Willing to drive

One of the things that I’ve always desired is the driving license. Cars are one of my weaknesses and I am dying to drive one. Maybe it is the only reason why I want to be 18 years old. Last year, when I knew I could start getting the driving license, I didn’t doubt and I did it. The exam consists of two parts: the theoretical part and the practical part. The first one can be done if you are sixteen and the second one requires eighteen years old (although that’s not necessary for the practices before the exam).

It was summer, I had finished the first year of Batxillerat and I had two free weeks before start working. I went to the driving school and they told me that, if I wanted to pass the first exam in two weeks I had to “live” in the driving school. And that’s what I did: I went there nearly every day, from the first hour of the morning until the afternoon (taking some breaks, of course), doing more and more tests. And I passed the exam. It consists of 30 questions with three possible answers (A, B or C) and you can’t do more than three mistakes. I had two (I didn’t know if a novice driver can put curtains in the backside of the car...). After that, I had planned to start the practices this year in Holy Week, but I have a lot of work in the school and I think I’ll wait until summer. I don't like this idea, but I’ll have to renounce to do the exam the day of my birthday. Deep down that's not very serious because, if I can, I’ll have it sooner or later.

Another problem that I have is the car. I want to have a car only for me, but I think I’ll have to wait because my parents won’t buy me one and I don’t have enough money to buy it (and to maintain it!). Also, the insurance tends to be very expensive for new drivers. I’ll probably use the old Renault Clio (which is as old as me) of my mother because I don’t want the Seat Córdoba of my father, I think it is quite long. But as fast as I can, I will get my own car. Maybe it will be a second hand car, but for me is enough. If I lived in a city like London or Barcelona, I wouldn’t need it but, here, public transport isn’t very good and to have a car is almost indispensable.

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Bernie's circus is here again

The Formula One Championship starts again. The circus is launched and Melbourne (Australia) has been the first stage. There are some new technical changes for this season and one of the most important news is that the traction control has disappeared.

There has been a race conditioned by accidents, breakdowns, the safety car and a lot of desertions. The winner: a brilliant McLaren with Lewis Hamilton on the top of the podium. On the second step, Nick Heidfeld showing that people in BMW Sauber haven’t been sleeping this winter and they want to win the title. Finally, Nico Rosberg has got his first podium with a great result for Williams Toyota.

Fernando Alonso has done a very good race too, with a not very competitive Renault, getting five points.

It has been a bad day for Ferrari, with a lot of mistakes and wrong decisions. A crash has eliminated the options for Felipe Massa and a motor breakdown has finished with his race while Kimi Raikkonen, the current champion, was trying to forget the problems that they had in the qualification. Another wrong team decision, in addition to a driver mistake, has erased all his opportunities (until he has got a single point).

Toyota is still waiting for results and two desertions give little hopes for this season. The car doesn’t work, the drivers aren’t fast, luck doesn’t help them and teams with fewer budgets are getting points.

Well, the next stage is Sepang, next Friday. The championship has just started and lots of things are going to happen. What do you think? Which driver/team do you prefer? Which truck do you like most? I’ll tell you my opinion in a few weeks and I leave you with a nice video which introduces this 2008 Formula One Championship.

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Geneva will be the heaven for some days

These weeks, from the 4th to the 16th of March, there is the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland. It’s the 78^th edition of this event and it’s considered the most important motor show of the world.

There, the manufacturers show their cars for sell, new prototypes, production car introductions, projects for the future and shows for the public. They can’t skip this appointment if they want to have prestige around the world.

It’s also a great opportunity for Chinese manufacturers, who are entering the European market and they are competing against consolidated companies, which have products with more quality, safety and style. But Chinese don’t want to play, they are very serious, they have very competitive prices, they are increasing the quality of their cars, doing safety tests and employing famous designers and workers. Maybe in a few years they will be the kings of the automobile industry.

On the other hand, hybrid engines, fuel cell and electric cars are very popular. Some prototypes like the Pininfarina Sintesi or the Volkswagen Passat EcoFuel use respectful and alternative systems.

There are also some prepared cars, sports cars more power and luxury than the originals. The best example is the Bugatti Veyron, prepared by Hermès: it costs about 1.500.000 euros.

The Spanish manufacturer, SEAT, has also shown the Bocanegra, which is the preview of the new Ibiza that is coming on summer.

Well, this show is a dream for anybody who loves cars, and rest sure that I’ll go there when I can. Does somebody sign in?

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Speed, safety and comfort. The new highway designs.

This is a brilliant short made in the 1960, when the 21st century was very far and people imagined a fantastic world with the problems solved and perfect machines and infrastructures which would eliminate hitches and give time to work better or relax and go shopping.

As we can watch, in the utopian future, there would be intelligent highways with different colors to follow depending on the destination to go, giving always a perfect visibility. Cars would be also perfect, without a driver but with all the possible equipments like television, camera, speed control, traffic information, etc. All of this with a non-contaminant motor.

I think there are very fun projects, like ambulances and police, but I think it wouldn’t be necessary to solve those problems because there wouldn’t be accidents. Moreover, it says that highways and bridges would be built in a few hours with the best materials, but I think that it’s impossible because the world would seem a labyrinth.

It’s obvious that this video was made in the 60s, when in a typical family the typical father worked in a company meanwhile mother was taking care of children or shopping or doing housework.

Even so, this is a great video and I recommend you to watch it.

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mmmm...

Hi! Well, it’s finished (the week, because I still have two more exams...). So I think the exams have gone quite good. Now I’m going to eat a pizza with anything I’ll find in the fridge and, after that, I’ll play with my new game, Ratchet and Clank! Some people say that it’s a game for children... yes, I’m still a child, and I like it.
Afterwards, I’ll return to the Earth and start again...
Here I leave you with an amazing video. It’s possible but it takes a lot of hours. I would like to draw like this...


And if you don’t like cars, here you have another great job. It’s Jigsaw. (If you haven’t watched SAW I think you don’t know who is he)



And now I go...I WANT PIZZAAA!!!

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A car, a dream

To have a car... to drive a car... These are some of my dreams. A car is a way to travel, to go to diferent places where you couldn't arrive by foot or by plane. But I also think that a car is art: the shape, the painting, the sound... everyithing is amazing. You can think that I am materialistic... it depends on how do you watch it. But I'm so realistic and I know that nowadays this dream cars aren't perfect because the worst problem is that they don't respect the environment and another of my objectives is to be a car designer and create my own projects: dream cars but also respectful. I think, that's almost impossible, but I'll continue dreaming...

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