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I've recently discovered the live location feature in Whatsapp and tested it last weekend on a blat into the peaks led by @Julie Hall - AO Representative, Peak District AO (as she'd whimped out and chose a Mazda for the drive, I had time to play). I was second place in the convoy and @Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary was towards the rear in his 'Hill Billy Monster Truck'. Dave and I started a Whatsapp chat before the run and both enable share live location with each other (you can chose a time period to suit from 15 mins to 8 Hours (you can cancel it later, if you don't what to be followed home!). The screen shots below are from an Iphone though I'm sure an Android phone would be similar: Then select 'Share live location' Any of the people in the chat (can be two people or higher), can then click on the live location link they will receive and a map will show their location and the others in the chat. Here's a typical screen shot showing Me and Dave a few hundred metres behind. The map will scroll as you drive based on which ever circle you clicked on. Here's a video of us driving through a couple of roundabouts in Ashbourne Here's anothe video where Dave's car is in focus and the map scrolls to keep him in view. Have a play with it (obviously safely and with the phone fixed to the car)! I think it will really help the lead car see where are the others are and also allow any that get lost/seperated to catch up. It doesn't use lots of data but does need a phone signal to work, which isn't guaranteeed UK wide and a in lot of the Peaks!

Well today was planned to be a visit during the Xmas break. But a combination of rubbish weather , a re-occurring cold which I felt I would be more than embarrassed if I passed it on , young family duties ( not me anymore hurrah !) , eventually I got to meet half of my area organiser Tim. He is a whole person and glad to say I managed to get there today. Sadly , although the weather looked promising , I chickened out and took the family wagon. Which actually was wise, with the heavy rain, snow and hail that would have caught me out on the way home. So, today , may I introduce Tim Reid After a brew and what seemed like an assault course that anyone with feet bigger than a 10, you would not find a standing place in the garage . Tim is on his way through his engine change from a 2 ltr Zetec black top to a ecoboost 1600. Some might think this as a bit of a loss of capacity being wrong to do, but the ecoboost is the new toy on the (engine) block. The transplant is far from straight forward, with more sensors and fly by wire controls than you could shake a stick at. Really not for the feint hearted and I take my hat of to him of basically starting again with this, the Mk3 incarnation of the car. So Tim, as the usual way , I have some jotted down questions and this time I had more than 30 seconds to think them up. Occupation ? I am a telecoms Project Manager Why did you buy a Westfield ? Its a long story , but I actually started looking at Tiger cars . They seemed a sensible car to buy , but looking into it they were pretty agricultural with their car designs and finish, so I dismissed them. I then saw Caterhams and Westfields and knowing that both cars had been crash tested ( including local members doing it without factory knowledge !) gave me a sense of design and construction safety being put into the cars. Caterhams were out of the financial league, so a Westfield soon appeared. What came first , the car or the club membership ? The car came first and the club soon after How long have you been in the club ? I have been in the club now for 11 years How long have you been an area organiser? I have been here with Steve Thorne for 10 years after we took the reins from Adam Reeves ( remember him ?) Why change a perfectly good Zetec engine ? Well, I have had the car for 11 years now and after blowing one engine and always enjoying the tinkering, I thought about a big change. This is the Mk3 version of this car , from being a factory built car (Mk1) , to buying from it first owner as a standard car. Blowing it up and replacing the engine and suspension and loosing weight (mk2) it was time to make it a bit more sprightly . With doing various driver training days I found a level that was only going to get better/ more enjoyable to look into a major engine transplant. Carbon Fibre ? Oh yes, see over there, that shelf, is full of carbon parts ready to go onto the car when the time is right . I also have diffusers and actually skin my own parts in carbon , which looks very smart. Was the engine change in budget? After hysterical laughter and picking himself off the floor, Tim said. No, its not !! But actually its not too far away from where I financially expected it to be. What helped me out , getting round the financial controller ( wont say too much, incase Ruth does read this !! ) but selling all the parts first from the strip down , sort of built up the bank balance before I started buying things. It seemed to work pretty well but I am now in negative , as that monies gone and now wait for paydays ( like us all !!) Time frame for Completion ? I was planning a year to get the car finished and with all the chassis work taking longer to modify than expected and actually deciding to do all the electrics and electronics myself than farming that bit out , I am 18 months in so far and want to really finish before Stoneleigh , or the Thames Valley Orienteering event or ............well, the summer ............maybe. I do miss driving the car, but I really enjoy just spending time in the garage just tinkering and making progress with something. Whether its mechanical or electrical. the electrics in the beginning daunted me , but I know every wire colour and location now , so adding relays to the original loom , so I can fit push buttons on the dash and variable back lighting is quite in depth but well within my scope now I am the point of no return ! What do you do with your car ? I have a built ( or well I always had but the Mk3 will be moreso) a track biased car that I can use on the road. With all this lighter weight, 3 piece wheels and great looking Siltech suspension fitted to the car, the engine should the next part of the puzzle. Any thing planned when the car is done ? I wish to head back to the tracks I have driven in its various stages of changes and see how much this engine has made to the package I have created and probably relearn everything I have absorbed from previous driving trainer days . So, after a little bit of a grilling, and removing myself from the obstacle course , I said cheerio to Tim. He has not built his car from scratch but has rebuilt his car on now the third time, so can say he knows every nut and bolt on it. It will be a sensational car when it gets put back together. I just hope its soon as the better weather ( albeit not today sadly for me) isnt too far away . Being a family chap, time to tinker is only when the little ones are tucked up at night , which is just a fact of life for a lot of us. I am looking forward to a pax ride in the car to see what all these hair dryers on the engine blocks do to a Westfield as opposed to being normally aspirated.

