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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

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.

Well done Dave for organising this, and well done all who turned up (some of you many miles) and made it such a success. It brought a smile to my face to see so many Westfields in the car park .

Happy Birthday Marcus have a good one.. that Dark Dog works wonders thought you were still a teenager Steve & Elena

Happy birthday from Glen and Julie

eedjit

Test drive went with no hitches. In fact it was better than alright, it was dam marvelous. The diff is so much quieter, Barra Motorsports done a fine job. Now to get the luggage rack on

Don't forget to consider that there are many more great cars than great car clubs though... That might be important too (it has been for me)

Hi Alex, I'll have it please. I'll PM you my address etc..

Either way he's still going to woop my A*** Andrew! Looking forward to this one in any event.

unbelievable! Westys at a westy meet??

It's all relative of course but a griff / chimera / tuscan are not easy cars to pedal along a bumpy country road. If I get out of the Evora and jump into the Tuscan (which had new dampers and was corner weighted and aligned at NMS) the difference in compliance is pretty stark. The Tuscan is well known for bump steer and some owners raised the rack mounting point to try and cure. T350 / Tamora / Sagaris family was the first modern TVR where this was sorted. I have never driven a cerbera so can't comment on them.

Must admit that I've had 3 Westies now and although the demise of the first one was definitely unplanned, I've always come to the conclusion that, personally, I can't find anything that beats a Westie for the combination of performance, ease of maintenance, parts availability, running costs, camaraderie from fellow owners and, probably most importantly, outright fun. During the periods I haven't owned one, I've always regretted it. I did try restoring/running a Mk1 MX5 and enjoyed it but apart from being drier when it rained, it didn't come close to the Westie in any other department (for me anyway). Mine is mostly used on the road nowadays (although not as much as I'd like) and I can't see me moving to anything else through choice until I'm physically not able to get in and out of it! Matt

Having sold my XI in 2014 I bought an Ultima GTR. Having had it 3 years it is now (hopefully) sold and I am now looking for another toy. The handling of the XI is what I miss most, it certainly was not the quickest car on track but I had more fun than you can shake a stick at. Almost 100bhp from a leaky A Series, skinny hard tyres and laughable grip, but the balance was amazing. I could throw the car into a corner, the front would turn in and the rear could be steered easily with the right foot. Throw it in a bit harder and it would 4 wheel drift nicely for as long as you wanted to get round the corner. I want something that will do the same, I could go back to an XI but I fancy a bit more power, so maybe a Caterham (especially if I stay a member of the WSCC as it will cause the heritage beards to implode!)

Many Happy Returns Marcus, have a great Birthday!

We can celebrate with a few beers on the trip, that should sort you out

Looks like it will be sunny so might attend in a Westfield for the first time in ages.

Having lived thru the 1962 Cuban missile crisis (USA v USSR) and the Cold War I'm not worried about the bad-haired kids shouting at each other and the only real possibility of it kicking off IMO is if, as an act of bravado, NK launches a missile at Guam to land in the sea but it goes off course and hits the island--can't be sure of the NK rockets accuracy but those destined for the sea won't contain explosives. I recently read NK is now supposed to have ICBMs capable of reaching Western Europe--do I smell a dodgy dossier here? Politicians and armaments manufacturers need a bogeyman to frighten the public and justify huge public expenditure. With China having fought with NK in the 1950s Korean war can we really believe they would like to see a unified Korea being part of NATO and with US missiles on China's doorstep? --not IMO. I reckon China signing the sanctions against NK was simply to avoid being the bad guy and having sanctions against themselves and likely trade will continue pretty much as normal. The worried may stock up on Potassium Iodide pills in case a radioactive cloud blows over. My advice is don't shorten your telomeres by worrying.

Many happy returns and yes have a safe trip and a GREAT trip too.

Happy birthday Marcus, av a gud un'

Happy Birthday Dark Dog

MHR

Happy birthday Marcus, enjoy the day and have a fantastic, safe trip next week.

Happy birthday Marcus, have a good day and a great trip next week.

Have a grand Birthday

Happy Birthday Marcus.

Sat in my garage is a Lotus +2 awaiting a start, or selling. I love the Westfield but they are limited if you want some form of comfort and as age creeps up it is something to bear in mind. Also a track day in the wet is not a great day in a Westfield lets be honest. I like building things and so far the list has been a Chesil, doors heater hood wind up windows (but slow). The new Ferrari replica but at £60-70k finished a huge chunk but I reckon with everything in a sub £20k lotus will fill the bill with a Spyder chassis and Zetec engine. It would be perfect for touring and handling wise better than most. But even at that you would get a nice Boxster which will do everything. Time will tell but to me nothing is like a Westfield and I hope to have one for a long time.

BIG THANKS ALL for making it a grand nights WSCC meet. 18 plus couple of MX5s and some tin tops, with around 30 people.

Hooray, there is someone else out there that has not got a party lifestyle like some @Trevturtle @Ali and Gail Alright then Chris, we will look out for you cruising up and down Matlock Bath weather forecast is good at the moment too!

Do Westfields break down? .. surely not..

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?

Thanks guys, Billypee and Adgec it would be great to see your cars at some point. If there is any southwest kit car gatherings then please let me know and I will try and come along. Not going to be driving mine for a while.. But I'll start a build thread soon.

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

T - 48 hrs and @Terryathome has decided to change his diff