Leaderboard

Apologies these took a while but here are some pictures of Roary ... assuming I've managed to get this Photobucket thing correct

Blackpool Former French Grand Prix track Paul Ricard in the South of France. Former French Grand Prix track Dijon. Oh yeah it went through the tunnel at Monaco as well, but you'll have to take my word for that.

Its the beaches and archaeology that stand out for me: This is the Ness of Brodgar, the big dig they are having there most summers. It's near to the Ring Of Brodgar & Maeshow. orkney12 064 by windymill50, on Flickr If you go onto one of the many islands surrounding Orkney mainland there's stuff thousands of years old that's just laying in the ground. This was a dig I was involved with on Sanday: orkney2014 295 by windymill50, on Flickr And I found a Viking Comb sticking out of a cliff: orkney2011 328 by windymill50, on Flickr Then there's the beaches: orkney12 079 by windymill50, on Flickr orkney2014 254 by windymill50, on Flickr orkney2013 576 by windymill50, on Flickr And the sunsets: orkney2015 183 by windymill50, on Flickr And getting about can be fun too: orkney2014 249 by windymill50, on Flickr orkney2014 248 by windymill50, on Flickr

Ah great I know where that is. You are quite close (5 min drive) to the Sands Hotel where you are staying which I highly recommend for an evening meal. If you are into your seafood it's worth phoning ahead at least a day before to order lobster. They will send the boat out to catch it for you. Here's the very dish i had. orkney2015 061 by windymill50, on Flickr I presume the museum you refer to is on Hoy? Are you travelling across on the ferry from Houton in the Westfields? The museum is a brilliant place to go and see, it's free with a little cafe which is good for a cup of tea and a cake. Make sure you ask about the fuel store inside the mountain. I came across it by accident when I drove up to the viewpoint where you can see the whole of scapa flow from. Amazing to think they had all the fuel for the ships hidden inside the hill. orkney2013 483 by windymill50, on Flickr orkney2013 484 by windymill50, on Flickr orkney2013 485 by windymill50, on Flickr If you plan your day well there may be time to drive to Rackwick then walk to the Old Man Of Hoy. It was first climbed by Chris Bonington in the 60s. orkney2015 102 by windymill50, on Flickr It's a shame you only have 2 days on the island. You can quite easily lose yourself for a couple of weeks up there!

I can't make it by the way, were engagement ring shopping. (She said yes)

September 30th, 2016 Spend: £0.00 Bye bye dearest Last month: £ 2312.52 This month: £ 0.00 ----------+ Total: £ 2312.52

For those of clan mcwesty it's on motors this Sunday at 8.30 watch out for Alister's wee car

I did wonder why I bought a westfield and now I know the reason why, that was an amazing run. I think we did around 600/700 miles in total, not saying it was easy with the weather and we had and a couple of problems with the motors, but overall it was something else. If your planning this trip, just a few things you should take into consideration….. Book your accommodation well in advance….and evening meals... Sat Nav helped us out a few times as the signage is not the greatest. Make sure you pack your clothes in waterproof bags…as the water gets in everywhere as we found out…. Weather proof your halfhood - we had 3 days of really heavy rain and high winds... Don't let your better half pack the bags, as we had too much stuff... Day 1 we set off from Alford and went via Inverness and stayed the 1st night just outside a small village called Plockton at a B/B which was a welcome sight. The family made us very welcome and we had our evening meal in the village (we booked in advance). In the morning we faced a heavy shower of rain whilst packing the motors, but the family came out to see us off and their son who plays the bagpipes piped us off to the next leg of our journey. Day 2 we headed to Achiltibuie (Summer Isles) via Applecross for the Scottish lads your right the Applecross road is something else. That night we stayed at the Summer Isles Hotel, they cater for evening meals but you have to book, the beer was chilled. In the morning my brother in law had his first problem, he was tightening his half hood and the dome at the windscreen came away and broke, so we had a problem….I had a bungee cord with carabineer clips, so we put it over the front of the roof and secured it to the mirrors and we were on the road…the rain stopped and the half hoods came off. Day 3 we left Achiltibuie and decided to take some side roads to lochinver, they we amazing and the views were to die for…heading for Tongue to stay at the Ben Loyal Hotel. By the time we got there the weather was not great, high winds and heavy rain. That night we had covers over the motors and the winds were so bad, the covers would not stay on….so I got black bin liners and tied them round the mirrors to secured the covers on. My brother in laws cover landed half way across the car park….great fun trying to catch it… Day 4 and it’s still raining….never mind packed and ready to go to Tain via John o Groats for the next overnight stop…We stopped in passed the Castle of Mey for a look round and yes it was still raining…we had a great run down the A9 and landed at the Mansfield Castle Hotel and yes it’s haunted by Mrs Fowler - the presence of her ghost is often noticed but we never see her thank god…great place to stay, good food and more beer… Day 5 (last day you will be glad to hear) heading home…up in the morning, after a great breakfast and went outside and it’s still raining…by this time everything is soaking wet, but it never bothered us…I did have a few problems with fuses blowing, I’m thinking the water got into the fuse box, which caused problems with side lights and wipers which was really the only things I needed…anyway had spare fuses with me and just kept replacing them… Overall the weather wasn’t good to us, but the roads were great, hotels etc first class. Plenty of beer and the westfields arrived home safely…ok I had a swimming pool inside my one by the time I got home… I will post up a few photos, once I get them downloaded for those that’s never been up this way… So for all you guys south of the border, take a trip round the 500 and you wont regret it…

