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On our hols in France. Parked up at hotel and blocked in by this lot..

Now I’ve had a chance to recover I’ve more time to type a full round up of the day. It was an early start on Colchester High Street; as a penalty for getting my entry in so early we were were given the earliest arrival time of 8am. Next year I’ll put my entry in last minute so we get the 10:00 drop off time. Scrutineering went without a hitch and we were given our pass sticker to display on the car. My OCD wasn’t best pleased that it was slightly off centre on the nose cone. After this we had a good couple of hours to waste till the 11am start time so we went off to admire our competition and pick up some tips from the pros. There was a good mix of styles and designs. The most popular chassis were based on karts and quad bikes whilst a few others used tricycles. The rest like me built their own chassis. There was plenty of admiring glances from the crowd and plenty of children had a photo behind the wheel, after swapping notes with the seasoned pros I realised that my wider wheels may be a disadvantage on such a flat course where all the speed comes from the initial push rather than the gradient of the hill. Not to be deterred we lined up in our number 4 spot (although 3 on the road as one didn’t turn up) ready for our first run. The start ramp was a monster and quite steep too, the two karts ahead of us bottomed out on the transition as they were pushed up the ramp, hopefully they made it off ok. No such issues for us, the short wheelbase and the minimal overhang front and back meant that nothing caught on the way over the top. For the first run my instructions to my pushing team of Ian, Paris and Dawn were basic and clear: a good firm push but not too hard as this was the first time I’d driven the kart at any pace so I want to get a feel for it. From the off it felt steady as we rolled down the ramp onto the tarmac. I steered it with ease through the kart wash, getting a good soaking of soapy bubbles on the way. Up and over the speed bump I could feel it was loosing a bit of speed at this point as the road flattened and I rolled towards the barrage of super-soakers. Under the finish arch and I was just happy to get a clear run and record a time. As I sat near the finish the others started to roll in behind me in various states of undress and a good few needing to be pushed there. I’ve no idea what my time or position was but I was guessing we were somewhere in the top half. A time if anything less than 30seconds was considered very good, 30-60 was the average range and plenty failed to break one minute. The top two sports were taken by the sister cars of ADP classic racing and Techniq. For those who were thinking that my kart was over engineered these were were in a league of their own in terms of chassis and design. Both cars had inboard suspension on pushrods and full carbon fibre bodywork. Unsurprisingly they ran the course in 23 seconds. We had a good long wait till our next run so a chance to get my race weight up with some lunch. Come the end of lunch we lined up again for run 2. Feeling more confident about the handling my pushers gave it all and everything they had. With the timing beam at the bottom of the ramp we lined up right at the back to get the biggest run up possible. As I launched off, Ian hit the deck as Paris and Dawn sprinted down the track behind me. This run felt considerably faster as I went through and over the obstacles. I got well and truly covered by the kart wash to the point I could see out the goggles and then soaked by the super soakers. Crossing the line I had a short interview with BBC Essex who informed me of my finishing time of 30seconds. Time to relax and watch the other runners come in.

Rode the Ruthin MTB Marathon with my 12yo Daughter yesterday. Really good day out apart from the MASSIVE climb at the start!

A previous seaside pic from when we had the whole car park.

Hi julie. Some of the stragglers from the day. The ice cream melted very quickly indeed.

thanks Scott, yes I survived 😀 absolutely shattered now after a long day so will update tomorrow but we made it to the finish, all in one piece and with no crashes or stoppages.

Not my Westfield but thought it was worth posting - Le Mans Lotus 11 in the Le Mans museum.

Hi, Im an old Westfield builder /owner and WSCC member in the 90s. I changed to an SSC Stylus at the end of the 90s after a year of very wet motoring and competing in the BARC Speed series. After building the stylus I used the car on the road and again BARC Speed events with the wife for a few years. Then we moved to France in 2016. Driving here is unbelievable. I did a track day here during our first month of arrival, but the 4hour voyage over the mountains and back was as good/better than the day itself. Therefore a road compliant car is best. So I decided to "tidy" up my noisy, hard, bashed, bent car up. This was aided by the covid years. During this time I found the WSCC build forum to be my best aid. The car is almost finished (you know 99% only a couple of weekends to do!). In short my changes are - Right to left hand drive. Zetec to 1.6 ecoboost. New body. French registration ; - ) I will hopefully start a Build Diary from an afterwards - with info. Salut Kevin

I take it this sides really clean and the other side just up to the window sill 🤣

Hi Julie, Here you go -

Been to see Wheatus. I'm still a teenage dirtbag.

