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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/09/14 in all areas
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Here are a few of my holiday pictures for anyone who may be interested. A cracking little cafe right next door to where we stayed in Keswick called The Filling Station always had interesting stuff parked outside and lots of yummy bikers. We managed to find a V8 Marlin who was also on holiday. Heading out to the Honister Pass, video going on YouTube soon. That's all folks, hope you enjoy.2 points
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Tel's Tales 039– Ty Croes, Anglesey 6th and 7th Sept 2014 The finals for this 2 day event saw 22 Westfield entrants if I include Marshall Rowland and Steve Davies in The Lotus Elise so it was a good turnout and promised some great competition in most classes. Late Friday afternoon arrival for some of us gave us time to see the end of the bike trackday before walking the course ourselves and checking the rumble strip condition and heights were the same as last year. The food in the cafe was good as well as the beer was sampled until we were thrown out sometime before midnight. The forecast was in everyone's mind and various websites were checked but no definitive answer was found but clearly there was a chance of the dreaded rain on Saturday morning. Saturday At 0510hrs I was woken by light rain which stopped quickly and when I got up at about 0700hrs a light drizzle started and gradually got worse until it became steady hard rain. So P1 was going to be wet and slippy but at least its a wide track with plenty of run off. Before we started I provided some white numbers for Steve Davies which interrupted my bacon sandwich ( kindly brought from their B&B for me by Steve and Margaret --- please note that I prefer white bread and brown sauce next time) consumption. John Williams was first reserve and was pleased to eventually get in as a car pulled out so he eventually had a big smile on his face. During P1 Mike Skidmore lived up to his name by spinning off and Jason Brown as well as a few others were getting used to a circuit they had not driven before. The day turned out to be a bit frustrating with what seemed like poor control of car release meaning that we lost runs and also often caught up slower cars which caused several reruns. I had 3 attempts to get one 2 lapper in as I caught up with cars including a Porsche that I caught at the end of the first lap!!!! To say my super soft front tyres were overheating is an understatement and I got back to paddock with only a smell of fuel left in the tank. Over the weekend there were a few people including Gary Bunn and Steve Everall who had should have had red faces after running out of fuel. Stephen Herbert was enjoying his runs but was struggling a bit with a painful hand after a recent operation. With this being a 2 lapper we only got one practice so it was straight into timed runs. As well as the separate class battles there was the usual battle between outright times irrespective of class was going to be interesting. Jason Brown won class A from John Williams, Lee Smith and Mark Bishop were in their own classes but loved the track anyway. In class D John Hoyle blasted round in 111.49 secs to beat the record followed by Steve Everall, Steve Herbert and Mike Skidmore. In class E Adrian Clinton Watkins did 113.60 secs whilst in class F Dave Cleaver flew round in 111.54 secs for a new record only just ahead of Luke Algar and Richard Kerr in the very quick and seemingly reliable supercharged duratec. In class G I did 110.49secs (second fastest Westfield overall) to beat Mark Anson who was pushing hard and he beat Stu Hill by about 3 secs . In class H Derek Hodder did 112.63secs but Gary Bunn became fastest Westfield on the day with 108.32 secs. Paul Morcom was out showing off his Merlyn FF again and Marshall Rowland/Steve Davies plus Matt Hillam took the points in class J2 and J3. Disappointingly we only got two timed runs on a dry track and a few of us were a bit frustrated as we know we could all have gone faster …....or were we just dreaming? Sunday After nearly freezing to death sleeping in my trailer we all emerged to see a beautiful clear sky and scenic views of the Snowdonia mountains. Game on! Today was the International circuit which poses some difficult problems and is very high speed along the “straight” between Church and Rocket bends. Today we got through two practices and three timed runs despite a few incidents. It was good to see that all the Westfields were still out there and as far as I know there were no major breakdowns. Lunchtime saw approximately 20 Westfields do three parade laps at a reasonable pace and it was quite a spectacle and well organised by Dave Eastwood. Today saw the more powerful cars stretch their legs and in P1 Richard Kerr had a big moment when he locked up the rear wheels from about 130mph approaching Rocket bend. He spun off but the important thing was the car was ok …....oh nearly forgot to say Rich was a bit bruised but he is a big lad and will get over it. Jason Brown won class A again and took the Best Novice driver award. In class D John Hoyle set a new record with 89.36secs, in Class E another record by ACW with 90.88secs with Paul Aspden not too far away and impressively another class F record by Dave Cleaver with 88.47secs (second quickest Westfield). In class G did 89.36secs (3rd quickest Westfield) with Mark Anson close behind on 91.96secs in front of Stu who was paying the price for not running on slicks so he could stay in road going class on the day. In class H Gary was fastest Westfield again with 86.68secs beating Del on 89.72secs. Paul Morcom , Marshall Rowland and Matt Hillam (set record on Saturday and Sunday) finished off a successful weekend event and most of us are looking forward to the return visit in early October. Terry Everall Speed Series Correspondent Class G competitor2 points