You could try the Scapa Flow langoustines. Almost the size of Lobsters! orkney2014 316 by windymill50, on Flickr

I hope to see you all on Sun, weather permitting.

I'd Bob along for the meal at monks cross afterwards

Welcome to the club.

from one of the Southern Softies

This place has been recommended in the past, https://www.orbitalfasteners.co.uk/ As has this place, http://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/ Note on the last one, while stainless bolts and fastenings have their place, you have to really know your bolt specs when it comes to strength, for use in safety critical areas, like suspension, steering and braking. So normally I wouldn't recommend stainless for those areas.

This is the final race of the year for me, mainly due to lack of time, family commitments, holidays and a depleted bank balance. So off to Donnington Park I went with my friend Mark. This was a race meeting with the CSCC rather than the WSSCC. The format being 30 minutes practice/qualification and a 40 minute race with mandatory 60 second pit-stop. I was in the ‘Magnificent Sevens’ Group 1, which is for cars up to 185 bhp. Group 2 is for cars above 185 bhp. I was really looking forward to this one having been at Donny for trackdays in the past. I even started weight training to build up my lower arm strength for this 40 minute race. I knew from the Forum that another WSCC member was racing. Lee Morey or ‘Iowlee’, albeit he was in Group 2. We stayed at a pub with rooms near to the track, which wins the award for the most sticky tables in the Midlands... At least the bathroom was clean. This turned out to be an important fact. Marks snoring was quite frankly, unbelievably loud. I have always managed to avoid sharing a room with mark as I knew this and I forgot to pack my ear plugs. Damn. This meant at 2.30am and not having slept, I took matters into my own hands and moved the matress from my bed into the bathroom. This along with earplugs made of toilet tissue helped, but I didn’t really sleep until about 3.30am. Up at 6.45am, it was not the best preparation I was hoping for. Still nothing a gallon of strong tea, Lucozade and adrenaline could not sort out. Scrutinering was a non-event and only took a matter of minutes. Looking at the entries prior to the day, I was very concerned that I would be off the pace with a field almost exclusively of seasoned racers driving Caterhams. I knew I had lapped Donnington Park earlier in the year at a trackday in the low 1.22s and this didn’t bode well given the times of the entrants who were there the previous year. So out I went for the 30 minutes practice and quali, determined to not come last. We were qualifying with the Group 2 cars as well so it was busy. Some cars in Group 2 have 2.3 duratec’s and full pit crews, so it was an exercise of watching your mirrors whilst setting a time that I would be happy with. Lee followed me round for a few laps then overtook me, only to have a bit of a moment and end up running thought the gravel at McCleans – no damage done thankfully and he carried on (we both had a laugh about that one). I managed to set my best time on my penultimate lap, before I got the dreaded fuel surge again and had to come in 2 minutes before the end of the session. Lesson learnt. I posted a 1.21.5 which was good for 5th. I was more than happy with that. Lee managed a 1.19.9 which was a great time considering he had not even been to Donny before. So now we had a near 6-hour wait until my race. I managed to fill some of the time by helping Lee out with his race (Group 2). I offered to time his pit stop and give him some water. Mark was going to take his tyre pressures. The race turned out to be quite eventful. Lee pitted early as agreed but it was clear he had a problem. His front wheel arch had come loose and was rubbing against his tyre. We spend a very frantic 2 minutes trying to get a spanner and tighten up the nut. It was a blind panic as there was not a tool box/mechanic to be seen – blooming typical. We watched Lee go round for a few laps only for him to then start frantically pointing at his front arch again. Turns out it was his other arch rubbing this time. We prepare for another pit stop which the race commentator picked-up on but Lee decided to stay out. Having given me the thumbs up we monitored it from the pits for the rest of the race. Towards the end of the race Lee had another moment going straight on at the chicane, hitting the raised kerb and taking off skyward (the airport is next door Lee!). The floor was looking a little second hand but all was good. We also had more drama as one of the leading Caterhams managed to break his propshaft. The carbon firbre propshaft with CV joint still attached (well