Woah.co.uk

Well in all honesty I didn’t hold out much hope for this show because as soon as I drove into Essex the heavens decided to open up completely! Picked up Chaz from the Staples carpark, promptly at 8am (a stupidly early time which I very rarely come across on a Sunday!) and headed down to North Weald Airfield.

About an hour or so after we arrived however, the sun decided to make a small appearance and gradually dry out everything. Most sensible people had the same idea as us I’d imagine and stayed sensibly in their cars until this point. Venturing around the show there were *generally* the same cars you see at most of the shows and all the usual car clubs etc. A couple of cars that caught my eye though were a purple beemer with a beautiful white leather interior. The ICE wasn’t in (despite being on an ICE stand) but looks promising the way the doorbuilds had been trimmed up etc. Also a very nice subtle styled minty green civic in the Autoglym “Best in The South”. Think it was on hydraulics and had a nice leather interior also. Shitter of the show had to be the blue escort (which god knows how- made it into the “Best of The South” competition!). Had stupid gangster chrome alloys, four exahust coming out the centre of the boot, and probably any other kind of random mod you’d be deperate to stick on your car just to say it’s “modified”.

Highlights of the day had to be me flooding my boot install, by opening my boot door and therefore emptying the entire contents of my waterlogged spoiler into my boot. Memo to self: chamois waterlogged spoiler BEFORE opening boot next time !! And weird random steaming up of my windows and windscreen, due to the rain, my strange electrics/heater system and scuttle panel… Hmm!

See you all on Sun 3rd September at Silverstone for Trax 2006!!

Well done to LSB and Scheme, representing the Bounce crew, who featured on radio 1xtra’s Drum’n'Bass show with Dj Flight, did a nice little set.

You can just about make out the LSB hiding in the background:

Nice one boys, lets hope to hear loads more of you on the national radio and at big nights

Chaz

Well, as many of you may know from the forum I have recently got an Xbxo 360, so after two days of eye bleeding playage, I think it right that i give some of my initial impressions.

Ok firstly, the thing looks alot better than the original xbox, but as i probably made apparent to those who know me, looks mean nothing to me as far as a console, what i want is a awesome gameing experience, and that dosnt include looking at the console. Anyway, to begin with I hooked the 360 up to my 32″ samsung widescreen tv via the compasite connector (you will be familiar with these as the yellow RCA) i fired it up and was greeted with the new look dash, its pretty flashy but nothing to really dampen ones pants at, anyway, I then proceeded to slap the Project Gotham 3 disc into the drive, sat back and let loading commence.

At this point it would be fair to say that i was worried about the amount of noise the thing was making, it did seem to be alot louder than my original xbox, which lets face it was hardly quiet, anyway, i thought sod it, lets give it a chace.

As the game loaded i was impressed with the wireless controller, it was very light and compact compared to comparable devices I have seen and looked ok too, the ‘ring of light’ was a nice touch, allowing you to see what control you have and weather it has paired to the xbox properly.

So, with the game loaded, it was time to check out the graphics that we have been hearing so much about, and yes, they did look awesome, however, not as awesome as i had invisaged, anyway, I thought I would give it a chance…

…ok, so the graphics really were not blowing my mind on the way that i had hoped, I mean yes, they were better than anything I had seen on a console before, but compared to some PC efforts? i dont know, this was rather worrying considering the outlay i had just splashed out on it, however my initial fears were soon laid to rest when I plugged it into the projector, which is higher definition than the TV and also is massive in comparison 150″ screen, the detial that wasnt apparent on the TV became clear and suddenly you could see where all that extra power was going. Also of note was the quality of the two player, the graphics looked amazing even on split screen, I am yet to try four player but i feel confident that it will look much better than that on the previous console.

After relishing the enjoyable fun of spanking my dad at PGR3 a few times I decided to look more at the console, its true to say that it comes with a good range of peripherals from the box, well at least the premium one does, with a head set, a media remote control, a 20gb hard drive, and a wireless controller, it also comes with a pleasingly long cable for xbox live, which is the next area I am going to comment on.

