HBT: Yanks' Hughes may miss start of season

Yankees right-hander Phil Hughes was diagnosed with a bulging disc in his upper back early last week and hasn?t made a whole lot of progress in the days since. Which prompted manager Joe Girardi to tell Byran Hoch of MLB.com this afternoon that ?it?s possible? Hughes won?t be on the active roster when the 2013 regular season gets underway.

Hughes also dealt with back issues last year in the?postseason?and the Yankees don?t want to rush him into Grapefruit League games for fear that they might make the injury worse than it already is.

The Yankees could go a few different directions if they need some starts covered in early April. Signing a veteran off the scrapheap who is willing to spend most of the summer with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre might be a good idea. Roy Oswalt, Dallas Braden and Carlos Zambrano are among the available options. Derek Lowe also remains unsigned.

Or the Yankees could opt to move David Phelps from the bullpen to the rotation for a bit.

Hughes, 26, posted a 4.23 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 7.8 K/9 across 191 1/3 innings last season.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/27/phil-hughes-may-not-be-ready-for-the-start-of-the-season/related/

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Visiting London on a budget | On the Luce

I lived in London for over ten years, and still go back there at least once a month. But there?s one thing I have really started to notice since I moved away, and that?s how expensive it can be. Ticket prices to the main attractions, meals out, a few drinks ? they all start to add up scarily quickly. London is an amazing city though with so much to see and do ? from museums to markets, parks to pubs ? so don?t let worries about the cost of things put you off visiting. In my years as a London resident I picked up lots of tips about what to see and do without breaking the bank ? and more importantly what not to do. Here are some of my top tips for visitors to the capital. And do share any of yours in the comments below.

Tower Bridge from the riverside walk along Southbank

Things to see and do

One of the cheapest and best things you can do in London is just wander around and see the sights (weather permitting that is?). London might be huge, but the centre is pretty walkable and you can see a lot within a fairly small area. One of my favourite walks is along the Thames, following Southbank from the London Eye to Tower Bridge, passing London icons like the Tate Modern, Shakespeare?s Globe, HMS Belfast and the Tower of London. There are also plenty of parks to explore ? you can visit the rose garden in Regent?s Park, row in the lake at Hyde Park or spot the royal palaces at St James? Park.

If you want to learn a bit more about London?s history and architecture while you?re walking, there are a couple of companies that do free guided city walks. Discover Walks run daily hour-long tours (except during winter) along three different routes. Sandeman?s New Europe also run a longer 2.5-hour tour at 11am and 1pm each day that takes you from Hyde Park Corner through Westminster to the Houses of Parliament. The tours are free but tips for the guides are encouraged.

When you?re visiting the big attractions, you can usually save money by booking in advance, even the day before ? London Eye tickets are ?17.28 as opposed to ?19.20 on the day or the Tower of London is ?18 instead of ?20.90. Or if you plan to visit a lot of places, it might be worth investing in a London Pass. They cover over 60 different attractions and have the bonus of letting you jump the queue in some places. The cost is pricey for one day at ?47 but they?re better value for a longer trip at ?91.80 for six days.

If you?re travelling into London by train, even if it?s just from the suburbs (it has to be on a mainline train though, not the Underground), then you can get 2 for 1 entry to lots of London attractions, like Madame Tussauds, London Zoo and Kensington Palace, as well as discounts at some restaurants and tours. You need to print out a voucher from the website and bring it and your train ticket with you.

Inside the British Museum

Museums and galleries

London museums and galleries are one of the capital?s best bargains as the permanent collections at many of them are free to enter ? including famous names like the British Museum, Tate, National Gallery, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, V&A and Museum of London. There?s a full list here. It?s also a good opportunity to try out some of the lesser-known museums, like the Wellcome Collection for gruesome medical implements or the Museum of Childhood for vintage toys and games.

A lot of museums do late-night opening on certain days of the week too, with free special events, talks, films and performances after normal closing time. There?s also the First Thursdays event on the first Thursday of each month in the East End, when over 170 galleries and museums in east London stay open until 9pm with special events, walking tours and a free ?art bus? running between the top attractions.

Inside London?s Tate Modern gallery

Entertainment

London?s theatre is famous throughout the world, but the tickets can be pricey. One way to see a West End show on a budget is by picking up tickets at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square. They sell off half-price tickets for performances on the same day as well as discounted advance tickets. You can also get ?12 tickets for performances at the National Theatre or standing tickets at Shakespeare?s Globe with a spot right in front of the stage for ?5 (though you might want to pick one of the shorter plays?).

