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Cracking drive out with Matt this morning, will post up separately with route and other photos. Thanks Matt 👍 Here:

Last night at the pub 👍

Winston finally found a friend tonight in Bridport 😊

Mrs Stu and little Stu were away for the night so I had a free morning to go for a drive today. I met @Matt_S at Crewkerne station at 8.30am, and we headed down to Bridport (via the Beaminster tunnel of course 😁) where I topped up with Esso 99+. We had been hoping to catch up with Rob and Nick but timings just didn’t work out this time, hopefully we will next time out. From there we dropped down to West Bay and out to Abbotsbury which is a lovely road, with excellent views of the coast and sea. We had a quick photo stop just before, then down the steep drop into the village. From there we went on to Portland, heading up to the top first, then dropping down to the lighthouse at Portland Bill for a stop and to stretch legs. The weather was beautiful and it was very peaceful out there. From Portland, we headed up to Dorchester, then up the Old Sherborne Road, strangely enough to Sherborne. This is a cracking road which I really enjoyed. From there, on to Marston Magna and Sparkford where Matt took the lead and I confess I’m very vague about where we went from there on! (Matt, if you let me know then I’ll complete the route map!) I managed a hefty and rather smelly lock up at one point which was rather embarrassing but no harm done fortunately. At some point I split off from Matt who was headed to Ilminster, and I headed back to Crewkerne, via some heavy traffic on the A303. I think both of us ended up doing exactly the same distance, 120 miles. A cracking trip out and I look forward to the next one, hopefully with some more cars along. EDIT: I’ve added what I think was my complete route based on Matt’s comments.

There are lots of reasons why parts are more expensive, I have just retired but before the Covid issues we were paying $4000 dollars for a shipping container of parts from Korea. That shipping cost increased to $16000 during that period and stayed higher settling to $8000 at the moment. That is before you put the parts in that have increased due to raw materials. Once here we now have increased dock charges, increased transport and warehousing as energy prices are massive to what they were. Many blame brexit for the staff shortages, but the reality is around the world low paid jobs are not easy to fill, in the UK many older workers never went back after lockdown as many took time to do equity release and live well. We had staff who were furloughed, on way more than minimum wage, however once they saw how much they could get not working many did not return But back to Westfield, clearly they were not making money hence their downfall and now there is a sharp business man in charge they are looking at the bottom line. It is easy to sell more cars than the next guy, harder to do at a profit. Caterham sold 670 cars at a price that Westfield could only dream of and the components part would not be that big a gap between what WC paid. Profit is what they need and many who go there will pay a premium for ease of supply. You can always get cheap parts, getting good cheap parts is the hard bit

It must be getting warmer, 5 rare beasts came out to play! 👏👏 I arrived at 7pm to find two Westfields and Rachael and Iain's Luego already there. A few minutes later we were treated to Howard pulling in to make five. Great to finally see the car @Howardand @Alex Gaskin drive so well in the Speed Series! Welcome to @Malcolm Cousinswho came along to his first meet and is two thirds the way through his Zetec engined FW build, hope you enjoyed the evening! If you need any help, advice or just fancy a passenger ride just let us know, we will be happy to help 👍 It's like a time warp when we have a pub meet.... No we don't all dress up like Frankenfurter, it just that the time flies! 😂. Three hours of laughter gone in a flash! Before we knew it we were jumping in our cars at 1030pm! Hedley had brought along some complete sets of early 90's Westfield World magazines for us all to look at. We should definitely try and preserve these gems of the club history! On another note, if you are ever parked in a dark and secluded car park late at night and your car is approached by a strange man commenting on how pretty your lights are.... please remember, it could just be @HB46443doing a WSCC video 😂 https://www.facebook.com/groups/westfieldsportscarclub/permalink/957367568611901/ Thanks to everyone for coming, hope you enjoyed the evening and all got home safely.

As it is exactly 1 year since this years competition was launched I am pleased to make the following announcement: The winner of this years Battle of the Odo's is Andrew Clarke @AndrewBClarke at 4688 miles. Well done Andrew, that's a years free membership for you to enjoy. Coming in at second place is Andy Gilbert @aeg at 2821 miles, well done Andy, you will receive £10 off your membership renewal. In third place is Matt Harrison at 2154 miles, well done to Matt, you will receive £5 off your membership renewal. Thank you for entering everyone and well done to the winners.

Shame. There is always a silver lining. More cake for the rest of us!!

Well done @AndrewBClarke You did more than the Queen of cake too! I'm not eligible, but my mileage was 4561, So I was close! However we're all winners getting out and about in our great cars and it's even better with the great runs out we have in the peaks.

I’ll be there!👍

Thanks Dave, big thank you to you and everyone for all the friendly advice, and I certainly won't forget the the ride in that S2000 any time soon!

A good turn out last night, even if the run there and back was a tad chilly!

Back out this week after what seemed a long winter.

Having fixed the spilt CV boot, I persuaded the better half to come out for a beer at a local classic meet. There was a really wide mix, from Morris Minors, Beetles, a Lambo, a McLaren and some American metal too.