Having been an owner of a chipped xbox scince pretty well you could get a chipped xbox, I have never been privy to xbox live other than sparadic bursts of play at friends houses, none the less with a very much live centric feel to the 360 and no chip restrictions to worry about I thought i would fire it up, I was impressed, not with the play, cos I hadnt gotten to that yet, but with the fact I just plugged it in and it worked, I have heard reports from a few websites that others have experienced a reasonable amount of pain in connecting to live but for me it couldnt have been simpler… …actually filling in my life story to set up my gamertag could have been faster or bypassable, but thats a minor gripe. Once connected to live the 360 downloaded an update and restarted, then I was hooked up, once again I used PGR3 as my test bed, it worked a treat, finding me a race quickly and allowing me to chat away to the people who were about to slaughter me at racing. I cant explain to you how cool it is to be chatting away on a headset connected to your control pad that itself isnt connected to anything! Anyway, it was great fun and worked with no sign of lag or any annoying gameplay related problems, though the speach did go a bit echoy and was occasionally difficult to hear, I however assume that this is because bandwith is given to the gameplay above speech, if there is going to be an issue i would preffer it to be with speach rather than the gameplay.

Above is my gamertag, this is all part of microsoft trying to integrate the 360 into everything I do, its on my xbox, its on anyone who adds me as a friends xbox and its also next to everything I write on the xbox forums, this is both cool and a little disconcerting when you are not particularly sure you want Microsoft knowing any more about you than totaly necessary.

The Good Points :

Awesome graphics/sound
Wireless controllers are amazing
Looks greatly improved
Live
Ease of use

The Bad Points :

Noise
Mahoosive Power Pack
Controllers not rechargable out of the box
Not enough hours in the day to play it!

I am happy with my purchase, and will review the games futher at a later date, as to allow for a reasonable amount of play before I comment on them, I have Project Gotham Racing, Perfect Dark Zero and Quake 4, so look out for a review on them.

Chaz

Xbox.com
Xbox-Scene.com

Ok, some of you may know from the forum, or just knowing me, that i have a iPod nano, this, whilst being a proper style whore accessory has tended to get vastly more use than i ever thought it would do, especially scince i can connect it to the car stereo for some bass filled beats. Well like everything the nano has its faults, one being the most stupidly easy to scratch surface scince brushed aluminium (which it almost has on the rear) - anyway, even with taking a mad amount of care over my nano it has got a bit scratched up just from sharing my pocket with its own earphones, not ideal. Eager to prolong the life and sexyness (and my word is it sexy) i decided to get a case, i perused the internet and read reviews on ilounge and so fourth, did, as i always do, a fair bit of research on what case was the best. Anyway, nothing looked particularly sexy OR protective in the way i desired, that was, untill i saw an iSkin on some random japanese website - with is lumionus appeal and silicone texture it had me interested, top that off with total protection of the screen and clickwheel and i was hooked, next was to locate a store in a language i could understand.

Not suprisingly iSkin.com was the home of iSkins, seems pretty obvious now - but my japanese wasnt so good and i was new to the world of pod protection. Anyway, i went onto their website but the skin wasnt available, i was distraught, but there was a function to get an email when they were available, this didnt take to long (tho long enough for the pod to suffer some more scratches) and i ordered the orange and grey skin up straight away…

…it arrived today, 3 working days after i ordered it, i paid using paypal which all went swimingly other than it left me a little confused as to if they knew what colour skin i wanted, regardless, today when i got home i pealed open the stupidly large box that had winged its way over from canada and took out my iSkin, you could tell from the way it was packaged that it was already far more deserving of its 25quid (inc delivery) price tag than the ebay specials that go for 15quid less. I slid on the inner skin, put the screen protector in place, then pushed it into the outer skin, which holds the hard perspex screen protector in, i then inserted the little click wheel disc that makes the newly covered clickwheel feel slidy and ‘tactile’ like it normally does - its suprising how effective this is at both working and preventing crap from getting into or onto the iPod.

Like everything there are downpoints, the lugs that fill the docking port and the earphone port, whilst fitting into the iPod well didnt allow amazingly easy access to the dock port but after a bit of wiggling about I had no sustained problems using the ports - the hold button is accessable also without removing the cover.

Conclusion
I would have to say that as far as the covers/skins for the nano i have seen go this is the best, i had a feeling it would be which is why i waited for it, its difficult to compare it to hard cases but for me the feel and protection given by a good qualite silicone case is unsurpassed and thats why i would highly reccomend this cover to anyone wishing to maintain the looks of their nano. The iSkin also has a decent belt clip on the back of it that is removable and rugged enough not to break at the first knock, so if this feature is or isnt important to you you can adapt the case to suit your needs, this must also count as a plus point.

