Leaderboard

I hope everyone is doing OK. I just wanted to reiterate what has been said already in this post, if you are finding it hard to deal with issues in your life please please try to reach out for help, however hard that may seem. There will always be somebody who can help you in one way or another. Sadly just over a week ago my wife and I were walking our dog on the same route we have for years when we found a young man for whom clearly life had become too much. I feel a degree of guilt even though he was a stranger to me that had I have know earlier maybe I could have done something to help. It is incredibly sad that somebody feels this is there only option. Please don't suffer in silence.

Hi Guys, Just signed up to the forum. not got a westie yet but on the lookout for one, probably a cheapie for the road and possibly on track just to get me started or if there is one with 220+hp and is road reg and track suitable at a reasonable price then i would definately be up for that, cash waiting. I have a Track Meg rs250 as my main track car but i fancy a westie for sunday morning blasts and some evening runs when the kids are in bed. A bit of a petrol head having motorbikes and cars as well much to the Mrs' Dismay. Not sure if there are members in the local area but would be great to meet up if there is a local meet, socially distanced of course. I do know one of the members on here as we meet up on track days from time to time and he has got my interest going. anyway many thanks Chris

Just talking to Jonathan who has a Westfield Pre Lit. It used to have a trusty crossflow but many years ago he put iwhat he believes was the very first blackbird engine in a Westy. Possibly the first bike engine? Not sure. Amazingly this car has over 100,000 miles on it! His first blackbird engine did 70,000 miles including tours of the alps many times over. So for those who think our cars don’t do long miles or that bike engines can’t tour - or that blackbird engines don’t last - here’s proof!

Old experienced man speaking up here... 🤪 Any user name that starts with “Guest” is a throwback to late 2011-early 2012 when the forums became post-able for paying club members only. (ACW can explain the technicalities further if he likes.). Once someone paid their membership fee, the “Guest” bit disappeared automatically. In other words, the account in the OP hasn’t been actively used since at least November 2011. However, the magnificent @Mark Redpath - WSCC Membership Secretary who is a wizard backstage and a fantastic MemSec will no doubt help get it all sorted. Might be a case of merging two accounts. Just thought I’d add some background to it. 👍

Good to get out and finally see some other westies and new faces 👍🏼. I’m with the majority @corsechris stunning colour and a fantastic example. For those that heard me talking about me attempting the 3Peaks challenge in August, here’s my shameless plug, and my fundraising page, should any of you wish to add some pennies to the pot; https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Luke-Wyatt3 The 4 of us are raising money for Moter Neurone Disease Association.

A couple of weeks ago over a (socially distanced) beer with a neighbour of ours he was moaning about the price of the servicing of his wife's Q3, turns out they had quoted 600 odd quid to replace 2 front wishbone bushes . Thats just the bushes in their housings, not complete arms. Anyhow after nearly choking on said beer I suggested he'd be insane to pay that. Bring it over and I'll change them and he could owe me a beer. In the end we decided to go for 2 full arms so all the bushes and ball joints all from lemforder for less than 220 quid. I recieved a box of beer as reward and was very happy at that. However they went one step further and bought me another gift which I thought very thoughtful and was well chuffed with, which is an achievement as my Mrs says im the worse person to buy gifts for.

I came into the last 5 min of the series being shown on Quest, ‘Vintage Voltage’. They televised the electrification of a Chesil Speedster. Here’s Autocar review.... https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/westfield-and-chesil-launch-pioneering-electric-kit-car https://www.vintagevoltage.tv https://www.dplay.co.uk/live/quest/2020-07-16 Andy

