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Picked up my Westfield today. SEiW 2.0 Zetec black top 170. Drove it back from Bawtry, Nottinghamshire, the sun shone, my co pilot loved it and I'm a happy bunny. Bit blustery on the A1 and the A19, and to be honest straight lines are just not what these are for, none the less lots of smiles and looks from the other cars around us. I'm looking forward to putting my own stamp on it but for now fingers crossed for some more nice dry days. Just a couple of quick pics.

On behalf of the committee especially as Scott will have his head under the bonnet Big Thanks, it's nice to know we occasionally get it right.

At the moment the Autumn edition of the magazine will be going out very shortly, so you may find Marks holds back on sending the pack, so that you can get a current mag too.

Snap, shame about the guy on the bike that nearly hit Marcus but glad he was ok. The companies that overfill buses and lorries ought to be fined a million pounds a pop maybe that will stop them spreading devastation on our roads. Barry and Andrew

Thanks again Julie, I'm very happy with mine

... I love you just the way you are And I am talking about the forum BTW... On my quest for the perfect ST 220, I have been spending a lot of time on other forums so I can compare the experience. And I don't want to take a pop at places that I will need help from and I understand their finance model will probably be different to ours... However the amount of pop up adds really does drive me to despair (again understand they might need to do this to offer a free forum). Sure we have the odd banner at the end of a post but nothing invasive and I actually pay more attention because of that. And why is there a massive animated BMW advert on a Ford forum..? So, here is the controversial statement (and each to their own) but I would happily pay an extra bit to the subs to keep this forum untainted by the stench of corporate capitalism. Keep up the good work guys..! Edit: Just noticed the banner under my post - Alanis Morissette please take note, that is "ironic"

Looks like a really nice car especially in the best colour. Congrats and merry Christmas.

Have a great one James

It was the quickest he went all day!

Apologies....A bit of mess up on my part, It's in 'Hereford' oops A bit far from 'Hertford'

Aye we'll all sleep well tonight after all that pushing!

He did, I stopped and asked if he was ok, he said he was and then pointed out the trail of diesel.

I meant the guy on the bike, all Marcus had to do was change his pants

I use FB to keep in contact with my son who is travelling in the far east. I can see his pictures and know he is OK. Other than that I 'un-follow' all the people who post rubbish just leaving me things that I might be interested in looking at (car related, music related etc).

I can't find the Drovers road on a map although I have identified the Ffestiniog to Bala road. Where do I turn off the A470 please? The Conwy falls cafe, yes very good, and I love the name of the place next door....The Fairy Glen...my Glen assures me he is no fairy. The driving part of our day today has been up the Nant Ffrancon valley, where we spent the day, then back down to the Llanberis Pass turning left before Caernarfon to come back into Beddgelert, stopped for tea, then back to Betws. The route basically circuits around the base of Mount Snowdon, and on Sunday tea time the roads are empty. I keep driving past the Tyn-Y-Coed, which looks very busy this weekend, may try it later in the week. Lake Ogwen

It's OK, I've got Martins phone number. Glad you had a good day without me.

Martin and everyone else who came today, I had a great day today 244 miles and sunshine all day. Good roads, good company and top F & C for dinner! Thanks for organising, (no pressure for the future Robin).

Welcome from south wilts

I am very happy with yours too. It looks very smart, suits your car.

Odins Beard, yes there's a few different engine options, best to go for the most modern you can afford, FW bodywork is radically different to the others which are the classic style and they will look the same to most of us as well. Check out as many Westfields as you can in the next couple of months by going to meets & trackdays, there is an infinite number of options on our cars and mostly owner suited, a lot to take in. A good chassis, engine and bodywork is a good starter then all the rest can easily be changed to make it your own.

Stamping your own signature on the car is fantastic, and where these sort of cars really score; worth bearing in mind though that some "upgrades" are done because you want the engineering challenge of doing them, not because they make any sort of financial or practical sense! Major engine changes sort of fall into that category, for most people.* As a very, very rough rule of thumb, club members have found over the years that it costs about £2000 on top of the price of the engine to swap from one make/type of engine to another! Yet the swap won't in most circumstances add anything like £2000 to the value of the car. Indeed on a previously really tidy car, if the bodywork is left with lots of holes, it might reduce the value, unless you spend more to get it looking cosmetically good again. *Of course, there will always be some that can manage to do the swap between a Ford Crossflow and a Jag V12 in their project car for Tuppence Ha'penny, but then you usually find they've got a back yard with an acre or two's worth of spare donor cars of all descriptions to rob bits from, and enough mates in the trade to get any fabrication or machining done for the price of a beer or two! For the rest of us it costs! However, changing wheels, brakes, roll bars, wide track suspension, springs/dampers, seats even whole dashboards etc is all quite easily done for reasonable money and either adds value to the car, or perhaps makes it more appealing. That said, if it's possible, I do often recommend leaving it for a summer and a winter before doing anything too major, just to give yourself the time to get to know the car and any foibles, but more importantly, to get to know how you'll actually use the car! I've know people buy a car expecting all summer pub lunches and blasts down leafy lanes, who've got addicted to track days. Equally, I know people who intended to be all hard core track days that have found themselves always off exploring the countries B roads.

postman best deliver my starter motor quick then

Pretty pleased with the results, worth the effort and expense!

