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Good news. Another Westfield has joined the clan. DVLA has managed to get his registration details completed in time. So one more will join the weekend.

Hi All, Latest news, the proposal to ban list 1B tyres has been thrown out by the Speed Committee - specifically due to the consultation process; 119 responses received were against the proposal with only one in favour. So, it is worth the effort writing in when items are up for consultation !

Saturday run to Gairloch , heading over the pass and going left towards Sheildag and up through Torridan and into Gairloch . Its 58 miles and once into Gairloch head for the Bay Hotel . stopping there for tea and coffee and heading back . time permitting we will take the coast road back from Shieldag to Applecross . Remember to stop at the Applecross Inn on the way back and order your Saturday night meal . Table is booked for 6.30 that night . Once again Lads this is not a race and there are a few reports off certain car clubs going mental on the roads up there , lets not be tared with the same brush . we have a few new faces going with us this year so lets welcome them in our usual manner by ripping the p!!H out them . Gary tank commander is with us and also the new Mrs Steve Smith all bets are she is inflatable ? See you lot Friday Bob

Clarkson?

Just thought I would share what I've been up to these last few weeks, having decided to take a break from racing and do some more track days. The idea was to come up with something I could thrash without worrying, was cheap and faster than the race car. I set myself a budget of a grand and a month in which to achieve this... The story started exactly a month ago, with this 1992 UK model car - a good runner but out of MOT - picked up for £500. It immediately gained the nickname of 'The Red Munter': At this point it was 954kg, including some lovely cushions and a selection of CDs: Before I'd even collected it I'd sold the roof for £100, so that gave me £600 to play with. I also forgot that we run a weekend event in May each year, which took a whole a week of my schedule, leaving 3 weeks to do all the work... Fast forward to yesterday, exactly a month later, now 803kg and it was out on track And actually under budget by nearly £20! I've got loads of other pics and blurb which I can post up if anyone is interested, it's been quite a hectic month As I've said elsewhere, the idea behind this car is to show people that you can have a lot of fun for very little money, so if you ever see me out and about on a track day please come and introduce yourself so we can get you in the driver's seat for a few laps Cheers, Adam

I've been thinking of changing my car for a couple of months now (2.0 Zetec) and my heart finally won the battle over my head and I picked this up today... Westfield Megabusa. It was built by a retired mechanic and although he loves the car he's just not able to drive it, he didn't anticipate how tricky the Megabusa is to drive and it's hardly been used. I think he would have been better off with a zetec or duratec maybe. Anyway, it's not like a lot of Busa's that are stripped back for track days, it's got a windscreen and heater which I prefer, I'll fit an RAC roll bar like on my zetec so I can use the half hood and doors for the chilly mornings and wet runs (I'm just not a aeroscreen person and prefer a modest degree of comfort I'm afraid). In my younger days I had loads of superbikes and raced them too so the high revs and clunky gears don't bother me, at least not yet!

Even he laughed at the headline "Carrot Top Gear"........

You know sometimes I am actually pleased to be as old as I am but I really worry about the kids. As has been said until there is a viable alternative it's going to be very hard to change. So if they had announced big spending to improve the alternatives I would actually have been far more impressed. Although I can remember being at Uni many many moons ago and we were discussing tide / wave power then. But so little has been spent to get an achievable solution it's a joke.

Hmmm..anyone hiring?

What a crock of old poop, until someone comes up with a viable alternative which isn't available yet it won't happen. And before anyone suggests ground source heat pumps etc, there are so many limitations to installing the like of, let alone the cost it just won't happen, it's just a case of aren't we clever and important suggesting such things, utter garbage!