@RS250 It may help if you define cheap! There's some good, nice ones sometimes found for £5-8K, however a 220+ track focused car, built to a good standard will cost a lot more. There's plenty of owners on here with 150-170BHP Zetec powered Westie's that have a great time on track and given they weigh a lot less than your Megane, you'll still be impressed. @Martin Letts - AO Hampshire and Isle of Wight and @Steve Smith - AO Hampshire And Isle Of Wight are your local area organisers, so should be able to advise how and when then meet, once lockdown allows us to! Then I'd suggest getting along and seeing the cars other members in your area have and I'm sure they'll give you a ride round to help with your section. Our members map- https://forum.wscc.co.uk/forum/membermap/ (You may not have access to this, until you join up fully- and you'll soon see why this is excellent value and the best car club on the planet!) Show's this for your area, so your certainly not alone!

i weren't that impressed with the AR-1s to be honest. i found the pressures when warm fluctuated alot. and i dont think they gave as much feedback or grip as the r888r. i used to set the pressure of the r888r and it would be the same all day

Oh and the owner is a pretty good driver!

Ok... Road tyres driven like a t***t. Road tyres driven a bit more seriously... Road tyres driven as smooth as i could... 185 - r13. Continental eco contact or rainsports...

Hi Everyone! As you know I've been doing some free printables for kids to colour in … or adults 😉 I haven't had time to do another but... here's one I did earlier! This was actual artwork of mine done back in 2017 of a Westfield which I drew for the office - I've removed my artist's watermark and decided to let it out for free so you can have a Westy! Because I'm nice like that... Yay 🥰 Enjoy! Carlie

Wasn’t sure how to head this so apologies to those responsible cyclists among us We had our first organised run and as we traveled to the meeting point I became increasingly concerned for all of us heading out on our runs. With the increased take up in recreational cycling there are many “covid” cyclists that have taken to the roads with out any consideration to rules and safety . There were numbers of them wobbling along in dark clothing and 2 or 3 abreast chatting to each other ,some groups having children as well. This coupled with the current tv and police campaign on giving them extra room when passing means we need to be vigilant. I know there are many responsible cyclists and I’m not having a punt at anyone or group just raising a safety awareness issue as we enjoy ourselves Take care and stay safe

it would probably be expensive visiting there as I would probably come away with something above budget😁

Haha, that's where my current car is from! Andrew and Dale are nice guys, the cars are always well prepped but you do pay a premium... If you do go to Toybox, make sure you stick to your budget... I forgot that when I went 😂

the mega s2000 I have spotted on toy box caught my attention earlier this week. Very nice 👌

Brian James Minno trailer, excellent condition, new tyres in 2019, two spares, high level tyre rack, serviced at end 2018 with new brake shoes and winch cable. Used to take my Westfield to various seed event, tows great and its light so can move it around easily. It also fits into a standard garage for storage, which is what i did with car on it. I have all the original paperwork for it from new. Technical spec: Overall length 15ft 1in, overall width 6ft 8ins, deck length 11ft, deck width 5ft 5ins, deck height 1ft. Unladen weight: 375kg, max gross wt: 1380kg, max load per axle: 700kg Please feel free to contact with any questions... offers around £1600.

Hi Ian and Dave, many thanks for the replies and I will try to get along to one of the meets, there is a Caterham...cough (am I allowed to say that on this site?).... one that happens near me from time to time which I have been along to a couple of years ago. I guess the definition of cheap is from £5k to 18k. I am thinking of dipping my toe in the water with a sub £10k one as it is only primarily for short fun trips out locally, but if I found a good one with the right spec I would go for a much higher spec track/road version and may be tempted to trailer it to a trackday the odd time. The meg is really very track focused so that is my main track weapon. I did a day at abingdon last friday and there were a few Caterham/Westies there that day having fun if anyone has one for sale or they are thinking of selling then drop me a pm if within 50 miles or so of RG27, or drop me a PM with a phone number and we can chat about the car. I am happy to travel further and could pick up if i brought my trailer along many thanks Chris

That's normal, but I bet you'll remember every detail of every car you looked at 😉

Ok..the one sided bit I referred to was how it read as an obvious slant against a non unionised environment..and that was not factual from my experience.. The rest of the words..over to you.. As I said that was all that irked me.. Have a nice day and keep away from that virus!

