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Definitely falling behind on updates waay too far. I'll try to speed up, however this one needed gopro shots - so laptop and wifi rather than updates on the phone unfortunately. Whilst I've got data on my phone and could technically use a hotspot, my laptop has a power issue at the moment and only works while plugged into the wall. Hence I've been delaying until reaching another hostel. I need to open this post with some kudos to a certain @AdamR. The settings applied to the car on his advice were really great for this one! When we set off from the hostel, it was still sunny, but there were a few threatening clouds. These grew as we approached the mountains. We had planned to stop off somewhere before getting to the mountains to make a few sandwiches (and for me to take the lead - as great as the MX5 is, it's not able to go around a corner as quick as the Westie!), but didn't really find a suitable stop, so just carried on going. We were greeted with miles and miles of this: And this: We only hit a couple of bits of traffic during the morning run, and everything we did catch up with immediately pulled to the side to let us past. The locals obviously know what they've got and are watching their mirrors closely. At this point it was certainly the best driving road I'd ever been on, but it still had more to offer! After our lunch stop, the roads continued to twist and bend, and the views got more spectacular. At the top of a load of switchbacks over the valley, we pulled in to take a couple of photos. A couple that had just gotten married had a similar idea! Chris's poor MX5 looked disappointed that it wasn't shown any love though! Our mini photoshoot was cut short by the weather. The rain started tipping down quite heavily, so it was hoods up for the next stint, which unfortunately means no photos. We got stuck behind a string of cars anyway, which really took away from the excitement so we pulled over for a break. It seems that on the downhill stretch we caught all the ignorant drivers that we'd avoided on the uphill section, including one Jag driver who seemed determined to block us into our little break spot by parking straight across the only surface we could easily drive out over, but oh well. Once the rain reduced a little bit, I took my hood off again. I don't think I set my front cycle wings low enough at the rear, as when I'm driving with the hood up on a wet surface, the front tyres seem to flick up gravel, which bounces off the rear arches, off the inside of the hood, and all over the interior (and my hair), so hood down driving is definitely more fun! The rain was stopping and starting all the time, and especially with the intermittent tree cover, Mike's freewheel configuration had just about every setting used on it for the wipers at different points. On a twisty road like that, the more intuitive and easily accessed the controls the better, and looking at the gopro footage, it gave me so much freedom to tweak it to keep the windscreen clear! The gopro was mostly covered in water droplets and a good chunk of the remaining video is stuck behind an Audi driver (who was determined that all the horsepower in his car should mean he was faster than us) holding us up around every corner before shooting out of reach on the straight bits so there's not much of interest to post photos of! We stopped off for a coffee on the far side and then carried on to find a campsite. Unfortunately the campsite we were aiming for that was supposedly public land turned out to be a farmer's field. It was promptly suggested that we turn around. We obliged. It was getting dark, and rather than risking the same thing happening again, we decided to drive the extra hour and a half to Ruse in Bulgaria. After all the fun of the day, that was a pretty miserable drive due to a combination of the darkness, the rain, and some not so well surfaced roads, but we made it to our guest house, cleaned up and found a restaurant around the corner. It was only after we had each sunk half a pint and ordered some dinner (without knowing the exchange rate) that we realised it was a pretty fancy restaurant. Fortunately, the exchange rate was pretty good, and the meal, including a couple of pints equated to less than a tenner each! With Bulgaria added to the list, this took me to 13 countries in the Westfield so far, with plenty more to go!

Joe arrived pretty late, so we thought it would be best to let him sleep until we had to leave. This meant that his first experience of the Westfield was 5 minutes after waking up. We were also staying in the old town, so it was on cobbles. I can imagine how trhat must have been for him! We had a 90 minute drive to the start of our hike. Joe commented several times that the westie was a lot more comfortable than he had been anticipating (glad it wasn't just in my head!). The hike was up to Raisko Praskalo, the biggest waterfall in Bulgaria at 124m. Given that this was initially planned as a "hiking and driving" trip, it caught me a little off guard that this was my first proper hike, but it was refreshing to get out for a decent walk. Sometimes you need some people in the photo to give some perspective of just how steep the hill was: Although it was a bit cloudy higher up, I was pretty thankful that it wasn't too windy. If this tree is anything to go by, we were pretty fortunate! When we got to the waterfall though, unfortunately we were well and truly in the clouds. At best I think we could make out 24 of the 124m of waterfall! We weren't too disappointed though, the rest of the views were spectacular, and the rain had held off, so a good day all in all! Fortunately we were able to camp at the bottom of the trail, so when we finished the hike we treated ourselves to a well earned meal before bed!

