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Not sure if you're serious Terry... That's exactly where not to lift A round at Cadwell would be mega I'm going to throw a grenade in here then leg it... Haha... Those who find track days boring, is it because you're not driving hard enough? Nearly falling off the track at every corner for 15-20 mins (or more) at a time is pretty exciting for me!

I'm am no longer a lurking imposter but the proud owner of a 2l zetec wide bodied westie! Just as ordered it is touring friendly and a very lovely entry into this mad world of yours. Our first 24 hours of Westfield ownership was however was more drama than we bargained for as I'll explain. Apologies for the lengthy post. Firstly I must extend my gratitude to clansman who replied within 15 minutes to my plea for an independent appraisal for a car over 600 miles from my home town. He went way out of his way to view the car, check it thoroughly and advise me through the purchase. Thank you Sir. You are a gent. My wife and I had an uneventful journey up to Aberdeen on Thursday. Traveling on Virgin first class meant we were plied with gin and cake at virtually every hour! Scenery was spectacular and we enjoyed the added luxury of reclining seats and a quiet cab, full in the knowledge that the return journey might not be quite so salubrious - how little did we know. We stayed at the Caledonian where we met clansman for the first time in person. We chatted cars over a pint but called it a night early so we could get up to Newburgh in the morning to view and hopefully collect a lovely blue and yellow factory build car. We caught a bus and arrived at the sellers house with the car all as described. We gave the car another thorough check and blasted it up the road, then exchanged cash and we were on our way - simple. We had planned to split the journey into two parts. 5 hours plus a couple of stops would get us to the Yorkshire Dales and a beautiful country inn, however about an hour after setting off our fortunes changed. The weather started to set in and rain began to fall. We found though at 40 mph no rain was entering the cockpit so we pressed on. Soon after this, disaster struck. The clutch cable snapped. We were on a busy A road in the rain with an all but dead car, 600 miles from home with conformation from the insurance company that our breakdown cover started 24 hours after the start of the policy (1 hour previous only). Fortunately the cable went just as we passed the only house on the stretch of road so pushed her into the driveway whilst we figured out what to do. My wife googled local garages and the first one we called took sympathy on us, dropped everything and came out with a recovery truck. After about 40 minutes they managed to load the car on but they were nervous minutes for me as they kept fouling the tow hook on the nose cone, jamming their winch and a whole host of other issues that weren't doing my blood pressure any good. Bear in mind for the majority of this time I was pointing at the sky with my handbrake on thinking who the hell are these guys !? We did finally get the car on the truck and back to the garage so that problem solving could begin. Clansman yet again was supporting from the wings, both practically by texting part numbers from Westfield and also by providing encouragement and emotional support! It became clear however we were not going to source a part. So a collective decision was made to A-team the sh*t of this issue - basically we needed a bodge. After some rummaging we found a couple of clutch cables knocking about in his garage off goodness knows what. We took the longest one and cut the pedal end nipple off. We then attached the clutch end first and fed it through the bulkhead offering it up to the pedal. The guys then found a bolt with an eye which they bored out to take the cable and screwed on bolts either end very tightly to sandwich grip the cable. Another pin assembly in place meant it rested neatly and securely on the clutch pedal. A quick test and tighten and we were in business. They had literally dropped everything for us and our new westie. Their regular customers kept calling in for their cars and they kept telling them they they had 'run into problems' so they could have their cars next week. I did feel quite guilty but was reassured that these customers would be fine waiting - who was I to argue anyway! Although the final fix was simple it took a long time to get there. The garage were supposed to close at 4pm but we rolled out of there at 6:30 - five hours after clutch snappage. This meant our hotel arrival time had been set back by the amount of time it was supposed to take to get there. It also meant we would be traveling at night and a storm was coming in. After a quick and dirty burger stop we got back on the road but after about another 30 minutes the 4 horses of the apocalypse managed to catch us up and they brought rain, a lot of rain. We got the wet weather gear on and quickly learnt its usefulness. I have slept in leaker tents but none that spray your face at 70 mph and immerse your right arm I a bucket of water. Visibility dropped to 100 metres and there was standing water everywhere. Night came and the whole experience intensified. One of our wipers was engaging with the glass, the other just waived around in the air. We had to slow to 40 or 50 mph and stay in the lane with the least water - mostly the middle. By this time it was 1 am so there was at least little or no traffic. We stopped every 45 minutes or so to rest, grab coffee and try and unjangle our nerves. Finally we pulled off the motorway, which we thought would relax matters, ohhhh no. The motorway was a breeze in comparison. It turns out our hotel is in the Shire and we would have to drive through Mordoor to get there. Immediately we got fog and if that wasn't bad enough there were enormous pot holes scattered everywhere like land mines. Fallen branches from the storm we strewn at every corner and flooded dips broached the entire width of the road. If that wasn't enough we had to contend with suicidal sheep running out of the fog into the road. You couldn't make it up. By now it is nearly 3 am and we are both exhausted. You can imagine our elation therefore when the sat nav sent us completely the wrong way and we had to back track for a couple of miles. We did eventually make it to the hotel of course but I have never concentrated so intensely for so long on anything. But all is well that ends well and the next morning was glorious. We had a superb breakfast and negotiated a late check out so we could have a restful morning. On setting off for leg two the sun was out. Having acquired more confidence in the bodged cable I was able to explore the car a little more and had a splendid drive out of the dales to join the motorway to bring our new toy home. We encountered no traffic and the sun shone almost all of the way. Never have I had such an enjoyable run on the M6! So we are official Westfield owners and there are many to thank for getting us here; the old chap who took us under his wing when the cable first broke, the good guys at the garage in Montrose who scraped us off the road and brought our car back to life and the hotelier who let us in at gone 3am and put rescue wine in our room. But if it hadn't been for the sage and sensible advice of the members of this club we might not have ended up with the right car for us. In particular though Clansman has earned the very highest of our gratitude for going way way beyond the call of duty. We are now looking forward to tinkering, driving and planning for a euro tour. Here starteth the real journey and lots of numpty questions from us! Paul and Amy

