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Tel’s Tales Blyton July weekend 2017 Well as I look back at the Friday trackday (on two track layouts) plus Saturday and Sunday sprints, it seems that absolutely everyone had a fantastic weekend of motorsport, sun, bbq, gluten free meal deal, beer, buying and selling T Shirts for charity as well as support from families and club members. There was so much happening that I apologise in advance for missing or not mentioning stuff, events, praise, insults, leg pulling, car repairs, car damage and the sprint achievements as I could only be in one place at once. It was good to see so many friends and competitors all gathered together at our own weekend organised by John Williams (and Louise) and much better due to my paddock planning with Nigel Curry (who acted all weekend as paddock marshal) enabling us all to be in the same area. I am already looking forward to the same event next year. I arrived at around 1030hrs on the Friday and things were in full swing with mainly Westfields filling the trackday which was also car testing for a few drivers. Paul Aspden was out in his nice orange car which he has up for sale and Stephen Herbert’s recently finished Westfield 1X was on display for all to drool over. Dave Cleaver was ominously running in some new slick tyres, I was bedding my new front mintex 1144 pads in by running up and down the paddock as I could not pay for the trackday (typical Yorkshireman!). John Phelps was helping daughter Charlotte diagnose their Busa’s battery charging issue which seemed to be the alternator rectifier/regulator but it seemed to sort itself out in the end. During the weekend I did have to keep asking Charlotte what else she had broken , much to her indignation. It was nice to see newcomer Simon Waterfall out in his red Westfield which he had being desperately getting ready in the last few weeks in order to take part in his first Sprint competion. He appeared to be having misfiring and starting issues in the afternoon and for some of us this turned out to be a long project of trying to trace the problem. I reckon that around twelve of us were actively swarming round the car looking at the fuel and electric system on his old crossflow engine which unusually was not covered in or leaking oil. We appeared to have fuel but the plugs were not wet. We did suspect the coil and or the main coil to distributer lead but it also had a Lumenition module fitted so there was lots that could be wrong. At around 2100hrs we had to pack in as we had to use torches to see what we were doing and as the engine started once we got a telling off as there is a noise recorder on site which is monitored. In the morning Ian Morrison (aka Gadget) rang his wife Rosie at 0800hrs Saturday and asked her to come to site and take Simon into Gainsborough to buy a new Coil and leads (it required 2 visits). Then Paul Morcom amazingly produced a matching side entry distributor cap, which are as rare as rocking horse poo, and this was fitted due to the existing one being defective. We put the newly purchased bits in during early Saturday practice but it still would not start. When we were almost at the stage of giving up, Graham Millar (aka Windy) noticed a thin black earth wire on the bulkhead held in place by a chrome self tapping screw so he prodded it and guess what …..it moved. We therefore took it off, cleaned the terminal/wire and fixed it to a bolted earth stud. We turned the key and it fired up first time. Simon’s face lit up as we got his car scrutineered and out for practice just in time. On the Friday Howard Gaskin lost his alternator belt and had to go buy another one to keep going but on the Friday night track walk eagle-eyed Steve Everall spotted an undamaged belt at the side of the track so Howard ended up with a spare. Actually the track walk was just an excuse to enjoy the evening sun and down a few beers whilst discussing approach speeds, apexes, braking points and generally talking about theoretical issues when in the end how quick you go is often down to how brave you can be and also what grip is under the car. Signing on and scrutineering was possible for many on Friday night and this was easy and appreciated by all who did that. The paddock layout meant the Westfields were all together and people seemed to like this but some single seaters had to use tarmac a bit further from the start than they would have liked. Saturday. The bright sunshine and warm weather meant that it was time to slap on the sun cream and delay getting into our fireproof babygrows! A fantastic turnout of 39 drivers in the Speed Series were entered and chasing points driving the normal circuit and on Sunday the Eastern circuit. It was interesting to note that the noise meter calibration had malfunctioned and readings were ridiculously high and even the noise scrutineer agreed something was wrong so he adjusted the readings. Dave Birch appeared to be having some problems getting his engine started but succeeded in the end. The first practice showed that the track was a bit green and lacking grip despite the previous day’s track action. Simon Waterfall was up and running in his first ever sprint and he was not put off even though he spun on his first run. Graham Frankland tried a bit too hard and put all four wheels off at Bishops and Maurici Revilla spun off after the finish line and he entertained us for most of the weekend with similar driving. He admitted later that he was trying out a new rallycross circuit using plenty of gravel and off track routes in his long suffering Westfield. Dave Cleaver emphasised how quick he was by breaking the record/target time on his first run