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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.

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!

You would need some sort of mental assessment to pay that. As Dave says that's a very specific build for a very specific person. Ie a market of 1. If I had a load of cash and had a huge desire for a mentally quick caterham why would I walk past a 620r/620s at 50k and leave 25k in the bank? They hold their value incredibly well and when your bored they'll be a much bigger market to move it on.

Not quite. They've banned (all but) diesel engined cars in London too. Someone with a name very similar to Batman has to buy another car in the next 18 months... The trouble is if no-one goes out to vote, they'll stay in power. But I've said it before, no matter who you vote for the government always wins...

Fancy joining us for a great weekend of car clubs, displays and steam power in sunny Devon? (sun not guaranteed!) The Crash Box Historic Vehicle Gathering is held at the Powderham Castle Estate near Exeter on 13 and 14 July 2019. It’s a great show with amazing opportunity to see a wide variety of cars as a large number of car clubs attend representing vehicles from pre-war to modern day, including Westfields. See here for more details https://historic-vehicle-gathering.info/index.php/welcome Dorset Area have a stand booked as do KitNet. We have the opportunity of further club stands, but we need to register our interest quickly to guarantee a space. We’ll all be located in the same area so it will be a great opportunity to meet up with other WSCC members and kit owners. The club stand is only for Westfields to be displayed, not tin tops. The cost for a weekend pass is £10 and this includes your passenger, but you don’t have to attend both days. Payment will be required on the day and will be collected by Colin from the Dorset Area who is a Crash Box member as well. Wrist bands are issued for exhibitors and their passengers in advance (no wrist band, no exhibiting or entry as a passenger). If you would like to attend you need to pre-register. Crash Box require the following details to process wrist bands: First name and surname of all people arriving in your vehicle Vehicle make and model Vehicle registration Can you also let me know the days you will be attending so we can gauge the size of stand required Please PM me your details rather than posting. Further details and terms can be found on the attached pdf - please have a read. Powderham 2019 Club Entry Form.pdf @Chris Broster - Bristol & Bath AO if you would like, you and your Area members that wish to attend can send their details via me as well? Let me know. Camping is available, but is going quick. If you would like to camp you will need to arrange this yourself directly via the website. If you can let me know initial intentions by the 22 March so we can get an idea of numbers that would be great. Any questions please ask. Hope to see you at the event. Dave

Oh come on who doesn't love a 3 wheeler. I'd have one anyway

Good news, Bristol Motor Club are allowing us to park in the paddock in a club area. Westfields only in the paddock please. We’ll be there at 10:00 flying the wscc flags

Chapman would turn in his grave if he could see the size of those mounting bolts

Kit type has a rolled top edge so if you had a ZK one you could just trim it down to fit , ZK goes right to the edge of the scuttle so is bigger if that makes sense .

Japanese Sprint on the Saturday, get in the mix!

well brake lines are ordered brakes are rebuilt and ready to go back on. ive got my roll bar ive got some seats just need to find a decent set of harnesses and a few hours here and there and i may be ready for my first track day

Tricky one. First off, it does have lots of expensive, well let’s be honest, eye wateringly expensive, parts on it; the engine and gearbox would have been decent five figure sums, individually. Then it’s been professionally built over the course of a year by, presumably, some specialist. So there will probably be a huge sum of labour in there, too. However, it will only be the “perfect car” to the guy that commissioned it and a very tiny number of others. Yet it’s at a “perfect car” premium. I suspect the Venn diagram of who it’s the ideal spec for and who has the spare cash lying around, is an even tinier cross-over! However, my biggest issues with it are twofold. First and perhaps most importantly, it breaks what seems to be the golden rule of good Caterham residuals, it’s heavily, heavily modified, with a very non-factory spec. That means it’s no longer a “known model” within the range. It’s become a bitsa kit car, and that generally hurts the values badly with Caterham. The second issue, is that while the bits on there that I can see, are generally the best, and regarded in Caterham circles as amongst the best of the best, it also doesn’t appear to be pushing the development of the car, either. Where is the special ness, the one off engineering solutions, the re-development that stands it apart from cars a third of the price, that could have the same bits chucked at them over time, if the owner wished. Then of course it’s dangerously floating in, (when they occasionally come up for sale) Levante territory! Which does push the boat out with unique development work and special gear, unique to the Levantes. (Although, they’re probably even uglier in most people’s eyes!)

Yes. Matt Lewis Racing. Be prepared to snap the hard line by the rear offside wheel and need to replace it!

I do ponder at times if this is all a game of brinkmanship to see who blinks first and it's Mrs may being the smartest of the lot by drawing it out to the end to get what she wants, but then I listen to them all and realise that the government sadly just aren't clever enough for that.

Poetic license on my part, "they" being the government. I am going to see if it wasn't some sort of European thing driven by collective greenhouse gas emissions... Edited to add: From here: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/emissions/clean-air-zones/ And to be clear, I support the goal of cleaning up the air in City centres where there is a clear link in air quality and a detrimental effect to humans and I don't see a way of doing it without causing more pain, be if fiscal or political so personal inconvenience aside, I'll let that one rest. Actually that's the fun part. I strongly believe that we Brits will keep calm and carry on in the way we always have when it seems the chips are down. I say bring on the no-deal. Lets see how fast our "friends" come running to ask us for a deal when the money actually stops. Lets turn what looks to be a disadvantage into an advantage...

If there is a vote, try the underdogs, couldn't make a worse job of it if they tried, my kids would sort this out in half the time, it's never ending, extension will cost us even more money to the EU, can't wait till I'm back in the westy with no radio, just a relaxing engine note and not a care in the world!

I have never seen such a bunch as those in Parliament at this moment in time. I remember watching House Of cards on Tv and thinking it was entertaining, but it would appear it was an instruction manual for the MP's to follow. Plots and counter plots, self interest. Labour trying to screw everything so they can force an election and in the process they all forget us the electorate. Parliament even if you disagreed with who was in power, in the past worked, we have had two years where nothing else has got done, oh except to ban gas boilers in new builds, it is shameful these days.

Not one of the current bunch in the Houses of Parliament are worth getting out of bed to vote for. if they couldn't sort this out in two years, how on earth do they think a few weeks extension will help

I've noticed that Patrick , great to see someone enthusiastic interacting with members and giving support