190mph Race Cars on M1- probe order

Posted: 4th October 2011 by Paul Hadley in Uncategorized
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(By ‘Mirror Reporter”)
Ministry acts after ‘Le Mans test’

190mph Race Cars on M1

The Ministry of Transport ordered an inquiry last night into the use of the M1 motorway as a test track for high-speed sports cars.

This move came after it was revealed that one car clocked 183mph on the M1 in a try-out for the 24-hour road race at Le mans next week-end.

Police patrols on the motorway have been ordered to keep a lookout for the cars, which are capable of speeds around the 190mph mark.

Reported
Superintendent E.S. Turton, chief of the traffic department of Bedfordshire police said:
“If we find cars travelling at that speed with other traffic about, they will be reported with a view to prosecution for driving at a dangerous speed”
A police spokesman said last night that special checks -possibly with radar- would be made on the speed of such cars.
He added that although there is no speed limit on the M1, speeds of around 180mph could be dangerous.
A Hertfordshire police spokesman said: “If a lorry pulled out to overtake and a car came up at this speed, there could be a damn great smash.”

Unhappy
One of Britain’s top sports car bosses said last night: “A number of companies have been using the M1 for high-speed tests for about two years.”
The car that clocked 183mph is an A.C.Cobra, which is powered by a 4,261cc American Ford V8 engine. It sped along the motorway at dawn.
Mr. Charles Hurlock, joint managing director of A.C. Cars of Thames Ditton, Surrey, said last night: “I am unhappy about having to use a public road like this for such tests but British racetracks can’t cope with sustained runs over 160mph.
We had only one run- and we checked to see that the motorway was clear.”

A Royal Automobile Club spokesman said that in an emergency a car travelling at 180mph would need 665yards to stop under perfect conditions. In wet weather, it would need about half a mile.

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(Originally published on Monday June 15, 1964. Price:3d, but you can have it for free)
Photograph taken by me, but obviously, copyright for the original article belongs to Daily Mirror.
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So, why have I published this? Well, that’s all to do with my Grandfather’s involvement with Goodyear tyres in Wolverhampton, when he was attached to the Shelby Cobra Le Mans racing team at the time, but that’s another story…

I just thought I’d put this out there, simply to add a little historical context to the current discussions around raising the UK motorway speed limit to 80mph… it was this series of tests that caused the UK to bring in speed limits on motorways, and the fact that my Grandfather was in some way involved makes me feel somewhat proud, in a very weird way. I guess he felt the same sort of way- that’s probably why he kept the original newspaper (pictured).

Red Bull Pro Nationals, 2011- Round 5, Hawkstone Park

Posted: 29th August 2011 by Paul Hadley in Uncategorized
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Purely some fun, nothing else.
My son is a fan of moto x, he pulls together his own blog, and Dad tags along, keeping well out of the way because I’m “not cool enough.” Damn right too- this is most definitely a sport for young people, and all Dads should realise that they are allowed to watch, with having the privileged role of taxi driver being an optional extra.

Filmed over the duration of the Red Bull Pro Nationals weekend (redbullpronationals.com) at the home of British Moto X, Hawkstone Park in Shropshire on 27th & 28th August, 2011.

Featuring pro and sportsman riders from MX1 and MX2, 65cc, 85cc big & small wheel, rookies, 125cc and the open class, I walked (climbed) around the circuit over the 2 days, capturing the exciting footage at various vantage points. Hopefully you enjoy the results.

A special thank you has to be given to Sharron and the team from Events22 for their invitation. Both my son and I had a great time.

I do get some strange projects…

Posted: 14th June 2011 by Paul Hadley in Uncategorized
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Recently, I’ve been doing some work behind the scenes with a new client in Stratford upon Avon. No biggie there.
Then, out of the blue, I found out there was an American Civil War battle re-enactment celebration weekend happening at the venue.
It didn’t take me long to figure out my camera may be needed.