Sent you a donation Luke, MNDA is a great cause, the guy who taught me how to build engines as an apprentice died very suddenly of MND so it’s close to home...good luck with the challenge

Oh look, another fungi...

Those come free with subscription to my premium services channel! 👍

Let me bring a 'truth' to your attention chaps: From here in case you thought it of doubtful provenance.

Great 1st meeting since lockdown. Thanks to our regulars for coming and great to see some new faces too. Hopefully Mike and Jane will become regulars too and maybe Chris will also try to join us more often? Great turn out of ten Westfields plus others in tin tops. Chris' car looks great in it's non standard colour, it certainly stands out in the line up.

I'm glad to be of service, another positive from the week away was that I managed to buy some mushroom brushes...... I kid you not, one should never wash a mushroom, the dirt/soil/manure should be dry brushed from the mushroom...... this public information is offered freely.....as I'm such a fungi.... (pun intended) Nem...............

I don't talk of this very often but this thread warrants it. Around about 1987 when I was all of 19 years old, having done 3 years on motorbikes decided it was time to learn to drive a car, on lesson number 3 in our small village, 10 yards from a T junction an elderly lady walked straight out in front of me, I almost got the car completely stopped but still managed to 'push' her enough that she fell down, she broke her hip and bumped her head when she met the road, she passed away 2 weeks later from surgical complications. I have to live with that every day. I think if you take a moment to re-read what I wrote then you'll see that I don't want to wipe anyone out. Nem.....

If it helps AFAIK most Westfields have 4x108 PCD associated to Ford hubs and Mazda SDVs have 4x100 PCD

To be fair though, you have to spec components suitable for the terrain. The times you see an 18 stone chap on 23mm tyres on potholed roads - it's just not suitable. It gives cyclists a bad reputation when they're weaving round all the potholes, save the high pressure skinnies and super rigid carbon frames/ forks for track cycling and ride something a bit more robust. My 'road' bike has 40mm tyres, tubeless at 40psi and being a mountain biker, potholes and loose drain covers are no issue. Ridden 200-mile weekends on them over some terrible roads and they're a lot more comfortable than super skinnies for putting the miles in. They're a good compromise for British roads.

Very much doubt it has! We're all grown ups here (well, we sometimes have to pretend to be 😄 ), you've started a good healthy thread IMO.

As a young man I was a professional cyclist and I've earned my living all my adult life in the bike business. I ride nearly everyday. The number of serious incidents I've personally experienced over the decades is shocking....some are due to people just not paying attention (the advent of the cell phone has made my life notably more dangerous) and some are due to outright aggression on the part of the driver. At the same time I've seen absolutely awful behavior from cyclists....riding with complete indifference to others around them. Riding 3-4 abreast around blind corners just inviting issues from drivers coming up from behind. Purposely being in the way to exert their 'rights' to use the road. There are plenty of a-holes on bikes just as there are in cars. And that's my point - a certain number of people are just jerks and some of them drive and some of them ride bikes and some do both. In the end it's the speed differential between the two that highlights the issues. If I'm out for a blat and there's a jerk in front of me in a car I'll almost never notice it as he's moving at about the same speed....but a jerk cyclist will be easy to spot as you come up on him. What's interesting to me is that I know some cyclists who are road hogging jerks while on bikes and then they get in a car and crowd and scream at riders who they feel are in their way. What's the common denominator here? In the end it all boils down to being respectful of other road users regardless of the machine they are using. As the years have gone by I've seen this respect deteriorate in a big way. We just don't give a damn about other people the way we used to to the point where we resent others merely existing and being on the same road. It's as if we feel something is being taken from us personally if others are allowed to enjoy the same space. It's not a zero-sum game where if others enjoy the road that I'm going to lose my enjoyment. It's also not a matter of skill or education. All drivers go through real training (unless you are in the USA where all you need to do to get a driver's license is fog a mirror) and there are plenty of bad drivers out there. It's a matter or respect and courtesy toward others from both drivers and riders. I would ask that drivers look at the rider as their kid or spouse and you'll find that giving them a bit or room will come easy....and I ask that cyclist think of every driver as a person on their way to the hospital with a medical emergency. Cut each other some slack....give others some consideration and space. No one 'owns' the road and has more right to use it. It's a public resource. Be nice to other people. Treat others as you'd like to be treated and don't be 'that guy'. Thanks for reading. dave

A few from the other night, her first every registered blat.

