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Oi! That gaffa tape is very expensive lightweight racing gaffa tape!!

Right, time for a final season update. A little later than planned, I’ve been off in Iceland for a week doing this: Anyway, back to the Westfield. Cadwell Park was the last sprint of the season, and allowing for the end-of season awards do the Toyota guys were holding it was being run on a Saturday. Having already had a mid-week panic with the cracked manifold I was still feeling a bit disorganised and out-of-sorts when I headed up the M40, and a traffic-ridden 5-hour drive to the hotel didn’t help much. Still, it was a lovely clear night when I turned up so I had high hopes for a dry day’s racing. I was woken up at 3am to the sound of rain crashing off the roof of the hotel lodge. Bugrit. So, off to Cadwell in the rain – we arrived fairly early but the paddock was already quite full, and unloading the trailer on the rain-soaked grass wasn’t much fun. I finally managed to get off and through to scrutineering, whereupon I measured 108dB on the noise test. ****. A bit of jiggery-pokery and we managed to get through with a barely-on-the-track-limit 105 and I was waved on my sheepish way, protesting cries of “I’ll get a new exhaust!” meeting stony-faced expressions from the Cadwell scrutineers. Oops. We finally headed out onto the sighting laps, my first time at Cadwell, and it was still soaking wet. There was a lot of standing water along the start/finish straight, and even more along Park straight. Plus there were a lot of leaves on the track through the woodland section. My tyres? R888s that are almost on the wear limits. Fortunately I had actually done a bit of homework this time round and had spent a fair amount of time learning the track on YouTube, and of course everyone else was in the same boat (almost literally!) as me. My first two runs I managed to keep pretty tidy, and when the timing sheets came out I was very surprised to see I was leading my class – ahead of a Duratec-powered Westfield and a Caterham on wets. My confidence started to build (despite aquaplaning at 100mph down Park a couple of times!) as the track started to dry, but this meant the more powerful Duratec car could get his power down and he ended up knocking a couple of seconds off my time which I couldn’t claw back. Still, I was happy with steady improvements in my times until the rain started again mid-afternoon, at which point I knew I couldn’t beat my best time of 1:50.45. My last two runs of the day were me taking the opportunity to explore the limits of the car in the wet a bit more – leading to a void run after over-steering over the kerb at Mansfield, and then on my final run carrying too much speed through the Gooseneck and cutting off the apex…. Still, you’re not trying hard enough until you fall off, eh? I ended up runner up in my class but down in 11th overall – not my best result but given that the Westy struggles to get over 100mph on track (@ almost 7,000rpm in 4th) I tend to be less competitive on fast tracks. I was also very chuffed to be awarded overall class runner-up for the season as well So that’s it for sprinting until March (probably, depending on Javelin’s calendar next year). I’ve enormously enjoyed my first foray into competitive motorsport and will definitely be running in the series next year. I’ve got a few bits to keep me busy over winter though – after cracking the manifold and, apparently, blowing all of the baffles out of the silencer it’s time to invest in a new system. It has always been a bit noisy (apparently you could hear me going round Cadwell from the main road….) and it has got steadily worse this year, so ideally I’ll be after a system that will see it comfortably under 100dB. On top of that I need to experiment with raising the gearing a bit – the 13” track wheels I have are currently running 185/60/13 R888s all round and one pair are pretty low, so I might try a pair of 205/60/13s on the rear to raise the gearing slightly (this would match the overall diameter of my road wheels, so I’ll try these on a track-day and see if an extra 5-10mph at the top end is enough). On the other hand I think my diff could do with a rebuild, so it may be worth biting the bullet and getting it rebuild with a different final drive. Some head-scratching to do there I think. Other than that it will get some routine servicing and another alignment check to make sure everything’s in order, and hopefully we’ll have some nice sunny winter days so I can get it out and about!

This solution might be worth a try ....... :d :d

It's a difficult one Jeff because a gas escape can occur and appear in many different places that may not be obvious as to its origin. I would definitely recommend a CO detector as it's usually carbon monoxide that's the killer, natural gas is non toxic so cannot poison anyone, my advice would be for your daughter to ensure that her appliances a checked annually, this should include a tightness test which will check the whole of your daughters pipework for leakage. The unknown factor is what everyone else is doing in the other flats, personally unless you fitted a detector in every room how could you be sure you're covering the flat thoroughly, don't want to worry you with that statement, just trying to be realistic. I've worked in the gas industry for nearly 34 years now and have been part of the gas emergency service which was emgas then transco for 18 of those, in that time I've been to thousands of gas escapes, reports of fumes etc. Only have 1 fatality (thankfully) and this was due to CO poisoning caused by a solid fuel boiler, (lots of people forget that any fossil fuels have the ability to produce carbon monoxide if ventilation is inadequate or flues are defective). And only on 1 occasion did I have to evacuate 12 houses due to risk of an explosive atmosphere. So it's not something that happens very often, I wouldn't bother with the gas detector, as I've said it'll only pick up in that part of the flat. If you want a chat PM me your number and I can give you a call tomorrow gladly. Sorry it's war and peace. Richard.

