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Morning all, For those who recieved the pocket torch at the National Kit Car Show at Malvern a few weeks back, this STL 3D print file may be of interest. It's a small clip to mount the torch on a panel. I'll be mounting mine under my dash for easy access when needed. Feel free to print your own if you wish. There's 2 countersunk 3mm holes, 91mm apart for mounting it at either end. Enjoy! WSCC Torch Mount.STL

My New Spax dampers. Ordered on Tuesday, arrived today(Friday). Superb service from @damperman and his team Thankyou

For Christmas my son gifted me an entry ticket to the Spa 24 race. And because we both like driving, we planned a whole holiday around it. I set off today to Folkestone to stay in a hotel overnight to work around the thunderstorms tonight and will meet up with my son at the Eurotunnel tomorrow at 7. From there we will drive to Reims to meet up with a couple of friends who will join us for the trip. I’ll try to update the thread regularly 👍

Day 3. Wensleydale to Pateley bridge. Amazing roads you have. Stopped off at a pub which was like the the league of gentlemen and in the back of beyond.

The assertion was that BEV was useless as transport, no argument about costs, demographics etc. I pay 7p kWh when I pay anything at all. Most of the time I run on solar. When I don’t I run on stored cheap rate. I’d love to have a quiet word with those responsible for giving away our oil wealth though. We should have a bl**** massive sovereign wealth fund. Instead, we have a bl**** massive debt and a small bunch of obscenely rich a********s.

Have you tried the bec owners group on facebook? there are alot of boys over in lreland runner those engines you may have a much better chance of finding one if you put a wanted on facebook groups

The forecast is.....expect cake to be served, the weather is looking good for this so we will go for a run out afterwards 🏎️🏎️🏎️🎂🍰

Appreciate the 'support' Mike. I'm not an EV evangelist - I get they don't suit everyone but I was starting to think there wasn't anyone here who had even tried an EV. I only recently went EV myself for the daily driver. Previously I had a PHEV which convinced me that a full EV would do me just fine. I confess to a huge sigh of relief when the PHEV was gone. No more obscenely over complicated ICE to fret about. I'm perfectly happy with the Zetec in the Westy and the Busso in the Midlana (until it sells) for my ICE fix. For the daily drive, I'm more than happy with the quiet, comfortable, nippy (4.2 to 60) acceptable range (300 real world miles) car I recently bought. And I bought it used, not new, and intend keeping it a long time, so I didn't even get the buyers remorse I got with the PHEV, despite keeping that over 8 years.

Norway doesn't appear to agree with that assessment. A typical EV may not suit YOU, but they could suit a lot of other folk. Average daily mileage in the UK is still only 20 miles. 20 Miles!! Motorway warriors need not apply, although plenty do have BEV and manage just fine. The Guy Martin thing was a clear expose on the lack of charging infrastructure and how that impacts long trips. Not BEV ability to do long journeys in reasonable time periods. Plenty of real-world evidence that a BEV can do long trips (1000km) in sensible times (9 hours), including charging. The caveat being that there is adequate charging infrastructure. If you like spreadsheets, have look here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6ucyFGKWuSQzvI8lMzvvWJHrBS82echMVJH37kwgjE/edit?gid=15442336#gid=15442336 The reference is an ICE that did the trip in 8:35, the next best was a Mirai at 8:40, using hydrogen. Kind of impressed he was able to refuel it tbh. After that, lots of BEVs starting at 8:55 without using battery swapping. Technology & chemistry moves on at pace as well. Although it seems like nothing more than a gimmick to appease the "I can refuel my car in 2 minutes and absolutely refuse to acknowledge that I often stop for a pee when refuelling" brigade, BYD have introduced 1MW charging that can add 249 miles in 5 minutes. I spent that long trying to persuade 17l into the tank of the Westy this morning. The chance of building thousands of 1MW chargers is minimal though, and the strain on batteries can't be good. Looped house supplies have been a problem long before EV came along. Electric showers can be 10.5kW, an electric oven & hob, similar. Maximum load on a single phase EVSE is 7.2kW - the difference is that a car will be charging for hours, not a few minutes. It's also highly likely that a car will be charging at cheap rate, so I'm not convinced about the arguments against installing EVSE to looped premises myself, particularly if you add some intelligence to the EVSE so it can throttle back if other demands require it. To address the 'rare earth metals' issue, lots of manufacturers are now adopting LFP chemistry rather than NMC. LFP has some issues, though most can be dealt with easily enough. And, all the above against a backdrop of increasingly complex, expensive and unreliable ICE, mainly due to emissions regulations. Again, BEV isn't a perfect one size fits all solution. Neither is hydrogen, even if we dismiss the fact it can't be produced in volume at the moment. Fuel cells and hydrogen storage tanks have finite lifespans the same as batteries & ICE do. None of the complaints about any of the ICE alternatives mean we shouldn't try to make best use of them.....but we won't, because we are stupid, venal and selfish.

Day 3 Ribblehead valley viaduct

Day 3 visit to malham. Nice drive and a lot of narrow bendy roads. Me and Bigfoot just stayed in the pub lol while the others walked the hills.

Day 3 First visit of the day was to too cold cut quarry. Long walk and fantastic views.

Fantastic to see your mum out in your Westie. I did the same with my mum last year at a tender age of 86. She loved the experience too. Sadly I lost my dad in 2017 but he went to Oulton Park with me in my first Westie. He was registered blind but loved the experience too! Very proud of him. Photo of my mum last year Andy

Our friends have already arrived in Reims. 33C apparently 😲

Safe travels @Quinten

Not as much fun as a Westie in the mountains perhaps, but 300hp E-Transits at 2000m altitude are a very surreal experience honestly!

