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Yes! I suggest you prepare by purchasing a lead apron, a tub of Vaseline and lots of paracetamol. Also start practising touching your toes.

Just taken delivery of some very special one-off flared sides for the Silver Bullet, cheers Mark. I love them Finish and quality is superb

If the weather is typically Scottish (i.e. wet) the Museum of Scotland in Chambers street is a good day visit and just 5 mins walk from the Royal Mile.

A lot will depend on tyres too. I have 170bhp and run used slicks. I managed a few low 58 sec laps towards the end of this vid. I'd say anywhere near a 60 sec lap in a relatively low powered car would be good going. Big power cars can take a lump of time out of a lap purely by "dragstering" up the quite steep straight.

The only one I've seen in the flesh was at the wscc Mallory trackday, 2009.

ENTERED....BUT NOT IN A WESTFIELD

Museum is free entry and lots for kids to do

Slippery slope Barnstable, a very slippery slope

Absolutely incredible. I want. Can he do them in RED??

Silver weave, stunning, absolutely stunning. Mark's work is exceptional and I'll never tire of saying it

Martin those look much improved on the first run I saw earlier on , I can see why you are pleased Matk is very skilled and has an eye for detail well done Mark

WOW. I like those.... a lot.

Not sure how old the kids are but our dynamic earth is definitely worth a visit.Ours (6 and 3 now) loved it. Perfectly feasible to do castle and that in same day. Be prepared to be bent over for parking if you are parking anywhere near the castle (and anywhere in the city centre for that matter!) Dave

I spoke to Chris at CD today, he isn't going to be ending the discount but the event is selling well so I'd suggest that anyone wanting to book should crack on with it as it's pretty clear it will sell out at some stage.

Right up to them. If you arrive on the beach via the main path at low tide, you will just be able to make out to your left, to the south, two dark shapes lying in the sand with the bolder outline of what turns out to be a concrete block between them. The dark shapes are the remains of two midget submarines. They make a fascinating diversion from the more natural attractions of Aberlady Bay, but any exploration needs to be carried out with great care. The wrecks are a long way out, much closer to the low tide mark than high tide mark, and Aberlady Bay has a reputation for a rising tide that can cover the ground very quickly. Make absolutely sure you know what the tide is doing and leave yourself enough time to get out and back. Tide predictions for Fidra, an island off the coast near North Berwick can be found here. The midget submarines are XT-Craft, training versions of the X-Craft that attacked the Tirpiz in 1942. In 1946 two of these vessels were towed to Aberlady Bay and moored to a large concrete block, then used as target practice and gun tests by RAF aircraft. Afterwards their badly damaged remains were simply left to rot. The wrecks have a very poignant feel today. The more southerly of the two is the slightly better preserved, and gives a real sense of the size and shape of the original vessel. It is difficult to imagine four men working underwater in the remarkably confined space of the hull.

Ha ha. Comedy conversation with the letting agent. Before letting me view the garage they had to tell me it can't be used as "dry storage" so I expected them to mean the roof leaks. But no, apparently the floor floods. They spouted some none sense about the water table rising but it generally sounds like a shoddy garage. So that's off the table. I have however found an alternative. A storage company has shipping containers that are alarmed and insulated that they will let me use as a garage. It's a little more expensive but way better security and quality. More space for the car and tools too.

When you going..? Feeding the sqizzels in Princess St Gardens was a giggle. And a walk round Jenners the department store will win you some brownie points with SWMBO. If you can ditch the family - a pub crawl round the grass market is a hoot...

Totally depending on your audiophile expectations (I have none as proper rock concerts in my teens, 20 years of shooting without muffs and 15 years of marriage have left me effectively deaf...) I have just got a cheapo JBL Flip 2 (end of line been replaced with the Flip 3 now) for £35 and it sits on the kitchen shelf. I stream Amazon Music to it from the phone whilst cooking. Perfectly good enough for Dad dancing round the kitchen... Battery life is poo, but I just leave it plugged in. Loud enough to overcome the extractor, but does crack up a bit on full volume. For the cheap end of the market, quite good...

just had an e-mail from Adolf , he wants to know if he's invited .

See you there

Me too.

Really helpful. I was thinking of picking up a second hand race suit for now as that seems an expensive part of the initial costs. There is a couple of things I need to do to the car on that list and I will no doubt be starting a few threads to get some advice on those soon.

