It’s a long time since I made any effort to update my web pages (and who knows when these will
actually get published) but I thought it was about time to publish some of my pics. If your here you’re
probably interested in a bit on cars, boats Evs and maybe even me and mine. Those who know me will
know the art of spelling is a mystery to me and even my spell check has times where it just throws in
the towel and can be found sobbing in a corner!
I am an Aries if you follow that kind of thing and have many hobbies I dip in and out of. The continued
theme though is transport and I do love my fast bikes, cars, planes, boats although gave up on trains a
while ago
I hope you find something interesting, if you need to contact me you will already have the means as I
won’t be putting a contacts page here, I have enough little blue pills, am in contact will all my foreign
relatives and have no interest in any more junk mail.
Dave
Born in 1966 I consider myself now to be mature (there are those who say not yet fully).
I have had a few travels helped by my fathers’ military career where as a child we moved regularly, quite
an adventure. I was born in Singapore at Changi hospital in 1966 and we went from there to my parents
1st house in Cornwall then on to Malta although I was sadly way too young to have been able to enjoy
the cultures that were there, and by culture my mother means cockroaches, heat and a lot of bugs!
Army life included a lot of moving and by the grand age of 11 this was showing in my ability to do math
but not English and in general my formal education was suffering, although life experience and playing
with guns, cheers dad, was getting very good. Quick side notes on the last sentence. My dear dad was a
small arms and missiles expert so as a child we had great fun going to watch missile launches from
inside tanks and we got to play with guns, great. Not sure where this fitted in the health and safety
manual but as the old saying goes, give a child a rabbit and he can eat for a day, give him a sub
machine gun and amo and he will smile about it for the rest of his life, or something like that.
At 11 I was packed of the boarding school to fix my formal education although I also think the life
lessons here were invaluable. The school was the Gordon Boys School in Surry. It was a military based
school with strong ties to the armed forces and primarily, at the time, for children from forces families.
The school was around 200 boys split in to 4 houses, I was in Khartoum, and as it happens I was in the
same house as my dad. When we 1st went to the school it transpired that I had been allocated the
same bunk and remarkably I had the same housemaster, ‘spud’ as he was known or Mr Bowling. My
farther was astounded and commented that he was old when he was a boy at the school and he did
indeed retire during my time there. Side note on Mr Bowling. An old school geography teacher a
temporary dad to the 50 boys in his care. Short, stocky and not to be messed with. His sport was cricket
and if you were not paying attention during his class he was a dab hand with the chalk board rubber
and could clip an ear at 50 paces!
At Gordon boys I found a talent for loosing shoe laces, shooting small bore and full bore (.22 and .303)
metal work technical drawing and cross country running. I also became an avid cyclist in my 2nd year
when the school introduced bikes.
I would like to say I am still close buddies with my old school chums and I do look back often with good
memories but in honesty when school finished in 1982 we all went our separate ways and I’ve not seen
them since. I did pay a visit to the school in 2011 and was astounded to find it now has girls and that
the parade ground is a car park. I’m sure its progress but it did seem to be the end to me of what was
old school traditions.
Enough about that, next stop was a very brief position with Gleason’s in Plymouth as an electrical and
electronics apprentice. Brief as I was titting around too much and this cost me my position after a year.
I then went to Toshiba where I worked building cabinets for TVs, wood in those days, and then on to
electrical test and repair. During this time I discovered a passion for fast bikes, beer and not much else.
The next few years were a blur but a good blur and Toshiba allowed me day release to complete my
ONC in electronics where I got to work designing digital electronics and code in HEX!
I left Toshiba just before my 21st and moved to Swindon to finish my ONC. Swindon collage was a
experience of burgers with cheese injected into the burger, like a meat doughnut, more beer and some
time spent playing with satellite TV.
From collage I went on to work for a couple of years fitting satellite TV with my chum Keith in recording
studios so the artists could watch the new MTV. Then this required a 2m dish, motors to position it and
2 monkeys to generally loiter around drinking beer and setting it up whilst chatting to musicians and
generally taking more time for fun than working. I was one of those monkeys
This was fun and easy going until Sky decided that the same could be done with a small dish and for
much less than we were charging. So it was time for a real job!
The real job came with Plessey semiconductors working in a wafer fab in Plymouth. My photography
skills got me a position working in the photo lithography department and this paid well and was
interesting.
During this time I also took the grown up decision to but my 1st home, a small flat on the edge of
Dartmoor at a place called Crapstone, or’ shit rock’ to the locals! (apologies to any minors reading this) I
also met my now wife, Barbara so life did really take off from here.
Whilst at Plessey my farther who had now left the army and started his own business in civil
engineering performing controlled demolition and the art of selling holes, asked me to join him in his
new venture. Considering my position, new partner, mortgage, steady well-paid secure job, I took the
only obvious steps, well at least for me. I gave notice and went on to work at Ace of Diamonds cutting
drilling and general farther and son mayhem.
The work was good and I enjoyed my stints in Dartmoor prison and the local poo stations equally.
I also married Barbara and we moved into our 1st family home in Plymouth.
In 1996 I was involved in a large RTA where a transit van ran into me at speed whilst I was parked.
Waking up the following morning with no feeling below my waist and down my left side was fairly scary
and this accident was to end my civil engineering days. Physio and good doctors quickly got me mobile
and I started 4-year rehabilitation. I decided that to use the time wisely I would go back to electronics
and invest in a 4 year BEng(Hons) degree at Plymouth.
I graduated in 2000 and during the time found I had a passion for switching big amps! I designed a
400A power inverter as my final year project and won the Farnell prize for design and project delivery. I
was working part time at the local TV company as a technical director, having done a placement year
there, and this funded my next project, E2V.
Barbara and I set up E2V to build and supply components for electric vehicles and we pursued this
business for the next 4 years with me subsidising the business by directing early morning NEWS and
running cameras and VT evenings and weekends at the local TV studio. After 4 years it was apparent
E2V was not going to be self-supporting so I closed the business and took a position at QinetiQ working
on electric drives for other applications. Lots of stuff I signed means this will be a very brief section here
enough to say 5 years later I was no longer designing as had been pushed to management and decided
I had enough.
I went then back to automotive and power electronics working for THINK in Oslo.
I took the position in 2008 and moved lock stock and barrel to Oslo with Barbara. At the end of 2008
THINK went in to chapter 11! So we were in Oslo with all our stuff and a big question mark over the
future of the company. QinetiQ offered me a position back in the UK at my old office and near my
house but we decided that we would stick with THINK and in April 2009 they were re-financed and got
back to the business of building and designing EVs.
During the down time many of the core engineers were still working designing and getting cost out of
the car with no pay but this dedication was the catalyst to getting THINK back.
Barbara and I moved back to the UK in 2009 although still working for think and in 2010 I formed THINK
EV UK Ltd as a subsidiary of THINK. We won a UK backed project to design the next generation of power
inverter and started a program setting up new offices and workshops.
THINK Norway however was still struggling with finance and in 2011 they filed as bankrupt. THINK UK
was now without funding although good bookkeeping kept us in credit and financed until September
2011 when we closed our doors.
After a temporary stint with Nissan I then went on to work for what is now BMW in the function team
developing BMWs next generation of electric platform.
Exciting stuff! Well maybe not but there you have it if you got this far.
At this time, and who knows how long it will be before the next update, I have been with BMW for over
11 years and am currently technical and project lead for the APC @FutureBEV program running out of
Oxford. I’ve got back into sailing with a small RS Quest and flying with a Paramotor.
Plenty of adventures left I think although only a few working years till I can retire to being a full time
child again