I wish there was a stronger 'like button', I couldn't agree more! As you say, many people can very successfully charge at home for daily use with 3kW, never mind 7.2kW. I've driven big distances even in poor aero EVs (think Transit sized) and it's far more about the infrastructure, trip planning and technology aids than fundamental limitations of the EV itself in most cases - and that's improving monthly, not yearly.

That's @the stoat', drove it down from deepest darkest Wales (ok a few metres across the border). I nearly went on Sunday checked the traffic and it did look reasonable. Like you I think I'd have been stuck on the way out too.

Can all those planning to join us at any part of the route, let me know via whatsapp (or a PM on here with your mobile no.) and I'll create a Whatsapp group for the day to aid finding each other etc

Living on a 1980s housing estate 2.3.4. bedrooms mostly with drives for 1 or 2 cars does not help with off street charging either , all the semi detached houses and some detached in the estate are being refused permission to connect 7Kw chargers as the houses are wired in a system referred to as loop through . a cable from the road goes to house a and is then looped inside the houses to house b . The connection is deemed unsuitable for two chargers so a new cable has to be run from the road to house b before either can be allowed a charger . Speaking to the survey engineer he also mentioned that when gas boilers are banned that a lot of streets will have to be completely rewired with larger underground cables and feeds to individual houses upgraded to cope with heat pumps , chargers and more electric cookers and showers. He also mentioned that they are getting more requests for three phase to cope with bigger heat pumps and a couple for larger chargers

Is that a pocket torch in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

@Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator can you please pass a spare one to me(Next Tue?) and I'll pass it to @LoneWolf when he's next in the UK? He's a regular visitor.

Thats's a question above my paygrade but anyone involved in the Kit Car Show planning should point you the direction! Look up previous posts about it and see if someone pops up

Happy birthday julie

Great idea, can you put it in the 3D print area of Downloads here- https://forum.wscc.co.uk/forum/files/category/48-3d-printer-drawing-files/

Hope you’ve had a great day Julie. luv from Ian&Ali xx

Day 3 On to wensleydale creamery from Malham. Oh my word. The roads you Yorkshire area have are out of this world. Never laughed and smiled so much driving.

Happy birthday Julie 🎂

Happy birthday @Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative I'm in Spain celebrating my brother in laws 60th today.

I’ve been trying to find an opportunity to take my Mum out in the Westfield she helped me buy pretty much since I reacquired it, but somehow it never quite happened. Finally though, the stars aligned on Tuesday. I took the day off for another less pleasant reason in the morning, but that meant I could head up from Crewkerne to Wokingham in the afternoon to see Mum on her 90th birthday, in the Westfield of course. I had some great views of Stonehenge both ways, and it was lovely in the twilight heading home. After various friends had left, I persuaded her to tog up and come out for a spin. Getting her in was not too much of a challenge, and she was snug with the 6 point harness although could have done with a cushion as she could barely see over the dashboard! We headed out through Hurst and Twyford, hitting some sticky traffic at times, but then had a wonderful run back along the B3018 and the Straight Mile and home. She was very brave, didn’t squeal once and actually really enjoyed it. I’m not sure her hair will ever be the same though 🤣. The funniest part was, of course, getting her out again. It took a few goes and I have a hilarious speeded up video of it which I will keep private to save her blushes. So, there can’t be many 90 year olds who’ve been in a Westfield at a decent lick on their birthdays! She will be dining out on that one for a while 👍

@Chris Emmis planning on coming.

I think the answer is ‘patiently’. She bruises easily so we had to be careful. Biggest problem was my bare ali floors which were slippery, but once she got a foot onto the cross member she slowly worked her way up, with a little gentle lifting from me. We had a few giggles in the process 🤣. Thanks all for your lovely comments. It was a day to remember, very glad I got to see her on the big day. We are planning a party for her in a month or so, but the day IS the day, at the end of the day! I will certainly cherish the memory, glad I got some good pictures and video to remember it by. Was good to have a little sideways moment, however brief just to say we did 👍

I'm starting to wonder if you are a real human Julie or an AI creation. Surely there cannot be a woman who drives and loves Westies, and cake, and Hobgoblin, and can organise blats and meets better than anyone. I just don't believe you're real tbh 😂😂

That's fab. She does NOT look 90 !! What a great mum

MK sportscars sell a long 6" universal with integrated cat. Marketed for trackday use, so should be good noise wise. I've no experience with it, but others might. There's also a shorter 540mm version. https://www.mksportscars.com/products/universal-6-stainless-steel-720mm-catalytic-converter-exhaust-silencer-2-5-trackday-silencer

I've owned my megablade for 18 months now and done nearly 7,000 miles in it trouble free sounds alot yes but I purchased it to drive not park on the drive to buff up.Today whilst out on a drive 30 miles from home I had my first small mechanical failure my gear shift linkage broke leaving me stuck in 6th gear so I turned round and started my journey home which included going through the middle of a large town chelmsford with multiple roundabouts, traffic lights and queues of cars in 6th gear it didn't stall once no clutch burn I was shocked I was able to do this lots of stop start and made it home no problem I can't think of another car I could have done this in pat on the bonnet for my meg. At least I learnt one thing from this I can go from 0 to 130 in one gear.

I have a silencer and link pipe off my old zetec car. £50

Westfield sell a similar one too https://westfield-sportscars.co.uk/shop/1716013-6-repackable-cat-silencer-7337#attr=