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Top gear, love it or hate it. We will all still be watching it.

Yes, but yours has lift, Dave

bit of video - 2nd run of the day changed my tyres after lunch to something with a bit more grip https://youtu.be/swVYZUWuc5Q

Since I bought my car in March, i've suspected that it runs a bit rich, when cold starting it would fire up just fine but idle was rough and about 400 rpm, slowly rising to 750 when hot, although still a tad rough. I wanted to have a health check on the engine and to give me confidence that the rich running (if it was the case) was not causing bore wash, and try to sort the rough idling out. On numerous recommendations and seeing results from other people I contacted NMS, when i described what i wanted they told me they would need the car for 3 days, and refused point blank to give me even a ballpark figure, nor starting price for the work, now call me old fashioned but I like to know what i'm about to spend and giving me an hourly rate that made me wince a bit didn't help, nevertheless i did book it in, but as things panned out i had to cancel due to work commitments. In passing i was chatting at the RV point for the run to Stoneleigh and AP Racing Engines Ltd were mentioned, and only 25 miles from where I live, rather than the 55 to NMS. I phoned them up and chatted to Andrew who sounded to know his stuff and quoted a price between £200-£250 which sounded ok for a mornings work. Roll onto today, car booked in, I arrived early and waited for Andrew who turned up, he explained that he'd had customers just drop cars off at the weekend for him to look at without being booked in so his garage was chockablock. As some were not willing to move under their power I helped Andrew shuffle them around and get mine in. Over a coffee he confirmed what i wanted and also I asked him to de-tune a bit to run on 95 ron fuel as getting super for me involves a drive that uses nearly 2 gallons, that situation is not tenable in the long run. So to start off out with the plugs and a compression test, the results ranged between 175 and 195 psi spread across both banks of cylinders, they were ok. Next was plugs back in, with a recommendation to change them as the external insulators where the caps fit were looking as if they were starting to break down, on start up Andrew commented that there was something amiss with the lumpy tick over, he proceeded to use a stethoscope to listen in the trumpets for mismatch in the TB's, tweaking the balance made a big difference to the running, it became much smoother and the tick over rose to about 900 rpm. The lambda readings were within expected values and remained so across all the consecutive and incremental power runs, so running rich was not a problem. Then came to strapping down and real runs. Andrew raised the speeds incrementally until there was a full power run up to 5500 rpm, where the power had levelled (hard cut off is 6500). Over a few more runs the power outputs were consistent if not earth shattering, with a flat peak of 320-330 bhp and 350 lb ft of torque, there was a bit of tyre slip on the rollers even with the "sticky tyre spray stuff" These figures although I suspect are high for a Westfield are not a lot per litre when you take into account the 5.l displacement, but bearing in mind it makes the engine relatively unstressed and all the power can't be used in the lower 3 gears I was content. Next came retarding the ignition by about 5% over the upper 3/4 of the rev range, Andrew advised that there wasn't much point taking it over the full range as the advance wasn't much anyway, at this point i put the filters back on, the next series of runs up to the cut off gave 300 BHP and 330lb ft torque, which was to be expected as the filters are in dire need of a clean, but more important the power and torque were not "peaky" with about 250 bhp available from 3000 rpm. Overall Andrew was pleased with the results and was grinning like a cheshire cat, he complimented the car and the way it delivered the power which was encouraging to say the least. I went on a test drive, all was good, could I tell the drop in BHP? Well, no, not at all. Taking it home afterwards, i really couldn't tell a difference in performance, but it was more tractable and sounded different, a bit more "barky" which isn't a bad thing as it is fairly quite. I can still provoke wheel spin in 4th as well...... And it used less fuel coming home so maybe it's a bit more efficient, or maybe just the difference in head/tail wind today? So I'm pleased with the service, with Andrew and the car, oh and the price, which was the bottom of the quote range. Andrew led me through the process, explained everything he was doing, and answered my questions fully. As for AP Racing engines, well i would say it is a competently run set up, if you want shiny floors clean enough to eat your dinner off then go somewhere else, despite lack of clinical cleanliness (apart from engine build area) the technology is there. Plus, there are lots of interesting engines in various states of refurbishment/strip down etc, and if you go don't think you will be languishing on the sofa reading a glossy mag, you will be expected to muck in and in doing so be part of the process not just a recipient of the delivered product. Cheers Ian

View of my little red Westfield in race 1, managed to climb from 12th to 6th in a field of 34 https://youtu.be/Q84KPKciZ1s

I was looking at them, think I'll order one. Had the tube welded up in the end at my favourite welding shop, he's done a nice job of it.

I'll be seeing you for part of your route on Saturday Geoffrey and if I could, I would continue all the way to Durness and stay over, but I have to be back home Saturday night. On Sunday, I have to be up bright and early to travel down to Crieff in the tintop for a Jaguar meet and drive. I'll then be meeting you again on Tuesday in the Westfield at Dunnottar Castle. Hope you won't be too lonely in Durness. If you can catch a Haggis, they are known to keep you warm in bed and they are really good company after a few drinks (so I am told!)