It is. But no saying the gear lever gaiter/hole is in the same place though

My mate helps looks after a private collection of toys and popped round with this tonight, took me for a we spin, what a machine, the noise and smell was mega. Bugatti type 35,😛

Thank you for sharing. Personaly, I think one of the whole aims of a thread like this, is that anyone/everyone can unload all the stuff we let build up and suppress, while we're busy caring for and looking after others. It's not self indulgent. Of you've had CBT, (another t shirt I've been there and got!) then your thought process sounds spot on, it's very much in the same vein as techniques I've been given, but obviously biased to what works for you. For those that do thrive in a structure and routine, I think you're absolutely right in your approach. Everyday at the moment, we're making the new normal. At least for the immediate future. So it's important to follow a sustainable path that will work for you and your family.

I have been reading this thread, but up to now hadn’t felt I had the ability to post. During 2017, the combination of significant pressures at work, my godson’s diagnosis with leukemia, the loss of a friend in a mountaineering accident and then finally at the end of the year the hardest decision to relive a very close family pet of their suffering led to ill health. All that resulted in an attempt to go back to work in Jan 2018, only to crash and burn spectacularly. I was diagnosed with severe depression, but through the support of my now wife, family, friends, colleagues and a clinical psychologist (a course of CBT), I made a good recovery and learnt some things about myself and ways to cope along the way. It wasn’t something I would have voluntarily signed up to but looking now back there were positives from the process of recovery. Roll forward to the current day and I find myself struggling again due to the Covid-19 epidemic. My wife is an NHS doctor in Emergency Medicine (A&E), but also fits one of the vulnerable groups and is still working. My parents are both 70+ with some minor underlying health conditions. They are all fit and well and following the advice as best they can, but that doesn’t change the fact they are vulnerable. I have also been told to work from home for the foreseeable future; the work I can cope with, but the isolation is difficult. The combination of the concerns I have for the ones I love; the isolation and the enormity of the current situation is making life difficult (overwhelming in fact) for me at the moment and I have had a particularly low weekend as a result of it. It dominates my thoughts, prevents me from sleeping and makes me physically unwell. However, my experience from 2017/18 has taught me that I have already taken the first step in dealing with this, in that I have recognized it. The next for me is to make some lifestyle changes (most of which come from my previous experience) and write them down, so here goes: 1. Routine is important for me. So, I have decided to reinstate my “commute” to the office. Rise at the normal time, go for a walk for an hour, before arriving at my home “office”. Same at the end of the day. 2. Exercise to a decent sweat….! I want to get back into running and release as many endorphins as possible, so 15km a week in 5km bursts! 3. Avoiding overly alarming news. The current situation is alarming, but many news outlets add considerable spin to this. I have hidden posts from news outlets in my social media in a bid to look for more reputable and accurate news on my terms, not when FB/Twitter etc think I need to see it. 4. Focus on what I can change, and not what might happen. I can’t get rid of Covid, but I can make sure my wife eats well and has some exercise. I can speak to my parents regularly and make sure that they have what they need. I don’t know whether the above will work again in this situation, but it feels like a step in the right direction. And although the above is personal to me, if I can help or inspire someone else, all to the good. This is the first time I have written something like this in this context. Apologies if it sounds a bit self-centered (although it’s a true reflection), I hope it may help others that might be experiencing similar feelings. Look after yourselves.