I just received that text. Today I took a lady of 87 out in Buttercup. She loved it even though she was a bit cold. She got in and out ok. I didn't get any pictures unfortunately but will next time, as she wants to go again.

Its a nice day for a bit more routine maintenance.

Agree in principle. This just helps deal with roundabouts/raffic lights etc when a group or 3 or more can easily get split up. If this happens we usually end parked up waiting not always in the best spot (trying to remain visible for the cars stuck behind) which can inconvienence/ annoy other road users. At least with this, the leader can carry on a bit further and stop somewhere safer.

@tc3nitro Is this what you want? Or this:

Oi you lot ..................... go and fix your broken cars or I will go and start mine and let you hear what they should sound like

How about;

Centred and streched the text a little

Although the weather outside hasn't been too favourable for working on cars over the last couple of weekends I've still managed to make a small amount more progress, this time with the headrest. in the traditional fashion, i started with a bit of wood... Well technically it's an off cut of oak from when I built my staircase several years ago but the thickness was just right for the job. I don't have a wood lathe but after getting it roughly to the right size with a saw I could then mount it in the metal lathe to turn to the final diameter. A quick sand to smooth the edges off and then several coats of paint later. Meanwhile, while the paint was drying I made the vinyl pad on the sewing machine. and then a bracket made for mounting it to the chassis. and finished

Hopefully if the next victim er club member sends me the answer of the question he didnt answer in todays meeting , then I will get the 3rd person up later tonight So, whoever you are , let me know

No, that’s his seventies

Well done Geoffrey . Hope I can out the car in my 60's let alone late 80' s !!

But you can’t rely on everyone behaving as you would like them to. It just takes one person to lose track of the person behind them (perhaps because they were quite rightly concentrating on what was in front!) and then the group is split. Once that happens and you hit traffic lights and/or junctions you can then spend a lot of time wonder if someone has broken down or got lost etc. At least with this system you’d know where they were.

I think it’s a great idea. It means you can relax and enjoy the drive rather than worrying about keeping up at every junction.

Don't like the sound of this... The idea is to go as slow as the car behind - you will therefore all stay together!

It works really well, (bar the phone signal caveat), at one point allowing me to see where the group ahead had turned off on to a B road, that the sat nav was avoiding, (I had the ultimate destination programmed in), even though at that point, I didn’t have a visual on the lead cars of the group, that already turned.

It will depend on the wheels - I don't have the same calipers, but I tried some revolutions and they fouled the caliper, whereas CXRs just fit. So much of the time, unless someone has the exact same setup, it's a trial fit exercise.

Is this better @marcusb?

from Norfolk. Car looks great! It will be worth the wait I'm sure!

It appears I have Brexit enduced Tourette’s. After just a few seconds of watching I can’t help myself.... it starts with are they all Bleeping stupid. You’d never negotiate a used car buy like that you stupid bleeps. Have you not realised the UK is the EU’s biggest market you Bleeping bleep bleeps. I’d not trust you bleeps to run a bleeping bath let alone run a bleeping country... Corbin just shut the bleep up you are a cun—- bleep. Sorry I need to go lye down I feel a massive attack coming on!