After the extra driving we did the night before, we didn't have to roll out of bed quite so early in the morning, so we treated ourselves to no alarms. It made very little difference though - once your body has been conditioned for 7am starts, it's hard to lie in! After some breakfast, we started driving towards our first stop in Bulgaria - Krushuna falls. I was needing some petrol, but a lot of the petrol stations in Bulgaria are seemingly cash only so I had to use up the last of my cash to put some more fuel in the tank. I probably would have gotten away without topping up, but I'm not very confident in the calibration once it drops below half a tank, as it seems to fluctuate and drop to empty pretty quickly. I've got a Spiyda gauge wizard between the sender and the Koso dash, but I think it needs something else to make the signals match up properly. When we got to the falls, we realised it was a paid admission place, and we needed to get more cash again. We realised that despite being a massive help in actually building the car, Chris hadn't been in the Westfield yet. It made no sense to take both cars back looking for a cash point, so we shuffled my bags from the passenger seat into his car, and set off in search of some cash. When we arrived into the nearest town about 10km away, we turned down a side street and ended up behind a police car. Sure enough, he held his little "stop" sign out the window for us to pull in. "No problem" I thought. We weren't speeding or anything, so it's just a routine stop. Everything on this trip is legit, so I'll just show him my documents and we'll be away. My documents. Which are in my bag. On the seat of Chris's car. Fortunately, the police officer pretty much just wanted a photo of the car. He asked for the documents, but didn't seem too fussed when I explained that they were 10km away in Chris's car. He was happy enough for me just to show him my driving licence which I had with me, as long as he could take a photo of the car! We eventually found a cash machine and made our way back to Krushuna falls. It was a nice little park, which looks to be very busy during tourist season, but it was dead when we were there. We took a couple of photos, made some soup for lunch, and carried on. Next stop was Plovdiv, where my friend Joe, from back home in Ireland, was going to be joining us for a few days. It was a bit tricky working out where he could join and leave us, but he figured out he could fly into Greece, and get a bus to meet us in Bulgaria. We arranged to meet at a hostel in Plovdiv, where we'd spend the night before going a little north to find a mountain to climb in the morning!

Glad you can make it, Bill, we will see you there. Important notice to everyone, if you want Black Pudding on your brunch, you have to specifically order the Yondermann Breakfast, rather than just the Breakfast. Therefore, I will be having my own Black Pudding this weekend, the Eggy Bread just didn't compare.

It is with a heavy heart but the time has come for my highly successful and much loved Westfield to go to a new home due to my moving onto single seaters. I have had the car for 20 years and it has been developed and improved in every aspect. During my ownership I have won the Westfield Speed Series outright (and come 2nd overall 5 times), won the British Sprint Junior challenge, had uncountable class wins and set numerous class records in both road going and modified classes at numerous countrywide circuits. No expense has been spared during my ownership in keeping it in tip top condition and specification and is ready to turn up and win in its new owners hands. The asking price no way reflects the amount of time, effort and money that I have lavished on it over the years. Road registered (but currently SORN) and complete with MSA competition car passport Specification below:- Chassis Strengthened and uprated 1989 narrow body SE chassis by Procomp Full Caged roll cage Wide track rose jointed front suspension with aluminium hubs Quantum double adjustable dampers correctly valved for car 2.2 quick steering rack HiSpec 4 pot calipers and lightweight discs Aluminium rear calipers and lightweight discs Bias floor mounted pedal box pedal box Engine Dry sumped Puma 1700 engine built and maintained by Protune running on Jenvey TBs and Emerald K6 ECU producing circa 220bhp / 150 ft/lb torque and revving freely and safely to near 9000rpm Ultralight steel flywheel with 7.25" Quarter Master clutch. (fresh plate fitted) Piper cams Flowed head Bonnet exit exhaust into Techcraft silencer Forged pistons Steel con rods Forged steel crank Pace dry sump system Lightweight Nippon Denso alternator Transmission Elite 5 speed IL200 gearbox (freshly checked and updated by Elite) Tran X plated LSD in strengthened English live axle with 4.44 crown wheel and pinion SBD flatshifter General Quick release SPA steering wheel 6 point TRS harness (driver), 4 point Willans (passenger) Tillet seats (only one fitted at present but other is included) 2 sets of Force Racing split rims (one with slicks, one with wets) Lightweight bodywork (graphics can easily be removed if so desired) Lightweight fuel tank Lightweight Lithium battery to MSA spec Carbon flared engine bay side panels Lightweight radiator Carbon front wings Rear diffuser Flat floor Weight approx 465kg Currently in mod prod trim on slicks but comes with V5 and all parts to easily put back to roadgoing (lights, passenger seat and harness but minus tyres) Lots of spares included including standard spare engine, drive shafts, rear arches, engine spares etc Too much to list. Better you come and see for yourself and talk to me. Price £16,995 ono (serious enquiries only) John O797I 576848 / jloudon@usa.net

