Greetings from Antarctica

[bcstudent]

Howdy.

Joining ClioSport is the first step in a plan I've had a lot of time to think about. As I write this I'm living and working at the Halley 6 research station on the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica, 76.5 degrees south. I've been here, along with 13 others, since December 2011 and am not due to leave until the end of Feb 2013. On my return to the UK I will undoubtedly be on the look-out for a Clio 172 Cup. The job I'm returning to supplies a van, so what I need is a track-day car that will get occasional use on the road.

I'll be honest, I've never been a fan of Renaults before. I blame this state of mind on a friend's money-pit of a Renault 5 GT Turbo from 'back in the day'. I'm embarrassed to say it's taken this long to shake the stigma. I am still a self-confessed water-cooled VW fan (please don't hate me) but can't fail to recognise that VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda don't offer anything as track-ready as a Clio Cup unless we start talking big money. For this reason I feel it's time to try something new.

So, anyway, this is me saying "hello" and expecting to be doing a deal with one of you guys or girls in about six month's time!

Happy motoring

 

[jon_r]

Hello and welcome from the ClioSport Admin Team

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

As I write this I'm living and working at the Halley 6 research station on the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica, 76.5 degrees south. I've been here, along with 13 others, since December 2011 and am not due to leave until the end of Feb 2013.

Cool!

 

[Advikaz]

Bet you've had a better summer than us.

 

[MartinR]

Welcome to the forum!! How many snowmen have you built?? plus what are you researching?

 

[Naith]

we need proof!

 

[Revels]

Welcome. Some questions..

1) Can you see any polar bears?

2) What do penguins taste like?

3) Do you have snow tyres?

 

[dk]

f**king cool! I wasn't far from you in december myself (relatively speaking) when i took a 2 week cruise around the antarctic peninsula!

I am in love with the place and very jealous of you working there, such a beautiful place.

what do you do there?

and revels, polar bears are the arctic, no the antarctic........

 

[Final Maxim]

you tell him dave

 

[bcstudent]

Thanks for the welcome everybody. I'm glad my comment about VWs didn't get me banned!

Bet you've had a better summer than us.

Maybe not a 'better' summer exactly, as it's winter here, but we've definitely had less rain! So far this winter we've had temperatures down to -51.5°C and winds over 60 knots.

Welcome to the forum!! How many snowmen have you built?? plus what are you researching?

No snowmen have been built. The atmosphere is much drier than in the UK and the snow has more of a sugary consistency. Unfortunately, that means it doesn't stick together unless it's frozen, so building anything other than igloos is pretty much not going to happen. You couldn't make a snowball if your life depended on it.

I don't really research anything, I'm working for BAS as an electronics engineer. It's my job to just keep the experiments up and running - they get a pretty hard life down here. The base itself deals with atmospheric science and we have all sorts going on, from huge atmospheric radar systems to geomagnetic monitoring and infrared cameras looking at waves in the airglow layer. Anybody of my era - I'm 37 - would remember what a big deal the ozone layer was when they were at school. Halley was the base that collected the data leading to the discovery of the ozone depletion and the following banning of CFCs, etc. That's my fact of the day.

we need proof!

On its way...

Welcome. Some questions..

1) Can you see any polar bears?

2) What do penguins taste like?

3) Do you have snow tyres?

I see the Polar Bear question has been taken care of! We're not allowed to eat penguins any more, so I couldn't say what they taste like. There are still recipe books around from previous winters that contain an insight from back when you could, though. There's a recipe for penguin-egg omelette that was described in the comments simply as "fishy"...

There aren't any tyres fitted to anything here - all of the vehicles (and I mean ALL) have tracks.

 

[bcstudent]

Not the most amazing set of photos but proof enough?

 

[tom172cup]

pic number six is awesome. welcome along

 

[Rubicon_]

You are one lucky guy that is mega cool! That's a crazy amount of time away though, what do you guys do to pass the time?

 

[mudmatt]

have to agree, the aurora borealis at its finest, great photo

 

[-J-]

Welcome and wow as to your location!

If I PM you my address can you post me one of those penguins, I need one in my life!

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Looks pretty nippy there!

That Northern Lights shot is epic too. On my 'see before I die' list that.

 

[joshhicky]

Welcome, them pics are amazing

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

Amazing! However, if a dog comes running into your camp being chased by some Norwegians in a helicopter get the f**k out of there double lively!!!

Welcome to the club.

 

[Scrooge]

That northern lights picture is amazing! Welcome

 

[Tunst]

Amazing pictures id love to go to antarctica

Welcome to the Club mate!

 

[dk]

epic pictures, i am hugely jealous, would love to work there, pics are bringing back so many memories of my trip, the scenery is just breathtaking! Love the adelie penguins too, vey cute.

oh and along with polar bears, the north lights don't appear at the south pole, its the southern lights, Aurora Australis

amateurs......

 

[at3k-]

Amazing! However, if a dog comes running into your camp being chased by some Norwegians in a helicopter get the f**k out of there double lively!!!Welcome to the club.

beat me to it Ron! Friggin love that film.

 

[Joeh]

Amazing, keep the pics coming if you have the time
ps if you've come from vw's then a 172cup will blow your mind pace wise, so raw.

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

beat me to it Ron! Friggin love that film.

Probably my favourite film ever TBH

 

[Sash]

Wow! That's all I can say!
I had to lol at the sign post!

Oh and welcome to the club, looks like you're into photography too by the pics

 

[Zmaster2k]

Wow Welcome along"

 

[Lal B3N]

Welcome!

Awesome photos! Looks like an epic place to work.

How much to bring me a penguin back?

 

[Hixle]

Very very jealous. Some lovely shots too, just a pity that photobucket seems to have sapped some of the quality!

Welcome along mate

 

[Advikaz]

Amazing pictures.

 

[mace¬]

lol at Cliosport taking over the world. Please become a member so Brian has to send you membership pack and you can officially place a CS sticker on Antartica. DK let us down.

Am I right in thinking you've seen the sun recently for the first time in months?

Welcome.

 

[w33 brl]

look amazing mate

[/QUOTE]

Anyone got a tin of de-icer?

 

[bcstudent]

lol at Cliosport taking over the world. Please become a member so Brian has to send you membership pack and you can officially place a CS sticker on Antartica. DK let us down.

Am I right in thinking you've seen the sun recently for the first time in months?

Welcome.

Membership is an likely option, but I think I'll get myself in a 172 first. Also, I believe the deadline for shipping anything has now passed - we get one delivery per year! You're right about the sun, though; it set on April 30th and rose again on August 11th. Over three months of darkness does start to wear you down a bit towards the end.

Very very jealous. Some lovely shots too, just a pity that photobucket seems to have sapped some of the quality!

Welcome along mate

It's probably not Photobucket's fault. I've had to massively decrease the image sizes due to the very small bandwidth available here. We have a 256k up/256k down VSAT connection but it's shared amongst all of the experiments transmitting data back to Cambridge plus 13 other people. Still, I consider us fortunate to have any link to the civilised world at all, really.

 

[tonyd106]

That's seriously cool, would love to go there one day.


Welcome to the club

 

[Brian]

lol at Cliosport taking over the world. Please become a member so Brian has to send you membership pack and you can officially place a CS sticker on Antartica. DK let us down.

Am I right in thinking you've seen the sun recently for the first time in months?

Welcome.

I'd love to send a pack to Antartica!
One went to Kazakhstan last week, been loads for Australia recently too. I'm still not sure if the woman in the post office loves or hates me but the people behind me in the queue most definitely hate me (a lot)