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I'd rather have hot oil running down my sleeve when undoing the sump plug, traditionalist me.

Ditto ^^^^. That said it did dry out the further north I went. Was glad of the shower really as it'll soften all the dung that Julie's cow poo magnet found (which incidentally had to be every dollop of cow poop that could possibly occupy space on a road in Derbyshire ever since the beginning of time).

But that's a full on 'fact'! SO there's no voting required. Just give the award to me

Few decent contenders for the Turf trophy....can you make it Mike I'd like to put myself forward for best overseas le turf trophy

Back in July 2015 my Sport E electric Westfield was very badly damage due to a 'racing incident' at the Curborough sprint circuit. The car rolled three times and in the process ripped off or bent all four corners of the car. None of the wishbones, uprights or wheels escaped undamaged. In addition all the bodywork was broken in some way. On the face of it this was a total loss situation. However, amazingly all the electrical systems, motor and battery remained undamaged and in full working order. Fortunately I work for Potenza Technology. We had worked on a number of Westfield related design and development projects in the past. As a result Potenza were able to find a complete set of suspension parts and enough body panels to make the rebuild possible. The first job was to strip the car down to the chassis and check its condition. The main battery was hard mounted within the engine bay and so must have strengthened the chassis because it proved to be completely straight. On the other hand the wishbones and mounting clevises must have absorbed the crash forces. Also five suspension mounting clevises were either bent or ripped in some way and would need replacing. So with a bit of welding and a lot of kit building and the car could be back on the road again quite soon. But here's the problem - apart from my lack of driving skill, one of the reasons the car crashed in the first place must be to do with the unusual weight distribution. The engine bay battery weighs in at 160Kg. The motor, power controller, battery charger and cooling system were all mounted behind the rear bulkhead. Thus about 100Kg of weight was carried mostly behind and above the rear axle line. This weighty rear end made the car over steer and I found it quite difficult to control. Plan B. The original car carried batteries in both the engine bay and in an under tray beneath the car. The under tray weighed in at 200Kg so order to lighten the car for 2015 I removed these and reconfigured the remaining engine bay batteries to maintain power levels. Thus the car was 200Kg lighter - and faster - and unfortunately less stable! So for the 2016 car I will revert to the under tray battery, remount the differential in the correct orientation, fit a prop shaft and mount the motor and power controller etc into the engine bay. I calculate these changes will increase overall weight by 50Kgs to about 720Kg all up. This should result in a better balanced car that's easier for me to drive - and when people ask, where is the electric motor? - instead of pointing to the back of the car, I can open the bonnet and say 'in the engine bay'.

Happy birthday mate have a good day on hols You don't look 40 ...dad must have looked after you well

I shouldn't have left it so late...fully booked now! Got myself on the reserve list.

You can't be trying hard enough ☺

Dave, how did you get a recording of my conversation with BMW's Customer Care Team?

Just back from a great few days away at Spa and catching up on the emails and petitions. My personal view is that if a tyre is road legal, then the MSA should allow it to be used in road going classes. No more complex than that !! I think they have messed up and missed an opportunity to offer a great added differentiator for organisers designating classes. It should be for individual clubs to decide whether they allow 1a, 1b or 1c in their respective road going championships. Indeed I understand that until relatively recently our regs had a 1a 1b distinction and it was only changed as many novices already had track rubber on their car. I think the arguments about cost, records, target times, going slower than before etc are all fairly minor short term points for the reasons that David has already articulated and there will be as many winners as there are losers. The removal of tyre warming / cleaning from places like Loton and Gurston will already impact records for example. I agree with the petitions intent that 1c should be allowed but feel the wording and emphasis is misleading. It clearly does not force road going cars to go into modified production and compete with slicks. I think it should also make clear that it is felt that the MSA have missed out on the opportunity to give us an extra differentiator for classes which would have been a positive. If the MSA changed 1c to be allowed in road legal I would like to see us differentiate between 1b and 1c in our various road legal classes to help with entry costs for new novices. I am also concerned at how long this can rumble on for. Is it realistic that the MSA change their stance? It would be good to have clarity on our rules sooner rather than later. Whatever happens the speed series committee have my support in whatever they propose and I will be out competing next year whether on ZZR or ZZS I don't really mind. David

I don't mind mind a lot of the American "auto-isms", in fact I actually would prefer their habit of labelling switches with what they do, in plain English, rather than some weird pan language hieroglyph, the way European cars do. Though if ever the "caution, objects in the rear view mirror...." Message ever makes it over here on to our mirrors, I may just loose the will to live.... Sorry, can't resist leaving a thread like this without reposting this clip...

It also makes it easy to find P and D when drunk...

The layout I reckon must be because of the Americans..... they never reverse into a parking spot..... so.... they start the engine, select reverse to exit the parking spot then pull through neutral to drive and away you go..... At least that's my theory.... and we have them to blame for having to put your foot on the brake when starting the engine. Nem......

Surely MSA Trumps the 750mc? If it is not to msa regulations then it can't be used. I know the 750mc are msa affiliated so must conform?And what about the thousands of striker with full cages, none of which have certificates and lots of which race....

Whilst I am really seriously exercised about the ROPS ruling, I cannot get so upset about the tyre issue. It is pretty much impossible to make changes without upsetting someone, but . . . The fact is that most really fast competitors buy a new set of tyres every season, and the new regulations will apply to everyone (discounting any drivel about pre-1988 cars being able to continue to use 1c tyres). Ergo, the competition will still be on a "level playing field", just possibly a tad slower. Speed Series target times will not actually need to be altered, because they will continue to be the benchmark for everyone. If 99.5 points becomes the new 101 as the mark of an excellent performance, so what. Yes, my sympathies go out to any competitor who bought a new set of ZZRs or V70As mid season in 2015 and is caught out, but (as has been said above) new competitors will have the advantage of being competitive on tyres which might last more than a couple of hundred miles in road use. Clearly, there is not yet an established pecking order in the new list 1b, and some of us might end up making the wrong decision -- but, overall, I think what we have is a vast improvement on the original proposal of forcing " road-going" cars on to 1a tyres.

The easiest way forward is to adopt the L7 approach as Simon has said Ask for our own class on day at events we are invited to . then we can do as we please with tyres/classes

Why don't you get the engine that is mostly built and if it is better than your engine fit it into the car, and strip your engine. If not strip it anyway and learn from that or combine bits of both of the engines.