Great stuff !! Thanks for that :0)

Fortunately not too many car mods are required on a standard Westfield although I'd agree that it's daunting at the start! In addition to your speed licence and entry fees, in a road going class, the things you need are: Car: Rear roll bar that confirms to MSA regs (can advise on here if you're not sure) Earth lead clearly identified with tape Battery terminals covered (duct/gaffer tape is fine!) Ignition on/off marked clearly Tow points marked Timing strut of the right dimensions, fitted at the right height from the ground Any seat belt is technically ok but we all agree a suitable 4 point harness is the minimum (dates irrelevant for sprinting) Clothing: Snell SA2010 approved helmet (are HANS required for road classes next year?) Race suit (FIA1986 or FIA 8856-2000) FIA 8856-2000 approved gloves Any suitable shoes For my first event I managed to get a second hand FIA1986 race suit off eBay for £36, a snell SA2010 helmet brand new for £75 (Koden stock clearance), some Puma gloves from eBay for £13 and some cheap kart boots for £20, so you can give it a try without too much initial outlay. I made my own timing strut (still going strong!) and did the relevant marking up of the car as above. Blyton was my first ever competitive event and it was a hoot! Not only was the competition absolutely amazing, a true thrill and utterly addictive, but the banter and comradery of the WSCC competitors was also fantastic. I'm hooked! As others have said, get yourself along to a meet where there are a few speed series competitors and ask away, even better if you can take your cars long for an inspection and advice. Otherwise just get stuck in, it's only you and the clock after all!

will be there

Hi all, I have followed this thread for quite some time, as I bought an ex race series car around a month before the ROPs situation raised its head, and like quite a few others, was not happy about cutting a perfectly good chassis around to fit a bolt on cage. A few emails to Nick Algar and Paul Aspden, a long chat with Mark @ Westfield on the open day plus several phone calls to the MSA technical department, came to a head 2 weeks ago at Autosports International, when I approached Mark again plus also spoke to one of the technical officers on the MSA stand... The outcome is that the MSA have said that the cage IS OK to be used, as long as Westfield have a chat with them concerning retrospective homologation for the weld on Westfield / bolt on Caged cage.. Caterham also had the same issue, and this has now been sorted by the MSA. The costing of getting the cages homologaited is also being waived by them, as they want the cars to be out being used. I spoke to Mark on Friday and was told that Westfield had been contacted by the MSA, and that it was all under way... Lets hope that this problem has now been solved, and that anyone with the same chassis as us can get out using it during 2016 on MSA sanctioned event... Foggy....

Glencoe is lovely, also I'd suggest sticking more to the West coast than the east for scenery. The isle of Skye (and the drive west towards the Kyle of Lochalsh) is sublime...

not to be missed https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=best+edinburgh+pubs&rflfq=1&tbm=lcl&rlfi=hd:;si:5430446687430449970

Yes worth visiting as still interesting but her condition externally was depressing. In addition to what you highlight I also recall. All the external welds were ground to give a completely smooth hull. When in port there would be a diver in the water most of the time to protect against someone trying to attach a mine. The area where a Phantom was kept on board Separate rooms for Him and her but Diana objected and this was changed for her honeymoon. An interesting chapter in a book on her sea trial and the work to remove almost all vibration from her props. As you say she was not that grand inside and was basically built around the state dining room for entertaining dignitaries.

What I remember about Britannia what surprised me was the following. ​Inside it is like a 1950,s Ikea with no hint of splendour. The engine room is spotless. All the beds are so tiny. The helmsman is in a room with no windows. He takes his instructions from above but he cannot see anything. The centre of the queens mirror in her dressing room is set at the same height as the point of her nose. The cupboards that the ratings had to keep all their clothes and uniforms in are so unbelievably small. In one of the rooms there are a serious of ships logs. Overtime the ship stopped anywhere, the area and sea bed was surveyed to ensure the areas were safe. The logs detailed other people, roads, escape routes and access etc. Really interesting. Everything was done in silence. The ships crew were not to be heard by the Royals. There were lots of things I did not imagine and its worth doing the tour as it is an eye opener.

silly fact about brittania , they built a garage for her majesty's rolls on her but and just a wee but, the measurements from the factory did NOT include the over riders on the bumpers.... so every time the rolls was put on or off they had to be removed / attached. ( my uncle was a chauffer to the royals)

The zoo is pretty good and located in the city. There's a great whisky / steak restraunt too http://www.whiskirooms.co.uk/

I remember seeing Britannia at Cowes week in her prime ... shiny and resplendent. Visited her in Edinburgh a few years ago and she was looking pretty run down. Still interesting to visit ... engine rooms are great. Will your trip coincide with Burns?

Cleggy, your list is a pretty good list for a few days in Edinburgh! I'd like to add Camera Obscura on the Royal Mile as a fun place to go with the kids. The castle is great - expensive to visit but had to be done! The Royal Mile itself is a great walk and feel free to pop into the many closes along the way to find some beautiful small gardens and yards. Dynamic Earth is also a good place for kids. Hope this helps!

and if you fancy a wee detour either arriving or leaving head across to Falkirk where you can see the Kelpies (giant scottish mythical sea horse sculptures) and the Falkirk wheel its a rotational barge lift for the canals

I usually go round the ring road, and over the big bridge, not far, to Knockhill. Pretty sure the family will love it!

Go and find the midget submarines in Aberlady Bay. You will need to check the tide tables.

St Giles cathedral it is impressive, heaps of places to eat around there too, Edinburgh zoo ( not sure how old the kids are) you can get a bus down to Leith and see hms brittania there

Well done David, a difficult pill to swallow. Theres no other way of saying it. The whole tyre and ROPS affair has been a complete fiasco !