If you?re into live music, you can usually find a free concert somewhere in the city, whatever your music taste. You can see free classical music at lunchtimes in the churches at St Martin in the Fields and St James?s Piccadilly. There are a mix of free performances from jazz to dance at the Southbank Centre and you can always find street performers around Covent Garden. And try the pubs around Camden and Shoreditch for up-and-comings bands ? many venues let you in free if you get in before a certain time.

If you want to see a film in London, then stay away from the expensive, crowded cinemas in Leicester Square. Just up the road, the Prince Charles Cinema shows films for ?8 on weekdays. Or if you?ll be in town for a while you can become a member for ?10 and get tickets for half price. They also do a great Sunday night deal with a classic film plus a slice of pizza and a beer for ?10 (?7.50 for members).

The Anchor pub on Southbank

Top city views

The cheapest way to get a great view across London?s skyline is from one of the parks around the edge of the city. Some of the best viewpoints are from Primrose Hill, Alexandra Palace and the top of Hampstead Heath in the north and Richmond and Greenwich parks in the south.

Closer to the centre of the city, the biggest bargain viewpoint is the?Monument for ?3. The?Monument marks where the Great Fire of London started ? it?s only 62 metres high so you do get towered over by some of the other buildings, but you?re in a really central spot. Or for free you can go up to the roof terrace on top of the One New Change shopping centre which overlooks St Paul?s Cathedral.

Or if you want a great view for the price of a cocktail, try Vertigo 42 at the top of Tower 42 in the city (cocktails from ?14), Paramount Bar at the top of the Centrepoint Tower at the end of Oxford Street (cocktails from ?11) or Skylon in the Royal Festival Hall on Southbank (cocktails from ?11.50).

Views across London by night

Eating and drinking

You can find some of London?s best-value food in the city?s ethnic areas ? try Chinatown, Kingsland Road for Vietnamese food and Brick Lane or Southall for Indian food. There are also some good-value international food chains to look out for, like Leon, Busaba (Thai), Tas (Turkish), Pho (Vietnamese) and Wagamama (Japanese). And a lot of chain restaurants (mainly Italian ones like Prezzo or Pizza Express) also offer 2 for 1 main courses or other discounts ? they change all the time so check the Money Saving Expert website for the most recent discount vouchers.

Street food has really taken off in London too, with food stalls from around the world at London?s markets. There are lots to choose from but some of my favourites are Borough Market (Thurs?Sat), Portobello Road Market (Mon-Sat) and the Real Food Market on Southbank (Fri-Sun). Even if you aren?t buying, you can usually get a few tasting samples as you walk around the market too.

And if the weather?s good enough for a picnic then you can?t beat Marks & Spencers. If you?re staying in an apartment or have access to cooking facilities, you can also take advantage of their ?Dine in for ?10? dinners for two, with a main course, side dish, dessert and bottle of wine for ?10.

Food stalls at Borough Market

Travelling around

The most important transport tip for London visitors is to get an Oyster card. You can pick one up at any Tube station or order one online in advance. They bring the price of a single Tube fare in Zone 1 down from ?4.50 to ?2.10. You can buy a travelcard (valid for unlimited travel for a day or week) or top the card up with credit that gets deducted when you touch in or out at stations, up to the maximum cost of a day travelcard (?8.80 at peak times or ?7.30 off peak ? after 9am).

For short journeys it?s worth taking the bus rather than the Tube ? the price is lower (?2.40 in cash for a single journey or ?1.40 with an Oyster card) and you get a much better view. You can even use them as a cheaper alternative to a sightseeing bus by taking one of the routes that run past some of the city?s main sites ? try the 88 (past Camden, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and over the Thames) or the 4 (past Waterloo, Somerset House, the Royal Courts of Justice, Fleet Street, St Paul?s Cathedral and the Barbican).

There are lots of companies running boat tours along the Thames, but the budget way to see London from the water is on the Thames Clipper river boat service. It?s a commuter service but runs along the scenic stretch of river from the London Eye to Greenwich. Adult single fares cost ?6 and you get 10% off fares if you have an Oyster card or a third off with if you?ve got a Travelcard.

