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Added some new bits and bobs to my car: Bigger trumpets onto the 40s with K&Ns Nice new bonnet pod to get some cold air in Half Hood from Softbits

Dear fellow members As this is the time of year when people start looking at their holidays for the next year, the committee are letting you in on one of our plans for 2016 a bit early - earlier than we'd like, but we think it's wise to tell you now. The WSCC have secured a club stand at the Silverstone Classic 2016, which runs from 29-31st July (Friday-Sunday). The bumph from the website is here - please read: Silverstone Classic This is an absolutely huge event, with over 10,000 cars and 100,000 people attending over the three days in 2015. Lots of classic racing and racing cars: "The World’s Biggest Classic Motor Racing Festival features the cream of historic racing action from Formula One, Sports Cars, GT and Touring Car grids. With over 20 races and demonstrations, and over 1000 race entries, this is more racing action than you will see anywhere else in the world in one weekend! Friday sees a full day of qualifying from every grid, whilst Saturday and Sunday will host around 10 races each day. The full motor racing lineup will be revealed with 3 further girds announced over the coming months but already confirmed for 2016 is the addition of a major Can-Am race to mark 50 years since the series started in 1966." Live music: "As well as all the racing action the Silverstone Classic is equally about the rocking. The concerts on the Friday and Saturday evenings of the event provide a great live music experience that all the family can enjoy. The full line-up for 2016 will be announced in due course but previous acts have included Status Quo, Paul Young, Bonnie Tyler, Canned Heat, The Hollies, Stars From The Commitments, Adam Ant, Mike and the Mechanics, Suzi Quattro, 10CC, Wishbone Ash, The Yardbirds, Dr Feelgood, Santana and Pussycat Dolls, plus plenty of tribute bands to some of rock’s greatest bands." Aerial displays: "Silverstone Race Circuit is based on a WW2 airfield, so it’s only fitting that the Silverstone Classic features some great air displays over the weekend. Previous years have featured classic aerial displays from Spitfires and Mustangs, daredevil manoeuvres from the Breitling Wingwalkers, breath-taking shows from the Wildcat Aerobatics Formation Display Team; spectacular displays from The Parachute Regiment Freefall Team – The Red Devils; and some fabulous hot air balloon displays at dawn and dusk, including a stunning night glow during the evening concerts. In 2015 we even included a twilight pyrotechnics display from Twister Aerobatics to kick off the evening concert from Status Quo." Shopping village: "If you’re in need of a break from the all-action racing on the famous Silverstone circuit then look no further than the Shopping Village for a spot of retail therapy. With over 150 exhibitors attending there’s something for all the family including: Motoring Memorabilia Vintage Clothing & Accessories Toys & Models Motoring Books & Literature Restoration Services Art & Photography Cars & Car Parts Antiques & Autojumble" In fact, there's so much happening you should just read it yourself here So please leave these dates in your diaries for next year! BUT PLEASE DON'T BUY ADVANCE EARLY BIRD TICKETS YET! - the club will be providing members with a special members only code that will get you a substantial reduction on entry fees for one, two or all three days of the event for two people and includes an infield parking pass so you can come on to the club stand - that's very important, see below. An announcement will be made online in the Members Only Area in the next few weeks with the code to use when booking. One more reason why you should come (and why you need to wait until we tell you to book) - a BIG reason. We have been working behind the scenes with the organisers of the show and on either the Saturday lunchtime or evening (TBC), all the WSCC members parked on the club stand will be given the privilege of doing an exclusive parade lap around the full Silverstone GP circuit in their Westfield (maybe two laps). This is something we're very excited about indeed, and we want to get as many Westfields on the parade lap as possible, and with as many models as possible, especially pre-lits and Elevens, and in as many flavours as possible. This is going to be a once in a blue moon opportunity for us all, and will be an extremely memorable event. So please keep these dates free in your diaries, we'll keep you informed as soon as we get more info so you can make plans and be there. It's going to be a great one! *This event is in addition to the National Kit Car Show at Stoneleigh in May - we're doing both.

Thought you may like some pics of my attempt at cutting hole for Ramair filters on zx9r carbs. A tad more buffing on the odd area or two but overall I'm well happy with how it looks.

For the missus, honest. Picked one of these up from Aldi yesterday, https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/thur-19-nov/product-detail/ps/p/heated-car-seat-cushion/ Gave it a try in the garage last night and its pretty good! Should keep her quiet on winter runs out..!

