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Fun meet up this morning despite Curborough's micro climate (i.e. always cold and windy! 😂). I arrived to find Ash, Ben amd Hedley already there. Ash lives very close to the Curburgring so had come in his lovely crossflow engined narrow body car, Ben has further to travel (and the MNR is having some winter upgrades) so came along in his new Caddy. Hedley had also braved the cold in the supercharged beast. Michael turned up shortly after in his 288GTO replica. Gary was having fun on track in his MR2, and I managed to snap a nice casual racing driver pose between runs 😂 Curborough always attracts some lovely cars at any time of year... This Puma Racing is locally owned. It was a barn find in early 2022 and has been restored over the last 12 months, not bad for a £5k purchase! An E30 M3 Evo III is always an unusual sight. Owned since the 90's, its a beautiful example that's actually driven regularly rather than parked up as an investment 👏👏 Love the period AC Schnitzer split rims 😍

I’ve been desperate to get out in the car for a few weeks, but have been avoiding it largely due to the salt. I ran out of patience today and decided enough was enough, remembering that I had my new car cleaning kit to try out (Christmas present 😊) Cold starting twin 40s with no electric fuel pump has been a bit of a challenge in the current weather, so I’ve rigged up a heater in the bubble which I can turn on remotely to pre warm the car a bit for 30 mins or so before attempting to start it. Seems to work, although a fair bit of turning over is still needed, to prime the carbs I assume. An electric fuel pump is on the list of mods. It still ran fairly roughly for a while, missing and backfiring but it smoothed out and ran really well for the rest of the trip. Initial thoughts were around heading up to Cheddar Gorge, but it’s quite a way on dual carriageway and with plenty of grit still on the roads (thanks for the info Andy). So I opted for a circuit heading to Sherborne, then down the A352 to Dorchester and the plan was straight back to Crewkerne from there. In the end though I headed for Bridport, and dropped into West Bay before heading back. About 67 miles in a couple of hours. It was slow going in places but great fun in others. I enjoyed the A352 Sherborne to Dorchester most I think. The car sounded fab through the tunnel North of Beaminster 😀. The roads were quite slick in places, wheel spin in third a couple of times and the odd wag but all good 👍. It was pretty chilly, around 1 degree C when I left and about 4 when I got back. Wasn’t too bad. The shorts were probably a poor decision 🤪 but silly hat and scarf kept me fairly warm, and gloves were mainly a success although the fingers did start to go after a while. Got back and warmed up for a few minutes before washing the car down thoroughly. Looks great now. The only annoyance is losing one of the centre caps on the driver’s side front wheel. Need to try to source one of those now which is a pain. Great to be out again and it certainly blew the cobwebs way. Decorating this afternoon as penance 😕🤣.

Good to see you all today! and Huggy's Speed shop is definitely worth a visit, it wasn't too cold driving home in the dark with a T Shirt, Shirt, sweater, fleece, body warmer and coat on 😅 @DIY-Si car is a fantastic build - your attention to detail is to be admired! hoping to see you and the X1 again at Malvern

Well that was a day full of nice surprises, but firstly I must thank @Rob Hunter Derby & Notts AO for bringing this place to my attention and for bringing John and Hedley with him. Let's have a little look at Huggy's Speedshop first shall we? Rob and Hedley parked outside Huggy's I was gobsmacked when Marcus came all the way down from West Yorkshire in his Westfield, much respect to you A nice gentleman from a nearby unit told me that Westfield's used to be built here at The Classic Carriage Company. It is now occupied by Weapons of Mass Destruction. Next we all stood open mouthed as a little orange jobby drove along the approach road, it was Simon and Noah in their newly built XI, Westfield 11. You need to see this car and you need to talk to Simon, it will no doubt be in the tent at Malvern Kit Car Show, it is......thinking of the right word.......interesting......that is an understatement. 10 year old Noah has helped dad with the build. Despite being the youngest in the class at school he is the tallest, mate, you are also the luckiest. @ianali departing After lashings of tea, bacon sandwiches and plenty of chat it was time to head to the club committee meeting. Somehow we ended up leading 2 Westfield's to the main A5 road (like we knew the way!) and parking up with the very large chairman's vehicle. We didn't get lost thankfully. A great day out and a big thank you for all that came and made it so.

