new horizons

[zimm]

Well, it may have been noted by some of the longer term members here that i've not been online anywhere near as much as i used to be...

what with my parents passing away, investing in property and then losing every penny i had (damn recession), moving house more times than i care to remember, a long term relationship ending, and a stop/start attempt at setting up and running a vehicle restoration business which saw me give up my lovely (rented) cottage in wales to adopt a semi-pikey existence living out of the back of my workshop with no running water/toilet etc for the last 2 years (thats why you cant stay over at mine when i service your bike, Im actually on the homeless register! lol) .. its been a err .. stressful period in my life to say the least.....

how i ever managed to build a racebike and get out on track is beyond me ...

however... finally things seem to be looking up.. On the evidence of my efforts in the workshop and some of the projects i've tackled/completed (several porsche 924/944/turbo things, alfa gtv6, ferrari 308gt4, couple of renault 5's, R6, GSXR750 K1, and the ZXR's of course) I've managed to lever open a door to the world of motorsport engineering... despite having NO qualifications or industry experience

As of next week I'll be starting a new job servicing/building/supporting porsche 911 and Boxster race/rally cars with a small team of ex F1 and WRC mechanics.


shitting myself ? yup
excited ? yup

so just goes to show that if you keep trying... reality caves in and grants opportunities

thanks to all those on here who (unknowingly) got me through the difficult times and facilitated my sporadic appearances at the back of the f400 grid

all going well, i'll be back out racing towards the end of the summer.. although it may be on 4 wheels .. as I've decided i want to build a Formula Vee (like formula ford, but beetle based, and more low tech)

now, please.. wish me luck.. im going to need all of it to climb this learning curve and not fall off.

[SOILZX]

Bloody hell Mr, you have had it rough!! Good to here that things have turned in your favour though and good luck with the new job

SOILZX

[cargo]

I'd love to be working for a motorsport team of any kind.
Brilliant opportunity grab it with both hands and enjoy the ride.
Good Luck

[Jamz]

Bloody hell isn't life a giraffe sometimes?

Glad it's all coming good for you, though!

My Ex-Step-Dad picked this up the other week for this season:



I'll be lugging stuff and spannering what I can when I can for him this season, and hoping at getting a drive myself in the next few years - feel free to look out for us in the paddock - Rob Cowburn is the driver.

[cargo]

Never mind about that silly car.

Tell all about the VW camper hiding under the sheet

[Jamz]

Never mind about that silly car.

Tell all about the VW camper hiding under the sheet

LOL that's still going strong and used to tow the cars to race weekends! Not for sale!

[Mori Man]

Wishing you every success in your new venture zimm

When you've hit rock bottom they only way is up.

Been homeless in the past and it was no fun

[masterofinsanity]

Zimm its good to hear your surviving and coming through it all, all the best for the future mate!!

[RedexRobB]

so just goes to show that if you keep trying... reality caves in and grants opportunities

I couldnt agree more with that. Took me over two years and a small number of shitty jobs after leaving university to find a job worth investing my time in. Now im set for life as the company is growing at its fastest ever rate. Ive no experience in the electrical industry and my academic qualifications only cover a small area of what i do now. It just goes to show that hard work and complete and utter persistence will get you anywhere, oh, and that little thing called luck.

Good luck zimm, sounds like you have earned yourself a good opportunity, now go for it and work your backside off to say thanks to lady luck

[Neosophist]

Great news for you dude, congratulations!

You've been a great help to me when I was trying to get my bike up and running and I really appreciate it, it's really good to hear you have a chance to do something you enjoy!

[zimm]

thankyou so much for all the support but ..


you know when you really regret mentioning something .. ?

I got fecked over ..

seems my job offer came as part of some kind of internal power struggle ... or something ..

having borrowed some cash to get my car back on the road and made the necessary arrangements I got up @ 6 (a fucking miracle as anyone who's met me will attest) walked the dog, dropped her off at a mates then drove the best part of 50 miles on B roads with a frozen windscreen (even renault france cant get hold of heater matrix hoses for my old '5) I got a rather frosty reception.... and the guy im meant to be replacing is there (?)

spent the morning working through a list of menial and pointless tasks on a couple of 911's.. then got told to f*** off.... no reasons given

my best guess is that chappy wasnt leaving and instead of having the balls to be honest about the fact there was no longer a job, they decided to string me along and try to trip me up by asking me to do things that they knew i hadnt done before .. (i made it quite clear what my previous experience was and what my skillset is during both the initial phone contact and the interview).

:wanker

im now £400 out of pocket and really quite miffed.

on a more positive note,.. kept a close eye on an engine rebuild that was being carried out in their "clean room"...

jesus.. I take more care rebuilding zxr engines than they did with that 911 .. and some poor sods paying thousands for that sloppy work !

so, in light of the fact that im still here, and still skint..

shops open again .. bring me your sickly zxr's and i'll talk toad, make coffee and try to be entertaining while i fettle ..


oh.. yeh ...

got a 1980's TAG built 3.4 litre (longstroke 3.2) road legal race spec 911 coming in soon for a fettle so .. yeh .. f*** 'em.

[zimm]

You've been a great help to me when I was trying to get my bike up and running and I really appreciate it

dude, thats very kind, but tbh.. your bike is in my "fail" list ... I never felt I made as much of an improvement to it as I should have .. and you know what you're doing anyway .. you'd have got there.

but as long as you're happy

[RedexRobB]

Oh man, thats shitty. Can never understand employers who just cant be upfront about a job.

[Jamz]

Barsket! Sorry to hear that...

It shows that there ARE such opportunities around, though. Ok, this one fkd you over but the next one won't!

As my old bandmate used to say: "Keep trying until preparation meets oportunity".

[zimm]

yeh well ..

3 weeks ago i hadnt looked for a "job" in 12 years.. found that one inside an hour of idly looking and thought i'd have a crack at it

pissed me off but its not the end of the world.

did make me think though.. whilst im sure it didnt have any bearing in this instance I really should get a new mobile number.. and a "clean" email address; my current one's are all over the internet associated with stuff a prospective employer might not like .. like the copies of "mein kampf" and "the weed growers handbook" on that old website of mine i cant login to anymore... lol, i've never read either they were there to annoy my tutor at uni as i always missed deadlines and thought it was funny to host my essay's online and just email them a link knowing they'd explore the rest of the site.

still fancy formula vee though its just gotta be cheaper than bike racing, and the laptimes are comparable to the 400's if not a weeny bit faster (faster than me on a 400 at any rate)