I know it's going to be a bit "Marmite", but I needed to replace the seats after my big brother managed to split one. I got in touch with Neil at Kit Cars Direct and asked him the leadtime on a pair. "I've got two orange seats you could have today" and he's never seen my car. Couldn't resist.

Calling @OrangeCrush, either the beans have eyes or we will be eating lots of little Tango Men on our breakfasts tomorrow. With about 10 cars turning up tomorrow, can I just say 1. take the A515 Buxton, out of Ashbourne 2. turn right in Bakewell, signed A619 Chesterfield That's all. Trevor - you can take your fingers out of your ears now🙉

Nice one Forecast looks favourable so I'm up for this too 😎

It's a yay from me, unless it's tipping down in the morning!

Yay, I'm not working tomorrow for a change. See you in the morning.

Need to do a few things on the car first so I will meet you at the cafe (sounds like the Yonderman from the description).

Road testing my £20 home made hood! ... couldn’t get any other westies to come out and play, so had to resort to a catering van, an Evo, a merc and a couple of beemers!

Very reluctant sale but I have seen something i would like so this will be a limited time sale offer. Having much of the car re-built over the last two years mechanically this car is in great condition The Oily Bits 1600cc 185bhp Rover K originally built by Dave Brooks in Crewe (dyno sheets from original build), then rebuilt by Dave to same spec in 2013, bills for £3k for rebuild, approx. 2500 miles on new engine Fuelling on Jenvey throttle bodies, MBE ECU Gearbox: 5 speed Type 9 Quaife alloy cased Tran-X SCCR internals (rebuilt winter 2018) Engine/box Professionally Installed using Caterham alloy bell housing and alloy sump English live rear axle using alloy diff casing, 4.7 CWP & Tran-X LSD (rebuilt with new plates June 2019) Exhaust: Stainless custom built by Wunoff in Bradford, 4-2-1 as specified by Rover K tuners. Steering rack: Rally Design 2.2 ratio Quick Rack Suspension poly bushed throughout The Car Bright orange with green stripe New FIA approved caged cage new May 2019 Carbon fibre dash & rear deck and aero screen Tillet lightweight racing seats - specifically designed for seven roadsters (not currently installed as I had foam bag seat for sprining) Compomotive CXR’s 7Inch rear 6Inch front with Nankang AR1 tyres fitted July 2019 Includes tonneau cover, full side screens, hood and windscreen and a host of spares including diffs wishbones half shafts Etc Mot June 2020 This car has been fantastic during my first 2 full seasons of sprinting and helped me to win the 2018 Westfield speed series novice championship and 2019 mini sprint winner. This is a properly well spec’ed car that can hold its own against some much faster machinery on the day. £9k firm

I'll make it 11 cars as there's breakfast involved!!

