What am I up to this summer? Well, here’s a handy cut-out-and-keep guide to where the heck I’ll be and when over the course of the next three months. Doesn’t include a bunch of short-notice stuff that will inevitably crop up, but hopefully this gives the general gist of things.
05/08/2012 ~ Wilton House Classic & Supercar Day
Totally not as cheesy as it sounds, this is basically a whole bunch of awesome-looking piles of metal and carbon fibre converging (last year, around 100-150 of the world’s finest supercars) on a country estate outside of Salisbury to the delight of many. Actually a pretty relaxed affair and one of the highlights of the South Coast petrolhead’s summer. I believe the convoy of expensive machinery will be convoy-ing from London at some point in the early hours, so if you’re on the M3 early in the morn, keep an eye out for a bunch of Zondas, F458s, Lambos, MP4-12Cs, F40s and maybe a Veyron or two zooming past at MANY VELOCITY. I’ll be driving over, so feel free to catch a lift from Southampton.
10-12/08/2012 ~ Ockfest 2012
The annual pilgrimage to Ockley for Ockfest2012 at Dan’s. Queue outdoor camping, violent games of ‘spoons’, outdoor hide-and-seek in the dark, probably Singstar and the obligatory quiz. Always good fun, assuming that Dan’s garden isn’t a swamp and that Great Britain isn’t in typhoon season. Driving up on the Friday to deploy camping gear and shunting back to Southampton on Sunday afternoon
18/08/2012 ~ RockSoc Summer Classic pubcrawl
While the students are away, the oldies of RockSoc play. Relaxed pubcrawl starting at the Drummond Arms and finishing at The Hobbit where there’ll be some RockSoc DJ sets and stuff. I’ve also heard word that Chef Bernie at The Hobbit may be cooking up some special requests for us, as well. Great success.
25/08/2012 ~ Karting (Milton Keynes Daytona)
Maybe. Haven’t decided yet, is an unnecessary expense but I want to go karting. If anyone else from Southamptonland wants to come up and join me, that would be rad and most welcome.
26/08/2012 ~ 6 Hours of Silverstone
The World Endurance Championship comes to Silverstone again as part of the Le Mans Series/Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, and gives us race fans a second time to catch the major Le Mans contenders (Audi, Toyota, Lola) plus the usual range of GT cars hooning around Silverstone for six hours straight. Usually a nice, quiet and chilled-out afternoon (well, when the Corvettes aren’t roaring past) of some top-quality international motorsport. One of the best value-for-money motor events on the calendar, a Sunday ticket is only £20 or so including roving grandstand which is ideal for watching the start from Luffield, wandering up to Maggots/Beckets during the middle of the race and finishing the day at Club corner to watch the chequered flag and podium ceremony. There’s also usually pitlane/paddock access before the race so you can peek into garages and watch the mechanics preparing the machines. Any Southampton race fans are also welcome to catch a lift. Bring your camera!
28-31/08/2012 ~ ‘Life After the PhD’ conference
A little while ago I submitted an entry to attend this 4-day conference at the Cumberland Lodge, subsidised by the University on the basis that I’m unsure what to do after this is all over, and I was awarded a funded place on the course. Should be a nice few days mingling with people from industry and academia from a range of disciplines, and also a bunch of people in a similar situation, which will hopefully reveal a few of my options and hopefully some ideas that I’d not considered for my follow-up career. I’m certainly thinking of other opportunities well out of the space/engineering field, and it’d be good to hear what sort of things I might be able to participate in once if I graduate.
05-10/09/2012 ~ Bestival (Isle of Wight)
I’ll be attending my first ever music festival with the University of Southampton Roadshow by participating in the Astro Research Group stand in the Science Tent of the ‘Tomorrow’s World’ field and talking to festivalgoers about satellites and space. I’m scheduled to be the first speaker in the Besti-versity Tent, which has a jam-packed schedule of 45-minute long science-based talks from various disciplines, where I’ll be talking about “Catching Hay Fever on the Moon and other Curious Facts about Humans in Space“. I’ll be there from Wednesday until Monday, so if you’re coming along as well, feel free to say “hi”.
07/10/2012 ~ British Touring Car Championship, Silverstone
The BTCC is one of the most action-packed saloon racing championships in the world, and reaches its climax at Silverstone. It’s turned into a rollicking season with Matt Neal, Gordon Shedden and Jason Plato all duking it out for the top spot, and the ‘Stone hosts the final three races of the season. There’s also a whole host of support races (Ginettas, Carreras, Clios etc.), providing a solid six hours of entertainment for about 20quid. Southampton troops are welcome to catch a lift if they’d like.
So, a solid summer of Awesome Stuff is planned. I should probably also start on that thesis at some point, but meh. Onwards to fun things!
[Zinar7]
Sinister Resistance 