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Westfield Sports Cars have an advert out for Stoneleigh with a great link to the club. https://mailchi.mp/westfield-sportscars.co.uk/autosport2018-970041 A big thank you from me for a start...

Well just watched the final series 3 episode. They certainly saved the best till last. Funeral for a Ford. So good I've gone online and downloaded it to re-watch in future.... So as Clarkson said through the tears: no more tent but lots of specials...... The Grand Tour is dead, long live the Grand Tour................

Yes, yes. Barny!! Buy that thing and leave the 106 alone...

Yes, I received an email too. The interaction from the factory these past few months has been a massive improvement.

Very heavy tail wind down into Turn 1 Furthest the new speed series t shirt has traveled I expect

Glad to hear you are taking a positive from this. TBH I wouldn't trust anyone near a car who takes 2 hours to change a set of discs and pads anyway!!

Good lord that's awful.

I agree..I hope the few laps you did have gave you a feel for the fun in the future! I wish you good luck in finding the root cause..

Donington claims another, gutted for you but keep your chin up and get straight back on sorting it before you lose motivation!

Engine out is pretty easy, much more so than a 'normal' car. Have a crane you can borrow from near Chorley if any use Perhaps a call to Andy Bates will be a good idea, try and work out what's happened, but my guess is oil related. Were you on full chat when it went? What was oil level like at the start of the day?

Well, that didn't go well! I told him I felt the labour charge was on the high side and asked what his hourly rate was and he stated it was £58.90 + VAT = £70.68. This equated to 5.5 hours work and I asked for a breakdown which he gave as follows: 2 hours for the service, 2 hours for the disc and pad changes and 1.5 hours for the switch changes. When I queried the switch changes he went off on one about being in business and I don't understand what's involved in these things and that's his price and he's sticking to it. I clearly was not going to get anywhere and the trust element had gone so decided to bite the bullet and told him I would not be returning with at least 3 MOT tests and 2 tiptop services per year. He replied that was fine. There endeth the tale and I will now start looking for another small independent garage. However, in future I will make sure to ask the right questions beforehand and I admit to being at fault for not doing so on this occasion. His loss, not mine and he certainly won't be getting any recommendations from me. Thanks for all your views and comments. This is such a good club

mikef I would ask about the labour on this job, and you could argue the flushes were not required or you see them as an add on that was not discussed. The oil can be expensive for these, 0W-30 Synthetic , SAE 5W-30 Synthetic OEM PSA B71 2312 5W-30=PSA B71 2290, but it only takes 3.1 litres that's £22.50 plus vat from us. I think the garage has viewed which service is due and have picked the 80k or 96 month service, which is the big one, as the vehicle is an 11 plate dependant on reg date it may have been ready for a the much lighter 70k or 84 month service. Strangely I didn't spot any mention of brake fluid been changed or test results. On a new vehicle/customer to any garage the garage should ask for the service book and ask questions of the customer about service history, if there is no history available and or the customer doesn't know then the norm would be go simple service but carry out a check of items like removing a plug to get a view on its condition etc to form a basis to go forward. I would have expected the job to take; Service, the book time is 2.05 mins for the 80 96 month service. Brake disc and pads 1 hr plus fifteen mins post work road test The light unit is a quick job but the hazard light switch I don't know, sometimes a lot more needs to come undone than you think so I would guess at 50 mins A pre road test and post road test including bedding in the brakes. Our rate is £55 per hour plus vat which equates to £225.50 plus vat I can only think there labour rate is big or it was the time take to add all the stupid stuff like screen wash and sump washer etc.... Oh and before someone says you can do the brakes faster, yes you can but the way we do them I don't apologize for the time taken as its quick for what you getting, pick attached is nothing special but what you cant see is properly cleaned disc to hub mating surfaces, fully stripped slider which is bead blasted also, slider pins cleaned and repacked with grease, brake pads fitted with all the correct fitting hardware etc etc. On this photo the carrier has also been painted at the request of the customer. Also how many have you have had aftermarket pads which day one are a very tight fit in the caliper? We ensure the pad fits correctly with the appropriate clearances and lube.. oh and you will notice the caliper hasn't been left swinging around in mid air either.. lol

Oi Robin! No apoligies for the Caterham :-) Barry

I have entered both days.

I've entered both day's

That was a grand day out Grommet.

You'd be more than welcome Kev, I'm normally about most weekends.

Have 2.

By the moment is safely stored in crewe... but yes. Eventually will go to Barcelona.

Right, just been to see a turbo mx5 - one of these is now high up the list! Also looking at a couple of RX8's as they're just too cheap not to consider. And then there's this, which I really, really like... https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F293042237430

Thanks Gary, it's nearly there now and not much left to do. A couple of good weekends and the final jobs should all be done.

Absolutely beautiful work I love reading and following your build, thanks for sharing

@BCF I think you should include a rotary on the list and also a classic of some form. WHat my car journey has taught me is that value doesn't equate to fun. More so than ever a relatively low powered sweet handling manual car is where the real fun is on the road now. I have just driven my doblo home cross country and absolutely eeked out all sensible performance from it on quiet roads I know well and it was fantastic. Some of my most fun cars from the past were fiat 100hp and fiat cinquecento. David

Depends on induction mostly, but around 160-170bhp is common for a silvertop and 170-180bhp is fairly normal for a Blacktop Zetec (both on throttle bodies) mine is a healthy 184bhp and 175ftlb which is nice for a standard lump A Duratec will often give around 180-190bhp and can be easily tuned to around 220 - whereas a Zetec needs a fair bit of work to get that. 300bhp normally aspirated is possible from a Duratec but you’re looking at £10k plus (on top of std engine etc) Then there’s forced induction which can cost less (£2-3k ish over and above the engine and ECU) which will punt out more depending on how strong you build the bottom end. Zetec as standard should take 230-240 forced. No idea about Duratec, but imagine they’d be a tad stronger as standard.

Welcome. You’ll. need more than a standard Zetec or Duratec to get more than 200bhp and either forced induction or SERIOUS money to hit 300. But dont let that stop you