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HT leads replaced and took the new car out for a fill up ending in a spirited drive. I’m sure I’m preaching to the converted but these cars are immense. Starting to gain a bit of confidence in the car and the 888r’s and I haven’t enjoyed a drive this much in years. All the latest cars have been turbos and I’d forgotten how good an NA car is. First one I’ve had with throttle bodies…wow! Everything, handling acceleration, sound just brilliant. I’ll be out again up to Dartmoor tomorrow before the rubbish weather descends by the weekend. It’s made my mind up to get some more suitable tyres for the cooler weather and I’m thinking uniroyal rain sport 5s in 195/50/15, the 888s are 205. Didn’t really want to buy another set of wheels but I think it will be less hassle for me in the long run if I do. Demon tweeks seem to be the best value for wheel/tyre packages or does anyone have any better suggestions? A pic of my two, both great cars and a lot of fun but the Westy is way more fun. Wish I’d bought one years ago! Roll on tomorrow!

Weather forecast was brilliant for Sunday if not slightly wrong. Instead of clear sunshine as promised, we left home at 7.15am in fog! Still nothing was going to dampen our spirits. Met up with @si_salisbury and newby Gary at Markham Moor services A1 en route to Quackers. Arriving at Quackers just before 10, there were no other Westies in the car park but soon this swelled to 9 (bit of a relief for a trainee leader). Good to see even more first timers and we sincerely hope that they had a great time and will come again. After a good chat, a sausage roll or cake, we left on a round trip for about an hour, ending up at Chatsworth Garden Centre - might appear to be a strange place to aim for but it has a large car park and an excellent restaurant. Great to find @Chris Emm waiting for us in the car park. At this point we had 7 as a few had decided that they needed to go back home. After a hearty lunch we moved on for cake to the Wetton Tea Rooms - about 45 minutes drive through some lovely Peaks countryside. By this point there were only four ( @aeg couldn’t find reverse gear to park in the car park ) Westfields but plenty of cake was consumed. Most of the cake was eaten by Becky - no idea how she does it. This left me with a trip home of nearly 2 1/2 hours arriving home at 6.15pm but by now the sun was out and it was brilliant. Pleased you all seemed to have a good day. Our esteemed entertainment manager @Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative is back from holiday next week so the batten of responsibility is returned to her. Credits for photos - @Rob Hunter - Club Secretary Becky @aeg and Mo @Chris Emm

Not much luck finding someone who can take on the bodywork repairs for a reasonable cost so I picked up this a couple of days ago. it’s going to be fun winter of learning