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Must be nice to want to talk to a passenger.....or have the power to carry all that extra ballast ! Wouldn't be able to get any sense out of my kids as they just SCREAM........and my wife wouldn't have anything sensible to say anyway.....?only knows two words whilst in the car.....SLOW DOWN ! Got NO mates....I voted UKIP.....and the others already have 'sevens' !....2 points
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Hi Called into Ty Croes at the weekend and this clip came up in conversation a couple of times, seams it still makes people chuckle so perhaps worth a repost for the newer Speed Series competitors who missed it first time round Also thought Graham would appreciate how you should react when it all goes a bit pear shaped ;) Watch the whole thing for a wild ride on a damp track with a predictable outcome or if you have a low boredom threshold skip to 5.30 mins So, long long ago in a galaxy far far away when the GGR car was yellow another opportunity to have a laugh at my expense CAUTION, contains swearing not work or children safe! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCZfMjsMsQg1 point
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I will try to get along but we are off on holiday on Friday so may just be a short vist and then back to packing! Bring along all the silverware Martin (just leave the rain at home!) Keith1 point
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Hi. Thanks for the pictures. You have no idea how much I wanted to go on both days. I wont discuss my movements...and I don't mean poo..... In the public eye but all Friday night and also Saturday I so wanted to throw a sickie but to be honest that's not my way. I often go over the moors and potter about on all sorts of roads up there just to see where I end up but I was itching to the west ride. I must have checked this forum 20 times a day on my phone hoping for pictures. I once said to you I loved the colour of your car.... and I do. Your car is beautiful and it looks really smart with the bags on the back and the peaks on the lights. I really do like the "touring look" and to be honest that's more my type of thing. if there is one place I want to go with Buttercup it is the top left of Scotland and just to drive the road round Loch Eribol............don't even know why I said that here. lol1 point
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Thank you again to Martin for another great day, what a top bloke. Here are some pictures from the day, sorry Buttercup for the delay, we really are going to have to show you how to dob a holiday in at work so you can join us when we are on your doorstep, that's twice in nearly as many weeks!1 point
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The problem I had was my son is still a teenager and the noise his side was great on a local blat but anything above 30 minutes was leaving a ring in his ears So I invested to save his hearing ...1 point
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Well, nothing distracts from the truth more than a crazy conspiracy theory It's reckoned that most of all the UFO, Roswell, Area 51, aliens related crazy stuff was actually leaked by the military in order to keep attention away from defence related activities and projects during the cold war era (makes a hell of lot more sense than little green men). Find one crazy person, give them an idea, wind em up and let them loose.1 point
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It's no good asking people who have them, when you've spent £15'000 on something you don't turn around and say "actually everyone was right, they're not saving me anything at all". They have a placebo effect, you kinda just assume they're saving money because that's what the salesman told you. But I think even at current rates, 15000 in the bank is going to collect more interest than it'd save attached to your roof. They're also becoming a bit like conservatories, once one person gets one, the whole street has to keep up. Even in mid summer, with full light on them, they're not enough to run a high power appliance. What you are in fact doing is paying to have your house used as a solar generation point. You don't have batteries, so your not storing what you generate. If someone came to you and said "we want to stick a wind turbine in your garden", you'd say "hey, f**k off, not unless your paying me.......", equally if they wanted to turn the neighbouring field into a solar farm, everyone would be up in arms. But with some clever marketing they get almost exactly that, only you pay them for it. Solar water heating on the other hand (much more efficient that converting light into electrical power), that could be a massive money saver and really quite easy to DIY the panels with the raw materials. I've actually done some initial experiments and managed to heat half a litre of water to near 170c in just short of 1 hour. Whilst my solar power experiments have been nothing but a disappointment. I'm all for being "green", but lets do that by making stuff last longer, instead of ramping up production of consumer goods and making them last less than half as long as they should. Just my 2p worth1 point
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And "if you never try you will never succeed" I do like to stay positive you know or have you guessed? Terry1 point
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Dave - I got a video up eventually ! http://youtu.be/EAgDlUsqHQY1 point
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3rd and 4th May 2015. I certainly hope so as we've already booked the Marquee!1 point
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I hated this, then Tumble put it all into perspective. Now I hate it a little bit less...1 point
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Hi Folks Car is worse off than me but hoefully not as bad as last time! Thanks for all the support and help after the event A very special vote of thanks to James Alexander for allowing to use his car in a dual drive so at least I could get some points on the board! What a totally different experience in the Mighty Cross Flow Thanks again James G Free1 point