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Good meeting tonight, 18 cars, don't know how many people but no sandwiches left. First to leave and cars all put away for 10.

As today is officially the Scottish summer (it isn't raining), it seemed like a perfect excuse to take the Westie to the office!

I was Westy-less for a while, but had a couple of MX-5s to play around with. I wondered if they might be able to fill the void but, they didn't really get close. As you know I ended up with a simpler, cheaper, slower Westy and I'm absolutely loving it Everyone is different I guess, but I can't see any car with a screen and doors ticking the enjoyment (broad term, I know) box enough for me. That's why I came back. I say any car because I have driven / been in a few nice things in the past and they were a proper snoozefest in comparison with a wet right elbow, a cold forehead, a set of ITBs in the right ear and an shouty exhaust note in the left! Maybe something like a GT3 RS might be different, though... Where's that lottery ticket?

Didn't he also tell you to drop the cutting deck to 20mm and pull a roller for perfect stripes.

A sad day indeed but great you got to scratch that itch and achieve a personal goal - that's what life is all about. I too have a Porsche itch, I really want a 911 50th Anniversary - that's pretty much my dream car, but have been willing to settle for a 996 Carrera 4. I've been looking at those for a year now and prices are definitely on the rise. A nice early 911T would be lovely too! We have a MK1 mx5 as our sunny day fun car and bang for buck wise it's incredible. I wouldn't mind replacing it with a Boxster though, a 2.7 is around the £3k mark now and an S can be had for not a lot more. I'm thinking that might be the least expensive way to scratch the itch. Whatever you do, keep us informed! As I'm thinking about my life beyond westy ownership I'm really intrigued to hear what you do next.

Over the past 5 years or so a European trip have been completed. This year is no exception so we @marcusb with Nakki and @Terryathome with Caroline are at it again. Cars will be, Marcus in his FW 2.0L Zetec powered blue cruser complete with carbon cycle wings (hope they stay attached on this trip) and myself in FW 2.0L Mega S2000 with a slight half hood zip situation that I hope to correct before the trip. It is our intention to update this post as we go along (Wifi access permitting) with interesting and not so interesting snippets of our "Squeaky Spanners Euro Tour 2017" will explain the "Squeaky Spanners" bit in a later post as need to find the video which will enlighten you. To start with is the route. We depart on the 12th and return in the UK on the 26th August 2017 staying at 8 hotels & 1 Farmhouse. Most are 1 day stops but we do have multiple days at a few locations, the best one being a farmhouse (with pool) similar to the one in Pisa last year which was fansastico (excuse my Italian lingo) So there you have it, will update as and when we have anything to report

It's a sad day but the Westfield had to move on. I'd owned it for two years and drove about 2000 miles in it. However my health is not as good as it was and so the car isn't getting much use. I'm happy I scratched a long standing Westfield itch which started about 5 yrs ago following a passenger ride at an Asda charity day. You all seem a decent bunch of guys and gals and I hope you all continue to enjoy your cars. I know it'll tweek my heartstrings when I see one of you driving around. I just need to decide what my next toy will be - I'm thinking 997

Welcome to the club. Sure its this car.............

Yep, keep it warm at least 3 times a day

Nope you did not get unlucky, I had the same issue. A swift change of pulley size and no more issues. Although I do now run a small Denso one, ex GadgetMan , you can avoid the motorsport tax on these by buying one for a Kubota tractor. I have stated this many times only to receive feedback there is no way a diesel alternator could cope with the revs, check the part numbers is all I have to say......

or this. He even has the same front splitter

good effort but I think he would fill that too quickly. I suggest class M

yes the decline in steel prices started once he'd finished

Does this count. What have I won.

Gardner Douglas is next on my list. Not cheap but the lure of an LS engine is too much to resist.

Remember to phone the Thatcham branch for preferential Westie insurance.

Do Westfields break down? .. surely not..