As for the moonshine these blokes were drinking, I’m not going to comment, apart from the fact that my memory of that night around the campfires is still very hazy. The bottle didn’t open until the camera had been put back in it’s bag, although looking at some of the focus pulling, you may think otherwise.
Oh, and before you ask, no, I didn’t wear a costume!

A lunchtime walk

Posted: 6th April 2011 by Paul Hadley in Multimedia
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Whilst down at SD Falconry, I had 1+1/2 hours to kill, waiting for a BT engineer to arrive.

So, I decided to take the opportunity and go for a walk around the lake at their Warwickshire premises.

I had my camera in my pocket, and was glad I did.

A Lunchtime Walk from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

It also gave me the opportunity to try out the extremities of the digital zoom- not bad, but not great.
Something to bear in mind for the future…

47- Adrian Goldberg

Posted: 24th March 2011 by Paul Hadley in BP50, Uncategorized
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Adrian Goldberg from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

Watchdog, The Politics Show, Healthcheck, BBC Breakfast News, The Stirrer and 5 Live Investigates are just a few of the well known broadcast, media and journalism platforms that Adrian Goldberg has been associated with in the past.

Today, BBCWM announced that Ed Doolan is stepping aside and hanging up his headphones, and Adrian will be taking the reigns of this popular radio show from September. CONGRATULATIONS Adrian.

Here Adrian shares some of the stories, views and experiences from his past.

He also gives us an insight into his views about the possible future direction(s) that journalism may well take, focusing on local issues and alternative media.

14 Glynn Purnell

Posted: 24th February 2011 by Paul Hadley in BP50
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Glynn Purnell from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

One man who has been leading the art of good food is Glynn Purnell. He started his craft when still at school, practicing and honing his skills on family and friends, and has made industry-recognised progress throughout his career development. So much so, his Purnell’s Restaurant in Birmingham boasts a Michelin Star.

Key to the success of his restaurants is the ethos of strong leadership, management, and teamwork. In this short feature I get to see a little snapshot of what happens behind the scenes, watch the team in action and ask Glynn a few questions, not about his cooking skills, but about his management and leadership style.

Named at Number 14 on 2009’s Birmingham Post Power 50 list, without doubt, Glynn Purnell is Birmingham’s premier chef, internationally recognised and respected by his peers, a fact that features in many magazine and newspaper reviews and frequent TV appearances.

Oh, and yes, I sampled one of the dishes (Goats’ cheese royal – textures of Beetroot – Rosary foam ), and yes, it was delicious. Comes with the project I suppose… call it a perk ;-) Thanks Glynn. I’ll be back, paying next time.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 Initial Experiments

Posted: 7th February 2011 by Paul Hadley in Multimedia
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I’ve still got my old camcorders, but finance has allowed me to upgrade to full HD video recording now. I’ve recently purchased a Panasonic HDC-TM700 camcorder (from Simply Electronics – the cheapest place I found for this product on the www if you’re looking for something similar) and have been out and about having a play.

Expermenting with the Panasonic HDC TM700 from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

Reading the 3 Panasonic manuals supplied via their website is a bit of a daunting task, and I’ve found myself looking at particular relevant information I need, rather than reading the 3 documents in their entirety (show me a bloke that doesn’t do this).
The pre-purchase research I completed showed that compatibility with my Macbook Pro, iMovie and Final Cut Pro would be an issue (I don’t like to use a PC for such things), and I reassured myself that importing the MTS files required for successful editing of HD files would indeed be possible when I need to make full use of the camcorder’s capabilities. The useful info I found is available at the Apple User’s Forum and it was the prior experiences of other users delivering a positive outcome (albeit with a work-around) that swung me towards the TM700 purchase, and my budget available of course.

Test capture- Panasonic HDC TM 700 from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

So, off I went (after the horrid winter) into the daylight, filming a couple of short pieces with my good friends from S&D Falconry…
Recording at full HD was important for me, so I could see first hand what the camcorder was capable of delivering. Then, realising that compression would be an issue, I simply imported the files into iMovie for a quick couple of edits, just so I could see what is possible when working against tight deadlines with the need to produce and publish for the web quickly. Needless to say, I am quite impressed with the outcomes, and hopefully you are too.