And finally if you?re feeling energetic you can hire a bike from the Barclays Cycle Hire (aka a Boris bike). You can pick them up from docking stations all around central London and they cost ?2 to access the bikes for 24 hours then you can make as many journeys under 30 minutes as you like for free.

A classic red double-decker London bus

So those are my tips for seeing London on a budget ? do you know of any more London bargains or have any money-saving tips?

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Source: http://ontheluce.com/2013/02/27/london-on-a-budget/

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FDA Commissioner: budget cuts mean less safe food

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2012 file photo, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Hamburg says the lack of a new 2013 budget from Congress and the upcoming across-the-board spending cuts will mean fewer food safety inspections and an increased risk to consumers. The cuts could delay a new food safety law that requires the agency to boost inspections and directs farms and food facilities to ensure their food is safe. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2012 file photo, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Hamburg says the lack of a new 2013 budget from Congress and the upcoming across-the-board spending cuts will mean fewer food safety inspections and an increased risk to consumers. The cuts could delay a new food safety law that requires the agency to boost inspections and directs farms and food facilities to ensure their food is safe. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Fewer food safety inspections and an increased risk to consumers will result from the lack of a new 2013 budget from Congress and the upcoming across-the-board spending cuts, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said Friday.

The cuts are scheduled to take effect Friday unless the White House and Congress can come to a budget agreement. The reduced inspections and budget cuts could delay a new food safety law which requires the agency to boost inspections and directs farms and food facilities to ensure their food is safe.

The FDA has said the so-called sequestration cuts will mean 2,100 fewer food safety inspections this year, though Hamburg said in an interview with The Associated Press Thursday that the number is an estimate. She said most of the effects wouldn't be felt for a while, and the agency won't have to furlough workers.

Still, she said, "We're going to be struggling with how to really grapple with the cuts of sequestration ... clearly we will be able to provide less of the oversight functions and we won't be able to broaden our reach to new facilities either, so inevitably that increases risk."

Hamburg and Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods, said in a joint interview that the agency is trying to figure out ways to save money as they try to put the law in place, including experimenting with ways to do food safety inspections in shorter periods of time. Hamburg said the FDA is holding out hope that they can get the food industry to pay some user fees, an idea the industry has previously rejected and was left out of the final food safety law enacted two years ago.

"We are guardedly optimistic that we will continue, even in this fiscal budget climate, to get some enhanced resources to continue to expand and to move toward the goals of the program," Hamburg said of food safety.

The Obama administration had hoped for more dollars to carry out the law, which would boost the inspections and training for inspectors, require farms and food companies to create detailed food safety plans and create a new system for inspecting imported foods. But Congress did not pass a new budget last year and funding has remained stagnant.

The across-the-board cuts will also affect meat inspection, which is administered by the Agriculture Department. USDA has said inspectors could be furloughed for up to 15 days, meaning meatpacking plants would have to intermittently shut down. Government inspectors must be present for a meatpacking plant to operate.

The White House has said this could mean less meat in grocery stores and higher prices.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-28-Budget-Food%20Safety/id-eb3381cb4def4d3086769ea4e7f2dd4a

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Pope greets pilgrims in St. Peter's for final time

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Benedict XVI is greeting pilgrims in St. Peter's Square for the final time before retiring, waving to tens of thousands of people who have gathered to bid him farewell.

Benedict was driven around the square in an open-sided vehicle, surrounded by bodyguards. At one point he stopped to kiss a baby handed up to him by his secretary.

St. Peter's was overflowing and pilgrims and curiosity-seekers were picking spots along the main boulevard nearby to watch Wednesday's event on giant TV screens. Some 50,000 tickets were requested for Benedict's final master class on the Catholic faith, but Italian media estimated the number of people actually attending could be double that.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-greets-pilgrims-st-peters-final-time-094716701.html

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BeadForLife: Fostering Female Entrepreneurialism - The Next Women

The NextWomen Social Entrepreneurship Theme.

Joan Ahisimbwe sensed trouble when she heard her brother-in-law planned to inherit her. Her husband had died from HIV, which she?d soon learn he passed to her before his death.?Following Ugandan tradition, his brother had a right to take a widow as a second or third wife. The idea of belonging to this alcoholic, abusive man was terrifying, so with her two small children she fled to a Kampala slum, where she struggled to provide even one meal a day.

Weak with HIV symptoms, Joan still mustered the energy to work tirelessly making mud bricks and earning less than $1 a day.

