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Here’s a clip of our westy on a photo shoot up at Inverness, enjoy

Like a kid counting down to Christmas, this race meeting could not come round quick enough. I had been over thinking the championship and really trying to get my fitness up, I just wanted to get out there and was chomping at the bit! This was the penultimate meeting of 2018 with the Welsh Sport and Saloon Car Championship. I had to book a different hotel to the one I usually get and although an ok place, it did smell damp in the room and my mate again, snored like a trooper. The ear plugs just didn’t sit right in my ears and I got another crap night’s sleep. Still I’m used to that now and several cups of tea, Lucozade and a healthy dose of adrenaline sorted out the tiredness. Overnight it was very windy and wet. Thankfully the new gazebo (Rock Awnings) held up. I got to the track in drizzle and an uncertain forecast…..after the biblical weather at Donny I wanted summer to return! The grid was down to 14 as a few cars had either crashed or had major failures since the last meeting. This suited me fine as I had enough in my class for a potential maximum points and it gave me lots of space to set a quick one in quali. I was mucho surprised though when I got back to the pits to find out I was on the front row. I thought my mate was taking the mickey (he does that a lot….). P2 was my best ever quali result and for sure down to the wet. Now I wanted it to rain all day so then the sun came out….. The start of race 1 was playing on my mind as I had two powerful cars on the row behind and I had no hope of holding them back. I opted for the don’t change position and let them past as this was least risk (neither were in my class). This worked but I did end up in a Caterham sandwich approaching the first corner. I tried to outbreak one car round the first corner but didn’t quite get it done and held 4th. Just as I was looking to get a good run out of the 3rd corner I got caught unaware by one of the Class CT cars (he was really, really close to my car) and in taking evasive action, ended up on the grass (he apologised after the race). It was a proper heart-stopping moment as the grass was sodden. This can mean you end up either spinning or the car digging in….I backed out of the throttle and got away with it, just managing to hold off 5th place. I quickly got the space back and finished 4th overall, which was what I was hoping for and more importantly 1st in class. Race 2 was less interesting and mostly uneventful to be honest. One of the chasing pack span at the first hairpin and caused bedlam as about 10 cars had to go round a stationary car. I focused on getting the car home but I had also set myself a target. The class lap record was just a tenth of my fastest lap from race 1 and I manage to just dip under it on lap 14 of 16, despite my mate waving to tell me to slow down and think about the points. I finished 4th again and 1st in class once more. All these points mean I can now officially call myself the Welsh Sports and Saloon Car Champion for 2018. I’m a very happy racing driver! Thanks for reading. Vids to follow tonight. Mike Pic of the close moment in Race 1 (yep...that's literally about 3 inches away!) -

Haha. Its certainly looking that way now They don't do them them selves they go back to the manufacturers Sparco in Italy and i think there lies the problem. Its only just 2 years old and wasn't used last year at all so wasn't very impressed that the strap was falling apart. Perhaps i should have known better with Italian build quality I am all sorted now thanks to a kind donor (in fact 2 now) so will be out at the weekend. Many thanks to all that offered help and made suggestions. Its a great club and shows what the Speed series is all about

Hi , I'm Darren from Burton On Trent in the Midlands. 20 years ago I built a Speed Sport (modular build , all new parts) , this was my first proper sports car. Since then i've had many different cars including a couple of Elises, TVR, Caterham even an old Ferrari + others. I decided its time to build another Kit (one to keep forever this time) , either a Westfield or a Caterham. Whilst I fancied a Caterham, when I priced it up I just couldn't justify the cost (a fairly low spec car would have been 32K) I spoke to Westfield and wanted something like a 1600 sigma on throttle bodies but that has now been dropped, and the only new kit options are Zetec (which I've done before but this time I wanted to try something different) or a Turbo powered Car which wasn't what I was looking for. I saw a used Sigma powered car for sale at a local dealer and though i'd have a look, it was a nice car but it just didn't get me excited. Whilst looking around he had a duratec car in from the IOM (it wasn't actually for sale), this needed some work as it will need IVA etc, I sat in the car and was instantly sold. So deposit down and car coming next week, I'll need some tech help from the forum to help get the car through the IVA. Its very pretty and built to a very high standard, but will need bits swapping etc for the IVA. Picture is in their showroom.

