change in absolute height was actually a gradient change. Consequently, when I tried to make a slight hump

A little over 18 months ago, I paid £15,650 for my (then) 4-year old 350Z. Judging by the classifieds on Pistonheads, I'd now be lucky to get £10k for it. Eeek! Mind, when I first drafted this post back in early April, it was even worse. Some cars of the same age were going for just £8k. Had I sold at that point, I'd have lost almost 50% of the car's value in a little over 15 months. I've never known anything like that sort of depreciation. Maybe for a brand-new car, but not one that's meant to be past its initial rapid depreciation period. It's not even as if I paid over the odds at the time. Still, it's not worth getting upset about and the market appears to be coming back, albeit slowly. And the launch of the 370Z will doubtless be accounting for part of the value lost in the 350Z. All in all, I'm taking the decision to ride out the worst of the recession before I start looking properly for car #5. Now to get the various mechanical niggles fixed..