Whole bl**** thing perplexes me TBH. In an abstract way, I can understand why some folk with family would want to use it to keep in touch to some extent, but the endless sharing of utter (expletive deleted) trivia with the entire world baffles me. I've said it before, I'm not interested in my own life - why on earth would someone else be?? By extension, that applies to almost everyone else in the world as far as I am concerned, although I do accept that there are some lucky folk who are actually interesting to follow if you are in to that sort of thing. I too don't get the desire to share personal information quite so readily. No wonder folk get scammed so often.

Outed yourself there John - the BMW ad. is because you've been looking at BMWs I reckon... Clear those cookies! I too find this a refreshingly untainted place to be. Some of the other car forums I visit seem to be littered with some pretty bizarre and random stuff...and not related to my own browsing I might add!!

Have a gud un' Martin Thanks for organising yesterday's trip. as if the 1881 miles on my odometer from the Euro trip wasn't enough, I added another 220 miles yesterday

And let's not forget the hobgoblin. King goblin is quite a good one.

Well this evening went to plan - fell asleep watching replay of GP qualifying, had something good to eat (but don't remember what) and have just woken up again in my chair... Oh well, must do it all again tomorrow. Good, 'cos it was just a brilliant day

Thanks to everyone who turned out today, hope you all enjoyed it. I was somewhat taken aback by the number who turned up, closed roads also made it more trying than I needed. That said, the day was awesome, 25+ cars is some sight and great friends. To you all thank for turning out, it makes them any hours spent organising worthwhile. Next year I need to make something special, time to start planning. Ian

Calendar pictures mustn't have been published elsewhere, including the Boardroom, so always worth holding a few good shots back when you have them.

Not a FB thing particularly, but the one that really winds me up, and I haven't a clue why, is when someone, in a question, uses the word "we", when they really mean is "you", as in: "Where are we going?", "What are we doing?" etc. makes me want to scream (like a teenager), "we aren't going anywhere, but I'm going..." Oh and in a similar way to Clark's "lovely", inappropriate use of the word "nice", again, in a question. As in, "would you like a nice sandwich?" or "would you like a nice glass of wine?". Again, i just have that urge to scream like Harry Enfield's Kevin, "no I want a horrible sandwich" or whatever. I bite my tongue a lot.

What a loverly question.

No you won't, you wouldn't fit in the narrow Westfield seat with them plums.

Tennants super is the drinking mans choice down my local park, but thats a measly 9% (I believe).

Well guys my trial period expired this morning, so Ive taken the plunge and now got myself affiliated The information I've received so fat has been great, and Im looking forward to getting one sorted and hitting the road. Will try and get along to meets etc when time allows.

Now that is a good shout..! Also been wondering about the Passat 4.0 W8, makes lots of sense until we get to servicing, it might as well be a spaceship as far as the local garage would know. Courtesy of Clarkson on PooToob from TG where he reviewed the ST220 and the 6 MPS (we won't mention the tangential Vectra) I did consider the Mazda. Seems to tick all the mechanical boxes but I really struggle with Jap interiors (neighbour has a 2.0l and I've sat in it and not really likey)- yes, yes I am being picky, but this purchase if purely because I want it, so I will continue to behave like a spoilt child in a sweet shop...

Yep, you can run an aeroscreen without wearing a helmet, but that's one hell of a risk to take and I don't know anyone who would. Helmets are fine of course, but SWMBO has to be a pretty good sport to get out the other end of a trip with hair like a troll. Half doors with the wind deflectors are well spoken of as an alternative. Finally, and this may sound obvious, is the passenger seat all the way back against the rear bulkhead? If it's on runners, bringing it forward somewhat might change the dynamics just enough to work.

As stated, it's an open topped car and you're always going to get buffeting. The windscreen cutting through the air creates a low pressure zone in the cab, and as nature abhors a vacuum, the air rushes in from behind to fill the low pressure area, which is why you get buffeted from behind. If you really want to get buffeted, take the side wind deflectors off - you'll find you can't breathe after 60 mph. This is commonly known as "Westfield nose". A rear mesh and perspex roll hoop wind deflector will help slightly, but it won't eliminate it. Full side doors work pretty well, but you do lose some fun IMHO as it can feel a bit claustrophobic. Side wind deflectors, a fashionable head scarf for the missus, and good sunglasses / goggles is how I tend to run, along with keeping a good hairbrush in the boot box. You need to enjoy the experience rather than fight it too much.

Liking your work Quinten, oh to be a whizz with electronics....