Hi gang If you missed the chance to get tickets for the Silverstone Classic, I've got good news for you. In the organisers infinitive wisdom, in the exhibitors pack we just received, there are 3 sets of complimentary tickets for all three days of the show. This was a complete surprise to us backstage to be sure! However, the policy of the club is that the club officers do not get any outside freebies and enjoy the same level of benefit that non-club officers do, i.e. we paid for our tickets just like everyone else. So here's what we're going to do. These three day tickets for two people sell for £99 per set (retail non-club price is double that). If you want a set, you can buy them from us for £99 per set including postage, and all the money raised will be contributed to the club's charity. First come, first served basis by replying below. We will raise an invoice here in the forums you can pay online, so nice and easy. Lord Banks has the comps and will post them to you in due course. Let's raise £300 for charity, folks!

They even knew that yellow and black were the best colours in the olden days. Can tell its from Kingsters area as it has no windscreen.

So I thought I would write a blog about my venture into circuit racing. Last year I had my first competitive events, in the form of WSCC SS events at Castle Combe and at Blyton. I enjoyed them both immensely, but I have always wanted to race others on the track, not just against the clock. So, I did a bit of work to the car over the winter……..including: 1. Fitting a second kill switch 2. Fitting a fire extinguisher 3. Fitting ARB's front and rear 4. Getting new springs and a full set up (thanks Adam;) at Clear) 5. Getting an engine tweak (Blink ported the polished the head, new cams and remap making 182 bhp) 6. New wet tyres (Toyo R1R's) 7. New dry tyres (Avon ZZR's in medium) 8. New wheels for above 9. New radiator 10. New front disks and pads 11. Removal of dynok sheet and spray paint the interior black 12. New HANS system 13. New helmet 14. Fitted transponder Amongst many, many other little things. I done a track day at Donny in May and Combe in June in preparation, the car is finally running well and I have the following races booked: 17th July at Combe (double header) 21st August at Pembery (double header) 4th September at Donny (40 minute race) The first two meetings are with the Welsh Sports and Saloon Championship and the Donny round with the CSCC. To say i'm nervous, penniless and feeling totally underprepared would be the understatement of the year. In all honest I have not been able to think about anything else for the past few months. I even found myself on the tube on Tuesday getting off at the wrong stop. I was visualising the perfect lap at Combe and jumped off in deep thought! So I hope to keep this blog up to date. Please let me have your thoughts/advice and wish me luck….I'm well and truly going to need it. Oh, and why the title? Well i always fill up the lawn mower can up at the same time as my track day cans. My Mountfield RS 100 only uses the best! Mike

OK, I'm going to book and pay for a second team and then tomorrow night I will message eveyone who has confirmed with the list of drivers, cost per head and my bank details. Can't wait.

They had sprints at Cadwell a few years ago Terry? Starting after the mountain and finishing before? .. so missing out one of Cadwell's main features. Shall be at Snetterton on Wednesday.. driving the big 300 circuit, as opposed to the once round the car park sprint track!

I was not pointing to noone specificly about "learning. in my case I'm in the very early begining with my car... and with sprinting itself... so I really need to spend time with the car. That is maybe why I don't understand the point of the "boring" side of driving in trackdays. However, no Mather how good you are... time behind the wheel is not going to hurt! If the car is not capable because is too sprint focused car... is a diferent topic that I have not had under consideration at the beginning...

Great. I have booked the Wednesday off anyway for Ashover so it would be great to take the car if the weather is OK. Next week will be OK. Apologies for not making it today but I had Bob. Got my days mixed up…doh! Luke.