and it was clear that close competition also existed through all the classes and in my own class G that was certainly in evidence. Timed run 1 went smoothly for most but our Spanish “rally driver” came in with no offside rear wing and wires dangling behind the car due to hitting a cone (same one I hit last year). He stopped to park up but then reversed over all the lights and puled the wires off. His wing came back in 4 parts and Adam Read helped to fix it back together with tie wraps and duct tape. John Hoyle had engine problems and he stopped on track but managed to start again and drove back to the paddock forgetting to put his helmet back on so he got a yellow card from the clerk of the course (bad lad!) He traced the problem to a loose lead on the battery and was back in action again. Mark Anson was taking part in his first competition with his latest single seater Jedi which developed a slipping clutch in his early runs. It turned out to be an easy fix when diagnosed as a rubber seal in the clutch master cylinder was inserted the wrong way round. Nick Algar in the DJ Firehawk had gearbox failure again and despite Luke bringing spare parts it could not be fixed. He gladly accepted a double drive in Pete Goldings Ecoboost. T2 took place after lunch and saw John Loudon with 4 wheels off, I got a rerun by catching a car with a loose bonnet but I had to queue for the rerun so in my opinion my tyres were cold. However, it was my fastest run! Mike West appeared to have a broken engine mount but found a welder and fixed it on site. Matt Turner was having gear change issues and Del and Gary had a misfire that was a suspect TPS or the traction control setting/sensors. T3 saw Jason Brown going well but he had a gear shift problem that he was trying to cure, Paul Dew (aka Tigger) had a hairy moment at The Wriggler chicane and went straight on rather than revisit the field he ploughed last year. Interestingly Matt Hillam made the top 12 British Sprint run off even though he was double driving Keith Adam’s car. So, in summary, Dave Cleaver wiped the floor with everyone and set a new class record with 62.21 secs with other class winners as follows: A1 Adam Read 69.23 B2 Maurici Revilla 68.68 C Craig Spooner 71.20 D Martin Harvey 68.57 F John Hoyle 65.08 G Terry Everall 64.89 H Dave Cleaver 62.21 Novices A1 Dave Richings 73.94 B1 Steve Carpenter 70.04 C Jason Brown 71.55 F David Birch 71.51 Sunday Most drivers seemed to have recovered from the previous night’s BBQ, beer and wine ( the Marlbec and Merlot red wine provided by Paul Morcom and Martin Harvey at Del’s camper was delightful and not much was left at the end of the night) Today’s track was going to be a different challenge with only a few drivers ever having driven it and the trackwalk had highlighted some tricky areas, particularly for braking as well as the very twisty first sections. It was hoped that today the people having issues with loose alternators would have trouble free runs. P1 saw Matt Turner going very quickly as he had driven this layout before but once again Dave Cleaver banged in a time of 66.58 secs that was not much slower than the Gould single seater car. Keith Adams also had a DNF along with Adam Read. P2 Maurici threw it into the gravel again and DNF but maybe he was trying out a new line? John Loudon spun after the finish, Mick Skidmore had all 4 wheels off at Bishops and. Andy Hargreaves who has ventured into class G was going great on 3 year old slick and was well as being on the pace in his Yamaha R1 car. John Loudon and Matt Turner were both having gearshift problems to deal with. Due to the 120 cars it was taking quite a time to complete runs and this was not helped by the number of offs which deposited gravel on the track, so it was looking like we would only get 2 runs and therefore they had to count. T1 John Hoyle posted a good time but his offside rear wing took a battering but luckily he had not repaired it since his last altercation with a track cone. John Loudon was trying too hard at Bishops and had a spin whilst Paul Dew seemed to be having a problem with braking. It turned out that “somebody” must have forgotten to insert the little R clip retainers for the 2 pins that hold the pads in place. Luckily he still had 2 so just use one on each wheel which seemed to work fine. Steve Carpenter was judged to have had wheels off the track and got a DNF which was made much worse as the same happened on his last run. T2 Dave Cleaver found an oil leak on his dry sump tank so decided not to take his last run. Maurici also decide that his car and tyres could not take any more abuse so he also DNS. Matt Turner spun at the chicane suffering from “tryingtooharditis”and this contagious illness had spread to his mate Andy Hargreaves as he threw it off at the finish and also had a DNF. Despite his gearbox Jason Brown was flying and recorded a great time which would have won our class C outright. Fastest times A2 Adam Read 75.37 B2 Maurici Revilla 89.55 C Simon Broadbridge 77.74 D Martin Harvey 73.11 F John Hoyle 69.43 G Matt Turner 69.61 H Dave Cleaver 66.02 Novice B1 Roz Kennett 84.39 C Jason Brown 76.44 F David Birch 78.66 My highlights were Dave Cleaver’s awesome times on both days, my battle with the guys in class G who are all quick, Jason Brown’s Sunday result, Steve Carpenter and Roz Kennett’s £175 engine that goes great and has now done several events, Simon Waterfall’s efforts/enthusiasm and members support to get him running on Saturday, warm dry weather, the Westfield crowd craic and the BBQ Thanks to all for the organisation and friendly atmosphere and I am looking forward to next year already. Terry Everall Class G Competitor