Nice blast out today. Gonna change my username to billy no mates 🤣

Yep, great drive out today! Very colour coordinated I must say! I lost Stu at Somerton, never realised he was peeling off until it was too late to👋 Here’s the rest of the route 👌🏼 So from Sparkford roundabout (where the A303 was chockablock going south) we headed past Haynes motor museum up to Castle Cary, which we skirted around and then headed towards Lydford-on-Fosse, onto Somerton where Stu peeled off. I then carried onto Langport, Curry Rivel, Hambridge, Ilminster and then home practically on fumes!

True, but while the Brexit issue has skewed the labour market additionally, there seem to be similar issues all round the world, the US being hit hard too.

Wyatt Polishing’s electricity bill has gone up from £21k pa to £189k pa. Their polishing compounds have risen by 120% and no doubt labour costs have also increased. This will obviously affect the prices of services and goods. The price for a bit of chrome work went up from £50 to £130.

PS, keep an eye on the forum Re next months meet. As I promised last night, I’ve had a look at what point the Swettenham Arms refurb is at; they open this month, (around the 12th, I think), and the Classic Car meets should be back, on Tuesdays. If so, we might do our usual thing, and shift the summer meets to Tuesday, and have a run out to Swettenham. They've been great meets for the Classics there previously! From last year.

In my industry, we’re seeing the buy in price of electronics and electrical items rocket. It’s kind of worse than it should be, as many of the manufacturers held back on price increases last year, so this year they’ve hit twice as hard. In addition, delivery costs are up, too. Plus, (as most of our work is on site), the fuel rises are horrific. I burnt through slightly over £800 worth of diesel in February, just while working on site at one clients for a fortnight. Thank goodness, we don’t have to carry the cost of bricks and mortar premises, as commercial energy cost rise would make you want to quit and leave the country. In some cases, (small) businesses have seen electricity bills alone go from low five figure costs, to six figures in under twelve months. /rant over

The ‘tag’ from @Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative post didn’t work otherwise a more prompt response would have been made. Thanks Julie for organising and doing the maths. It has been a brilliant Westfielding year. Well done Mr @aeg If you had been able to be out for the whole year and not just 6 months then you would have me well beaten! Still better luck next year - you will stand a better chance as I can no longer enter due to the rules. 😁. Congratulations to Matt Harrison as well.

I keep hoping I'll bump into a fellow owner/driver, but it hasn't happened in the wild as yet. I'd love to spot another XI, but I suspect I won't be holding my breathe on that one!

Another fantastic card from my grandparents

Sending it at Angelsey at the weekend

Just a personal view, but: They have invested huge amounts into the business, are having to buy considerable stock up front, due to lead times normally "hidden" from the customers, as they aren't starting from scratch the way they are now. Plus, call me cynical, but I suspect the deals previous suppliers have put forward in terms of minimum order quantities and margins aren't exactly great, as those suppliers will be cautios and seeking to recoup any previous losses. I suspect over time things will stabilise and arrive at "true prices". Though I wouldn't expect any great price reductions. Costs of doing business have gone up so much since the "factory" was last open. We all want to see them do well, (I hope!!) and be around for a considerable time to come; equally I'm sure many look forward to seeing the products be developed further, and see their true potential. This is going to take investment in time and people, that will have to be paid for. Of course though, the quality of parts and availability etc, all has to match with the cost! It's a two way thing. At premium prices, we expect and have a right to demand, premium products and service.

@Andy Bennie There are two sides to every coin and prices need to be set not only to satisfy the customer, but also to make the supplier some profit. I reckon once you've accounted for increased raw material prices and energy costs across the board, there's not much profit to be made if you still want the cost to be competitive. Also, I can't say if this also applies to carbon fibre fabric, but finished CFRP parts imported into the UK now attract higher import tax as they can't be recycled. I'm just thankful that W-C has been resurrected and hasn't sunk without a trace, which is great for both us as a group and importantly for British industry. As for the cost of their products and spare parts and what we're happy to pay, we all have a choice.

SOLD, this is a brand new factory built Westfield FW Special Edition. Registered 1st February 2023. Less than 100 miles covered. The final build cost over £33,000. For sale at £23,000. Change of circumstances and selling to fund a new project. It was initially being built at the Westfield factory, but after the events of last year, it was then completed/IVAd by the fabulous team at MK Sportscars. As you can imagine it is finished to a very high professional standard and looks fabulous in the grey. This is the 2ltr Zetec model with many manufacturer upgrades including: Limited slip diff Wide track wishbones Track day shock absorbers Westfield front & rear calliper in red 8" rear wheel upgrades Upgrade to 205 width T1R tyres FW rear diffuser Heater kit LED light pack (less headlamps) Sport Turbo seats with diamond stitching Hood and Side Screen kit (hood to be fitted) Carbon effect stone guards Four point harness upgrade Digital dash upgrade Throttle body upgrade (170bhp estimated) - mapping done at MK Sportscars Lots of receipts and details available from the purchase and build. Delivery pictures here https://www.instagram.com/p/CoVMAh1oyd7/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= and further build videos can be found on the MK Sportscars youtube and instagram pages. Fantastic opportunity to get a brand new factory built Westfield for the price of a kit! Viewings welcome. We are located in Somerset. Ed

Sorry we can't make it this time. The weather is looking good,so enjoy.