Looks like @Mark (smokey mow) did well compared to the other entrants (starts at 23 seconds in):

For some reason people don't want to post on the forum, don't know why, but we did have 6 cars coming to the breakfast meeting and 4 of us going to the show at Ackworth. The weather stayed dry and the sun came out for a bit too.

Well done Mark. Looks to be great fun.

A few more photos, enjoyed the run there and the hosts were most welcoming. Literally a couple of minutes out of the westie and I was offered ‘rocky road’ and another cake! Rude not to! 😂

Final glory fell to the team from ADP classic racing with the sister Tecniq car a fraction of a second behind them. Third place fell to the BBC Essex team who were in a car loaned to them by one of the countries most seasoned racers and our scruitineer for the day. The next few spaces after that were occupied by karts with two things in common, firstly narrow wheels and secondly no suspension. The first I already knew when I built the kart and realised I was taking a risk, but on the flat course the narrow and also critically lighter wheels reigned supreme as they had the lowest rolling resistance and could be accelerated faster by their team of pushers. The second point was less obvious to me but looking back the photos and videos I could see that I was loosing momentum at the bottom of the ramp and also on the speed bump because of the suspension compression. Despite the firmness of my suspension I noticed that I was getting more compression than I’d expected which was causing it to reach a point where the wheels were toeing in quite a lot. Clearly I need to raise the steering rack slightly and possibly change to an even stiffer spring to improve the geometry. You can see the issues with compression and toe here.

Well done Mark. Thanks for sharing all of this. It’s been refreshing to follow a different build thread. I can smell upgrades 😂 Keep us posted on your next outing.

I have really enjoyed following all this.

A day of highs and lows today of past , present and future….. we met at Dufftown at 9am , then on to aviemore where we met up with another two then on to fort William , with some enthusiastic progress being made 😁 where we met up with another two. Even a few wee showers couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm as it was no roofs and on to Mallaig for fish and chips 👍 suitably fed and watered it was back to fort William where we separated and to Spean bridge where we went our own ways. it was here that Murray drove “Tommy” back to Dufftown with the roof up as it was getting a bit wet to say the least lol. At Dufftown we had coffee and packed some of Tommy’s belongings as he headed off with Murray to start a new chapter. So here’s wishing Murray and “Tommy” many happy adventures and hope they have as much fun as we’ve had.

Here’s a view from inside, I can even wash the caravan up to the roof without ladders, and those that know me know that’s quite a feat 😂

Hi, interesting topic. Just completed two weeks touring in SW Wales. Last week Aug and first in Sept. Week in August was damp and we needed the hood up for a couple of the days. Once in you have forgotten how comfortable and snug it can be, especially with bags on the boot. The rear wheel arches were probably the worst they have ever been, probably due to all the tractors using the B roads. Jane, my wife manages pretty well in and out and I'm not too bad once you recognize the state of the rear wheel arches, but difficult to keep a clean bum all the same. Spent some time over the past years understanding how to keep the water out and be watertight inside. Still it's all part of the fun I guess.

I’m going to die !

Westfield Power - we went for a ride and Wife wanted to visit local bakery etc shop. Was closed but when Lady saw Westfield - she opened for us

The sun was up so a good turnout at GBS. The cakes were exceptional as normal and plentiful. As GBS themselves seem to photoshop Westfields out of their photos, I thought I’d post photos of the 5 that were there - @Greenstreak-Andy D, Trisha (driven by Jordan - it was really really clean and shiny), James in his yellow masda R/S engined car and Gary in his dark green pre-lit. Good to see @Martyn Vann - Warwickshire AO and Sue. and @Phippsy! I thought I’d put this photo in just as it was a car of dreams back in my day a long long time ago. RS2000 Mexico. Having made the comment about GBS cutting the photos, it would appear that the tactic of abandoning our cars in the middle of the car park worked and we are actually in their photos!! Instagram only at this stage but it’s a start!

I get in first using the left leg first etc. Once I am in wife climbs in on passenger side after I get handbag umbrella and shopping dumped on my lap first. Then the inevitable, I forgot to get the key out of my pocket, so get half out to get the darn key.

Deposit taken & shes going to a good home :0)

Yep, did same many years back, finishes it off nice doesn’t it.

Just finished building this up for my daughter from a cheap frame and spares I had in the garage

Chanced across a Westfield bonnet badge I bought a while back but decided not to fit. Then noticed it was the perfect size to replace the Momo badge in my steering wheel. Now looks way better.