John just pinged me he's only 5 miles from home, before he left we couldn't resist a patriotic team photo. Almost red, almost white and definitely blue

I can't believe I've been 'stood up' by two AO's It's only a bit of cloud sweat ! i was the only Westie there luckily the MEV guys are a friendly bunch! Even their designer comes to their annual track day ! i tried to 'fly the Westfield' flag though I'd been poorly equipped by the absent AO's anyway the 'show must go on' and the Peak District was driven through Even buzzed past here:

Currently on the A458 just past Cressage. About 60 miles to go. Can't believe the number if waves, camera phone pics and shouts he generates. He's not easy to do long trips in, but he's fun..!

It's sunny in France..

Nice to see a happy ending and yet another example of what makes the WSCC such a fine club - well done all.

Home..! And will go to sleep with a grin on my face for sure. Totally knackered but happy. 130 miles and he didn't miss a beat. Epic car Grizz and BBill are good lads...!

Great job chaps. I can guess John has the buzz again by the time he gets home !

The MEV's are terrible in the wet! It's spin city It may have cured Glen's affliction

Nice one Geoffery, The music didn't spoil it one bit, but I did turn it down a little. Already planning our third trip next year. Wouldn't mind some of that blue stuff for the trip, got very wet this year, but thoroughly enjoyed every mile. John.

So after a hearty breakfast we left Taunton for Exmoor taking in Dunkery Beacon, the highest point in Somerset and not a bad single track road with a few twist and turns. We stopped for a brew in Exford, theres a national trust car park and loos. It was then on to the coastal towns of Coombe Martin, Illfracombe with ice cream, Gail had clotted cream on her ice cream and was in heaven, Woolacombe was next and then a refuel at Barnstable before joining the Atlantic highway(A39) and we soon got bored of that A road so headed for the coastal roads to Bude and the Heritage coast, single track, grass growing in the middle, 30% gradients, hairpins, blind crests, blind corners, we were smiling again. Particularly the road from Widemouth bay to Crackington Haven. The biggest problem so far has been all the cider farms I have had to pass as no room for a gallon or 2 on board this vessel! It was then the B3263 via Boscastle to our bed for the night in Tintagel, we've not seen Merlin yet but you never know. Our country continues to surprise us and make us smile, some of the views we can't try to explain. You need to try it yourself one day if you get the chance.

And I'm trecking up on the train to get him on Saturday, going to be hard to sleep, like being a kid at Christmas all over again..!

Mr Grumpy, enjoying the sunshine after passing his mot with no advisories.

This is a brilliant road on the West Coast of Scotland. You just keep climbing up and up and up. Brilliant views throughout on this single track road. There are a number of hairpin bends just before the summit and these are great fun. Plenty of parking at the top and don't forget a pair of pocket binoculars. Just be aware that it can be sunny at the bottom but not at the top so its best to have something warm and waterproof with you....just in case. Here is a little video that shows sections of the road but it doesn't show the fantastic views . Sorry about the music. It may not be everyones "cup of tea."

Today started after another hearty breakfast with a walk it Tintagel Castle, this reminded us we prefer driving not walking so back to Westy it was. We took B roads via Slaughter Bridge past the old air field to north of Bodmin moor. Unfortunately the A30 is the only real choice to Bodmin itself but we wanted to go via Jamaica Inn so needs must, we did manage a bit off piste to stop all the dual carriageway. It was then on to Bodmin Jail, we found it brill and well worth a stop, indeed 2 hours soon passed. Next it was on to Padstein!, Porthcothan, Mawgan Porth and Newquay for brew and wee stop again. Next were Portreath, Gwithian, Hayle and another stop by St Ives. Next was the B3306 to St Just, "The best road in Cornwall" proboly. It was then on for our final photo opurtunity at Lands End when we had our last picture taken 27 years ago on our honeymoon, time flies I guess. It was the a short final trip to Mousehole were we rest tonight

Brilliant write up Terry and thank you for the kind mentions! Impressive amount of detail in there, not sure how you remember it all what with competing too. For those who couldn't attend, the event really was THIS good. The best weekend sprint event I've attended, definitely.

