Pit Crew
Fantasy motorsport leagues, podium predictions, and season-long bragging rights.
Software developer · Leeds, UK
Practical software. Honest build notes. Useful experiments.
I build useful software — and write down the honest version.
I build practical web apps, AI-assisted workflows, and indie products like Pit Crew. This is where I document what I’m building, what broke, and what I’d do differently next time.
Indie productsAI-assisted workflowsProduct engineering
Web x AI
Angular and Firebase products; Astro, Contentful, and Cloudflare publishing.
Leeds, UK
Building products, delivering software, and sharing the useful parts in public.
Start here
A useful route into the work.
New here? Pick the thread closest to what you’re building. Every link resolves to a real article, project, or topic collection.
01
Building Pit Crew
A behind-the-scenes look at building Pit Crew, a fantasy motorsport prediction game. From the initial idea and technology choices to branding, domains, and launch challenges, this post shares the journey of turning a side project into a real product.
Read article →02How this site is built
As a developer, I have been working with WordPress for many years. It has been a popular and reliable platform for creating websites and blogs. However, I recently moved to Cloudflare Pages, Gatsby, and Contentful for my website, and I am thrilled with the results.
Read article →03Astro + Cloudflare notes
Cloudflare is a widely popular cloud-based platform that offers a range of services aimed at improving website performance, security, and domain management.
Read article →04AI-assisted development workflows
A curated route through the most relevant notes and project work.
Explore topic →05Angular + Firebase architecture
When building an application using Angular and Firestore, security is a critical consideration. In this blog post, we will explore some of the key security features of Firestore and how to secure an Angular application using Firestore.
Read article →06Performance and SEO
Following my previous post, I show 9 ways on how to improve the speed of your web pages.
Read article →Selected projects
Software with real users and real constraints.
Product stories, architecture decisions, and the parts I would approach differently the next time around.
Live · actively building
Pit Crew
A browser-first fantasy motorsport app for creating private leagues, making race-by-race podium predictions, and following season standings.
- Private leagues
- Podium predictions
- Live scoring
- Mobile-first PWA
AngularFirebaseFirestoreCloudflare
Live · evolving in public
Aaron Russell — personal site
The site you are reading: a static-first developer notebook and public build log powered by Contentful and deployed at the edge.
- Static-first
- Contentful publishing
- Cloudflare Pages
- Accessible by default
AstroTypeScriptContentfulCloudflare Pages
Current workbench
Inside the engineering lab
Products, workflows, and publishing systems I’m actively refining. The current snapshot lives on the Now page.
Pit Crew
A live fantasy motorsport product for private leagues, race-by-race podium predictions, and season standings.
Explore moreAI-assisted engineering workflows
Practical notes on shipping real product improvements with AI in the loop, without turning everything into a demo.
Explore moreThe public engineering lab
Products, experiments, and the decisions behind them — connected to the writing rather than hidden in a portfolio grid.
Explore moreLatest writing
Fresh notes from the notebook
Recent writing, experiments, and practical implementation details.
Fresh note 
Latest writing
Read articleBuilding Pit Crew: Creating a Fantasy Motorsport Prediction Game from Scratch
A behind-the-scenes look at building Pit Crew, a fantasy motorsport prediction game. From the initial idea and technology choices to branding, domains, and...
Latest writing
Read articleAngular vs. React vs. Vue: Choosing the Right JavaScript Framework for Your Project
In this blog post, we'll embark on a comprehensive comparison journey to help you make an informed decision when selecting the right JavaScript framework fo...
Latest writing
Read articleComparing Content Management and Publishing Platforms: WordPress vs. Contentful vs. Ghost vs. Medium
In this blog post, we'll conduct a comprehensive comparison of four key platforms: WordPress, Contentful, Ghost, and Medium.
Featured topics
Start with the areas I keep returning to
Use topic collections to jump into recurring themes without digging through the full archive.
Angular and app architecture
7 postsPractical notes on Angular architecture, Firebase trade-offs, and building maintainable app foundations.
Astro and Cloudflare
7 postsNotes on Astro, Cloudflare Pages, edge delivery, and static-first systems that stay easy to maintain.
Performance and SEO
19 postsPerformance, Core Web Vitals, SEO, and web platform decisions that improve discovery and real-world usability.
AI-assisted development
3 postsExperience-led notes on AI-assisted development, agent workflows, review practices, and keeping human judgement in the delivery loop.
Currently exploring
Questions worth spending time on
Areas I’m actively researching, prototyping, or pressure-testing in real projects.
Edge-first web architecture
Notes and experiments will land in the blog as they turn into something useful.
Agentic developer tooling
Notes and experiments will land in the blog as they turn into something useful.
Modern frontend performance
Notes and experiments will land in the blog as they turn into something useful.
Maintainable product design systems
Notes and experiments will land in the blog as they turn into something useful.
Tools and stack
The stack I write from experience
Static-first publishing, modern TypeScript, and lightweight infrastructure choices that keep the site maintainable.
Astro
Angular
Firebase
Cloudflare
Contentful
TypeScript
Stay in touch
Building something useful?
If you have a specific product, architecture, or delivery problem, send me the interesting part.
Send a message