Lewis Hamilton - F1 World Champion 2008

I have been a keen follower of F1 since the days of Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Alan Jones, Jody Sheckter, Nicki Lauder, Keke Rosberg and the rest of course including our home grown world champions James Hunt, Nigel Mansell and prior to Lewis our last world champion Damon Hill.

Lewis has risen to the highest levels of F1 through his involvement and sponsorship by Mclaren. From Karting, to the lower formulas and onto GP2 he showed immense talent and an eagerness to win each time out.



Under the careful wing of Ron Dennis he has been transformed into a huge talent and at his tender age thankfully will be there for many years to come.

I have to be honest when I say I never looked upon him as a coloured driver only a British talent. However, he has been compared with the great Tiger Woods who both share immense talent in their fields. It has also been suggested he will be the first £billion racing driver as the rewards at the top level these days are immense.

Having narrowly missed the championship in 2007 he came back in 2008 to redress the balance with avengance but had it not been for Glock's dry tyres in wet conditions in Brazil and passing him 15 seconds before the flag the dream would have gone away.



The MP24-23 performed well all year but still Lewis has a problem with the front tyres being the same as in '07. The team must also sharpen their act with bad decision making in and around pit stops. They took control of the race in Brazil and once again nearly lost Lewis the title with bad decisions for the tyre change.

The new Vodaphone Mclaren Mercedes 2009 car will be completely different with its narrow wings, slick tyres and the new KERS system which we can only hope will work for all the cars or the season could be a damp squib.

It will obviously take a time for all the cars to settle down once the season starts and lets hope Mclaren don't take long about it.



We can all only hope the Credit Crunch does not affect the future of the sport and major efforts are in place to reduce costs across the field. The deal between Mclaren and Force India will bring them up the grid and with only a second between first and last every 10th counts on the way.

Volkswagen Touareg on the move!

It all started in 2004 after resigning from my previous role as Sales Manager of a litter bin manufacturing company in South Yorkshire. A career move at 58 they said, are you mad! The truth of the matter was I wanted to return to being self employed after being in that status for the 30 years prior to 1994.

So Scorpion Executive Private Hire commenced operations 1 October 2004 with a Silver Peugeot 807 Executive. As with all 6 seaters they are fantastic for bums on seats but somehow manufacturers forget about luggage!

In my desire to offer the complete service I also purchased a trailer, colour coded to the car so I could cater for the larger luggage loads such as golfers and surfers.

Things moved along fine but I really wanted to be in the corporate market place so I worked very hard at business customers who came along.

Eventually I had my big break with one of my regular 6 seater customers. This relationship developed and eventually, due to the corporate nature of his businessand his requirements I decided it was time to move into more luxurious transport than the Peugeot.



As shooting was to be involved it was ultimately decided I would purchase a Volkswagen Touareg and was seriously advised the only one to buy was the 3 Litre Tdi. As my brother in law owns Hayselden (VW dealer) Barnsley I knew I could get the best deal and advice around.

As it happened he had a 3 months old Touareg 3 Litre Tdi Altitude in Shadow Blue metallic and down the motorway it came. What a magnificent piece of technology they are being basically the same interior specification of its sister, the Phaeton, but with incredible off road capabilities.

It is unusual for Private Hire companies like mine to use 4x4's and I love it. All the chauffeurs say to me "You don't use that magnificent thing as a chauffeur car do you" and I rest my case. It is different and it makes a huge difference as my customers love it to.

VW is split into 2 divisions, the normal VW range such as Polo, Golf, Passat etc and the luxury car division for the Touareg and Phaeton. To be a VW Luxury Car Dealer there are special paramaters set down by VW and one is they have to provide an equivalent vehicle when one of the 2 luxury cars goes in for service.

Obviously these cars are cheaper so when buying a Touareg ask the dealer what demonstrators are available or ring me and I will put you in contact with Hayselden's.

As every new Touareg comes with a free off-road day with Volkswagen off I went and was trained by the team how to use the technology off-road. With a morning on Oulton Park and the afternoon on rougher terrain in one of Volkswagen's V10's I learnt what to do and more importantly when!

One of the failings of all off-road vehicles is they are not really equipped for off-road use, more for posing or running the children to school. The first season from October to January of 2005/6 I ran with the standard tyres and whilst I managed it was obvious I had to respond.

All Touareg "Altitude" variants come with 19 ins Senna wheels and tyres and unfortunately they don't sell off-road tyres for combination use, what is called a 50/50 tyre i.e. 50% off-road and 50% on.

So, down to Micheldever Tyres near Basingstoke and I purchased a set of 18ins Alloy Wheels with General Grabber AT tyres and what a difference. Now I can go anywhere, anytime in whatever weather. Micheldever store the tyres when I am not shooting and I go in and change them when going off-road. The tyres are for the road an not off it.

I had an amusing experience recently when washing my Touareg in a garage in Sherborne after a days shooting. A gentleman came across and said at least he has met someone who uses an off-road vehicle for off-road use as it looked as though it had been in a rally.

The Touareg is absolutely fantastic for both my Chauffeur car and its off-road capabilities. Obviously the inside is fully protected when shooting and the car looked like new after nearly 70,000 miles.

One of my customers was so impressed he wanted to buy it and of course it had to go. I spoke with my brother in law, Michael about a replacement and of course, accepting boys and toys I was looking for betterment and that is exactly what I bought.



Here we have the new one, A Touareg 2 after the facelift in 2007. The spec on this one is as good as it gets with air suspension which links to Zenon turning headlights as you go round corners, electic memory seats which memorise the seat position, column and seat belts, keyless go, convenience entry which brings up the drivers seat and column so one can get in and out easier, tow bar which fits as required, tyre pressure monitoring.

On the road the new one is as my big customer comments "more refined". The air suspension makes the ride easier having comfort for normal road and sport for more serious motoring as this stiffens the suspension and then cornering and road holding go to a different level.

Volkswagen have also put a lot of effort into sound insulation and I can only comment it has worked, it is more like the Phaeton than ever, smooth and very quiet.

You can see more on the website of the Volkswagen Touareg and Scorpion's unique operation on our web site.