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Bagpuss ready for Le Mans 2018 road trip

Cultural trip to France last week.

God I love this weather 3 tanks of fuel today.

Wow. The roads and scenery are fantastic. Been around Elan Valley up to Devils bridge, then over the b4343 (or is it the 3434) to Lampeter. Long way to get some milk but worth it! Heading back to base and into the pub for beer in the sun. Will post pics later I’m very happy!

One of my winter projects was to make a spare tyre cover - didn't start it 'til April and finally got round to finishing it last night, just in time for the McWestie run today.

Ones from today. Can you work out where I have been ?

Nice evening.

Yes, those CVH hydraulic followers are pretty damn noisy when old

Mine is exempt too. Makes me feel like driving through London in a low gear and setting off car alarms.

Had a ride over to meet up with the Northern Cobra Club today. Four of us met at the Red Kite for the drive over to the Corn Mill at Brighouse where only 2 Cobras were there, most had gone to Blackpool. We'll have to go again when they have more cars.

Its just a Porsche Dave

I wonder? I swear I’ve seen that other car somewhere before!

We briefly met at Matlock where Andrew did the 'panorama dance' that we are eternally grateful to Trevor for teaching it to us. He was running up an appetite for later. Disaster struck, the toilets were shut, 'not to worry, the mens are open' said Paul. Oh great I thought, I will use the mens when they have finished, huff, Paul went off to the nearest bush didn't he! We took the short journey to the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, a largely unknown heritage line. Andrew, Matt, Paul and Margaret, and Ali and Gail. Matts yellow stripe contrasted great with the yellow cars in my rear view mirror. After a snack, a brew and a look at the steam engine, which is better viewed arriving than leaving, we went for our drive through the Peak District. We wiggled all the way up, down and round to come back to a point about 10 miles down the road at The Peak Rail. The first fix was Paul's indicator followed by Gails idle speed. The steam train arrived on time We had lunch, where Glen and Ali got naughty, some derogatory comment about women, followed by looks over to Gail and I, lots of oooo's, then ruddy Ali finished his sentence with 'and there were 5 of them strapped together' and laughed. Goodness only knows what they were talking about, the male of the kind will probably get an answer to that one Then Andrew treated us all to cake, what a wonderful guy, thank you very much Andrew. Needless to say nobody refused. We all cooked nicely in the hot sun until it was time for everyone to make their 1.5 - 2 hours journey home. You all are so brilliant for travelling the distance to make today happen and I really cannot thank you enough, you are all great. Actually you all probably got home before us, because it was such lovely weather we went to check out a pub with a view, up on the tops. It was very nice and we must all go there, perhaps next time, we will see.

Will do! Just arrived here’s how far the pub is!

Now that could be taken badly out of context

The lighthouse is at the end of a fabulous, twisty single track road that is around 25 miles long. Clean toilets and a cafe at the lighthouse with free parking. Just make sure you fill with petrol at the local garage by the start of the road. Sango bay is a beautiful beach at Durness.

Brilliant roads round there. You need to get a battery eliminator for your camera. That way your camera is always on and does not need batteries.

A few GoPro snaps from today - blissfully empty roads and glorious scenery AND it was SUNNY!!! Sadly the GoPro battery ran out near the end and like a muppet I didn't press the "on" button for a chunk of it - but what's new!

Thanks Gary, was great to see you and the car today. It is lovely . I am sure IVA will be fine. As for my journey home, it was a satnav disaster again I was directed up a stony right of way and I ignored that thinking what the devil is going on and then the road was so worn, i ran aground on the chassis hoop with an almighty bang !! Checked the sump and it was just the hoop. Decided to forget the satnav ( again) and ended up heading to Bicester, then A34 north of Oxford and off at Abingdon, then headed to Wantage and the downs to home. I have a ticking noise and keep thinking its the engine , but think its the manifold gasket, so need to order one tonight to fix it. Anyhow, fab to see you today Gary and really enjoyed the chat time

Good to see you, thanks for the IVA input. Hope you had a good trip back. Cheers Gary

got the westfield 'SS' fired up over the W/E. Just hope I can get all the other bits sorted in time, lots to do still , hope it actually drives ok really looking forward to the event

I’ve sourced myself an ECU. Thanks very much for your help everyone

@Julie Hall - AO Representative, Peak District AO usually does, & very cakefull :P

It really was a great day, Julie had sorted out a fantastic route.

Last night's sky.. more delighted Sailors & Shepherds?

