Captain Carters' picture page

Click on a picture to follow the link

link to NAC NG page
NAC MG factory Nanjing China page
In May 2005 the MG Rover factory in Longbridge closed its doors and production line at the famous manufacturing plant fell silent. Like many struggling businesses in the UK the Government and bank would not step in to secure the future of this once thriving business. In the end, the Chinese Government backed motor manufacturing business NAC (Nanjing Automotive Company) bought the buildings, plant and the rights to manufacture the current vehicles. All hopes to return to full scale manufacturing at Longbridge dwindled when teams of Chinese workers started to dismantle the powerplant and final assembly facilities. Packed in creates these 40 year old pieces of equipment were shipped to Nanjing China over several months. The planned site for the manufacturing plant in Nanjing was nothing more than an old paddy field on the Northern banks of the Yanksee River near Nanjing. By the end of 2006 the Chinese had constructed two huge buildings to house the powerplant and final assembly manufacturing equipment. A small team of ex-Longbridge workers remained on-site to oversee the re-assembly of the powerplant equipment. The final assembly equipment had been re-assembled by contractors, and it was our job to get it working again. A small but dedicated team of engineers from Cirrus Technologies was sent to commission the trackside electrical test equipment and the rolling roads. This is my picture record of the sights in Nanjing and the NAC MG manufacturing plant between February and April 2007.
link to GO60 pictures
Land Rover GO60 expedition pictures
2008 was the 60th anniversary year for Land Rover and to celebrate the Land Rovers Owners Club challenged members to recreate the momentous first overland drive from Solihull to Singapore in 1956. The challenge also required fund raising for the British Red Cross and through the dedication of the team members and generosity of sponsors GO60 raised £250,000. Two years of planning culminated in five vehicles setting off on 2nd May 2007 from the Heritage Centre to complete the 18,000 mile journey. Four teams of drivers had planned complete the four legs; Solihull-Moscow, Moscow-Almaty, Almaty-Hanoi and Hanoi-Singapore in 60 days. However, all hopes of completing the Leg3 drive were dashed in an instant when China suffered devastating earthquakes only weeks prior to our departure. We had planned to travel though Sichuan and Chengdu city on our way to Vietnam, changing the itinerary at this late stage would delay the whole project. Plans were drawn to ship the cars from Almaty, where Leg2 had finished, to Hanoi our intended destination. But just as hopes were at a low ebb, the Chinese authority emailed the team to say we could go. We hastily planned flights in the hope that we would be given visas on the strength of the email and headed to the Chinese Embassy in London. Passports, photos, money and papers presented, we could only head into London and wait. The appointed collection hour approached and we all headed back to the Embassy, it was touch and go as to whether the officials would give us the visas. Yes!, visas at the ready we headed off to Heathrow. This is a picture record of my experience of driving through China.
link to Autralia 2009 pictures
Australia 2009
2009 was in important year for our family with an 18th & 21st birthday, a University Graduation plus the World GKR karate championships in Melbourne. A good enough excuse to hop on a plane and go downunder !
The iSplashback www.iSplashback.co.uk