Blog A Day - Day 21: My 2025 Year In Review (Pt. 2)

Chapter 3: A Full Throttle And Flat-Out March

March was when things started to REALLY pick up.

After Timon’s demise the previous month, the end of February saw me (with help) look for a new car. Up until the flywheel fried, I hadn't a major issue with Timon, so I was advised to go for another Octavia Mk 2 - and I did so!

On the very first day of March, I bought a Blue Manual Skoda Octavia Mk 2.

It took just 3 hours for my friend found a very suitable option for a replacement car.

(The irony was, Timon was the last car we’re were considering, this time, Blu as I named her, was the first we stumbled upon)

Within 48 hours, we were viewing it - and by the same afternoon, I had bought it.

The following day, I’d blindly drive it to Donington Park to test a racing car.

It’s fair to say, it made it there and back in one piece - entirely going off what the marketplace ad and seller said as gospel.

Which was quite lucky, as she was a completely mechanically unknown (having not had a service to check everything over) - only going of prior MOT's and the seller's word!

Risky, but I think the 4hr run (x2 2hr drives) proved the sort of car Blu was.

3rd March, 2025

In terms of the race car, it was a race prepared Ford Focus as part of the well… “Focus Cup” Racing series

I went to Donington do one thing:

find out if I could drive a race-car - and drive a manual car “competitively”.

This was my first experience driving a race car in 10 years - and first time racing in 7 (last time karting 7 Yrs ago).

Having only raced on an aerodrome before - I was beyond pumped - I finally got to race on a proper circuit - both BTCC and Formula One have both graced this very tarmac.

Not only did I manage to survive the day, a I also came away with a new-found addiction and a taste for life in the fast lane. My favourite story from that weekend, was going to bed (the previous night), tossing and turning being unable to sleep as I was petrified of what a "general trackday" could entail - being passed left, right and centre by 40 odd supercars and racing cars.

Despite a few mechanical gremlins, I had the time of my life - and as my father once warned me “one you do it once, you’ll want to do it again and again” - and that’s exactly what happened.

No, it may not have been the fastest (or admittedly the most reliable) - but it was my first time in a race-car, I hardly wanted a Praga as my first experience - I needed something I could drive “straight out of the box” - and after fixing my mirrors - for just one day, I was a freaking racing driver - had 14 year old me seen what I was doing, I would have completely freaked out.

In an exert from the blog, I summarise it beautifully

“I wasn’t just bitten by the racing bug, I was consumed by it - like a whale consumes shrimp - and not a day later, I was immidately on Facebook asking about trackdays in race-cars and ARDS.”

“I had the time of my life and was itching to get back out there.”

Not three days later - I had a notepad full of names, numbers and a racing career just waiting to launch - and was so eager, that no sooner had I finished the Trackday, I had already pencilled in my next for August! I joked on my first flying lap:

“ohhh no, this is about to get (very) expensive”

Just like every racing driver who's ever lived - I too just had to suss the funding - and funding are the biggest metal gates into motorsport.

Photo Credit: MSVT Photography

I'd quickly decide that 2025 was going to be my "Year Of Trackdays" and to figure out which series I wanted to race in, before getting my ARDS at the end of the year for a 2026 race debut.

Still to this day, I don’t quite know how within a week I processed:

“oh my car is going to cost £3000 to fix”

To then buying a new(er) -

to then racing a Ford Focus race car -

and then returning to work on Tuesday like nothing had happened all in one weekend!!!

but life goes on and it was a wild old weekend.

Whilst I still had Timon, it would be almost two weeks before I sold Timon - selling him on the 12th March. On the same day, my friend came over and we fitted Blu with android auto, and gave him his first full service since being bought - sure, this PROBABLY should have come before the drive to Donington, but hey

Whilst there was only a year difference between Timon and Blu, the android auto we installed on that day - plus the fully-working flywheel (AT THE TIME!) made Blu feel more like 10 years newer than Timon!

In late March, I snagged the deal of the century - a DFDS crossing from Dover to Duisburg for £25, DFDS celebrating 25 years of the route.

With crossings usually fetching for £90, it was a rare chance to drive into the continent on a shoestring budget.

Myself, Evie and one other went to Lille for two days for just £158 TOTAL. The catch was that the two trips (outbound and inbound) would have to be within 24 hours of one another - which was…hectic, but still a rare chance to explore Lille by car. It was.. a bitter-sweet trip, thoroughly enjoyable, but - excuse my French - Fucking stressful!

Coincidentally, on my return (from France), it was the 25th March - One year ago to this very day, I saw a VECTARE branded minibus - little did I know, that this little van would end up changing my life - forever

Upon writing this (massively overdue) Year In Review in January, it's been about two months since I last saw TUY, last seeing him in person in late November.

Slightly more worryingly is that TUY was last tracked 3 days after this and hasn't been seen since.

Furthermore, TUY hasn't been spotted on the Facebook Bus Spotting Groups. Naturally, I may be worrying over nothing - the buses are swapped regularly like hot-cakes, so it may just be a matter of time before he's back south again, the MOT shows no reason for concern.

Alas.

Chapter 4 - Quiet April

By this point, my calendar was fully booked until Mid-June/July - but April itself, was a much needed calm...before a storm brewing in May. In April, I saw two friends (separately), saw "The Amateur" in the Cinema (with one) and commemorated the sinking of the Titanic by watching a real-time animation of the sinking of the ship - synchronised with the real-time events as they happened.

Mid-April also marked my 1-year anniverary of working with Central Connect - and what a year it's been. I've loved every moment - but can't believe how quickly it's gone by!

To end April, I bought a project car - A 1998 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet.

The plan was to take it to Monaco on a banger-car rally/convoy - the budget for this being £789. Long story short, I bought the car, had a friend store it in a field, money got tight, life got in the way, priorities shifted, and despite doing minimal repairs/maintenance work every couple of months, the cost to get the car road-legal outweighed the positives, and sadly the car was scrapped. I will raise my hands and say this was totally on me, I wanted a cheap, reliable, sub-£1000 convertible - I was asking the impossible (a bit like asking for a pet vegan lion). Why a convertible? I was imagining driving the Stelvio Pass with the roof down - but my priority should have been to focus on a car that will actually GET to Monaco.

Which is exactly what I did later in the year.