“Thoughts on work and what happens next”

One hopes you allow the author to be self-indulgent on this occasion.

Although TheMotorsportArchive.com has, on the surface, been somewhat less active in 2015, what has being going on in the background has certainly being more meaningful and enjoyable to say the least.

And there is plenty of work and research going on, so more to come soon, but for now…

Away from TheMotorsportArchive.com, a portion of this year has been spent writing a few features for Racecar Engineering Magazine – a highly respected publication of which I was a subscriber anyway. This year the magazine has published contributions on the new BTCC Honda Civic and the new-for-2015 LMP3 category.
For me, this has been riveting stuff and has been very educational and most importantly, it has been wonderful to contribute to a publication with a editing office who actually appear to know what they are doing. It is amazing how much one steps up their game when working with professionals in this environment.

Apart from that, earlier this month I made my debut behind the microphone as co-commentator for two races at the European Formula 3 Championship round at Portimao. It was a wonderful experience and one that felt absolutely right and it is an opportunity ones hopes come again – but that is something that I need to work at. Like everything in this world, nothing is certain – that could be a road that leads to something quite different or it could be another blind alley. Mostly, it is up to me to work that part out.

Last weekend, I submitted the latest contribution for Racecar Engineering – a piece focussing on the Venturi VBB-3; an electric land speed record car, capable of speeds of over 400mph. Although the weather at Bonneville has not been kind to the joint Monegasque/American effort, thereby ruining any chance of a full-speed run, their spirit remains undimmed and the team will certainly return to Utah next year to push for the land speed record once again.

There is other work in the pipeline – not necessarily with Racecar Engineering – including an piece on the technical challenges faced by Manor Marussia Grand Prix team this year, as well as some Formula 3 technical updates. There is also a thesis in the works, which aims to examine the way audiences engage sporting and televised drama, while also delving into the theories behind attention spans and how broadcasters treat their audiences’.

But that is all work in progress.

Should more work comes along, that will be great. If it can be scraped together on my side, even better, but for now one can only plug away.

So you will forgive me if I didn’t roar into action with the news that Maldonado had re-signed for Lotus for 2016. To be frankly honest, the likes of Autosport, Motorsport.com, Crash.net and NBC handle that fare far better than I could – it is their everyday job after all.