We had a great day today, and made the most of the lovely weather. I set off at 7.30am and met Matt at our usual rendezvous - Ilminster Services. I’m sure Matt was questioning leaving today’s navigation to me, when instead of taking the exit, I headed towards the Burger King drive through 🤪. A U-turn of shame complete and we were on our way 🤪. We were due to meet the others at the Cross Keys pub in Norton Fitzwarren at 8.30. Gareth had negotiated a later meet time already; 8.30, claiming a ‘hell of a week.’ but clearly needed more of a lie in as he rolled up around 9 in the end; a forfeit of some sort must surely be served Sir! 😉. Dave was in his ‘new to him’ supercharged Elise which looked lovely. I call this image ‘Waiting for Gareth’ 😉 I had planned a route using the Calimoto, correction BBR (Best Biking Roads) motorbike app, not being at all familiar with Exmoor or the surrounding area. It was a rough figure of eight culminating at Lynmouth before heading back again. We headed off, joining the A38 for a short stretch before turning up through Bradford-on-Tone, continuing North before turning left onto the B3227 which took us on a nice long loop through Wiveliscombe and on to Brampton, where we started turning North again and picked up the A396 at Exbridge. Forking right off the A396, we continued North until we met the B3224 to Wheddon’s Cross, which was the approximate cross over point in our figure of eight. We followed this, turning into the B3223 until we reached Simonsbath for our first stop. I missed the car park and then decided to choose somewhere with a precipitous drop to turn around in for my second U-turn of shame. Fortunately the car didn’t ground, but the other Westies chose a much more sensible option. Once parked up, we had a quick comfort break and stretched our legs for a few minutes in the sunshine. From Simonsbath, the B3223 turned North and climbed, then ran all the way up to just before Lynton and Lynmouth where it joined the A39 for the steep descent into the towns. At some point around here, I decided to follow the road, despite a big sign saying it was closed. This made my hat trick of U-turns, with Gareth pointing the way to get us back on track. In Lynmouth we couldn’t find a parking spot near the tea rooms I was aiming for, so we headed down Riverside Road opposite and ultimately parked on The Esplanade down overlooking the Bristol Channel and a misty view of Wales. Once parking was paid for, we walked back in towards town and found a very pleasant place to have a drink and bite to eat, again, enjoying the warm sunshine. Gareth had misplaced his cut off switch key and got some extra exercise by heading back to the cars where fortunately it was on the ground near the car. After the stop, Gareth and his wife headed home, and we set off up the steep Countisbury Hill, then along the top to Porlock Hill. Soon after this, Matt and I turned South towards Luccombe and Dunkery Beacon, and Dave headed on towards Minehead and home. This was definitely the worst of the roads I chose! A single track lane, complete with grass down the centre. We followed another car very slowly for what felt like ages before crossing another road and from then it opened out a bit and took us up onto the Beacon. It remained fairly bumpy but the views made it worthwhile. We passed back through Wheddon’s Cross (the middle of the figure of eight), and then back on the B3223 to Ralegh’s Cross and Bishop’s Lydeard. I must confess, this was my favourite part of the trip, fast open roads and little traffic so Matt and I had a very enjoyable run here. After that it was back through Norton Fitzwarren, Taunton and on towards Ilminster, where Matt turned off towards Broadway and I headed home, getting back a few minutes before 2pm, and a round trip of 142.3 miles. It was an excellent day out, and great to have some company. The route was generally good with some lovely roads, though at times we spent extended periods behind slower cars or tractors. We did have some good sections though which were very enjoyable. I washed the mud off the car and tucked it away in its Carcoon. Let’s hope we get a few more sunny weekends before winter sets in 🤞

Hi, my name's Grant, a new member from Brandon. Now I've retired I got the Westfield I promised myself. So I've joined the club and decided to say hello.

And then there were 3 !!!!!! Because some of us couldn’t wait for the OAPs to reverse park so left it on the road🙄 thanks for a great day @AndrewBClarke really enjoyed it. Struggling to add anymore photos because they’ve all been used/high jacked on here and Facebook 🤣 But this shows the life of a leader !!! we’re not reversing comes to mind 🤣 take care all till next time

There is always someone trying to photo bomb This character obviously escaped from the local asylum. 😁

There's "WSCC Members" (those who have paid and are current, inc Joint Members), trial members, paid extended trial members and SORN members (those who did not renew). Out of those we consistently have around 1,000 current paid up WSCC Members.

Still got a lot to do, but made a start....

Star Trek II - the Wrath of "Car" 😂

Great to meet up with everyone this morning, big thanks to @AndrewBClarke for organising 👍 I left home early to head to our normal pre meet location where unusually I was the only Westfield in the village 😂 Heading north, traffic was amazingly quiet! With no convoy in tow, zero traffic and my favourite B5023/5012/5056 route ahead of me meant one thing.... if you know, you know! 😉😇

🤣🤣🤣 I forgot about that! Despite the u-turns and that awful road up to Dunkery Beacon, you did a grand job 👏🏼 Really enjoyed it & looking forward to the next one 👌🏼

Had a few reasonably powerful rwd cars with lsd over the years but I’ll take it on board for sure. I like to think I’m light with the loud pedal and feed it in gradually so fingers crossed I won’t come to grief! Wouldn’t mind doing a track training/handling day next year to explore the cars limits and see where my limits lie if such a thing exists.

Richard is right about LSDs being not for the faint hearted. Too much right foot in an open diff on a bend will often simply spin the inside wheel, but a car with an LSD will snap round before the unwary can catch it. My first Westfield caught out my son in 2003 who at that time hadn't driven a rear wheel drive car (he was young at the time) and certainly not one with an LSD. He left a roundabout briskly but with too much power and a damp patch the next thing he knew was backwards on the grass having bent some Armco and hit a tall 'A' road lamp standard. No harm to him, but the car was written off. A few seconds after the car came to rest and he was counting his blessings, the lantern from the top of the lamp standard smashed to the ground immediately next to the car. In the ensuing twenty years he has acquired a lot more experience I am glad to say.

looks great , another Devon owner also .... good times i have the Uniroyals on mine , really impressed with them

I’m not allowed out much these days 🤪

We know the speed of light. But what IS the speed of dark? That keeps me up at night... Also, if the universe is still expanding, what "space" is it expanding in to? Nurse... I'm hearing those voices again...