When BeadforLife met Joan, she immediately faced her destiny with the incredible opportunity and set an intention to change her life.

With her first income from creating paper bead jewelry, Joan bought a piglet she fed on scraps and sold later for a $50 profit.?With her confidence and momentum growing, she gave up her tiny rented room and moved into a small storefront. During the day she sold rice, soap and sodas to the local community. At night, she would roll out a thin mattress behind the counter where she and her two children slept. She saved her money, studied hard to learn basic business principles and launched not only a second business, but also a third.?

Today Joan lives happily in her very own home in Friendship Village, where she recently added a master bedroom. She grows crops, owns a store and sells the freshest produce around. Her daughter is at University and her son has finished secondary school.

Joan is one of thousands of thriving entrepreneurs BeadforLife has inspired in Uganda.

BeadforLife embodies social entrepreneurship from top to bottom.?The preliminary model is providing impoverished Ugandan women with a chance to earn money by creating jewelry with recycled paper. While most fair trade companies would stop there, BeadforLife is not content to work with one group of artisans forever. Instead they extend beyond the beads with a robust and integrative model. Once women begin selling beads and earning money, BeadforLife provides extensive business training and mentorship to help develop and launch small businesses. 18 months after joining BeadforLife, women graduate and focus exclusively on their businesses to generate a sustainable income stream into the future.

This creates women who are self-sufficient and not dependent on BeadforLife for their income.

We have found this to be an effective way for people to lift their families out of extreme poverty. It also allows us to enroll yet another group of impoverished entrepreneurs who are ready to become strong and savvy Ugandan businesswomen and leave poverty behind.

Turning impoverished women into savvy businesswomen in is not the only way BeadforLife is entrepreneurial. Our model is built on the notion that creating something sustainable requires skin in the game and earning your way. Unique amongst non-profits, BeadforLife is almost entirely funded by earned income, with grants or donations comprising less than 5% of revenue.? Not only do we grapple with best practices in international development, we deal with supply chain, inventory storage, quality control, shipping, fulfillment and marketing. We are truly a hybrid model of business/development, and believe this makes us more effective in both areas. ?

BeadforLife was awarded MORE Magazine?s Job Genius award ?Hire Calling?, based on our ability to create work for women. With the $20,000 grant we won, we launched a new initiative - the ?Street Business School,? that will kickoff in March. Rather than an 18-month enrollment process, the Street Business School works with people who currently run very marginal businesses.?

By providing training, mentoring, and access to loans to expand their businesses, we hope to build a quicker pipeline between people and sustainable income.

In addition to the Street Business School, BeadforLife has expanded outside the urban hub of Kampala into two rural areas where our focus is helping people improve their agricultural-business.? In Northern Uganda, we provide groups of women with two oxen and a plow. They are able to triple their land reach, and increase their crop incomes seven times. One of our core beliefs is to provide opportunities, not handouts, so everything we do has a giveback element.?In the case of plows, each group repays the direct cost of the plow and oxen over two harvest periods, enabling us to bring the next group of women into the program. This not only helps us expand our reach, but reinforces a central element of successful entrepreneurship ? that anything worth having is going to take hard work. This is just as true for us as it is for the women we work with.

It has taken a huge amount of love, blood, sweat and tears to build this multimillion-dollar organization.

We have to earn every dollar we spend to help women change their own lives and we therefore have to be experts at several industries simultaneously. But sitting down with Joan, who represents thousands of other resilient women, is so incredibly inspiring, fulfilling and what keeps our energies and plans high. We invite you to join us on this incredible journey and learn more about BeadforLife.

Devin Hibbard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of poverty eradication project BeadforLife. Devin has extensive experience in international development and poverty having lived and worked in India, Kenya, and Uganda on women's empowerment projects. In addition to co-founding BeadforLife, she also spearheaded an initiative to reach out to more rural women in Northern Uganda who suffered under 20 years of civil war. The BeadforLife Shea Project works with 760 women in war torn Northern Uganda who are paid a fair trade wage to collect shea nuts which BeadforLife turns into organic soap and lip balm.?

