iam.ollief1.com

Prodrivel was an old domain of mine, and there is a story behind it that I quite enjoy, although it will probably be lost on most.

So… years ago when I was running BlogF1 – an independent and successful Formula One website – a new team was about to join the sport. The team was based around the exploits of Dave Richards and his company Prodrive, a motorsport team owner from a different category and a man who had led a couple of teams in F1 at the time. Mr Richards submitted his request to Formula One’s governing body to enter, but through a variety of circumstances, it did not come to fruition.

In the meantime though, I decided to register a domain centred on this exciting news.

Now, at this point, I should point out I am not the most imaginative of people. I struggle with this part of the brain. I think I am more pragmatic and logical than creative and inspirational. But, in a moment of sheer brilliance, I came up with Prodrivel. Prodrive and drivel. The team’s name and the word drivel, to suggest meandering literal nonsense. Prodrivel.

C’mon people, it’s my crowning moment!

But then the team’s entrance to the echelon of motorsport’s finest floundered and I was left with my pièce de résistance with nothing to use it for. So it became the new home for my personal site, which at the time was in need of a bit of a refresh.

I used Prodrivel.com for a few years, writing some good stuff and progressing my personal space on the internet until I lost my way a bit and allowed most of my online homes to expire. Along with BlogF1, I allowed Prodrivel to be snapped up by others.

But two days ago, and purely out of late-night curiosity, I typed the domain into a browser and up popped the usual ‘cannot find server’ screen. And so, in a matter of seconds, I re-registered it. Once again, Prodrivel is mine.

For the moment, I have no use for it, so it simply redirects to the homepage of iam.ollief1.com. Maybe in time I’ll have an epiphany and I will do something with it, or maybe it will forever redirect.

But for now, at least for the next couple of months, I will type Prodrivel into by browser and smile when it shows something I have created. Prodrivel is my genius*, and it is mine once again.

Prodrivel.com » iam.ollief1.com

*I am well aware that word is far too strong for this context. But for me, well I really am proud of the domain.