Love both (for cars its allowed )

Out with the boys this morning for a blat around Exmoor A fine collection of Devon mud! All clean, ready to be tucked away in the Carcoon.

Thank you @AndrewBClarke for arranging a great day and it was good to meet everyone. I picked up a little passenger when we left Wetton tea rooms, a little bug walking around on the inside of my helmet, then it decided to walk towards my ear and the on it, trying to fit your hand up the inside of your helmet trying to prevent this bug from going into my ear, after a little while it was no good while at a junction waiting for traffic to clear I had do rip of the helmet to get the little sod, after having this image of a bug digging it’s way into my ear and eating me from the inside out (I think I watch too many horror movies). See you all soon.👍

This should be good 😉

Last post as I'm posting on your thread too much, but do drive the car at night, no roof - if you choose the right road there is nothing like it, do it one day and let me know 👍

Thanks Stuart, I may well come along but it would probably be in the fiesta, not sure I’m confident enough for a trip that far in the dark lol!

No neither am I 😂, driver training is a great idea, I did one of those once at a Rally school Lincoln way , Blyton park I think it was. Best cash I spent .

Welcome @Philb65. Lovely looking car you’ve got there. If you fancy it, we are meeting at Re:fuel in Cullompton on 18th October from 7.30pm, would be great to see you. Oh, and without wishing to scare you, it’s not just in the wet these things can catch you out, as I found out recently! 🤪 Only real damage was to my pride fortunately but it’s worth treating them with respect. Great fun though as we had yesterday around Exmoor.

Yep understood Richard I know I’m not a driving god thankfully so I try and be reasonably cautious. Yes all production cars. I plan to try and pick sunny dry days, if it’s remotely damp it’ll be staying tucked up in bed! Devon is very wet so I might not get out very often! Driver training most definitely needed though!

The difference between whatever RWD cars you have driven before ( most likely production cars - just a guess) is the fact that a Westfield is far far lighter and weight distribution won't be the same as a PC, so it will not react in the way perhaps the others did. Not preaching, I just don't want you to bin it, come the first rain or worse.

Great to hear you sorted the HT leads and also yes they great cars, mine ( despite a lowly 110 ish BHP) is still huge fun. Yes if you intend to drive over winter do please consider suitable tyres, you may consider getting another set of rims, then you aren't swapping tyres all the time, wheels are easier to swap over. I have no idea if you have an LSD, but if you do take it easy in the wet until you are used to what the car will do based upon your inputs, quite quite easy to look a right plonker as you do a 360 in the high street - ask me how I know 😂 ETA I my defense mine wasn't an LSD, it was ( whisper this ) welded, not that I knew at the time, so no slip at all never mind limited. Oh and the highstreet is a bus route, that's my defense M'Lud.

Maybe it was the euphoria at not having any leaks (that I’m aware of) for a whole day!!

At the Thursday pub meet Del mentioned he might be heading to Curborough in the TR6 with Paul in the VX220. I left it quite late to commit to going due to recovering from the dreaded manflu! Taking the normal route past the National Memorial Arberetum I realised that the annual Ride to the Wall motorbike event was happening that day. Getting home would take over twice as long due to the traffic jams created by over 5,000 motorbikes making the annual pilgrimage to the Wall of Remembrance. Its quite an event to behold! Landing at Curborough, Colin and I found Lee already parked up and Micheal (of Burton Car Club) was also there. Wandering up to the cafe we spotted Dan's Westfield, Derek's TR6 and Paul's VX220 Turbo. The car park was full of stunning motors.... The paddock was equally interesting Simon Green's Redtop powered Westfield was out on track with some Caterhams and a very nice Busa engined Fury. It was a very varied field being the HSA sprint, from dedicated track cars like Formula Fords, Jedi and Radicals to classic Mini's and modern Porsches and BMW's.

I loved that holiday Dave, almost as much as you perhaps ( as I sat at home watching the posts come in) , but those roads, oh - stunning.

Likewise, I actually like learning about other cars, I know my car very well, but not so much say an FW, and once an engine goes beyond the 80's I'm lost with EFI's and ECU's, so I learn a lot just reading, and occasionally poking my nose in where it's not wanted 🤣 - but that's how I learn stuff.