Source: http://www.thenextwomen.com/2013/02/27/beadforlife-fostering-female-entrepreneurialism-uganda

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naturalization characteristic: Writing and Speaking: Article Marketing

Article marketing is arguably one of the best ways of building links to your site. Now I'm almost sure I don't need to explain the importance of link building to you, or do I? Having links to your site is like humans having air to breathe. Yes, it's that important. Every SEO strategy you employ is basically for the sole purpose of getting links to your site, to increase your ranking in the search engines, to get more traffic, to generate more sales, to have a profitable online business, so you can achieve your goals.
Article marketing is basically using articles to expose your website. You can do this by submitting articles to various directories such as EzineArticles, GoArticles, ArticlesBase etc. Once your article has been approved and published, you'll receive a link to your site. You not only get a link from the directory but if other website owners find your article useful they can publish it on their site. If they leave your resource box intact, which is the ethical thing for them to do; you get another link to your site from the website that published your article. So the better your articles the better chance you stand of getting more links.
Article marketing requires you to be patient and consistent. You can't use this method for only a few weeks and expect to get to the top of the search engine page just like that. Decide how many directories you're submitting to, you want to choose only from the top ten. Then be consistent with your submissions. This can be a challenge if you don't consider yourself a good writer or if you don't have the money to outsource this function. But if you submit even one article per week, be consistent.
When done properly and with time, article marketing can get you great results by building strong links. These are natural links that the search engines love. Links from article directories are permanent and they are considered to be links from authoritative sites, at least the tops anyway. While website owners can remove your link from their websites, the only person that can remove your link from the directories is you. So your link from the directory will remain for as long as your article remains there.
Link building is imperative to your online success and though it's a slow process, article marketing is still one of the best ways to build quality links. Like I said before, be patient and consistent. You can reap the rewards of your labor for years to come.

Source: http://writing-asadeszw.blogspot.com/2013/02/article-marketing.html

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Source: http://naturalization-characteristic.blogspot.com/2013/02/writing-and-speaking-article-marketing.html

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Barbara Walters returning to 'The View' on Monday

FILE - This June 23, 2012 file photo shows Barbara Walters presenting an award onstage at the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Walters says she's returning to ?The View? on Monday, March 4, 2013. Walters was hospitalized on Jan. 19 after fainting and cutting her head at a party in Washington. The 83-year-old said she had chickenpox and a fever at the time but didn't realize it. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)

FILE - This June 23, 2012 file photo shows Barbara Walters presenting an award onstage at the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Walters says she's returning to ?The View? on Monday, March 4, 2013. Walters was hospitalized on Jan. 19 after fainting and cutting her head at a party in Washington. The 83-year-old said she had chickenpox and a fever at the time but didn't realize it. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Barbara Walters says she's returning to "The View" on Monday.

She's been sidelined for several weeks. But now she's "had enough rest and it's time to come back," Walters reported by phone during Tuesday's edition of the ABC talk show.

Walters was hospitalized on Jan. 19 after fainting and cutting her head at a party in Washington. The 83-year-old said she had chickenpox and a fever at the time but didn't realize it. She suffered a concussion and got six stitches. She was released 10 days later and since then, has been resting in her New York home.

"No more chickenpox," she told her fellow panelists in the studio during her phone call.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-26-US-TV-Barbara-Walters-View/id-fba9bf4cdb7b4c3dbd7c7fb43ed032e2

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TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED AT RACE RETRO - Speedhunters

I expected some impressive vintage racing cars for sure at Race Retro, the UK?s big historic racing meet, but not the staggering range and quality of metal that was on show, or the variety of events that were being promoted. In every set of circuit racers, rally machines and single seaters there would be at least one car that required a double-take, or, like this Chevy V8-powered Beetle Super Saloon silhouette from the ?70s, double-takes that went into double figures. A Formula 5000 single-seater with a Beetle body nestling underneath supertanker-width bodywork, cars like this prove that being old is no obstacle to being fast ? and that sums up Race Retro.

Set in the agricultural show grounds of Stoneleigh Park in the Midlands, Race Retro is now in its tenth year, and the show was spread across four halls plus the Silverstone Auctions, a rally driving experience and the show?s jewel: the Live Rally Stage.

Hall 1 focussed on the rallying boys, with the central stage given up to the Rallying With Group B club. They?d brought along a stunning range of cars: five for the static display in the hall and then rather more to take on the Live Rally Stage itself.

Group B has undergone an understandable surge in interest over the last couple of years, and Rallying With Group B are one of the major organising clubs putting together mass events for cars of that glorious period. The trio of a Belga-liveried RS200, Audi A1 replica and Vauxhall Chevette HS flanked one side of the stand, with an Opel Ascona and Peugeot 205 T16 on the other.

