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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.

And so you can see it in use! Folded up, when not needed, it can stay on the car! The shelf then just flips down when you need the storage.., Allowing you to load up with vital essentials, the trusty beer fridge! (And Yes, I did run an electrical connection to the back of the car so I could plug it in! )

Yes I agree it’s a great thing to use having used it in the past. I just threw the Garmin tracker out there as another option. My first ever run out in a group was with Martin. From memory there was about a dozen cars and we where nearly last. myself, trickey and forget who else found it difficult to keep up. I put a complaint in with Martin at the pub and the first few cars where well below the speed limit but those at the back where well over. This app would have been great at that point.

Will give the Whatsapp thingy a try. At present we use the “drive to the car behind” method. If used properly it works well, however certain circumstances such as busy, traffic light controlled roudabouts or town centres can be problematic. With the “car behind” system there is no need to keep up with the car in front or slow down to the car behind. The only time you need to see each other is at a decision, a crossroads, turn off etc. On a road with no decisions it doesn't matter if you can’t see each other and the leader doesn’t have to worry about the last car in the convoy. Can’t see why both can’t be used, don’t think I would like to be distracted by using solely the app, especially as I wear varifocal specs, but if I was lost, or broken down, or having a pee, that’s where the app could be useful.

I have just booked the track day

Wheels collected from the tyre fitters earlier today. With wheel sizes having grown quite considerably sine the 1960's its actually quite difficult to find somewhere that still has machinary that can fit tyres to 10" rims, most I spoke to locally can only go down to 13".

I agree Dave & Chris, it's an aid for navigation and when a user has disconnected from 'the pack'. I wouldn't use it to keep up or for the fascination, certainly not without a passenger, too distracting and removes focus from the very reason we have our Westy's. I suppose if a passenger is present, said passenger could use it 'rally driver' style if driving through a series of junctions or roundabouts so not to take a wrong turn.

My Garmin satnav has a feature where people can log into me and see where I am. https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=UY2scZFKOD5milb7xwVzn6

Thanks Adge. Glad its interesting reading for some. I do enjoy meeting others and finding their side of the story. I have a victim list and you never know who's is the next target !!

Great write up Why aren’t these being copied and printed in WW? Looking forward to the rest of the series when Thrustyjust meets.... > The taxman > His doom > The wrath of his fed-up partner etc, etc, etc

/obvious meme is obvious

How about;

If it is just road use why would you want to change from 15" wheels to 13" wheels? You will be restricting your choice of tyres quite a bit.

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!

Not 100% what they’re called but the vinyl covered jobbies that sit where your elbows go Any condition considered as I can always recover them. What have you got?

Blyton weekend entries are now open www.blytonsprintweekend.co.uk/ Many thanks John

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.

Pot/kettle...

Two more added. please add your names to the list if you fancy a good fun day out 1. Ian Tolfree ( Tolf) 2. Tim Reid (TimDave25) 3. Chris Newman 4. Alan France 5. Martin 123 and my mate Spence who owns my old westie but isnt working, as co- pilot 6. The Turtles 7. Steve T 8. Neptune 9. John Rusher 10. Andy Banks 11. Scarey 12. Team Awesome 13. Madrabbit 14. Marlow_simon 15. JJHLawson 16. Chris Brading 17. Dave Cox (Exocet, guest of Tim Reid) 18. Chris Jeffrey (Elise, guest of Tim Reid)

Weather report at the moment is 9 degrees, sunny intervals and a moderate breeze. You never know, Sir might even let me leave the MX5 at home and come out in the Westfield. Nom, nom, nom I hope they do a Jaffa cake ice cream, ha, my mouth is watering writing this

Are you expecting anything to go straight down the line when the riff raff, such as @Gary Taylor - Scotland AO, @Blatman and our 'example of wscc correctness aka @Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary are in the same place now , are you ?

Should the image of an 87 year old lady enjoying herself be in this section of the internet?

It's a well known, well documented issue. It's the opposite of the shockwave braking effect you see in heavy traffic, where light to moderate braking at the front of a queue leads to those far enough back coming to an actual stop, as the braking effort has to be intensified a little at every step down the line. In this case, every car, when trying to keep up, accelerates and brakes that tiny bit harder and travels that tiny bit faster. With enough vehicles, the speed differential front to back can become quite extreme. To the extent, that, with sufficiently large convoys, it is no longer possible for the lead cars to easily control the last cars, as the lead cars cannot travel slowly enough. The only way for them to manage the situation is to keep stopping. This is where the various group ride/drive styles come in, the two most poplular being the keep the car behind in sight, and the wait at deviations from the current road. Both work well, and can be combined somewhat, for even better results. But both do break down somewhat for cars, when you end up in traffic, and especially with junctions and traffic lights etc. A lot of these ideas were originally from the biking world, where obviously traffic has less of an effect, plus it's much easier to pull over and wait for your mates to catch up! In our world that can be tricky. Its great to see members like Ian, investigating how we can use what is for many now, everyday technology, to improve things as simple as blats- hopefully allowing more participants in the run to relax, enjoy and concentrate on the run, just by having one less thing to worry about! Of course, What's App isn't the only alternative, and it would be interesting to know what else is out there and works. The key points I can think of are: Fairly simple to operate. Doesnt require intervention once on the move. Free(!) Multi platform, Apple and Android etc. Must have selectable time out period as well as be able to be turned off. (Many are rightly security conscious) Small memory footprint on your phone, and low bandwidth in use - no constant need for big map downloads for instance. ....and, et, I'm sure I'll think of more!