Well I've just renewed my licence online so I expect I will be out in some form or other next season regardless

Ok, here are some photos. Before anyone asks, yes, I do have some carpet in the garage (sad) and did not build the car in my sitting room (which would be cool!). The first photo shows the hole I had in the sump. Tiny, but big enough to dispense oil all over my garage floor.

Please find below the First Draft of the 2016 regs, DO NOT ENTER BASED ON THESE AS WE EXPECT SOME CHANGES. Notes to 2016 Speed Series Regs:- Firstly the Regs are very much a work in progress, there are no Fixtures in there yet, but will be soon. The wording we use is a mixture of what we are required to provide by the MSA as well as our input to provide the rules for competitors run to. So what have we done:- Classes A & B are the same as before, but you can only run 1B tyres and will be able to run in true Road Going classes on the day at events. Sub section 1 is for Novice, sub section 2 for Experts. We will make a small allowance to the Target Times for the use of 1B tyres. Similarly there will be an allowance for Novices. Classes C&D, E&F are essentially the same as 2015 and most importantly will be able to run tyres from list 1C. A big request from a lot of competitors. However to do so you will on the day have to enter the Modified Specialist Production Classes if you run 1C tyres. You can also still enter these classes running 1B tyres and running on the day in the Road Going Classes. It’s up to you which tyre choice you make, but our Target times will be based on 1C tyres. However in C&D please note the new regulation which does not allow modified Crank Strokes. If you run 1C tyres then whilst the car remains in road going condition you will not need Tax, MOT & Insurance, instead it will require and MSA Competition Log book approximately £ 32 from an MSA Scrutineer. This reduces the costs a bit and helps pay for a HANS. Classes G&H are unchanged. We have also changed the maximum score from 102 to 101 to keep the competition tighter. We have tightened up the engines used in classes to try and ensure limited power in the lower classes when Turbo & Spercharged engines as used. WSCC 2016 VER 1 Draft Speed Series Regs.pdf

Me too

Haha. I am too honest for my own good. Plus I alredy quiried it with Nick when it was in the draft for this year . It will be ok I'm putting a standard crank back in tomorrow night.

Might have a complete new pair if they are the same ones used for the hinged ecu plate above passenger footwell. Can't look until tomorrow evening though

Dave, you hit nail on head about my experience. Like a boat! Agree I'm lucky enough to own a reliable duratec powered module built Westie. Difference is I didn't build this one, so great as it is, somehow a Westie you built is a bit more a part of you! Even tried to buy the original Westie back, with a blown head gasket! No go though To summarise, performance per pound, a Westie is difficult to beat. Depreciation is almost zero too. Westie will never be practical, but if when you do drive it, the rewards are always better than a more refined tin top! Andy

Honesty is the best policy John ;-)

Took Westy out yesterday ( rude not to ) noticed half hood ( canvas ) had some mould spores, must of been a little damp when i put it away last time. Cleaned with half white wine vinegar and half warm water, sprayed on and scrubbed with a toothbrush ( the wife's not mine ) It"s like new... just thought i would share for those who didn't know.

Yes, Novices can run in any class and will have an easier target time than the experts in the same class

This is the finish line of the Little Zipper, it's like a trial run before you go and do the Big Zipper https://youtu.be/HX7atF8tBhw This is the Little Zipper. https://youtu.be/boiwJAwS8ZI I was one of the first ones on the Big Zipper so I have no footage of it from the top. It was quite cold up there but I had a lot of clothes on, it was a bit like dressing to drive the Westfield. Thanks for all your comments, I hope you have enjoyed this post and it encourages you to have a bit of a go. Julie

Val dont worry about the class structure - just go and have fun mate :-)

There was too much salt on the roads to leave my car all night without a bath but the more local members of the Tiger Owners Club came in their cars. Here some of us are just before the safety briefing, Bioman far left and me far right. Here I am strapped in and ready to go Here is my video of Bioman and his daughter who followed Glen and I down https://youtu.be/vGg137M7lYE This is the official video http://www.ustargroup.com/Hybrid/2015/11/22/82377_512B02/MainVideos.mp4