More Group B cars were dotted around the other halls, with a veritable horde parked up under the beams of Hall 4 awaiting the opening of the Live Rally Stage ? including this MG Metro 6R4. The Computervision-liveried 6R4 is a regular runner at historic events such as Race Retro and the Goodwood Festival Of Speed. Here it was one of three 6R4s on show.

This ex-Harri Toivonen, Unipart-sponsored 6R4 was in the main racing hall with its doors open and rear deck up, allowing a great view of the cockpit and engine compartment. It?s a miracle the engine and ancillaries could fit into the rear of the 6R4: the NA 3-litre V6 is crammed in the narrow space between the wheel arches.

It?s great to see all these cars out, and even better to see them running. But practical considerations have to be taken into account when you own a car like this (and any other classic), especially if it?s undergone the expense of a serious rebuild. Every time a car takes to a stage it risks damage, and whatever happens will always need to be stripped and cleaned after a weekend: an expensive and time-consuming task.

This is one of the reasons for the rise in high quality replicas: cheaper and less precious (relatively speaking) than the real things, but using correct base cars and parts remanufactured from the original moulds. This A1 has used a genuine ?83 Quattro as the base, for instance.

This Renault 5 Maxi Turbo is another stunning homage: liveried as the car driven by Carlos Sainz in the mid-?80s, it has the correct 1.5-litre turbocharged engine with launch control added ? handy when you?ve got 324hp under your right foot. It uses original Renault T2 brakes and suspension.

Then there are other cars that you think should never have been rally cars in the first place. I mean, a Citro?n DS? But despite being heavy and slow, the DS excelled over rough terrain thanks to its self-levelling hydro-pneumatic suspension. As with many stands, the cars on display were helping promote a particular series or event: with the DS, it was the Classic Rally Association.

There are far more historic rallies going on around the world then you?d likely think, featuring amazing selections of cars. Classic Events feature some iconic names on their list of rallies: recreations of the Safari and Liege-Rome-Liege classics for instance. And a great excuse to display this 240Z.

Tour Britannia is a two-day event that will take place in May, combining road, rally and circuit stages across the UK. It?s been going since 2005 and is open for cars made up to 1981, but also has an invitational class for newer machinery. The Z-car on their stand was a recreation of the factory 240Z driven by Rauno Altonen and Jean Todt in 1972. A period shell was stripped and used as the base, and the original factory spec followed for the rebuild using parts from Datsun?s own original spares stock wherever possible ? that means it qualified for an FIA Technical Passport.

The Oxford Universities Motorsport Foundation were involved in bringing this Alfa Sprint GT back to life after it had been found in 2005 with a tree growing through the engine bay. Definitely not an original Alfa performance part. Since being restored it?s been run on both historic rallies and circuit races, and last year was shipped to the Barbados Rally. Not surprisingly, the team hope to return to the Caribbean in 2013. The Sol Rally Barbados would definitely be on my list too, given the choice?

Classic Team Lotus took pride of place in Hall 2, with a selection of F1 and touring cars on their stand and Jim Clark?s World Championship-winning Lotus 25 from 1963 occupying the hall?s foyer.

The full-size cars on Classic Team Lotus? stand were supplemented by a number of incredibly detailed scale models, like this Lotus 38 Indycar.

Mario Andretti?s low-line Lotus 78 was also loitering on another stand, displaying a record of Mario?s success in 1978 by way of the stickers adorning the rear wing.

But then I was knocked back another 70 years to this: Whistling Billy, a steam-powered racing car. This is a complete restoration and rebuild of the famous car, originally built by the White Sewing Machine Company in 1905 and raced in the New York area until 1908. Alternative power sources are no new fad?

It made a fearsome noise at speed from the 30hp steam generator, and it won ? repeatedly ? setting multiple speed records on the way. This recreation has been meticulously crafted, and features an original 30hp steam mono-tube working at over 800psi and a temperature of 750 degrees fahrenheit to produce a barely believable top speed of well over 100mph. I?d stand a long?way back. More proof that pre-War race drivers were utterly insane.

Though, despite the total lack of safety at least old-school racers had a comfy environment to work in. This is the rather natty seat from a 1936 Austin 7 Twin-Cam. Even this little cigar-shaped racer had a supercharged engine producing over 120hhp. You needed to hold on tight to the wheel?

