New CN7 Book

[quicksilver-wsr]

Having sold almost all of my motor-racing and speed-record books and memorabilia some years ago - as related in an earlier post - in order to raise funds for the Quicksilver project, I am not likely to be going out and spending money on this one.

However, a few words of sympathy for the author, whom I do not know from Adam, with respect to the proof-reading issue. Having been an author and publisher for the majority of my professional life, I know only too well of the perils of literals and other errors creeping in. It is essential to have a proof-reader, and ideally also an editor, to read through what is written very carefully indeed, and either make or suggest amendments.

But, even in these circumstances, errors can still slip through. Even when I was writing books for the world's largest publisher of transport titles, an American company, errors would sometimes creep in - despite the efforts of a proof-reader and an editor.

And it isn't always a comfortable case of having someone else to blame when a literal or other error made its way onto the printed page. Sometimes it would be my own fault, pure and simple, and there was nobody to blame but myself.

Of course, the bigger and glossier and more expensive the book, the worse the literals and other errors look.

Of my own books, the ones I tend to like the best, in retrospect, are the ones with the least errors!

As far as the other point I'd like to make, it concerns the matter of Ken Norris being referred to as a "consultant" on the Quicksilver project. This is, as I have said before on this forum, utter idiocy. To be fair to the author, though, he probably picked up duff gen from the same source, or sources, that the other duff gen on this subject emanated from. But instead of picking up duff gen, he should have picked up the telephone and asked me for the facts, instead of speculating aimlessly.

For the first two years or so of the project, there was no-one else involved but Ken and I, so who - or what - was Ken "consulting" to? Was he, perhaps, consulting to me? If so, to do what exactly? I was not then, and am not to this day, either a boat designer or an aerodynamicist or even an engineer, so who was the boat's designer? My cat, perchance? Or could it have been my gardener, possibly? Or perhaps it was the lady across the road.

I repeat, for the sake of the historical record, that the Quicksilver project came about when I learned that Ken Norris had an idea for a new boat, so I joined forces with him in November 1988 to produce it. It was Ken's concept - the "flying-wing boat," as I call it - that we got together to produce, and as I have stated before, it sadly didn't work as advertised and we dropped it and moved on to other ideas he had for boat designs.

As early as 1991, Ken and I formed Quicksilver (WSR) Ltd. as joint 50-50 shareholders.

And Ken remained a major shareholder, jointly with me, until the day he died - some 14 years later, in 2005.

Funny consultancy.

[Pullman99]

I was visiting the National Motor Museum last Friday to have a look around for the first time in a quite a few months and was amazed that neither in the shop, nor anywhere near the car itself, was there any mention of the new CN7 book let alone the facility to purchase it (unless I missed it which I don't think I did). A publisher's opportunity missed, I think.

I am going to order a copy of the CN7 book from Donald Stevens directly. I met him back in 1980 and arranged for him to come to the NMM to "crawl" over the car one day. More golden opportunities for enhanced promotion missed methinks.

[Mike Bull]

Nice pics Ian, thanks for sharing. Oh, to start that car up...

Apparently the car's suspension struts have been replaced with solid bars, because of H&S regulations re. the gas struts?!

[Renegadenemo]

Apparently the car's suspension struts have been replaced with solid bars, because of H&S regulations re. the gas struts?!

That'll be right. Maybe I should copy some pages from the Bristol Siddeley book about the dozen dangerous substances used in the engine build. That'd baffle them, trying to get that lot out of there.

[Pullman99]

Went in to Beaulieu yesterday to wish CN7 well on the anniversary of the WLSR on 17th July 2010. Various conversations overheard seem to indicate that a godly proportion of visitors know what the Bluebird car is and were delighted to see it there. It is reputedly Beaulieu's most popular individual exhibit.

Sadly, this awareness was not carried over into the shop as I did ask, pointing out the significance of the date, if they stocked the recently published book on CN7. They said that they did not and seemed not to be aware of its existence. Does anyone have any contact with Veloce Publishing. I'd be fascinated to know if they have tried to merchandise it there.

[Mike Bull]

It is reputedly Beaulieu's most popular individual exhibit.

I was taken to Beaulieu as a small kid by my Nan, and while I don't remember the actual place, I do remember then having the guidebook for some years afterwards, and that the line up of land speed cars was pictured on the back cover; the blue one was always the most appealing, and my Nan always said that 'Bluebird was the best'.

Re. the book being sold alongside the car- which despite the book's many faults, you'd think would be an absolute no-brainer- I dare say you could contact Veloce via their website if nothing else-

http://www.veloce.co.uk/shop/index.php

[Pullman99]

I was at Beaulieu last week and thought I'd take a look to see if anything much had changed. Not a lot really, although there was a model of Thunderbolt in the display case behind CN7 that I hadn't seen before.

Anyway, before Mr Bull tells me off again, here is the Bluebird directly related item. Again, I am not sure if this has been on display recently. It's a mounted dial from CN7 that shows the position of the air brakes as they are deployed. The original was presented to leo Villa by Donald - as per inscription - and left a hole in CN7's dash panel as a result. The late Ken Reaks of Smiths Industries - who had made the original instruments for Donald - was on a visit at my invitation to Beaulieu back in about 1981 and was aware of this so kindly made a copy of the original dial and mounted it back in its correct position. Should still be there hopefully! Ken Reaks is to be seen in many of the Blusebird photographs, espcially in Australia, and it was a great pleasure hearing him talk about these events.

[f1steveuk]

I had the supercharger boost gauge from K4, similarly mounted (it now resides with Mr Benjamins).

Beaulieu, sadly not a museum anymore, just a business, they ceased being interested in it as a "museum" about the time Michael (Ware) left.

We were going to launch Leap Into Legend there, as invited by Lord Montagu. It was all going fine until, he gave it to the office to arrange. In the end it would have cost £5000, so much for "loved to have it here Steven, with all the Bluebird stuff". Oh then they wanted to sell me catering on top, no choice, had to have it!!! The shop manager would then contact me about stocking the book. Still waiting!!

[ace_chris]

Having visited The National Motor Museum a few times it really looks tired and dated in a number of places.

It would benefit from a freshen-up exhibit wise, doesnt seem to have anything significant from the last 10-15 years (all seems to stop circa 1995!). Hopefully the new 'Rusty K7 wing' will not be allowed to go stale once K7 moves in. Chris

[f1steveuk]

The real shame is what they have in storage. They could rotate the exhibits every month, but it's juat easier to leave it!

The last time I went (not Ken's memorial thing, the opening of the "Grand Prix" display), I got there early, and my missus asked me what a particualr car was, that a young lad in a Beaulieu polo shirt was dusting. I told her, and then suggested she asked the lad, to see if he knew.

He reply? "I don't know, not interested, I'm just paid to be in here", which really rather sums it up!!