THANKS BOYS AND GIRLS FOR THE NICE COMMENTS. It's 12 minutes past ten and we have just walked in. Been out since 9.00am. Must update the post from yesterday and tell you about our amazing day today. Myself and Ziplob and Lorna have just left Glen Etive and around 50 deer. Going to Applecross tomorrow and Skye. Just st going for a shower and will add a bit more.

dont ask Daves supercharged exige we gave rides to the helpers all day - most lived to tell the tale Chaz's westy back from its vacation in Austria nd it ran very well after the rebuild and finally mine

ans finally some pics Brians new car which had continual issues with the imobaliser his smile remained despite Jem's Tiger

last run of the day on sticky tyres

I like it, I shall now start quoting my cars weight thus: 540 kg @ ~142mph I'm considering supercharging, so that I can get the weight down! 495 kg @ ~160mph...

Good write up Ian..really enjoyed reading all about it & will be booking in very soon. Thanks Benji

That hits home very well. Definitely worth a watch.. would be interested to hear if any of it is stretching the truth.. or even lies? How come Switzerland, a non member, sitting smack bang it the middle of the Eurozone, is doing so well??

Bob R Bob C Matt? Dave Forecast for Sunday is superb. It might not last much longer so seems a shame not to get out in the kit Bob

The problem for me is that I was already mourning TG when the last bunch had it. For a while, TG was a mostly good show, but then something happened, which as Dave Eastwood has previously pointed out, was about when JC went off the rails and got divorced. The longer the show went on, the more patronising and forced it became in that the set pieces were not believable. Funny stuff that genuinely happened as part of what they were doing stopped, and they forced the comedy elements by engineering things that would never happen, like some rubbish sitcom. The Indian trip was painful to watch, and did anyone actually believe they built a bridge over the wrong river, that the Falklands number plate on the 928 in Argentina was just a coincidence, or that JC's car conveniently broke in two crossing a stream but could still run on just the front half for more than a mile? I miss the genuineness of TG series 2-8. I certainly don't miss the last few series of TG. I suspect TGT would again insult my intelligence and patronise me, but I won't be watching it. JC has lost the plot and become a caricature of himself these days. I read an interview with him a month or so ago, and in a nutshell, it was a "poor misunderstood me, I've been treated so unfairly" response. No apologies for anything he's done at all, including punching and racially abusing a producer for not having his hot steak at hand, something you or I would end up in the cells for. Everything was "I've lost" - his car, TG, his wife, his house - were all "lost". No mate, they weren't lost. You lose your keys, your wallet, that kind of thing. What JC did was take all that for granted, treated people badly, and urinated it all away. It's always the way with bullies - abuse others and take things for granted, then cry foul and look for sympathy when someone stands up to them. He's (allegedly*) a racist, a misogynist, and a bully - just the sort of person who would try hard to offend enough people in here in order to eventually get banned because he thought it was funny, and then say his right to free speech was being denied. TGT will probably be entertaining, but I'm not a hypocrite and I won't be helping pay JC's salary of £833,333 per episode to reinforce his belief that he was right and a victim of mistreatment. * "allegedly" added afterwards at insistence of one member, but I believe plenty of evidence already exists to support it

This is used to transport stray sheep from Buachaille Etive Mor when the river Etive is in spate! Agreed this is such an atmospheric glen - I camped out here a few months back while doing a bit of climbing. Thanks for your ongoing updates - lots of really jealous people down here... Just hoping the weather is as good for our our trip to Applecross in a couple of weeks. Good luck with your next leg, and take lots of pics / videos. Dave.

Twas indeed a special moment !! Especially enjoyed the battery powered whirry thing! It was great to meet up today, may well see you again before you head back south.

Eventful few days, after my battery 'blowing up' the exhaust decided to snap. Quick temporary repair to get back on the way and the result was a work of art This was quickly followed by micks dax battery packing up again, resulting in being towed back to the hotel by Graeme. Some of the views and majority of the roads are spectacular and make all the troubles (and rain) very much worth it

Good Luck getting the Flymo back to GT spec hope it all goes well - Yes it did run sidepods in Brit GT, albeit very modified narrow body type units, there wasn't much left after a lot of cutting - I was lucky enough to watch it at Silverstone - driven by Tony Lanfranchi overtaking Jag XJ220 and lots more expensive machinery (all except the McLaren F1 GT). It was christened the Flymo after Tom Green took it for a spin across the grass whilst competing at a MIRA sprint meeting way back in about 1999. There should be an SS write up in WSCC vaults from around that time. Tom purchased the car from its original owner after it was moth-balled following its exclusion from the Brit GT As to getting it to Silverstone, I really do hope you manage it - However the Brit GT crowd had the car banned under a minor ruling about not having any doors ??!!!!! after a number of other drivers complained its eligibility ? i.e. the Westfield didn't cost as much as their slower exotica and therefore threw their expensive teddies from their prams - so you may have a little difficulty getting the Brit GT / Silverstone people to recognise its history

Booked, let's see if I have a car for this event, hopefully I will need to borrow one!

Ours allways go in the bin

Dave has seen my car and driven it. I won't speak for him but I think he really liked it but was put off by the lack of windscreen! And now looks like he has upped his budget! I reckon the 5.5k saved could buy a windscreen and a hell of alot of petrol and tyres! Hell might even stretch to a turbo! Ha ha !

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