Found out that the engine would hit the chassis if I put the diff where I intended to. A***. This meant some hunting through the spares pile and a bit of Googling - turns out Mazda use the same CV joints and spline pattern on the 1.6 and 1.8 Mk1 cars, but the 1.8s have 20mm shorter half shafts... This meant I could swap the NS drive shaft to a 1.8 model, shift the diff over 10mm, and it now clears, happy days! Knocked up a build table - a big sheet of MDF, some old beams from some pallet racking and a bit of chipboard underneath to brace it all. Solid, flat and weighs 110kg! Had a weekend away at the Race of Remembrance - an amazing event and won Class C, bonus! Ordered MSA compliant roll hoop and other bits of CDS tubing for the braces and harness bar - great service from Tom at tube-bender.co.uk. Diff came back from converting by Douglas at Westgarage Engineering. I spent a few hours pondering how to do it and it's not as simple as it first seems, so sent it to him... Cracking job, not cheap cheap but good value I'd say, given my lathe wouldn't be man enough for the task and there's a lot of work in it. 16T front and 54T sprockets, for 530 chain (big beefy b*******, sprockets are a touch under 9mm thick!). Total weight 12kg, so a good chunk saved there over having a full casing and crownwheel/pinion. Chassis arrived today. Well, I say chassis... Decided to go balls out and go for round tubing. Much harder to work with but should end up lighter and stiffer than box. So decided I needed a bit of help to get all the joins nice and tight... First tester - done a few of these now to do some practice welding tonight. Find doing round tubes quite tricky at the moment, so plenty of test runs needed - have found a few tips online so going to give them a go. Also updated the chassis design a touch, worked out how to mount the diff, ordered a chain, and spoke to a local fabricator about extending my headers... At the moment it fouls the billet sump, but chopping and adding 20-25mm into them should do it. What's making it tricky is that the tubing is titanium, but it can be sorted. The other option is a dry sump - but then you need remote electric water pump and controller, and all the other plumbing / tanks - suddenly adds a fair bit of cost and complexity, so not keen to go down that route really. Will update again in a few weeks, hoping to get cracking properly now, should have some bits of chassis tacked up for next time

During last week's moist matlock mystery tour a few of us discussed a weekend in Yorkshire ..so we can sample the excellent roads. The plan was to stay over in a BnB. I have looked at a larger house to rent (sleeps 20) for a weekend and we can stop over for probably £50 - £80 a head for a 3 day weekend...less for 2 days. I need to check the exact price but I have stayed at similar places in Devon the last three years and if you get a large group it is a really cheap way of getting accommodation for a group. see http://www.groupaccommodation.com/properties/wharfedale-lodge-kilnsey-north-yorkshire Hopefully buttercup can help us with routes and days out, and the growing Kingster clan oooop norf will join us? I can organise a food and drink (tesco delivery) so we have food morning and evening .. and a few beers to finish the day. This post is to gauge interest. If there is enough interest I will suggest some dates and get some prices... we need 15 to 20 people to make this economical to book a whole house. Words of wisdom for the week are... Spring is nature's way of saying, Let's party!” ― Robin Williams

Maybe I should have Sorn the Westfield….

So it's a sort of emissions test?

My thoughts exactly

Studded winter tyres are all you need now

I think yours is actually neater than mine, Jon

Mike's instructions are comprehensive and it was straight forward - took about an hour in total. To be fair, I'm a CEng who started work as an Avionics Technician Apprentice in the early eighties so have a reasonable background in this type of work but that was before varifocals.......

Finished mine last night but didn't take any photos...... Many thanks Mike Part of a wider upgraditis package so won't know if I've built it correctly until the gearbox and engine are back in the car.

38W Dave - so I make that only 3A actually.

Crate Zetec 2.0 Type 9 V6 HD gearbox with long 1st Widetrack Wishbones QR steering wheel boss Carbon dash Carbon tunnel top Carbon (insert more items here) Nowt cheap then says the wife!

Throttle bodies and a boot box lid. But the biggest request would be for time; to do some of the other things I'd already planned and had been working on.

Thank you one and all for your kind thoughts. Like most of you, this is not the first time we have lost a treasured pet but that never seems to make it any easier. The house certainly seems empty because we always had 2 dogs until my German Pointer, Bron, died in 2012 but we have had Tilly since 2000 so there was still a dog in the house. You can just see Bron's paws in the picture I posted I keep looking round behind me to make sure I don't trip over her when stepping back from anything or pushing my chair back from the desk.

Without going into the details of your case I am glad that dropping litter is being punished. It seems to be getting worse round here. Most road verges are terrible not to mention people I see eating fast food in their car and just throwing it out of the window