Chaz

iSkin.com
iLounge.com
apple.com

Trax at Silverstone is generally the last car show of the season and is always the best in my opinion. With plenty of car clubs- ranging from the Vauxhall Sports Car Club, who I think had the biggest stand, to the Skoda Octavia Owner Club- there is something for everyone without a doubt. The Mauve Monster was lucky enough to show on the Fast Car Magazine stand in the pits- which meant we didn’t have to risk life, limb and front bumper in the EVIL Copse Tunnel with it’s dreadful steep slopes!! The day started off as quite surreal- with me being on time to pick Donna up (anyone who remembers last year will know exactly where I’m heading with that comment!), driving in the weird crazy fog AND seeing cows randomly bing herded accross a bridge at 7am…!! So despite the slightly odd start to the day we managed to get there in one piece and set my car up on the FastCar stand.

Donna, who is an absolute legend, helped me clean my car despite having tonsilitis, hardly any voice and generally feeling really rough. And after this task was finally perfected and we’d posed for photos with the FastCar ICE guy Adam- we went for a wander around! With so many car clubs and trade stands it’s so difficult to make sure you see everything- I’m still looking for the funny little car with no doors or roof that I caught a glimpse of when we were queing up to get in (Donna will know what I’m talking about!). One car that caught my eye (after Donna pointed it out to me!) was a purple mk4 (?) fiesta on the FastFord stand that was trailered in and set up on blocks so that even the tyres didn’t touch the ground! The underneath of the car was absolutely immaculate also and we know this because we were stuck behind the trailer on the way out after we snuck in front of the LOVELY JVC guys!

This was the Mauve Monster’s third year at Trax and I’m sorry to say it is most likely to be her penultimate trax show. As of next year the Mauve Monster shall be up for sale as a new project awaits… I shall be sad to see her go, but I have at least 363 driving days left with her and aim to make the most of them! This is also the last show I’ll be writing about for this year at least- well presuming Chaz renews my contract for next year?!(hahahaha!!). However, we are hoping to be at the last MeanStreet Cruise of 2005 on Saturday October 1st, with a WOAH Stand or if not I shall be entering in the show n shine. So make sure you all keep that date free and we shall see you there!!

As per usual it was completely crazy driving to the show, with me leaving things to the last minute… But apart from that everything run smoothly for a change- well except from me being extremely hyper first thing in the morning which perhaps isn’t the best thing to be when you’re driving at 6am!

Donny South is still a relatively new show (in it’s third or fourth year I think?) but that doesn’t stop the numerous car clubs turning up in force. The Mauve Monster was on show on the FastCar Magazine stand for this show, which was good -meaning we didn’t have to park up on the wet grass with all the other cars (hahaha!). Adam (the ICE guy for FC Mag) gave my car a very good commentary on the mic all throughout the day which was very much appreciated- that fella can talk for England (and people say I’m a chatterbox…!).

The show in itself was good regarding the car clubs etc and the usual performances and 0-60 times. One of the crazy 0-60 times of the day was performed by a fella in a go-kart! He only managed to reach 54mph but nevertheless was still fun to watch! The “Ripspeed Best of the South” show area featured a lot of nice cars, including a very sexxy Corvette. However my fave was the Ice’d up Scooby featuring amps in the boot that move (yeah I know little things like that impress me but hey!). This fella went on to win the “Best of the South” category which was well deserved as he did most of the work himself.

The weather left much to be desired- with it being on/off for most of the day and then chucking it down in the afternoon (the drowned rat look is not good for me…). This consequently led to us (and the majority of people at the show) leaving early without seeing lots of things. Donny Show (Doncaster) is relocating in April 2006 to Donnington Park. So with this being the first “official” show of the season lets hope there is going to be lots of nice weather (hmm this could be debatable seeing Donnington Park is in the North… haha) and plenty of fresh cars on the scene by then!

A HUGE thankyou to Chaz (DJ Charlie G) for making me a CD full of my fave choons which consequently led me to annoying Donna on the way home by saying “OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SONG”!! hahahaha. And a MASSIVE cheers to Donna for putting up with my extremely hyper mood ALL day, helping me clean my car (you star!) and forcing you to listen to my CD…!!

MaxPower Live 2005 was the Mauve Monster’s third year featuring in the Top 100 After my current record with MaxPower shows (and recurring engine problems happening around the same time) I was obviously wary that something similar may arise within the week running up to the show… However, (touch wood) my engine is running fine and I picked up my car fresh from Bradshaws (featuring a shexxy smooth fibreglass purple and silver dash) on the Tuesday before MaxPower-organisation or what?! (those of you remembering my previous record of nearly always leaving everything to the last minute causing me to panic will know what I’m talking about…!!!)