That car IS JUST STUNNING

Pass out assigned, MOT complete.. this year without tweeking the fuel map during the test 😆 I'l be there.. no Kirsty it's dropped below Sahara heat levels

He has the benefit of direct experience of the EU and how they contrive to get their way. There is, and has been a HUGE conspiracy in the EU to block Brexit at any cost and make it look like it's solely the fault of UK politics and politicians and they do have to shoulder some of the blame. The press also must accept complicity with this for failing to report the depth of this conspiracy in the EU choosing instead to focus on the easy story of UK political infighting. I am truly staggered at the sheer number of people who I'm sure would always say democracy must win out but who announce almost hourly that Brexit can be stopped. Boils my numbers 1's every time... The more Boris stands his ground the more desperate the EU and remain are getting. Two stories this week made be laugh. One was the "fear" that with all the trucks lined up on the A20 there would be an increase in dogging(!) and second that there could be a shortage of bog roll. I mean come on... really? https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/brexit/10081388/no-deal-brexit-could-see-rise-in-dogging-among-lorry-drivers/ https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/brexit/no-deal-brexit-prepare-for-consequences-toilet-paper-what-happens-183014 Now we are beginning to see more of their true colours. It's a little late in the game for "us" to start to realise this but hey, at least we are starting to see it. Next Saturday is going to be very interesting, especially as now Boris has sat down face to face with Varadkar, the noise has changed from one of defiance to "a deal looks possible by the 31st". That's quite a U-turn. Why aren't the press screaming U-turn as loudly as they usually do? If one of our politicos did that there's all sorts of sniping in the press. Not that there's a conspiracy here to unseat democracy. Oh no, not one bit... https://uk.yahoo.com/news/last-chance-brexit-saloon-british-065624234.html And even in there, paragraph 2 says Really? We leave either with a deal or on WTO rules. Something neither of the two Reuters reporters seem able to grasp. Beggars belief...

Haha you are a lad..yes he is joining me..he is just leaving Cape town an hour ago..but has said will be back to swim round Cadwell! Don't know if anyone will drop out and allow you to give Lionel a bath!!

Got ready last weekend for Cadwell this Sunday.. but looks like I will need a boat not a car! Been a long time since been on track..looking forward to it!

Sounds like a great day out, shame we can't make it. I will be doing an MOT on a Westfield tomorrow morning though it's not mine!!! Hope you all have a good run/breakfast/cake!

Yeah? So what do you know about Westfields then mate? 🤣

I've got a set, not sure I fancy posting them though... Seeing as youre a friend of Rich Newbrook… call it £800? :D

Enjoy your breakfast guys 😉 I’m quite sure mine will be nothing like it ☹️ ( We have the pleasure of sitting on a plane for 15hrs) have a great day and see you all soon Andy & Becky

It’s still a big yondermann for me. Larger overall. There will be a black pudding spare - form an orderly queue behind me if you want it!!

That makes sense. I used these on mine with upgraded bulbs. They work well. I suppose you will go for a complicated led upgrade 😂 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PAIR-OF-5-75-5-3-4-CLASSIC-CAR-CRYSTAL-HEADLAMPS-HEADLIGHTS-HALOGEN-H4-UPGRADE/283448624974?hash=item41fedac74e:g:QVcAAOSwLqRcr5zN

All good for me to come too!

Interesting that the game with big butch men in shorts has been cancelled but the F1 hasn’t. At least with this trip now on Saturday, I can watch Lewis Hamilton getting nearer to being a 6x world champion on Sunday!!

BBQ afterwards at Crossways, Kelvedon Rd, Wickham Bishops CM8 3LY https://maps.app.goo.gl/SKJgC71JCQdMt1cy5

Hi Julie If the weather stays good hopefully I'll be there Saturday. Minus Sue as she has other stuff to do.

keely Donavan is such a sex weather god and worthy of mucking my car up if she gets it wrong

