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After building 2 models of my Westfield, the first a conversion of Tamiyas Lotus 7 and a hot wheels Caterham, I have now started a Scalextric Caterham. Bought at the Silverstone Classic for a tenner I've got nothing to lose. First job is to strip it into it's component parts, then sand the louvres from the bonnet and cut the 3 style lines in. The rear wheel arches next with a piece of plastic card added to form the correct shape.

So off to Donny we go for Rounds 7 and 8 of the Welsh Sports and Saloon Car Championship. This was looking like a cracking meeting with a grid of 33 cars. However, with the understatement of the week - the weather was not looking great. Weather warnings for high winds and heavy rain were annoying accurate. Even more annoyingly, my Gazebo imploded and now I’ll have to fork out for a new one (probably more sturdy this time) at £400 odd quid. Nonetheless, it’s a circuit I love and I had my Wife and a few mates along for the craic. Quali went well enough, even if I did outbreak myself going into Goddards. No harm done though other than to my lap time for that lap. It was properly wet and so I went for a full wet set-up. No ARBs front or rear and my soft Khumos. The car performed faultlessly and my lines were not too bad having watch several Caterham wet races (off the apex at the Old Hairpin and a very late apex at Coppice). That said, I had a big moment at Coppice and thought I was going round, but with more luck than judgement, the car stayed on the black stuff. Overall, I was 9th and more importantly, first in my class. The lap times between Pole and last were 33 seconds apart with a mix of cars and driver experience/ability. This was going to be interesting... When I got back in the paddock I was running the usual checks on the car and saw my front tyres…. It looks like running these soft tyres in the dry earlier in the year (it dried up as we were held in the assembly area for an eternity) didn’t help the tread and parts of the tyre came off on track in chunks (really). Not good. Not good as the first race was looking to be even wetter than quali….and it was. The surface water running down Craner Curves was like sheet glass. Thankfully everyone behaved themselves at the start and although I lost a place to a quick BMW at the start (I had no hope of keeping that rocket behind me!) I managed to hold 9th place after the first lap. I had a bit of a shocker mid race when I want to lap one of the slower cars, the driver slowing right down to let me past going down Craners but I don’t think they realised that there were yellow flags being waved at consecutive Marshals stations. I haemorrhaged time (about 6 seconds) and this meant I could see one of my Class competitors in my mirrors. Keeping the car on the track was the priority and I managed to stay in front in the heavy rain, but I was happy to see the last lap board. I had a good dice with a BMW towards the end of the race – he was holding the biggest of slides, great to watch but I was nervous about being collected: ‘If you want to finish first, first you have to finish’ and all that. I finished 10th overall and 1st in class. Happy days. Race two was on a drying track and I opted for the semi-slicks. Despite a constant light drizzle for most of the race the heavy rain held off (not long after the race finished it hurled it down which was a pain packing the car away) so it turned out to be the right choice. I had problems even before the rolling start as I had bit of grass lodge itself under my visor. This was seriously distracting and to make things worse I then kept catching my wrist restraint on something (seat maybe). These are my pathetic racing driver excuses for not finding a gear, again (arrgghhh), at the rolling start. I lost 6 places including one to a class competitor. Still, I managed to settle down to get in some ‘ok’ lap times. I was a little worried when the drizzle started but the grip levels didn’t really diminish. I managed to pick off the places I had lost at the start and even managed to just pip the sideways BMW from race 1 over the line (it was only by 87 thousands of a second! Brilliant fun) for 8th place overall and 1st in class. I picked my battles at this meeting and bagged the results I needed, but nothing more really - I’m currently leading the Championship and there are only 4 rounds left with one round of dropped scores. Both remaining rounds are at Pembrey. Roll on the 19th of August when I’m out next. Hopefully not in the biblical wind and rain this time…… Wet, wet, wet: Enough said about this one....Lol at me putting my hands in the air in disgust! Good battle from 7 minutes Battling with a Westie - but he was just toying with me! Drag race to the line

The Craig Goch Dam in Elan Valley the water must have been 25 feet lower this year compered to September last year

For those who haven't seen my other models, here they are.