Pic of the Mauve Monster:

The show was better than last year in my opinion (layout was still a bit dodge due to being separated into two halls and having to walk around half of the NEC to get in…). And the quality of the cars seemed to be loads better with lots of fresher cars on the scene-which is what we like to see! Two of my favourite cars of the show have to be the SQ Plus Citroen C2-with a fabulous ICE install, crazy airbrushing and other fab custom bits and bobs (which one car of show and may be appearing on Top Gear soon and the front cover of MaxPower, so keep your eyes peeled); and an Escalade (what a beast!) featuring 26″ chrome alloys and a Diamond Audio install-pukka indeed! (coincidentally it went on to win “Best Bling” category). Met up with Stu, who is one of the fellas working (part time) at SQ Plus, who was absolutely lovely, showed me around the Escalade and even let me sit in it

I also met up with Faliraki Tony and Midge from FastCar Magazine there and they’re still trying to convince me to get featured with them…. Also, got approached by a new up and coming car modifying magazine-it distributes 10,000 free copies throughout the London area and they seemed very impressed with my car, so watch this space!

The show also featured the usual “cruise strip action” with Terry Grant, Paul Swift and the Steer From The Rear guys performing their usual stunts and shenanigans out on the tarmac. And this year it was outside again which was tons better- those of you who went last year will remember that the Cruise Strip was held inside. And if you’re anything like me was still smelling burnt rubber three days later….

Overall, the biggest car show of the year to go to if you like to see the more extreme side of car modifying and if you want to perve on the half naked laydees walking around (Chaz!).

You may well have noticed that the hero of the week slot has, well, not been weekly, but i assure u i will be workin to make it a bit more regular.

Anyway, this week I feel that deserving of a speacial mention is Snoop Doggy Dogg, for his stunning performance at the live 8 concert in London, not detered by they 6.30 time slot and audience full of grannies and children, kept his performance gangsta and sung a bunch of uncensored tunes, just the way they should be, no audience members looked upset at all, tho i am sure that some coffin dodger somewhere will write into the bbc to complain.

Clearly everyone who took part in the Live 8 concert and helped make it happen is somewhat of a hero, but i wouldnt wanna forget that there was a fair share of career re-launching and publicity seeking going on, but hey ho, it was ultimately for a good cause so I will remain positive.

…lemme here ya say snoop dogg!….

www.live8list.com

At the beginning of the week running up to this show the weather report looked absolutely horrendous and in all honestly I wasn’t looking forward to this show at all. As per usual with every show I seem to go to everything is left to the absolute last minute-with this show being no different (no matter how hard I try to be organised!). With my car still up in Sheffield at the beginning of the week I was starting to panic whether I would have her back in time for the show, and picking her up on the Thursday was a HUGE relief!

So despite the cold Sunday morning and promise of rain, me and my co-pilot Donna, set off to the Pod with the Mauve Monster! This year was much more organised on the way in, with show cars being allowed in straight away and virtually no queuing (yes I was shocked as well!). And therefore being able to spend more time polishing and cleaning the old girl (erm I mean more time for Donna, Dan and Lindsay to clean my car while I point out all the bits they’ve missed and go and get the teas in-hahaha!!).

The overall show was good, but seemed to be lacking in “fresh” cars, and when you’ve seen one car once before it gets kind of boring to see it again and again and again…. However saying that the 1/4mile strip action was spot on as per usual. There were three 12seconds Novas throughout the day as well as the usual JetCar thing. And a bog standard sleeper of a corsa that absolutely kicked ass over a scooby-come on the corsa boys with their 2.0 engines! We didn’t get to take the Mauve Monster up the 1/4mile strip, due to my throttle body not being fixed yet but watch this space when it is as a long overdue trip is planned most definitely!

Next show for the Mauve Monster is MaxPower Live 1-3rd July at NEC. ***Memo to self: I WILL be more organised…***

This weeks hero of the week is none other than Valention Rossi, he is just stupidly good, not only that but he is younger than me, 6 times world champion or something like that AND a total nut case too!

This weekend in mugello, his home gp, he won, but what is more impresive to me is the style in which he wins, Max Biaggi, long time rival, overtook Rossi on a section of the track right infront of his own fans and then gave a cheeky look back over his shoulder as if to say ‘how was that?’, a move he probably later regreted as it appeard ‘Tino was just having a look at him and regained the place with a audacious manovre infront of even more of Max’s fans, I dont think this was accidental, and that kind of attitude apposed to his general ability to dominate one, if not THE, most exciting motorsport, is why Valentino Rossi is our Hero of the Week!