Tel’s Tales Ty Croes, Anglesey 5th/6th Oct 2019 As has become usual, drivers headed to the Island of Anglesey for the final weekend of the year run by our friends at Longton and District Motor Club. Many of us like to arrive early on the Friday afternoon to beat the traffic and get settled in place with electric hook ups in the paddock. As we had to wait to get into the paddock due to a “private testing event” we were queued and parked up on a part of the old circuit close to Radar bend complex on the straight to the original hairpin and that brought back memories for quite a few of us. The journey to the event took a bit longer than usual as there was a long section of contraflow on the A55 and it was the Rally Wales near Conway. I think Steve Arkley had the longest journey travelling from Elgin, Scotland which is around 485miles each way! The weekend would finalise who had won what but also threatened some horrible wet and windy weather but luckily most of that was during the night and we had a great weekend of motorsport. As well as the Westfield classes and championship there were the class J2 single seaters battling for points in the British Sprint Championship including Pete Goulding, Steve Broughton, John Loudon and Mark Anson. A bonus was that we could get scrutineered and sign on Friday evening so we all started queuing up. Just you just love it when some plonker thinks the queue is not neede and just pushes in. Well guess what it was. A b….y cateringvan who seemed oblivious to the glares he was getting from the rest of us. Then something even worse happened. Another car tagged along behind him thinking it was a good move but he did get a bit of verbal abuse and ignored it. The sad thing was that it turned out to be one of our own clan by the name of MARK BISHOP. Saturday practice ( just 1) started with it being a cold dry day and poor grip on the track but we all seemed to get round without any damage or embarrassment.. Towards the end of practice a well known Darrian failed on the circuit and deposited a line of oil over about 60 percent of the track so T1 was going to interesting for everyone as we found our way past the long line of cement dust. The start line all weekend and 64ft times were very poor and most of us were well off the Target Times. T1 stayed mainly dry with a bit of drizzle later on In the afternoon there were a few spins after the finish line as people pushed the limits of adhesion on a cold track. As we have seen all season John Hoyle was going very quickly and after 4 timed runs John broke the record and myself , Ian Davenport and Howard Gaskin won our classes on the day. Heavy rain overnight followed a well attended meal and drinks in the bar which ended late. Sunday was the International circuit and P1 was very damp and slippy which always makes a few corners quite interesting at high speed. Today we had Chris Griffiths and Nick Bailey joining us for another great day of competition. Del and Garry were coming into their element with massive power, launch control and traction helping. Troy and Chris were in the garage with them and we saw Stephen and sally Herbert as well as Paul Aspden and Jill wandering around. The British Sprint guys were pushing hard for maximum points at this last event that settled their positions. Nick Algar’s engine blew up and Pete Goulding was rewarded with a final year end 2ndplace and John Loudon was 12th. Matt Hillam, Steve Broughton and Mark Anson also finished well. Sunday saw Chris Griffiths blasting round in his Millington Diamond engine car and John Hoyle making us all look slow. Garry Bunn aslo broke the class H record. In the end we had similar class successes and had a thoroughly entertaining weekend that was run brilliantly by LDMC So now we know the results we just you all to get your tickets for the Awards do on 30thNov 2019. There will be a raffle and auction of some great prizes that are being donated by our sponsors and drivers for the “MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION” which helps critically ill children. Next year’s Regs are currently being drafted and the list of events compiled and we hope to attract new drivers as well as retain the existing mob! Terry Everall

Some great looking cars 👌 Here's a few ones from me...

