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Topic title is the registration number of my new car. Some of you may remember that I was after an SEight, well by coincidence, good fortune or whatever I do believe that I have one of the best, biased me? You bet! Today I picked up my V8, and today is my 53rd Birthday, so it's been a good day. One could say that I'm too old for the car I have (track orientated) but I don't care, putting on a skid lid today was like going back in time to when i last wore one in 1983, when an old mate of mine turned up on his motorbike after 4 years in South Africa, we slithered and skidded in in the ice and snow to the local pub. Tenuous link perhaps, well believe me on the M11 in a blizzard of hail there were certain similarities, although the car never put a foot wrong, but i was as tense as I was back in 83. Moving swiftly on, the car; well it was built by Graham Smith, it has a V8 Developments 5.1 litre engine and despite the "social" exhaust it has a growl which has to be heard to be believed, and torque, well talk to me about torque, it has enough, no, that is an injustice, it has masses of it, any gear, any speed and it goes - I think I might be an addict! Anyway, 125 miles in near freezing temps, fully togged up was, well, just awesome despite it being on motorways. By the way the car has run 11.7 seconds on a 1/4 mile which i believe is rather good, but for me even cruising around at 40 mph will be special, in a way only a V8 can be. I guess now I should say "hello" chaps (again), it's good to back owning a Westfield, and now I have what I always lusted after it will stay with me for a looooooong time. "it's good to be back, good to be back, helloooooow" Thank you. Ian

Roll bar stay covers please. Ive just started to modify my boot box tonight and these are perfect.

RAB. Inside the bag there are three "pads" that hold the aircraft in place. The rain cover for the rucksack is in one of these pockets. I thought it was an extra that you had to but but it comes with the bag. There are also two straps that I thing go through the vertical seam down the back of the bag and they will hold a tripod in place. You will love the bag.

Wot....! More important than US...? But we are his family now... The others don't matter any more... I did feel a git for moaning. I work for a software house so know what it's like to knock your pan out on a release for 18 months and to have a client go, "I don't like that shade of Orange" and totally ignore all the voodoo you've managed to achieve elsewhere. Any thing, whenever it comes will be fine and hugely appreciated... As long as it's better, cheaper and delivered 3 weeks before it was asked for...

Ian, I'd be happy to do something in the Monday 12-2 slot

Nice car.

Bg changes are being worked on, but our esteemed web master does have a young family and a busy work life to look after too. The current in-built photo system isn't great, in my own opinion, I agree. But any of the big traditional photo handling services like Photobucket or Picassa are usually a piece of cake to use with the Boardroom - once you get your head round the format. But then as jpg is such a common format that most cameras can record in it if required, I can understand why the Boardroom's system favours it. I do agree though, a much more straightforward method of adding pictures would be so beneficial. Something along the Facebook lines would be so much more straightforward for so many...

There is a sit down / take away chippy in Stratford upon Avon at the bottom of Sheep St and facing the green (CV37 6EF). First off, the Fish and Chips are really nice, If I fancy a pottle out and a nice lunch (and no beer) I normally head here. I was there yesterday with one of my oldest and best mates and we were catching up etc. My mate had his youngest son with him who is, sadly, quite mentally disabled. Needless to say by the time we finished eating, our table / floor / walls could have staged a WW1 Battle of the Somme re-enactment. So on the way out I went to the bloke at the till (obviously an immigrant (and I CAN say that because I'm the son of one...)) and tried to give him a £5 tip "because they would have so much cleaning up to do" The guy would not take my money... We were sat close to him so it was obvious we were have a 'challenge' with our young companion, and he must have picked up on that. My estimation for the guy sky rocketed... So to any AO's in the Midlands / Cotswolds, if you are organising any blats that feature Stratford upon Avon, please consider lunching at Baranby's (good parking nearby as well..!)

ha ha ha ! Did a similar thing with mine , took her to a posh chinky restaraunt in manchester ordered lemon tea , the waiter brought the finger bowl and I drank that thinking it was the tea (it had slices of lemon in it ) really impressive

Just got back from 2 weeks in Spain for paramotor training. I'm now a licensed APPI Paramotor Pilot A few photos... It's such an absolutely incredible feeling flying in the sky. I've ordered all the equipment which should arrive next month, now I need to practice, practice, practice. Oh and find a friendly farmer who will let me use his field to take off and land from Dean

I never live this place down , on one of the first dates with my now wife I poured sugar all over my chips then played it cool pretending it hadn't happened and ate them. Quality chippy !!