It’s an excellent candidate for the FAQ! Will move it now.

Top work adge

What can we say but another lovely day seeing old friends and meeting new. It was great to meet @AndrewBClarke who took second place in Julie's "Battle of the Ods" last year. Better luck this year as we can't enter . Also @MattV who only got his first Westy last October ish. Slighty more bizarrely when chatting with @Paul Hurdsfield and Margret the fact that we had both been in Luang Prabang this year, it's the former French capital in The Laos People's Democratic Republic. Also that we had visited the exact same goldsmith in Mandalay as @MattV parents this year as well. Talk about small world. Indeed we compared pictures. There was the usual banter and a close shave for Glen with his quick wit and me being pulled up for a bit of naughty language, we just love it when Julie's in charge! Thanks for a lovely day and see you all soon.

So now I’ve had a bit of chance to chill out - was it worth it (yes) , would I do a day trip (yes) in the interest of full disclosure - the start point was my friends house in Cambridgeshire - To get there and back in a day from my house up north would have been borderline suicidal. For timings - we didn’t hit any traffic. The days of getting from Calais to the ring in under 4 hours are firmly filed in ‘mispent youth’ . Need to allow 4.5 hours and even then there’s no hanging around having coffee breaks. We arrived around 2 and the track didn’t open til 1715. We ended up doing 4 laps without letting the car cool down at all and just to swap seats. It was a rush and we had to leave by 1830. Next time, I’d pick a Saturday that the track is open all day, pitch up at 2, lap, then head back a touch earlier. We’d have been home by midnight if we had managed to catch an earlier train than the 2330. Based in two in a car (diesel) all in cost each inc crossing, fuel, laps, snacks and lunch was just over £200. (Laps are 30 Euros each now). The Honda had fresh front pads before hand (coincidentally) but other than that zero prep. Standard road tyres obviously. In terms of pace, the 120 horsepower beast made a good account. I spent most of my second lap hassling a focus ST. Dave was much quicker, he’s a better driver than me. Knowing the way round makes a huge difference. The complete lack of power only really showed on the long uphill between bergwerk and the karrussel, I can’t remember the name. It was painfully slow up there but chance to take a breather. Had a bit of brake fade toward the end but not too bad (probably because the car was so underpowered) So in conclusion. Would I day trip it again, yes, but not for a first timer. Absolutely no time to do anything else other than laps, and it’s a pleasure to soak in the atmosphere up there. Would I take the westie? Probably not - that said if you took it steady it would be fine. I just can’t take it steady. A lot of people say it’s on their bucket list. Just do it. Book a crossing and go. You can make all the excuses you like, but hopefully this shows it’s closer than you think and you don’t need a super fast car with loads of track prep to have a great time with some mates.

Brilliant reference. Perfect for the build wiki section when it exists...

Fantastic Adge, thank you! Very clear and detailed. I'm feeling a little more confident about this now...

Well written Adge . Must admit I read it on your earlier build thread, but very concise for people who have ST's to feel confident in doing this mod, which seems it is needed. At least later cars can have it done on a stand, albeit may cause warranty issues if it did have an issue, which hopefully no one will.

Looks like I've missed a fab day. Glad it stayed dry for you!

My Westfield and diesel X-Type both fall into the charge bracket, but my 2.2 litre Z3, my son's Z4M and his Audi RS4 are all exempt. Admittedly the Pinto engined 1994 built Westfield is a dirty exhaust breather, but the X-Type is Euro 4 and is pretty good compared with a 3.2 litre Z4M or a 4.2 litre Audi. Crazy...

Few from today.

Hi everyone After a 6 month hunt for the one, I have found it. What a machine very well balanced from what I have dare push it too, still taking time to learn the car. credit to the guy who built it and spent a lot of blood,sweat,tears and love over the last 6 years, hats of to you Gary (kuga Westfield).

Few from today.

And a few more.

Few pictures from Orkney.

Since when is 10 days enough notice to get out the house ? Oh ..................and edit......................... 15th is my wedding anniversary.................... thank the lord I didnt say yes then. Why I need reminding about the day I lost everything I worked for and to hear the chastity lock slam shut, I have no idea .................

Top end of Bala lake early(ish) this morning. Lake was like a sheet of glass.

Out for a Sunday evening drive

Gin and tonic anyone.

GRaham is away on holiday I understood spectating was being encouraged and the more the better. not sure if runs up the hill still available or if runs can be bought on the day