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Just to prove Scotland does get nice weather and nowhere better on a day like this than driving in a Westfield through Glencoe All pics are here http://s124.photobucket.com/user/rooster7358/library/Westfield/Glencoe%20by%20Westfield?sort=3&page=1 I'd add to the gallery but it doesnt seem to work for me.

There area whole load of new features availble in a future major relase that will be installed here sometime in the summer. I'm currently doing some testing with a pre-release candidate.

Here's mine, taken just now while the sun was out!

All ready for Stoneleigh.

Not going to pretend I have anything more than a crude working knowledge of how the backstage systems work apart from my own tweaking and tinkering work, which is the equivalent of knowing how to walk (me) versus piloting the space shuttle (Ade). However, I know enough to say the Gallery system incorporated into the forum software is incapable of being made more simple with regards to uploading photos. That is NOT saying its simple, it's saying the software system is what it is and there's almost certainly nothing that Ade can do to make it less complex - sorry. I've researched to see if there are any simple forum add ons or plug ins that might be available - no dice. So I'm afraid it's either using the Gallery or linking to a photo sharing website as far as I can see - sorry. There are a few optional features that we don't have activated for the forum, the most terrifying of which is the Live Chat room - not a chance that will ever be used! The possibilities for arguments, misunderstandings and abuse between members that couldn't be moderated would be colossal.

Me plus 1. Not sure who yet as they are all worried about my steering wheel coming off at 70 mph!

Sorry but this is my sense of humour.

Here's mine, I think a 3 car garage is required next time.

I've been looking into buying a future classic, and a lot of the cars I was looking at a few years ago have shot up in price, but I still think it's a very hit/miss market. I would really like to buy a nice Ferrari 355 or 348 for a future investment (and just for something pleasing to the eye). The Porsche 911 GT3's are increasing rapidly in price. A Sagaris would have been a good buy 5 years ago. With the likes of a MX5, etc, I think you'd really have to find a very low mileage, clean and untouched example, as there are so many out there still, and probably will be for some time.

You don't need a big garage, just a wide one, 12 foot wide garage, 11 foot long car. no problem

I might come along for this. I live just along from Donnington Park and work at Alton Towers so it's perfect for me really. I'll see if my mate is off work that day too and fancies bringing his westy along.

If you just want it for wheel nuts and will check with a torque wrench anyway, I would buy a cheap cordless drill. plenty around for circa £30 ish. Its what I use

I have a close contact at my council who works in Council Tax. I have spoken to them and the advice is as follows. "In April 1990 bandings were given to all properties and unless you appeal that decision because you think it is incorrect then that is your banding and nothing will change. The only reason for an appeal usually is because you think the banding is too high. If you appealed it you could end up with it being increased or lowered" Under current law your banding is what it is so dont worry. Hope that helps.

Barney I have a new / unused going spare. Yours for beer money. You may need to buy a new battery though but cheap on ebay. I can bring Thursday if interested. David

Enclosed trailer .....sorted

It's absolutely glorious up this way today. Wish mine was on the road as I'd be out there too!

Please add my name see above.

Hope everyone had fun, thanks for joining in. With eleven people tuning up and only one with the route it was a nice steady pace today so not to lose people off the back. The weather stayed dry and we found some lovely smooth winding back road roads south of the A414 with most of the route being traffic free. Runners and riders Last minute tinkering before the off Arriving at North Weald for coffee and breakfast

I bought my current house in 2003 and it was 1 band higher than every other house in the street because the previous owners extended it, then a couple of years ago got a letter from the council saying we have been over charged and gave us all the money back!!!

Next trip all arrange - Off to Woodbridge for his first track day courtesy of Bernie.

Why not just use removeable PVC seat covers initially - cheap and easy. If using a whole car cover I think it needs to be very tailered and tight and also needs a net over it to not flap at motorway speeds. Long term I would get a custom tonneau made as a permanent solution. I do have an industrial sewing machine you can borrow if you fancy having a go yourself. David

GRP seats with a drainage hole. Lateral thinking.