Great, but the beauty of the Whatsapp tool is it's free, works on Android or Apple devices and hence all can easily use without buying additional hardware, it's also easy to use As many have commented above, my intentions were for it to be an aid, as correclly interpreted by most i.e. It's a tool which can help at some points on a run. Give it a try, you'll be impressed!

I would love to but I’m saving my pennies for something else unfortunately.

It has been suggested in the past, as long as folks are content, I certainly believe these should be in the mag.

I think the trouble is that because all the quicker Speed Series cars are on 13" wheels, and most keen trackdayers as well, owners of Westfields have a tendency to think that 13" wheels are the things to have, regardless of the use they put their car to. A competition car, and a regular trackday car, will benefit from using the smaller wheels because all other things being equal they will be slightly lighter than the larger rim wheels and so give less unsprung weight. However on a mainly road car I would be very surprised if it was enough to be detectable. The make and design of the tyre would be much more likely to make a difference to the feel of the car, and as said above, you have much more choice of tyre if you use 15" wheels. In fact, when I had my sprint car, I used 13" wheels in competition, and 15" wheels for road use and very occasional trackdays. The 15" wheels were fitted with R1R tyres, which I think sadly are no longer made, but they were a great tyre for something like a Westfield used mainly on the road.

Good write up, enjoy these insights, well done. Keep em coming.

Another great write up. Keep up the good work!

Thanks to everyone for turning up today, good company good food and a lot to plan home with my feet up will put something together this week on what we spoke about today and circulate thanks again ,Gary

Mine has Hispec front callipers and i seem to remember that Simon, who built the car, told me that some 13"s will fit but are very marginal with any stick on balance weights. Mine currently has 16" Image slit rims with 225's on the front and 245's on the rear.

Kick strips I think is the normal name.

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.

Yep I will be ordering them as soon as the car has an mot !!

Which ford lever? KA from current cars or sierra? Also are you looking for standard grip or something special? I have a standard sierra grip spare .

Count us in. More food. More cake. Brill

Engine mount update.... old mk 1 versions removed. Tourtured long stretched mounts. new fitted, welded to chassis. Oil cooler fitted everything clears the steering shaft by a thumbs width, just need to plumb it in.

Due to the spell of mild Feb weather, a late booking was made on Thursday for this one. Weather forecast showed variable amounts of mist and fog were probable, but most were giving a sunny afternoon. It turned out the little bit of morning mist cleared quickly and we had sunshine all day. The day started off badly however. When I started the car on the trailer, I noticed a strange whirring sound.. a bit like a radiator fan, but as I haven't got one I knew it wasn't that! It was the starter motor whirring away! I'm guessing the solenoid contacts must have stuck closed. I hastily disconnected the battery. (no kill switch) It was getting close to briefing time, so I went off and signed on, got briefed and had breakfast. Meanwhile Pete removed the starter, and couldn't find anything obvious wrong with it. Refitted it, and connected it up.. it worked! I then took the car out and bedded in some new brakes, and generally warmed it up, while Pete wandered off and signed on and had his own little briefing. All was good for a few sessions, and then it failed to start again. Starter motor was now falling apart!! It had lost two long bolts that hold it together! Hell's bells!! Pete again removed the motor.. getting quite good at it now.. We couldn't find any replacements for the missing bolts, but managed to hold it together with a couple of tie wraps. Re fitted, and once again its working. Wasn't confident the wraps would hold for long.. but we were out on track again. The starter did eventually fail late in the day, but we gave up on it and bump started the car. Oh and the micalor exhaust clamp snapped at one point, a couple of jubilee clips sorted that one though .. easy peasy! The actual trackday was OK. Quite a few cars by MSV standards, but still no queuing to get out. Neither of us really found anything fast to play with, although there looked to be a few quick cars there. An MR2 with a Honda K20, and a rapid M3. On the other hand there were a few dreadfully slow cars. A couple of Civics and a Ka. 30 to 40mph round Charlies! It would have been good to get a few Westys out but I realise most people need more than a couple of days notice for these things. A few pics from the day, and a video. Pete at the helm. We got a new Gopro with a separate microphone, so through the day I experimented with different mic positions. I started with it right next to the rear K&N air filter. It wasn't a good sound. I think it picked up only No 4 cylinder, and sounded either like an old Prokart, or it had knocked out a big end! On the video below, the mic is on the other side of the engine bay, trying to get a bit of exhaust noise mixed with the intake? Cant make my mind up if it's good or bad but I think next time out I'll continue experimenting with different positions. Any opinions welcome.

The K20 MR2 was good old DannyDC2

A second vid, me at the wheel this time. Was my last session of the day. That deathly slow car is I think a Citroen C1? .. not as I though earlier, a Ka. I had a bit of a wobble turning into the mountain section at one point, and at the end caught up with a Hot Hatch race I reckon. Somebody didn't want to move over. After the vid ends I trailed around with them for a couple of laps and then gave up. I was going to go out for another session, but at about 4-30 a Mini clattered the Armco at Coppice, and they announced end of play due to the damaged barrier. (He's put a vid up on the tube if anyone wants to see it)

Surely you should be putting the Westy on that trailer (or any trailer) the opposite way round (i.e. drive it on not reverse it on). You want the majority of the weight in front of the trailer not behind it otherwise you risk it fishtailing on you

ditto.. Dash wiring completed, scuttle refitted, new windscreen fitted and sealed... remaining to complete , refitting wipers, cleaning all the rubbish out the foot wells, oil change and clean it Another year of winter tinkering that turned into a 2 month 'well as that's off..I might as well do that as well' marathon.

Sorry didn’t make it Gary, my dads on palliative care for the last 3 weeks and It’s near the end.