Reckon so although I seem to have a lot of other stuff going on so it depends on if I can get all my jobs done that were outstanding or cropped up at Anglesey.

Apologies if I am mis-reading this - highly likely TBH, but just in case, with a metalastic bush, the inner sleeve of the bush MUST be clamped solid in the suspension bracket and the outer sleeve MUST be a tight fit in the wishbone loop. All the compliance in the suspension is provided by the rubber of the bush, allowing the inner and outer sleeves to move relative to one another. If the bolt is letting the inner sleeve move, it will wear through the suspension bracket. A poly bush and nylon bush setup will have a loose inner sleeve, but that too needs to be solidly clamped to the suspension bracket for the same reason. With these, the suspension movement is allowed by the inner sleeve moving within the poly or nylon bush. again, apologies if I misinterpreted what you said, don’t mean to be all preachy

The drying room.

Hah, I know the feeling. There are a couple of regular sellers on there who seem to be pretty decent to be fair, but a few bogey ones as well. I definitely wouldn't be using "gift" payments on PayPal to put it plainly. That said, I've bought a few parts from that group, as has my housemate and neither of us have had any issues so far!

I was pushing that pedal real hard

A number of weeks ago, Luke and Chris from Plays - Kool commenced works to Buttercup, to ensure she will stay in good condition for the future. What has been done is not so important but I believe that the level of service that I received throughout the works needs to be known. I have been kept updated throughout and this has been through regular telephone calls, text messages and numerous photographs. Luke and Chris both kept a close eye on costs to ensure that I received value for money and I was not met with costs that I was not aware of. A number of surprises where met along the way and it was not a case of "cheapest is best" or "just get that because its in stock". They both spent the time to source parts that where within budget but also provided longevity and for this I was extremely grateful as without their close eye to the costs then this work would not have been completed so smoothly. During the works, I spent the day at Plays - Kool and I was made to feel extremely welcome and the work they had carried out was explained to me. The thing that I noticed was that all the parts that had been removed from Buttercup where all protected with sheets or bubblewrap to ensure no damage. this was also the case with Buttercup herself. Masking tape & dust sheets where visibly in use and this care to prevent any damage was evident throughout the works. During the day I was there, a "rattle" became evident on Buttercup. Luke and Chris must have been around 5 hours trying to locate the rattle and cure it. The amount of parts that came off the car was unbelievable but they both stated that the car would not leave the worksop unless it was right. During the rebuild, a number of items where found that extended the build time but both lads where working to a deadline that they wanted to achieve to meet my needs. Both lads worked an incredible amount of hours and I was still receiving update after 11.00pm one evening. BUT, the biggest thing that stands out above everything is the fact that both lads care about what they do and this is clearly evident in the way that Luke is building and runs his business. If you care about something then you really want to do your best and this has clearly been the case every step of the way. Everything that has been done to Buttercup has been so worthwhile and she drives beautifully. All the lads hard work has paid off and it clearly shows. I dont really know how to end this other to say that I am so, so happy. Here are a few pictures of some of the work in progress.

I had a spare hour at lunchtime today and the rain had stopped. So rather than start the brakes upgrade and get soaked doing it, I decided to take some more weight out. I removed rear seats, boot carpet, boot edge trim, parcel shelf, rear speakers, rear seat belts and brackets, seat brackets, rear pillar trims. That lot totted up to 33kg. Running total is now 43.25kg

- Yay - already started buying bits that I don't actually NEED Thanks for your time Ash - great to talk to someone that has been around these cars for many years - I have a funny feeling this won't be the last item I buy off you....

You too Dave. You and Gary gone both jump in my ****ter at the same time if you like...