Council tax banding is based on how much the property was estimated to be worth on 1st April 1991, and not its current market value. It is individual to a specific property and not an average for that street. If the property has been altered or extended during your ownership then any re-banding would normally occur at the time of sale.

I will try to get there with Michelle got the old girl out last week new wheels on. Just the minor problem of a mouse/rather being in garage and chewing through water hose

I let him double drive my car at Curborough Sprint a few years ago......I won! I think he might just scrape in as a Novice as its a new car he is driving I did hear a rumour that he used to be able to drive "a bit" but he is getting old now!

To me it is fantastic that there are still sports for men. We should celebrate their skill and bravery and yes their madness. We should also celebrate that at least in Ireland and the IOM they still have the guts to allow people the opportunity to do what they want even if it kills them. For how long who knows.

John Lloyd has just sent me an email. Due to the big entry they are after another scrutineer. If anyone knows of someone who'd like to join the party, must be friendly (i.e. not with beard) , I can pass on contact details.

I'm busy rebuilding the battery pack with half the battery cells to reduce weight. While this is ongoing I thought I might share my dyno results from last year and talk a bit about electric power verses petrol power. The following graph shows power and torque against road speed. Remember the car has no gearbox. The motor is directly coupled to the diff. You can see that the graph ends at about 80mph. This was due to a software speed limit bug which was fixed before the sprint events. I have added dotted lines to show how the graph should look. Actual top speed is about 110mph. In any event you can see the flat torque curve starting from zero speed and then progressively reducing once the power limit is reached. The power limit of 120KW (from the battery) is reached at 53mph and is constant until just before 110mph. The manufacturers quoted figure for electric cars is usually the battery discharge power. This is easy to measure since it is just battery amps multiplied by battery volts. The Westfield peak battery discharge figure is 120KW or 160bhp. But - the dyno graph shows actual power delivered at the wheels to be 118bhp or 88KW!! Although electric drive trains are more efficient than petrol engines they are still inefficient. Petrol engines achieve about 33% efficiency, by comparison the electric motor and power controller combination are together about 80% efficient. Thus 160bhp x 0.80= 128bhp. Add the differential and tyre inefficiencies and 118bhp at the wheels seems about right. It turns out this is typical for electric vehicles at full power. In general you can take the published electric car 'power' in KW and convert it to bhp at the wheels directly. So a 100KW car is probably putting out about 100bhp at the wheels. Overall, motor efficiency is strongly affected by the motor speed and load and can get up to 95%( ish) under mid range loads and speeds and down to 65% at low speed and high torque. As the graph shows, above 53mph, full power is always available. Conversely, below 53mph power is progressively lower but torque is constant. Thus on short circuits like Curborough max power is seldom reached. The 0-60 time is unimpressive at 7.5 seconds but once up to full power the car really seems to accelerate relentlessly. It's a bit like driving in top gear all the time. Also, unlike most electric road cars, the Westfield accelerates through 80 mph at full power. This makes the car feel much more responsive at high speed than most EVs since these are usually speed limited to about 85mph. The Tesla is an exception to this. It's also worth noting that the Westfield is continuously rated at these power and torque levels. The battery was designed for the 200KW Westfield iRacer and the motor is good for another 47KW with a peak of 167KW. Most 'fast' electric car manufacturers will over drive the motor and battery for short durations to get the rapid acceleration they are known for. Push these cars too hard and the torque output will automatically limit to prevent overheating. It would be interesting to try a Nissan Leaf or a Tesla around a racetrack to test this. I suspect most EVs would start to limit well before the end of a lap - including the Tesla. Since the Westfield Sport E electrical power system is not stressed when raced there appears to be considerable scope to tune this car for higher performance.

Brilliant thread, awesome model maker, really enjoyed reading this, thank you

After taking the model to last weeks club meeting I thought I'd show a few of my other builds, hope they are OK. Aston Martin DBS, Alfa Romeo GTA, Mini Pick ups and Mini Moke, both converted from Mini saloons. Routemaster. I'll keep adding from time to time.

Finally managed to get both my Westies out in some decent weather