Well, it's not quite ten years yet, but: Wings are still there! Though the tail end looks a little different!

That's strange. I find the forum the main benefit. Maybe that's because I'm still learning about my Westfield? D

Any ideas how we can get some of those 1000 over here, I haven't counted but guessing we may have 20/30 regulars to the forum. I know not everyone likes posting all the time ( I do but then I'm weird ) even if they just called in once a month or few months - not sure how we can do that , impossible I guess?.

Excellent topic, here are some of mine showing it now, vs how it was when I first got it back around 1994 (I think it was). Both sets largely taken on the same quiet cul de sac about 28 years apart!

Great bump! Noticed that none of my pictures are working so I spend some time trying to locate pictures from my first Westfield (H178LJA) Bought in Nov 2013 and sold again in Feb 2014 looking pretty much the same. Just ignore the missing driver seat, it did have one, but I couldn't drive it with those padded seats myself 🤣 #2 to follow

Sorry for bumping such an old topic, but thought it was a great idea from the original post starter , and the thread seemed to end abruptly. I notice that there are still a few current members who posted back then, your cars must have changed since this thread was started?. So in an attempt to get it going again, here is my own car down the years. Car as purchased back in 2008. That same day, started to rip it to bits as I really was not happy with the build. I had a mad idea to get back on the hillclimbs, so started to "change it" a bit. Looking back at this pic, it looks awful ... What was I thinking??. Given at the time a lot of 7's copied the "Prisoner" look, I have never been one to follow fashion so .... Around the time this thread started (2014) my car looked like this, thought I would get a proper aeroscreen and thought about black all over, so was getting used to black here. It was around this time I soon discovered that the cash I had planned to go hillclimbing with, in fact was actually spent on prepping the car in the first place, knowing that further cash was going to be hard to gain. I reverted back to a windscreen. Car went black all over with some side stripes ( as I heard they make your car go faster or something ....) By 2016, I had made a hood and some doors ( Cat 7 screen frame so WF ones would not fit) . And by 2022 it looked like this, it hasn't overly changed much externally since then other than some recent new tyres and wheels, with the gold bits deleted and swapped for an off white. Interior got a makeover last year and that's about it. So how about your car?.

Wow, fantastic write-up and photo's Stuart. Looked a stunning day. The pics of the boats was nice, I have been desperate to trace my fathers one ( very very similar to the one with the Union flag on it ( although its on a water craft so Jack, lol), last seen on Lake Bala circa 1982. You always know it was a good run when the rear arches look like that. 👍 ETA Actually I think my eyes were playing tricks, its the craft in the background of the one with the jack on it, doesn't half look like a Lysander to me ( could be wrong though?)

A misty Lynmouth this morning 👌🏼

short notice i know meet at the Bluebird inn Samlesbury 8.30 Tomorrow Sunday morning bacon sarnie in Settle.

Classic car meeting today, Saturday 7th October at The Kings Arms, Heath Common, Wakefield WF1 5SE. From 3pm until dusk.

I’m with Octopus and have found them to be excellent to be honest. No, I haven’t won anything on the Spins, but I guess that’s to be expected. I did however participate in their energy saving ‘events’ to save power at supposedly critical times and got over £30 back for that plus whatever we saved. To be honest I did it more as a bit of fun with the family to challenge ourselves and we enjoyed a few candle lit dinners as a result 😊. I think their comms are very good, and being able to manage and see bills and submit meter readings via their app is really good. I understand our useage much better now and have saved a lot as a result. They have a great forecasting tool so you can see your predicted balance based on what you are paying and expected use. I’ve cleared a big debt with them and have been able to reduce my DD quite a lot based on the forecast balance.

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.

I never had an issue with Wendz in passenger seat.... A- she is fairly petite B- it wasn't a problem when my head nestled into her upper torso 🤪

If you weren't good friends before, you will be after

Pfft, this is just the easy bit. Now try getting into a Westfield, hood up, when you have a passenger!

you put your right leg in...... your right leg out...in out in out ...shake it all about 😁

After leaving the trailer sitting in the garden for the last 6-months, today I thought I’d better check the Costin actually fitted since I’ve got a car show coming up in a couple of weeks time. Also a good chance to give it a clean and take a few photos.