who doesn’t have a CF propshaft on their car?) came to a rest in the middle of the start/finish straight, being collected by one car which lost it’s rear arch as a result. Luckily no one was hurt. The safety car was called out and the Marshals grabbed it. So after a nervous wait, it was finally time for my race (Group 1). We were caller earlier than scheduled so Lee kindly stayed on, delaying his long drive home to help with my pit stop. I got a good start from the rolling grid. This was despite the 6th place Caterham being in front of me prior to the lights going out. At one point the grid was so messy I thought the start would be aborted. I held position in fifth despite grabbing some oversteer into Redgate and again at Craners (not something I want to repeat). Annoyingly I fluffed a gear change and didn't defend well going onto the back straight and lost two places as a result. It was that close running. My pain was made worse when I just could not find third coming out of the Foggy esses. This reined my speed along the start/finish straight. Fortunately, the two cars that overtook me continued to battle and I began to reduce the gap. One caterham span having lost the back end at McCleans and I managed to get clear of him for the rest of the race. Then at the next corner, the Westfiled of the Mowbray father/son team had a coming together with a Caterham and with bodywork all other the track, both retired from the race. This was a shame for the only other Westfield in the race. They were both quick too. Surprisingly, the safety car was not called out. I soon caught the car in front and we traded places for about 6 laps. This was sevens racing at its best with very equally matched machinery and plenty of drafting on the straights. The racing was hard fought, very close at times but clean and fair. I lost one of my front wings going down Craner Curves at some point was well. Shame really as it was CF. At about 23 minutes I pitted. This went as well as could have been expected. We know from the race organisers that the minimum time you can do a pit stop is 76 seconds and I managed 79. That helped a lot - thanks Lee and Mark!. The lap after pitting was ‘exciting’ to say the least with tyres not quite up to temperature. Pitting late meant the pit lane was virtually clear and there was no traffic in the pit lane or on the track as I left. This allowed me to put in 8 consecutive laps (after the pit exit lap) in the 1.22’s with a 1.21 on my penultimate lap. That Lucozade during the pit stop really did the trick! With about 6 laps to go Mark put out the pit board. This was really helpful. The pit board said ‘Mike 14’ (my race number) ‘30’ and ‘P3’. I though great I only have 10 minutes to go as I must admit I was very worried about my fuel level (I finished with virtually no fuel but with no fuel surge either).The following pit boards said the same but this time with ‘35’ and ‘37’ and I prayed that the safety car would not come out. I know this was the time remaining/counting down but refused to believe I was in third – ‘P3’. We had not agreed to put positions on the pit board. With two laps to go I saw a Caterham approaching fast and I could just not keep him behind me. Had I just lost out on my first podium? Again, I could see cars in my mirrors on the straights and I really dug deep to keep my concentration until the chequered flag came out. I was so relieved. I went round on my cool down lap, thanking the Marshals on the way. When I came into the pits I was pointed towards the winners section, I still didn’t believe it until Mark confirmed it – I was third and took my first podium! I was over the moon. What a result, even if I was a little lucky. I was interviewed by the race commentator, but quite frankly I didn’t know what to say! Interview practice was not on my training schedule! What a race and one I won’t forget in a hurry that’s for sure. Thankfully I remembered to collect my upgrade card and with my previous 4 races plus marshalling, I now have the 6 I need to upgrade to National A next year. I ceremoniously ripped my yellow cross off the back of the car. What a great journey this season has been. It’s been such an experience and I have enjoyed every moment. I cannot wait until next year now. Thanks for reading. Mike - No. 14. (My internet at home will finally be working next week so i'll try to sort some video)

I received an Email with photobucket links from Andy at AA composites, I've posted the link to the images which hopefully find themseles below for anyone else thats interested:: http://s486.photobucket.com/user/Westfield64/media/Forum%20Products/ToThis-1.jpg.html http://s486.photobucket.com/user/Westfield64/media/Forum%20Products/RACBootcovers-1.jpg.html