I'm an AA patrol and I've allways used a centre pull round both front arms to winch up on our compact recovery trailer, but if I had to use a rope I would remove the nose cone....hope that helps....

If you google Mark Wendon posts there is a 'how to fit' a front towing point.

I have worked my way through a broad mix of cars and still own a few including the Westfields. My brother, a couple of friends and I were having this debate yesterday after Snetterton trackday which I did in the RX8. It was dry in the morning and monsoon in the afternoon. The RX8 is nicely balanced and comfortable but doesn't have much power / weight and after a few hard laps you really worry about the brakes. You will never find anything with the driving purity of the Westfield, and I know you have been unlucky in your ownership at times, they are a very cheap car to run. A track accident that would cost a few hundred quid to repair on the Westfield would probably write off the RX8. But as a road car other than odd blasts Westfields are I think limited, especially if you want to take the other half. Of the cars I have experienced (excluding more exotic stuff) I rate the Evora as the best drivers cars and if you fit comfortably Elises are a great all round car. Neither are playful but they are great to steer. I don't rate any of the BMWs I have owned / driven as the steering always feels inert. Porsches are great if you own in warranty as they seem to have many more engine problems than you might expect. TVRs are now generally over priced and don't handle well other than the latest T350 based cars We really came to the conclusion that there is not much out there new today that is lightweight (max, 1100kgs) around 250 to 300bhp, 2 seats rwd and manual. Ginetta missed the mark with the G40 I am looking forward to what the new Elise will be next year. David

If you only have a roll bar (ie not a full cage) don't use it as a tow point. A friend of mine used to work for a track day company and saw a couple of Sevens being pulled over whilst towed from the roll bar. As Chris says, whip the nosecone off and use one of the chassis members. Or fit a tow-strap

When the AA needed to get me home when cambelt snapped I removed the nosecone and had a choice of tow points. I've seen people use the roll bar on track days too!

I'll tell you when I sell it, but given I already have the replacement I feel vaguely qualified to answer. Similar to your shared MX5 I've gone for a shared RX8 cheapo track car which I co-own with Pete. It's not as fast as the Westy round track (although I managed to get within 3 and a bit seconds around Blyton Eastern, which I was pretty happy with!) but it sure is a lot of fun I'm currently undecided as to whether I'll buy a more road-focused 'second' car or just start tinkering with the Subaru more, given that my work mileage has reduced and it's no longer performing towing duties, but only time will tell. Need to sell the Westy first...!

Andrew I am very sorry to hear about your illness and best wishes for a speedy recovery. I have sent you a PM re the seats we recently sold to you. Regards David

Sorted and replied to

I do like seeing the Q9xx VAB registrations. There are a few about, mine being 900.

Sunny Weather booked! :-D

Should be able to make it too.....

Try a Land Rover parts stockist. I used some Britpart ones on my old Westfield. They are longer than the Mini ones.

Hi all, the Speed Series Facebook page is just 4 folks away from 400 followers which is brilliant! If your on here and FB and haven't already hit the 'like' button press this link, then like the page https://www.facebook.com/WSCCSpeedSeries/ Rich

Agreed. I kept killing alternators and then discovered that the pulley size on them was wrong for my max engine revs. The small Nippon Denso alternators don't like more than 18k rpm (most standard road car one are 15k max rpm) Measure your engine front pulley and then the alternator one to work out the ratio and multiply it by your max engine rpm. If it exceeds the recommended rpm for the alternator, change the of alternator pulley to bring it within the recommended maximum

Me too

Booked

I should be there

OK, just applied a security patch that included a fix for a possible XSS vulnerability (cross-site script attack) - which might account for this issue. But it could still be to do with an adSense mobile hijack as previously mentioned. So - now we have the very latest security patches to both the web server and the forum software, I suggest that anyone affected by this clears their browser cache and history on their mobile device(s). Mr Google will help you with that if you are not sure what I am talking about.