A couple from my run out today.

Thank you all for your kind words! 🥰 It was good to be out and meeting fellow Westy owners, especially when such admiring words are being thrown around. I'm looking forward to the next trip out!

Thanks for a great morning @Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative ! I'd arranged to meet up with John and Hedley at Ashby for a quick chat before heading over to Mallory Park to meet the rest of the gang. John is a brave man, last time he was my passenger we were heading for a gravel trap at Donington 😂 Huggys Speedshop is an real Aladdins cave of all things motoring related, we'll definitely be going again! Great to see Marcus, having travelled 2 hours from Yorkshire in his Westfield. I'm very jealous of the carbon wing stays..... Being a self confessed engine geek, I got quite excited over the Coventry Climax engine in Simons XI, what a gorgeous car!

The final job was fitting the fuel system which again was one of those tasks I ended up doing twice. as it was such a short run I from the filter to the pump I’d originally run it all in flexible hose. whist this was probably the cheapest and easiest way to do it, I wasn’t happy with the overall look and I had concerns about using rubber hose next to the driveshaft doughnut should one let go and tear the fuel line. This was the first cheep and easy attempt. And then the expensive way.

Fun out today winter blatting lol, Ronald and Chrissie came along to Elgin for coffee where we met up with Barry and his lovely 265 cup leaving we had a spirited drive east along the coast before cutting off over the back roads to Turriff for breakfast here we were joined by John and his Elise and Paul with his MGF, suitably fed and after a wee blether we had a play along the back roads to Forgue, Bognie, Huntly, Lumsden, and Corgarf for coffee and cake 😃 From here we said goodbye to John and headed up the Lecht to do a few drive by videos then on to Tomintoul where Barry headed home and we came back home via Glen Rinnes, then it was a good wash down lol and sit down with a coffee. A cracking run , thanks all who made it

Over the Christmas break I found some time between eating turkey to start a few of the smaller jobs. Although MSUK regulations don’t allow me to run with the moveable aerofoil I nevertheless wanted to make a small section that could be used to demonstrate its operation when displaying the car. I’d had sone laser cut profiles made so these were welded up painted and then skinned in aluminium.

Thanks. To be slightly harsh, next door doesn't seem to care that his garage leak seems to be affecting me so as long as mine is dry going forwards, I don't care... and I'm also on the end of the block so hopefully the water will stay his side or find a path out to the surrounding soil.

Hi, A few of us are heading to the Curburgring for the first time of many in 2023! @jumbojack has entered his MR2 so needs some cheer leaders (pom poms and ra ra skirts are optional 😂). We plan to arrive at 10am and will probably stay until about 12 ish. The cafe should be open for s brew and your choice of saturated fat filled sandwich. Feel free to come along 👍

Since fitting it I’d not been entirely happy with the routing of the gearbox breather hose so I picked up a couple of different fittings that allowed me to shorten it. before after

Monthly meet for a natter and a pint, usual venue, The Crown Inn Bridport DT6 4AX from 19.30.

Another Bonkers car is the Ariel Hiper EV with 1200bhp.

So first proper run out of the new year this morning with Ronald and his newly acquired Robin Hood over to Brodie country fayre for breakfast and to meet up with Barry in his newly acquired 265 cup Elise . A bit fresh and damp underfoot, so a steady run along the main roads to Elgin and onto Brodie, where coffee and a full breakfast were consumed, then with Barry’s wife shopping the lads went out and talked cars for a bit . Then Ronald and myself headed over the Dava moor with some snowy and icy roads that concentrated the mind and a wee snow shower just to cheer us up, fuelled up we headed home up speyside, 4 1/2 hours out with great company and fantastic roads , there really is great fun to be had in the winter months.

Fine weather in Surrey today, so I got out for a blast to Newlands Corner, followed by a thorough wash & shine. Main jobs for 2023, apart from keeping it between the hedges, include updating the headlights to LED (smaller diameter with black surrounds - recommendations welcome!), and replacing the seats with lighter carbon / composite.

Took the TVR out this afternoon for its first run in 2023, catching some late afternoon sunshine.