First short shake down run of the year! Fantastic! Forget how quick and fun they are! Missed the rain and hail too by about 5 min.... Perfect New shox and plays kool arb's all working well. Proper setup at Blink on Friday. Fingers x'd the rain and snow holds off! Andy

Strange thing is (and taste is v. personal) but we I went ST shopping I was convinced I wanted a blue one. But now the only colour for it is red. And I can confirm happiness is a big, wet, empty, three lane round about with open sight lines. This thing REALLY likes to play. And believe it or not, my master plan for shopping at Tesco worked. When I used to go in the Mundane, I used to hoon it there and then, because the shop only took up 25% of the boot, had to drive home like a Saint - else all the shopping ended up mixed into some giant paella in the corner of the boot. But the weekly shop fits perfectly and snugly into the boot of the ST, so I hoon there and back..! Only down side so far is it seem to attract 23 year old morons in 10 year old 3 series Beemers. Apparently a middle aged bloke in an ST offends their pulsating hormones.

Interesting - I see these are available at 205/60/13 too - could be quite tempted to try a set

Agree with everything Jen said - useage massively affects tyre recommendation. I feel quite fortunate to have tried a wide variety on my Westfield as I've done a wide variety of driving with it - started out with long tours, then added in some trackdays, and am now competing in the speed series. Car came with 16 year old Bridgestones fitted - massive smiles from lots of sideways action with little provocation but utterly useless otherwise. Had gone hard and were basically lethal. Then fitted some 5 year old Yokohama a048s in medium compound as I started to venture on to track too. These are good once warm (after 2 hot laps on a circuit) but I found them unpredictable on the road, causing moments where there shouldn't have been any and very hard to drive safely in the cold and wet. Next up was SG compound R888 - these I liked on road and track, more predictable than the yokohama's, slightly less warm up time required and generally more consistent. However were also risky in the cold and wet (particularly cold - the grip on these tyres comes from some warmth in the compound and without it, they're pretty solid and therefore slippy). Great for trackdays and the wear rate was decent, even in SG compound. Didn't really like them on the road as they were inconsistent. Medium compound Avon zzr - purely for track day use. Fantastic tyre. Hugely flattering! Much better grip from cold, work right from the pit lane, and give constant feedback and control. Better in cold temps too, although I'm not sure why. Decent wet grip but I didn't use them on the road. Kumho v70a supersoft - tyre for sprinting only. Insane. It will take me a few more years yet to get my driving skills up to the limit of these tyres. Have been tested in wet and performed well, would be happy with a set of medium compound as an all round road\track tyre. And finally, my most recent purchase - the previously mentioned Falken ze912. Available from £30 each in 15" or £50 each in 13". Have done a lot of miles on these, including road in all conditions and some amazing track days. THE MOST predictable tyre I have ever driven. Tells you exactly what it's doing, where it's going and when it's nearing its limits, and when you get to the limit, it maintains control and predictability allowing you to either go wild and drifty or bring it back in safely. Love this tyre. Proper road tread for all weathers but not so hard that it doesn't wear - got nice rubbering on the tread face after trackdays, a sign of a good balance in tread compound. The weird thing is that I keep recommending this tyre on threads like this and get ignored or overlooked, presumably because it's not an r888 or some other "popular" choice. However when I was at Anglesey, while wondering through the pits, I spotted a TVR and a Porsche GT3 both wearing them. Must be something OK about them! I run 18psi rear and 16psi front to allow for the lighter weight of our cars, but that will be a specific setting for each individual set up.

Its gone Dave, already asked lol

Did anyone find out who it was.

Well that's my entry pulled from Rockingham !

12 months from first attacking the donor car with a spanner to getting it road legal. 320 hours of work, most of which were spent wondering where I'd put that tool now...

had my visit today . hopefully get my log book in the post within the next couple of weeks

Just under a year from collection to passing IVA. Best advice I got before starting was to do something on it every day(ish), even if just ordering a part or making a phone call. Easy to get out of the habit of working on it if you have long periods of inactivity. Unfortunately I now have to take the diff out (oil leak) so will be going backwards...

Tis the work of the devil, the DEVIL... Burn it, BURN IT....!!!!