The bike is a 2004 Suzuki Hayabusa in the MPS-1350-BG class which means Modified production, partially streamlined, 1350cc, blown gasoline. Rider is Richard Assen who is very casual about everything he does (crypes he is going to sit on top of a bike and control it going over 400 km/h), the technician is Jason Swan who loves to tinker and make everything go faster and faster until it pops.

During September this year, they will be taking this extremely fast bike to Bonneville, USA and get the following records:

The first event is BUB Speed trials (2^nd to 7^th of September) where they will be challenging the AMA (American Motorcycles Association) record which stands at 217.85 MPH (350.52km/h) for their class. Also, at this first event they will also be challenging the FIM overall world record for a motorcycle which stands at 252MPH (405.5km/h).
The second event is The World of Speed (17^th to 20^th of September), where they will be attempting to break the SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) record of 233MPH (374.9km/h).

All I can say is GOOD LUCK!!!!!

more details to come on how they are geting on……………..

Some are very amusing e.g check out one of the biblical laws here 

I remember my 1970’s Lego blocks - they were fun!

“NZ Cycle Safety 9-Point Plan”
I want to see New Zealand’s national and local government do the following things in the next two years:
1. Run a national Share the Road promotional campaign telling motorists and cyclists how to co-exist safely on the roads.
2. Change transport planning and funding processes to make sure key problem areas or gaps for cyclists (e.g. Ngauranga to Petone cycleway, Auckland Harbour Bridge) get fixed - no more long delays or buck-passing between various organisations.
3. Spend less on road building and more on encouraging alternatives to driving: more motor vehicles on our roads only make things less safe and attractive for cycling.
4. Promote the use of lower speed zones (particularly 30km/h).
5. Change the tolerance for motor vehicle speed limit enforcement from 10km/h to a maximum of ten per cent of the posted speed limit.
6. Increase the walking and cycling budget in the National Land Transport Programme by a factor of five.
7. Change funding and audit processes to make sure that all roading projects improve the environment for cycling.
8. Change the driver licensing system and driver instruction (including bus and truck drivers) so motorists are educated about how to take care around cyclists.
9. Fund and promote nationwide roll-out of cycle skills training for children and adults

Let’s hope we can get some more too

Plug for my employer:  And check out all the action on tvnz.co.nz - 4 live streams and video highlights of NZ competitors.

Finally bit the bullet and have purchased the new “bits” and built a new PC (with assistance from Snork!) My old PC was built when I was in the UK in 2001! - i.e AMD 1.25GHz, 512k RAM, 40GB Hard drive etc…. it was about to die and the fans sounded like they were about to take off!

So here is the spec of my new toy (cost about $1200NZD with Vista Premium and Office s/w included in that price) : hmmm more power…..

• CASE - Asus VENTO TA-915 ATX Mid Tower
• DVD DRIVE - Asus DRW-2014L1T LightScribe SATA DVD-RW
• MOTHERBOARD - Asus M2N-VM HDMI Socket 940 AM2 GEFORCE 7050PV DDR2 1066 PCI-E
• RAM - Adata 4GB Dual Kit (2GB*2) DDR2-800 PC6400 240Pin UNB PC2-6400
• PROCESSOR -AMD Phenom 9550 Quad Core 2.2GHz
• HARD DRIVE - Western Digital 7200rpm 640GB 16M SATA Hard Disk
• TV TUNER CARD - Hauppauge WinTV-HVR4000 HD Quad-mode TV receiver

 You’ll notice I have a TV tuner card in the mix - next project is to get it to work so I can get Freeview (DVB-S or DVB-T) and record TV onto my hard drive.  A bit of a mission I believe with New Zealand specs using the latest codecs and standards for HD transmission. 

Will let you know how I go with setting this up…..

House DIY is slowly progressing and waiting for some fine weather to measure up the backyard so Amanda can use her landscaping skills she obtained on a course to design it. We hope to get the a new backyard built before summer arrives.

and the BIG news is…..

Amanda is pregnant.  Been trying for a while and finally it happened so we are both really happy!  Amanda is due late January 2009 so will be doing all those pre baby things before our life changes significantly. (I need a boys holiday!!). 

We went for the 12 week scan a couple of weeks ago and all is well. The bean sized person has a head, 2 arms and legs and all they are all in the right places. Hit home when I saw it “live” in the scan and made me really starting thinking about being a Dad (Shit!! - but guess most of you have already been through all this and will start giving me all that advice on how my life will never be the same again!)

Amanda is doing well and so far the pregnancy has been pretty good with only mild symptons, being tired, hungry and weeing a lot more.  I’m fine too except for the occasional reality check when I look into the future, but guess I move to #3 in the pecking order of the family now so I don’t count

Pic below just to confirm this is real

PS:  I will  be updating this site regularly (at least once a week) so come back for more updates, news, views and photos in the coming weeks….

Not sure where the statement “more trains more often” comes from - does this mean that service reliability will improve too?  Currently the southern line which I take everyday has just over a 80% statistic for being on time!  Yes, that means at least once a week both to and from work I can expect the trains I catch to be late (or even worse cancelled!). 

You can check out the delays and increase in costs for the ARTA projects and also the reliability of the Auckland Rail Service in the ARTA monthly business reports.  Will Auckland ever get a reliable and efficient rail service?

For me, a Tui billboard I made up sums it up nicely!!

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