Quite a few of us will be competing. Matthew Haynes. Howard Gaskin, Steve and Terry Everall, Garry Bunn, Derek Hodder, myself and probably someone else who I have unintentionally missed

Just googled "grinder" looking for breakdown cover , amongst hundreds of results including pshyco's , porno's , anglegrinders etc . none of which had anything to do with car beakdown recovery I found this little gem ... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5498939/Furious-driver-cuts-corner-car-park-Russia.html

As I live only a few miles away, I have a bit of local knowledge (more focussed on pubs than cake shops, but I'm happy to expand my horizons) I have a possible "sugary" location just five minutes from Curborough - drop me a PM if you haven't already sorted somewhere

So after breakfast this morning we all decided today was pass day I had googled the best 5 Swiss passes and the closest is Susten pass. Cars are in an underground car park at this hotel and when me and Nakki went down Terry and Caroline were already outside, the day had not started well for Terry - Caroline said tell Marcus what you have done! Now he could have tried to pull the wool over my eyes saying he lost the back end in a hair pin and just clipped the barrier on full opposite lock etc etc but I wouldn't have believed him so he just owned up and told us he had reversed into the hotel wall I told him it might buff out but then my finger went through the hole lol! Susten pass was amazing we went over then back again on the reverse route, got some good pics and vid footage. It's over 30 degrees at the base but quite a bit cooler when you are on the tops. Terrys says he's developed a misfire but might just have been the heat / inclines today so we'll see what it's like tomorrow. Called in at Lidl on the way back for supplies which has become a bit of a holiday tradition

Nice view from the balcony this morning overlooking lake Lucerne

A cracking morning out on Sunday - the sun made a perfect appearance despite forecast of showers... Enjoy

Congrats

Redcastle by North Kessock. Not been along that road for a long time. Love the drone footage.

Just uploaded Bagpuss.

Nice camera work.

Pete is the 3rd owner on the IOM according to the registration document. I will contact him later if I need to.

Having weighted up that comment I feel it to be a bridge too far

Today has been a non westy day, after filling up with the breakfast buffet we travelled to Lucerne by boat from our hotel in Weggis which is at the other side of the lake Lucerne is a lovely place with lots of history to explore. I visited "the oldest knife shop in town" for some Swiss Army knife goodies. One thing about Switzerland is it is expensive I've run out of Swiss francs today so ime now sponging off @Terryathome which is hard work cos he's a tight Lancashire git

‘Cause you’d been rubbing them too much

@Quinten Uijldert - Northants AO no problem and thanks for sharing

@WINGNUT apologies for the delay. Only remembered again when I had to fill up this morning You can see (just about) the exit of the hole inside the recess. I can't actually show you the entry hole as it is somewhat hidden on the lifting tab. If you disassemble the cap it should be straight forward to see. It's only aluminium so easy to drill with the smallest drill you have.

Doesn't look like you can

Great to hear you've found an engine. Sure you'll enjoy the WF experience. It's a marvellous way to keep your bank account empty, but a big smile on your face . Highly recommend a build thread, it's a good way to tap into a wealth of experience. Helped me immensely on my build. Best of luck.

The proposed change is actually.... (S)11.2. Cars must compete in an event in a road legal condition with a valid MOT. NB John's paste of the text from the MSA website didn't bring with it the "strike through". My view is that this is an inappropriate change as an MOTC is only a snapshot of compliance on the day of the MOTC and not the ongoing condition of the car. Local event regs have supplemented the MSA Regs with the addition of the need to have valid tax, insurance and motc for road going classes but the scrutineers also look for other "road legal" aspects of a car. We have seen competitors fail scrutineering with no Registration Plate on the front, bald tyres, tyres that extended beyond the wheel arches. All sorted out on the day but shows that some scrutineers did look further than only the paper work. When the requirement to display a tax disk was introduced a few years ago we were also told at some events that cars would be checked for valid tax via the DVLA website. So IMHO reducing the MSA regs to "with a valid MOTC" simply opens the Road Going classes to abuses from some competitors with unsporting changes to their cars after the MOT. I think the "road legal condition" is appropriate for road going classes as it includes tax, insurance and motc plus a load of other considerations that a scrutineer could use to ensure the class rules are not being abused.

I must get me one of those!!

I may come over and have a look if the weather's ok

This may...???...!!! be a goer. Also possible in tow maybe an S2000.

Hi Guys, So I put a deposit down with the wreckers in Sydney today for the engine and gearbox. Looks like this is the beginning of the beginning! So I will be getting the engine and gearbox, and the guy told me to put a list together of all the extra hoses, wires, shafts, etc that I want as well. So I have asked for the handbrake and the prop shaft, is there anything else you guys know of that I will need from the donor car? I am still reading through the build threads when I get a chance and am getting lots of info from them, but anything you can think of off the top of your head would be great. And I went back to the factory today to show my dad the cars too, and he had a ball! The guys there said that the dry sump kit was only to satisfy the 100mm ride height restriction in Western Australia. Apparently they only know of 2 guys who have built MegaS2000's in W.A, and they are going to put me in touch with one who is very helpful. Hopefully he can tell me all the troubles he had with getting it registered here in W.A.

And the rest - sorry about the quality, as there are so many I've had to shrink them somewhat! I have some higher quality versions if anyone wants one in particular. Dave

Hahahahaha I attempted a photo but it didn't load. Will try again

Wasp removal all part of the service. A great day out. Thanks Jeff.

You spelt Abarth wrong lol. we bought a new one last year. The wife loves it.