I have a real soft spot for historic sports prototypes like this Chevron B36 ? its mini-me CanAm looks are accentuated by the McLaren orange paint.

Along with Chevrons, Lolas were the other cars to populate the majority of two-litre Group 6 sportscar grids of the ?70s: these are recreations of Lola T212s, built up from fresh monocoques using recreation parts by a company run by a former Lola engineer.

Crossl? is another example of a British racing car company of the ?60s stepping up to support the historic racing scene: the Northern Irish firm have produced a ?continuation? run of their 1960s 9S Sports Racer.

Circuit racers and road-cars were also well represented, such as with this utterly gorgeous Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ Coda Tronca.

The spaceframe racer used a cut-off Kamm tail to improve aerodynamics, and looked stunning in its shimmering light blue paint. I also liked the detail of the number panel being cut out onto the refuelling cap.

Alfas and historic touring car racing go together naturally, but classic Lancias also had a space to themselves, with this exotic Fulvia Sport 1600 coup??

?alongside a beefy Integrale HF Evo and one of its rallying antecedents, a Fulvia HF.

More rare and historic cars were around every corner: you could fire up a Volvo Amazon in the parking area out front?

Admire this line-up of ?60s touring car joy?

?or hire this Lotus Cortina to race in 2013. Actually, this shows off modern teams dipping their toes into historic waters: Fortec are best known for running modern Formula 3 and Formula Renault 3.5 single-seater teams.

Here?s yet another unexpected treat: a 1964 Toyota Corona touring car, which was rescued from a field in 2003 and restored for competition. It?s believed to be the only racing version outside Japan and Australia ? we?ll be catching up with this car (and the Super Saloon Beetle featured above) in the coming months.

Next door on the Classic Touring Car stand was this chisel-nosed Group 1 Ford Escort MkII RS2000, which has been racing pretty much constantly since being restored in the mid ?90s.

Opposite, the Classic Sports Car Club showed off this 1987 E30 M3 and 1990 Toyota Supra.

The 300hp Supra is a great example of how you can take a sensibly-priced sportscar and make it into an effective racer: it has 130,000 miles on the clock, gets driven to a track, raced, and then driven home. Perfect.

So, we?ve looked at gravel, mud and tarmac: how about quarter-mile strips? The National Street Rod Association and Shakespeare County Raceway clubs represented the drag racing fraternity with this ?63 Dart shipped over from the States. Bikes and dirt-track racing also had their own areas.

The final aspect of the show was the impressive range of products and services on hand to help you complete your restoration project or maintain your vintage pride and joy.

Whether you need carbs for your engine?

The engine itself?

Door panels, wheels, lights?

Grills, fascias or fuel tanks?

Or even period-authentic rubber from tyre specialists like Blockley?

?Then the treasure trove of Hall 4 and the manufacturers all round the show would almost guarantee that you?d find the part you need.

And if the real thing wasn?t on the schedule at the moment, or you had shelf space just aching to be filled, then you could find a huge range of motoring books, toys and memorabilia.

It seemed like you?d be able to find a ticket, programme or report from pretty much any British race of the last 60 years!

Some memorabilia seemed pretty random, like this race suit from the ill-fated Cadillac LMP sportscar programme.

Several stalls featured Formula 1 goodies, from visors, gloves and even body panels and wing endplates?

?to used gear ratios, exhaust parts and random pieces of carbon.

Merchandise is getting better and better quality, and there are some very classy designs of available: this T-shirt company were getting a lot of well-deserved attention.

As was this company selling vinyl posters of classic Porsches. How could one resist?! Ah, well. I didn?t?

For the final look at the 2013 Race Retro show I?ll be taking a look at the Live Rally Stage: the perfect place to see Group B monsters like this Audi Quattro let loose in their natural habitat. Cars so dangerous they had to be protected by hazard tape in Parc Ferm??

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Jonathan Moore

Race Retro 2013 on Speedhunters

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Tags: Alfa Romeo Audi Beetle Datsun Group B Jonathan Moore Lancia Race Retro Race Retro 13

Categories: Event Coverage, Historics, Jonathan Moore, Photojournalists, Shows + Festivals, Speedhunters Crew

Source: http://www.speedhunters.com/2013/02/tales-of-the-unexpected-at-race-retro/

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