Panasonic HDC-TM700 Test from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

Next, I’ll do some more recording in HD, and this time, will use the work-around and import the files into Final Cut Pro for a more considerate edit, using some filters and maybe some advanced effects.

Opening up the iris- Panasonic HDC-TM700 from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

Have a look at the final short pieces, and please, tell me your thoughts.

1 Paul Thandi

Posted: 3rd February 2011 by Paul Hadley in BP50
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1 Paul Thandi from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

Fantastic news !
Today (3rd Feb, 2011), TheBusinessDesk.com have announced that Paul Thandi, Chief Executive of The NEC Group is to receive an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University.
During his time there, he has worked to boost the group’s international portfolio and overseen the £40m refurbishment of the NEC exhibition centre and £30m revamp and rebrand of the NEC Arena, now the LG Arena.

Shortly before this announcement was made, I had the opportunity to interview Paul, where he gave me a valuable insight to his management and leadership style, describing what drives him, where his inspiration comes from, and how he applies it whilst running a very successful business.

2 Paul Kehoe

Posted: 14th January 2011 by Paul Hadley in BP50, Uncategorized
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Today, as part of my BP50 project, I had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Kehoe, Chief Executive of Birmingham Airport.
With a wealth of past experience in many related areas and industries, Paul told me about how his management and leadership style has been influenced over the years, and how he applies it in his current role.

Paul Kehoe from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

It was interesting to learn (off camera) that during extreme weather conditions, he wears a different hat- the one of snow plough driver- and his colleagues all do something similar to ensure that the airport remains open for business.
Recent years have seen many changes at the airport, and the future holds more challenges and changes to come. Here Paul tells me how these plans are currently progressing, and describes what the impact on the local economy and landscape will be.

World First- HDR Video

Posted: 4th December 2010 by Paul Hadley in Uncategorized
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The natural world presents our visual system with a wide range of colours and intensities. Furthermore, the scene may be constantly changing with, for example, significant differences in lighting levels going from outside to inside or simply as the sun goes behind some clouds etc. A human eye can see detail in regions that vary by 1:10(4) at any given eye adaption level.

A traditional camera, on the other hand, is only capable of capturing a limited range of lighting in any scene, ie Low Dynamic Range (LDR). The actual range captured depends on the exposure and f-stop setting of the camera. The remainder of the image outside this limited range is either under or over exposed. Images that can reproduce a large portion of the luminance dynamic range available in the real world are known as High Dynamic Range (HDR).

HDR imagery offers a more representative description of image-based digital content by storing data with a higher bit-depth per pixel than the more conventional LDR images. HDR images are typically either created in computer graphics or generated from a number of static images.

A HDR system capable of capturing, storing, transmitting and delivering dynamic HDR images, covering at least 20 f-stops, at full high-definition resolution, at 30 frames-pre-second, did not exist in a single camera unit…

until now !

I had the pleasure of joining Christian Payne (@documentally) at WMG, part of the University of Warwick, where we had a demonstration of the world’s first High Dynamic Range video recording camera, followed by interviews and discussions with key team members.

World First- HDR Video (High Dynamic Range) from Paul Hadley on Vimeo.

This system is owned and developed by WMG under the brand GoHDR and is based in the University of Warwick in the West Midlands region (UK).

The encoding/decoding software being developed by GoHDR has the potential to be enabling technology, which helps bring about the widespread adoption of HDR video for the home entertainment market.

Led by the Visualisation team and Professor Alan Chalmers under contract with Spheron VR in Germany, the camera is capable of 20 f-stops, full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution at 30 frames per second.

A key challenge to the widespread adoption of this HDR camera is making manageable the huge data stream that it generates. This is very much higher than a normal video camera with the HDR camera capturing data at 24 MBytes per frame or 42 Gigabytes per minute of footage, compared to just 9 Gigabytes for a minute of normal video footage.

Advances in compression is required and this is additional research and development that the team are currently delivering.

For more information, please visit http://www.GoHDR.com

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