The next morning we set off for the Romanian border. Some more of the same sorts of roads - nice, fast, winding corners, with the odd Ukrainian soldier holding a Kalashnikov giving me funny looks. We tried stopping for a coffee, but having used up the last of our cash on fuel, we couldn't find anywhere that would take card and just carried on. The border crossing out of Ukraine was much easier than the one in, although I did get told off for having my gopro mounted on the rollbar, even though it wasn't turned on. The Ukrainian side of the border was the first time that anyone checking the car documents has noticed that the DVLA for some reason decided to register my car as green (which clearly it isn't). I explained to them that this was a mistake, and that the DVLA couldn't get me new documents quickly enough, so advised me to just fill in the "change of colour" box and take it as is. Border security didn't seem convinced, but once they checked the VIN, they were happy to let me through. From that checkpoint, I drove across what seemed to be a very old wooden bridge. I'm glad nobody was coming through from the far side at the time as there was no way it was wide enough for two cars, and I'm still not a fan of reversing the Westie when I've got a big bag blocking my rear view! The Romanian checkpoint was a little friendlier, even though they made an effort to scare me. Initially they asked if I was carrying any goods that I needed to declare - drugs, weapons etc. (I wasn't, so all ok there!), before then asking whether I was married, followed by "why not?" when I said no! But once again, after many photos, I was allowed through. We pulled in to buy the Romanian vignette (road tax) on our phones and then carried on down the road. Unlike Ukraine, where the villages are spaced out with lots of farmland in between, Romania seemed to largely have villages built where ever there was a road, so you just went from one village to the next with no space inbetween. The meant that the first 20 or so miles were slow progress, limited to 50km/h. Eventually we got into a bit of free space, and were able to carry on on some really nice roads again, climbing back up the mountains. Our next stop was Barsana Monastery, which is home to some of the tallest wooden buildings in Europe, including the church at 57m tall. It was pretty much on our route, and was absolutely beautiful. We drove on to our camp spot for the night and set up next to a river just as it was getting dark. The next day we had a hostel booking in Brasov so we could wash ourselves and our clothes, but it would have been rude not to take a peak at Bran's Castle (Often thought to be Dracula's Castle (although it really isn't but still looks about right anyway)). It was massively touristy, and completely rammed, and quite expensive, so we took a walk down the road and climbed a hill where you could get a good view of the outside instead. On the next leg of the drive, Chris was leading in his MX5, and I couldn't stop watching it and thinking how thankful I was for the quantum dampers in my car. His car was being thrown all over the road, despite having some pretty decent HSD dampers on it, where the Westie wasn't struggling at all. It actually got to the point where he had to pull in for a break to get out of the car for a few minutes. We adjusted his damper settings to be a little bit harder which improved things a little, but he was still not having a fun time with some of the bumps. It really made me appreciate just how incredible these quantums are though. Even with fibreglass seats and a relatively light sprung mass, the fact that they just soak up the bumps so well really makes them worth the extra spend for me. We were feeling pretty tired by the time we reached the hostel, so after cleaning ourselves up, we went out for a meal rather than trying to cook something. The waiter at the restaurant also tempted us into trying some local plum based liquor which I'm sure contributed to the great night's sleep I had that night! That was needed, as we had a big day driving ahead of us the next day. You might have heard of it before since it was once called the greatest driving road in the world by none other than Clarkson, Hammond and May back in their Top Gear days... ...The Transfăgărășan Highway.

Last sunday at trackday, still impressed by this small but great car !! And with new experiences regarding suspension settings etc. and some 'action' with compilattion of fails/mistakes and one full lap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8yQCk3Bg9U (not sure if it is allowed to put a link to video in this section ?)

Decided to have a go at putting some stripes on my car, did it over a couple rainy days, so had a spin out yesterday to test them. They seem to work, either that or it was the effect of cold air, dry roads and being cooped up for a couple of days. Gary

Perhaps it would be polite to post your own wanted advert if I may be so bold 😁

Nothing to see here... Just a guy, casually walking his cow, next to a gold topped building in Ukraine while I drive my Westfield past...

Ouch, sorry to hear this Glyn. I'm sure someone will snap this bargain off you!

I'll try to make this one, this time!

Wouldn't be a problem with an aero screen ;-)

Hi Craig, Sump is off and is very clean: and now it's even cleaner! This is a 2004 48,000 mile engine. I'm sure a ford or Vauxhall engine would be full of sludge at this age/mileage. Best regards, Ian

I need to get my engine off a pallet and on to my engine stand. I'll hire a crane when it comes to fitting into the chassis, however I could do with a loan of a crane just for an hour to lift the engine. Does anyone within an hours drive of Stoke-on-Trent, have one I could loan? Thanks, Ian

Thanks for the offer of the sockets Steve. Amazon delivered via royal Mail on time despite the bad snow.

Dave's crane collected and engine now on stand. Many thanks Dave. It's much easier with the correct tool! I'll update my build thread shortly.....

@Dave, that's aweful. I hope you manage to repair it satisfactorily. @Mark, that video is ace! @the others. You're all very kind I just need the snow to disappear then I've a chance of getting out of our estate! Lex won't replace my tyres until 2mm and they are about 2.5mm with 225 width in snow isnt fun!

In this weather!

Dave, you're a star! I failed to bolt my engine stand to the block as the clutch is in the way! Amazon are due to deliver a 12 point star socket tomorrow and then I can get the clutch off! I'll make contact again once I'm confident I can bolt the block to the stand. Ideally some time over the hols would be great! What stage is your car at? Thanks again, Ian

I don't yet.......but was considering it, though it will only get used once and won't be ideal for putting the engine into the chassis as a crane is more maneuverable. Thanks for the prompt offer though.

Thanks James!

Engine & Gbox found. WFC Can't deliver a kit until Jan though 8-(. It will be one clean and shiny engine by then though!