Oops. Most of that will t-cut out

Well it's a good job that we have got @IanK holding the fort in the Peak District, and what fabulous pictures too, even a flash of hairy leg! Nice Mk1 parked next to you. Our plan was to pick up the M6 North from The Lazy Trout but, instead, we sat tight until the worst of the rain had passed. We took the A1/A66 route instead and got a few spots of rain on the A1. The high ground A66, where you would expect rain, was dry and even a bit sunny. Roof on, packed to the rafters, I am sure we only go to the Lake District so we can call in at the Llama cafe, their Paradise Slice is to die for. If anyone is at The Filling Station Cafe, Keswick 4pm tomorrow afternoon please send me a text and we will meet you there. Otherwise see you at The Ashover Car Show next Sunday, hairy legs welcome.

Bit of a Q there.

It was a mini meet - old school style Wonder how long it will take the property prices to recover on his street..?

No problems found! Though I did make a school boy error of wearing a pair of new shoes I bought as an alternative to race boots - they need a bit of wearing in, so I keep grabbing any opportunity I can. Was a bit odd driving in new shoes, but that's down to me, not the car They'd fitted another throttle cable too, after noticing the old one had got stiff as well. I'm going to have to do something about it's alignment, before this one starts with the problem.

Judging by the look in his face after he went for a prelim spin round the block, I would say so too

Good fun day despite my argument with the plastic barriers

Didn't know you were going Ian, or I'd have come down, ended up going for a short run out later on, before the rain closed in again.

See you at the Red Kite - weather permitting as per usual!

or do the autoslappen car train like we did last year - Dusseldorf to Verona , Italy overnight

Your wood must be in pretty poor condition if if needs support...have your worn out your wood? Maybe you can get a discount if you also buy a lumbar support for your back at the same time. Just sayin'.

Yes please Ian, that would be great

Hope it goes well JK and you have many hours of fun with MR Grump.... well done to the lads for getting it up and running again....what a fantastic gesture. Mart.

I already have the cage John so I'm OK there

@RussH 3 are date code 1016 1 is 0516

Yes, there should be me and a couple of others.. the usual bunch.

If Tim doesn't have these I would be willing to buy them and can pick up/ pay cash on Wednesday 19th as I'm in the Leeds area. Ian

BTW they do two sizes make sure you get the 36 X 30 cm one as I think the larger one will be too big for our seat's

The road to Crackington Haven is fantastic with the 30% hill in Millook! I've cycled up it a few times and have never found a hill over hear or the Alps to get near it. Let me know when you're heading back towards Devon as you will probably be passing very close by and I'll keep my eyes peeled. John

Beef

I have the WSCC feather banner now and will display it when I pitch up

the whole speed series classes and MSA licensing does look a bit daunting to a newcomer but the good news is that it really is not that bad once you get used to it and there is lots of help. The WSCC speed series is probably the must supportive and friendly club series that exists. Basically if you have a normal road going westfield you have 99% of what you need. There are some minor things like labelling tow point and ignition etc that have been mentioned above that you can sort easily. The main change that has come in recently is ROPS or in plain English roll over protection. You must have either the MSA (not RAC) roll hoop with welded rear stays for example as supplied by the factory and made by Caged or supplied by Playskool or you must have a cage. Again the factory via caged and playschool supply homologated cages. If you go a different route you need to check carefully that it meets the spec set out in the MSA blue book. Clothing is easy ... correct spec overalls, helmet and gloves. Shoes don't matter If in a higher class (1C super soft tyres or sequential box . also bike engine ) you will need HANS MSA entry is easy you just need a non race B licence that you apply for online around November. I would pick a first event where you know there will be a few club members entered to help you on the day with any questions etc. David

Actually Barny is not quite correct. If the car is presented for scrutineering (to run in Mod Prods class) running list 1C tyres in a compliant road legal condition with MOT ,tax and Insurance you do not need a MSA logbook/passport. However you could get it logbooked and save MOT, tax Insurance etc so long as you don't run the car on the road and do not want to enter a Road Legal class on the day. If its on slicks you do need the Logbook

