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To try and make sense of all the contradictions between the various government and other official information sources, our very own Barry Ashcroft's brother - a motoring journalist, has produced, with the aid of VOSA the attached article. EM towing regs.pdf

I love going on this and other boards but just lately I find myself wondering if the good is slowly being lost to the trolls and those with an axe to grind with various items. Take speeding, even on PH the board has now got lots of members who will shout down any person who dares to suggest that reducing limits is not the answer to everything. Same with Global warming, fox hunting, eating meat. Any one who appears to be against the protest groups and suddenly all hell breaks lose. A distinguished lady dared to suggest that poor people do not know how to budget and cook for themselves, and the trolls are out. What these groups have done is to harness the power of the herd mentality. They are very well organised, ruthless in the pursuit of their victims, posting home addresses, to try to get their way. They are the new lynch mob, probably not willing to do anything to get them away from the couch, but they can reek havoc with people with the press of a button, baying for a victim to bring down, regardless of worth or facts. We have lost the war of words on reduction of speed limits from reasonable to ridiculous as councils are lobbied relentlessly by these people. Politicians now take the views of Twattwer to make policy and try to be popular and down with the kids, instead of doing what is needed. Use a word like "slope" and one complaint becomes an avalanche of "being offended professional" joining in. Is this what Alan Turin invented the computer for? I find it increasingly annoying that a handful of ill informed people can hijack a thing that is a marvel and reduce it to the bear pit of modern times. Where certain groups can broadcast the beheading of a man who only went to deliver aid and the internet providers seem unwilling to or unable to control it. You cannot put the genie back in the bottle but how do we ignore it? I know it is a bit of a rant, but it does affect us, although we select members and do control pretty well the content, but our hobby, motoring related, is under attack from so many angles. Scott has to be careful that no comments made on here are in anyway racist or subject to a law suite, but much of the internet is now the wild west and the sad thing is that gullible people believe every word that some spout. Anybody got any views or am I paranoid and worrying too much?

Went out for a good 2 hour drive today. Only 2 issues with this weather for me are. Freezing cold fingertips and bladder. (Anyone over the age of 40 I am sure will agree)

Don't do it! A flapping cover only damages the paintwork A tonneau cover works well to cover the cockpit

Sorry, perhaps I have not made myself clear. I too can ignore the idiots, I am more than willing to do this face to face as I like debating. The problem is that the internet has allowed those who are unwilling to debate to hide behind a screen and opinion is now sought and policies formed as a result of what is trending. As an example Ched Evans, convicted rapist. Now the various feminist groups have decided that he should not be allowed to work again and have targeted any football club or individuals who have suggested that he should be allowed to work. The law says once he has served his sentence that he is free to continue his work, but this is not being allowed as the internet is being used. Even if he wins his judicial review and the decision is overturned, what club will offer him a contract knowing that sponsers will be harassed by huge numbers and their lives will be made a misery? If they had to by a stamp and send it would this have become an issue for people? It is this sort of mob rule that he internet has fostered and allowed complete nut jobs a platform to spout hate and bigoted views with ease. I love what it has done for education and entertainment, but I do feel that we have lost a huge amount for what we have gained.

Well of course it will automatically jump to next weekend. every weekend is a Westfield weekend at our house. Forecast at the mo is wet on Saturday (washes the salt away) and dry, cloudy 5 degrees on Sunday, yeah. Look out and I will post nearer the time. It will be a run around the Peak District, possibly over the Snake Pass to pick up anyone from the Glossop end. So you just need to be extra nice to granny this week and maybe she will babysit for you?

So true. I must admit, I sort of stopped listing potential issues that could be caused and cut the post short, when it felt like too much for one posting, and seemed like I was having a go! No load is the big problem with trying to do stationary engine stuff though. There are times when it has to be done - bedding new cams or cam train components in, for example, requires you to run the engine with the car stationary, (and follow a strictly set procedure). It can also be helpful when filling and bleeding a cooling system. But as a regular thing, no. Best keep it to the bare minimum needed.

My first sprint event with the electric Westfield was at Croft. This is quite a long circuit so I wondered if one charge could last for a whole days sprinting? I also wondered what sort of reception the car would receive from the authorities. The MSA Blue Book has nothing to say about electric cars. In the end the scrutineers were diligent and helpful if a little bemused but they gave it the OK. On the way to the circuit for first practise all cars line up for the noise test. When it came to my turn, the tester looked around the car and asked “where’s the exhaust”. Other marshals, standing nearby, helpfully explained that the car was actually a converted hair dryer and didn’t need an exhaust. He wrote down 0dB. The electrical power systems performed faultlessly and the battery lasted all day. The handling on the other hand was a real handful. The car’s weight, including me, was 975Kgs (885+90). On the track it bounced and wallowed around the circuit. The under slung batteries gave it a ride height of 50mm so it hit the ground several times. Obviously the springs were too soft and with no anti roll bar the car leaned like a ship. After returning home I consulted Westfield and they advised that the very similarly weighted iRacer used 600 lb springs on the rear and 500 lb on the front! I duly fitted the recommended springs and set off for the MIRA sprint. MIRA was wet! My first lap was a disaster. A combination of rain on both sides of the windscreen and a motor cut out meant that I missed a red flag and had to report to the headmaster for a lesson in humility. Subsequent laps were better. The new springs transformed the handling and my times were comparable with the other Westys, mainly due to the extra traction afforded by the car’s weight in the wet. Mine was the only Westfield not aquaplaning – result. The windscreen was worse than useless so before the next event I resolved to remove it along with all the interior trim and fitted a new GRP seat and a 12V lithium battery. This saved a total of 35Kg. Car now weighed “only” 850Kg! After a summer holiday I returned to MIRA with a lighter and more aerodynamic car. Again it was a wet start but the track dried in the afternoon. After P1, I started to adjust the damper settings and tyre pressures, seeking advice from fellow WSCC competitors. Everyone was very helpful. In the end my best time was 59.16 seconds with a top speed of 101 mph (according to my GPS logger anyway) – the slowest Westfield in the dry - but not too bad. After a good run at Curborough I called it a day for this year. Only four events but all fun and I learned a great deal about the car and myself. I need more track time and the car is basically way too heavy for competitive sprinting. It’s clear I’ll need to reduce the number of batteries in the car by 50%. This should save about 200Kgs but it’s a big technical challenge to reconfigure the battery to get the same power from half the cells - but that’s another story.