Happy Bday Rich Enjoy your day

Lovely Teng tool box.... :-)

So, Cadwell yesterday: Whistle stop run-down: Up at 4am, got there just before 8. Sign on, noise test - 88dB, haha (more on that later). Very hot and very sunny, had a Cornetto and got sunburn! Plenty of car sharing (Munter had 3 different drivers and 5 different passengers) and laughs. Not many booked on, about 40, and a few cars broke, so was nice and quiet on track. Did lots of laps, used ~65L of fuel (around 160 miles I reckon), but zero oil. Spent the morning on the Nankang road tyres trying in vain to wear them out, car felt a bit unresponsive and was generally a bit slower than I expected - slightly disappointing, but fun anyway. Decided to fit slicks at lunch, noticed we had worn out a rear brake pad (just one) so changed it (just one). Probably means I need to check caliper sliders in the near future... As we were doing this one of the marshals / sound test guys came over and said he loved the car and how it was seemingly being driven on the limit all the time, also mentioned he was 'worried' it would be totally **** given the low noise reading, haha. At least I can do quiet days at Croft with that exhaust! Went to look at photos in the afternoon, scanned through over 400 and saw literally 4 or 5 of the Munter. I joked it wasn't particularly photogenic and asked if that was why everyone else seemingly had loads of pics but we didn't. The guy wasn't sure which car I meant, but referred to it as 'the one with the roll tower?'. I laughed and didn't spend £30. The slicks completely transformed the car - suddenly it felt more responsive and alive. Obviously grippier too, to the tune of around 5s a lap, impressive for some 9 year old rubber! Managed to guess correct pressures for them first time and they ended sessions with a lovely texture, no blue tints and very slightly hotter on the front than the rear - perfect RWD car balance. The hotter front tyres indicate slight understeer tendencies, which is imperative for RWD - you need excess traction capacity in the corners else when you apply the throttle, else the rears can't cope with the extra work that is being required of them. DIY aero stayed in place despite Dave taking a big trip across the grass, but the rear view mirror does not like the vibrations from the nylon engine mount and won't stay put any more! I also had to remove the flap from the passenger side of the windscreen. My wife was too small to see over it even with 2" of padding in the seat, haha. Need to find a workaround for next time as the buffeting in that side of the car was fairly significant, a lot of head-bobbing at high speed, and obviously creating drag! She didn't mind though The million dollar question... is it quicker than my race car? Yes. I managed two clear laps without a passenger all day (no thanks to the mong in the turbocharged lime green MX5 who just would not let me past multiple times in multiple sessions, even though we were lapping over 10s slower while stuck behind hmm, grr) and both of those had mistakes, but ended up mid 1:45s. The fastest lap I can find in any Mk1 race car is a 1:45.4 (BRSCC, 2014) which will have been with a tow, and I think the fastest I've been round in my race car will be somewhere in the 1:48s, so I'm pretty chuffed! The car will definitely go a fair bit faster with a decent driver too, I'm crap at Cadwell. All in all, a cracking day, car goes well, some things to fiddle with for next time, but fun to lap time to cost ratio is off the scale and I can't wait for the next one!

In the light of the announcement today about the result of the consultation on the proposed MSA tyre rules change, I would now suggest that no substantial changes be made to our Speed Series rules. I think the existing classes, and the existing scoring system, work very well.

Bob - I'm hoping to be at the BP garage around 7.30 on Thursday.

Dave makes a good point re the wide angle lens - it makes anything other than stuff within short range seem very far away. You could therefore argue that it's a good camera to have in your toolbox but might not serve every purpose - depending on your requirements.

search harder

Hi, I cannot be there but I was in Applecross on a road trip last week. See here if interested. https://youtu.be/aTVoILEqEvk also https://www.flickr.com/photos/argee4/18616153189/in/photostream and https://www.flickr.com/photos/argee4/18617477938/in/photostream There were no midges only wall to wall sunshine. Have a great time

Well done to all the Westfield guys that's really flying the flag for UK fantastic result.

My wife can travel with only a clean pair of knickers and a toothbrush, although as she's a Scouser, only the toothbrush is absolutely essential.... Enjoy your trip Buttercup...