I think it's more people don't have standards anymore. I work In an engineering environment where people swear a lot. Including one guy who uses the C-bomb as a term of endearment. But I have been brought up to know that it's not to be done at home or in front of my kids. Yes the kids hear the language in the playground but we've installed into them it's not to be repeated. We as parents have laid down the standards of behaviour. Lots of parents now a days don't do this and expect the kids to learn how to behave from their ipads or Xboxes. We were recently on a 5hr flight home from holiday and there was a kid probably around 4-5 year old. He was running the length of the aircraft the whole flight the crew were tripping over him and asked for him to be returned to his seat at least 3 times. He then found a new game by pressing everyones tv screens as he passed. My 5 year old daughter was sat open mouthed at this kids behaviour. The dad was sat with headphones on the whole time whilst mum was mixing her own vodka and cokes and proceeding to get smashed. I actually felt sorry for the nipper in the end despite his hugely annoying behaviour. What chance does he have.

I think there is a difference in swearing as an adjective and swearing at somebody. I swear at things a lot, an effing lot, my dad says I swear "like a blind cobbler" and my language last weekend whilst trying to wire in a 13a socket into a restrictive alcove was biblically bad. But IMHO there is a difference between "you ****** ****ing socket, get in the ****ing gap you ****, Oww, you mother ****er, **** the blood is dripping on the mdf, **** , please get me a ****ing plaster" And "you are a **** "

Richard from Omex dropped the car back this evening, so I can stop staring at an empty spot of drive again, and more to the point will be able to get my short, fat hairy legs over there!

Here you go the page you need http://www.burtonpower.com/tuning-guides/tuning-guide-pages/ford-manufacture-dates.html

I swore once in front of my Dad when I was young, by accident, I'd just hurt my self helping fix a fence in the garden. He stopped, put his tools down, came checked I was al OK, assured me that yes, the finger I'd just hit with a piece of 2"x3" would have a nasty bruise in the morning, but no wasn't broken, and I would be ok. Then gave me a thick ear for swearing. A few years later, helping him change a tyre on the car, he slipped with a wheel wrench, gashed his hand badly and swore like the Merchant Navy seaman he'd been during the war! He stopped himself very quickly, realising I was staring at him open mouthed. He hadn't even checked his hand at this point, but just looked straight at me and apologised for the language, then told me if I ever used those words and wasn't at least bleeding on the ground, I would be when he found out. Bue from an early age, you were taught there was a time and a place for somethings.

I work in a factory where swearing is the norm, and yes me included, but it stops when I get home and mostly when I'm out too, although the odd one does pop out from time to time. I don't do it in front of my 23 and 19 year old children, they probably use it more than me, in fact, I only remember my dad, who was in the RAF and worked in industry all his life use the F word twice.

Good point... He was Red when I put him on the trailer...

b******d. Adding a Spanish flavour to the weekend with a siesta! @maurici

OK.... Sunday afternoon, it was time to put the nose cone and bonnet on and see if the “new” gearbox was any better than the old one, lets face it, if it had even the slightest hint of sync on 2nd gear it would be an improvement on the old one. On starting him up we could hear a rattling sound which had been present since we first started him up following the gearbox swap. Obviously any metallic rattling sound is not desirable, and after investigation we had no idea where the sound was coming from engine/gearbox, top/bottom so decided we had no choice other than take him out and drive him and see what happens. @bollockybill chickened out and I was given the task of a short road test to make sure we could get him to the MOT station come Wednesday morning. Reversing out of the drive the rattle seemed to come and go, just as it had when we previously ran the engine. So into the Cul-de-Sac 1st gear nice, clutch in 2nd gear BANG… what was that? Engine is still running and we still had drive, oil pressure etc! Turn around and head back to BB’s gaff, 1st nice, clutch in 2nd BANG really made me jump this time it was so loud I missed the gear and thought that the ‘box was busted, but it was fine turned into BB’s driveway and noticed that the rattle had gone. What was the bang? asked BB, no idea but the rattling has stopped, all four gears were working fine shifting smoothly up and down the ‘box. Looked under the car nothing broken and no oil dripping from anything… I know what you’re thinking, yes it is a Xflow Good it must be time for tea so BB headed for the kettle and I went for a walk along the Cul-de-sac to see if there was anything there, oil etc. Standing upright in the middle of the road, chewed up and spat out by Mr. Grumpy, was a very black and oily 13mm socket, the very same socket that had been missing from BB’s set for the past few weeks. We can only guess that it was hiding somewhere inside the bell housing even though we had looked in there using a Bore Scope on both sides of the flywheel. How it got in there is also a mystery as there are no 13mm nuts/bolts inside that we could have left it on. Ooops!