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Suns out

some little treats for my westie.

Winter is long here in Montana so it’s the perfect time to design and make stuff. I complete in autocross with my car and one place that needed improvement was when braking from high speed (70 mph-ish - 90 mph-ish). If I simply stomp on the brake at that speed I tend to have one of both of the front wheels lock up. This never happens at lower speeds and the brake bias seems great. I think that there’s plenty of front end lift at speed and this could be the cause of the issue. So I came up with a plan and using CAD (cardboard aided design) I made two different things - - the first is what I suppose are called fender spats. The backside of the front fenders acts like a parachute and air being parted by the nose of the car gets pushed into the backside of the wheel and fender. This certainly causes a lot of drag and I suspect it causes some lift also. So I made a cover for the backside of the fender to keep air from going into the wheel and up under the fender. The material is 1/32” carbon fiber sheet. It was fussy to make cardboard template to fit but once that was done make the real ones out of carbon sheet was pretty simple. - the second and much bigger part of the system is the splitter/canard/diffuser mounted on each side of the nose. They mount to the splitter at the bottom and at the top they bolt to a bracket that is held by the front sway bar brackets. They are made from the same 1/32” carbon sheet and epoxied together to form a hollow box. What you can’t see in the photos is that the underside of these boxes is curved upward like a diffuser. These were not easy to make but it was a fun challenge. I wanted the boxes to reduce lift at speed and to divert the air up and around all the exposed front suspension stuff to reduce drag and wind noise. And the air that spills over the sides can no longer go up and under the fender creating drag and lift. I just drove the car for the first time with everything in place and I’m very pleased and there are a few unexpected benefits. The first is that there is noticeably less wind noise coming from the front of the car. I imagine this is from so much less air passing through all the suspension bits. It’s hard to say for sure but there’s less noise any way you cut it. The second thing that I noticed once moving is that I have less air hitting me in the face. I was shocked. It feels like air flow is now higher and further off to the side which makes it miss my head. It’s a pleasant feeling really and one I never expected. It’s much more calm now just cruising. I’m very sensitive about adding weight to car and make every effort to keep the weight at the minimum for my race class (1400 lbs or 636 kg with me in the car) so making these new things as light as possible was important and worth the effort. In the end the fender back spats weigh 1.1 lbs for the pair and the two nose boxes weigh 2 pounds in total. So the whole mess added just 3.1 lbs. Not is bad. Will it help with high speed braking? I think it will but will need to wait a few months until race season starts. Fingers crossed. Thanks for looking. Dave

Fortune smiled on me this weekend due to a mix of circumstances. Firstly, my Mondeo decided to overheat on me on the way back to my parents on Thursday, so the AA recovered me back home on Friday afternoon. Very good service I must say, one chap delivering me to Solstice Services where another chap arrived within a few mins to take me the rest of the way. Seems like it is likely a water pump or thermostat issue. Hoping it can be repaired as a) I can’t afford a replacement currently and b) I desperately want to get it through 200k miles, currently just over 195k. Secondly, Mrs Stu had a friend down, and was out and about in her car, so the net result was that the Westfield was my only means of transport for the weekend, what a shame as my daughter had her singin’, dancin’ and actin’ lesson for 3 hours on Saturday morning in Yeovil…… Thirdly, the car was back together and generally functioning apart from a broken Speedo (officer). GPS had to come to the rescue. Finally. It was dry, and a little bit sunny. I dropped the short (though growing ever taller!) one at her lesson at 10.15, then had three hours before picking her up at 13.15. I hadn’t been North in the car for a while so headed up to Cheddar Gorge. It was fairly steady going most of the way up, but just nice to be out in the sunshine. The gorge itself was quiet, and I followed a nice looking M2 until part way up where I stopped for a couple of minutes before completing the run. I then caught up with said M2 stuck behind a van in the derestricted part afterwards, and as the van turned off left, off shot the M2, so I followed . He was bl**dy quick on the straights, but I kept up through the corners and we had quite a fun run for a while before encountering traffic so I trailed him all the way down to Wells where I stopped for a quick coffee. Time was ticking on so I headed back to Yeovil arriving with 5 mins to spare. We had a fun run back to Crewkerne, had a spot of lunch and walked the dog before hopping in the car again down to West Bay. Normal fun through Beaminster Tunnel and some of the clear sections on the way down. It was a tad chilly by the coast but the seas were well worth watching and we warmed up with a hot chocolate before heading back. Spotted a nice old Landie in West Bay too So, probably 4.5 hours in the car in total. Great fun to be out; the car is going well, steering wheel mods (Blinkstop system) working very well so bring on the spring! Here is a little YT compilation for your amusement:

Holme Moss Summit a SEiGHT and a Westus

A few snaps from a video of my trip up through Cheddar Gorge today. Weather was pretty good, so was out in the car for about four hours.

Been waiting since December for this one, but well worth it. SBFS Steering wheel bag, takes my modded 250 very nicely, snug, but doesn’t activate any of the buttons so it is ideal.

put my rollcage on yesterday the lads at my local meet said it would be much safer than my rac bar not so sure about that banged my head on it 3 times already just doing some work on the interior.

Been quiet on here for a while, probably the rubbish weather! I popped my solar scope out at lunchtime and had some decent views today, nice to be out again. Will have a look at Jupiter tonight as the Great Red Spot will be visible at around 9pm.

Small little clean up from sitting garage for a while

A little teaser of something in the pipeline.... The XI was a pig to start, but once running it performed admirably .

I’ve got a few hundred photos but thought I’d start with one from the day a brought it with a coupe in between and finally one at its current stage

Had these two bad boys out last night to look at Jupiter. They are both Japanese Takahashi scopes, one new and one quite old. The shorter one is a 180mm reflector type, only about 6 months old, the long one is a 128mm refractor, over 20 years old I think but gives lovely views still. The Great Red Spot was centre stage at around 9pm, so I had great views. The image below was taken by a chap called Keith Johnson on my Astro forum, and I have detuned it so it gives a very rough approximation of the view through the eyepiece. In some aspects the eyepiece view is better, some worse, it’s hard to exactly replicate it. The spot itself was a lovely orange colour, it does change over time in both size and colour.

Treated the tin top to a full valet Thursday at my favourite hand car wash. When it was done, I climbed back inside and found this air freshener hanging from the mirror: Getting a bit paranoid that I’ll be done for double copyright infringement.

Is this the Autocar article you are looking for?

As simple as this. Four M5 rivnuts, two nylon straps, with plates on top to spread the load and prevent them trying to pull through. All nice and secure.

FIngers crossed!

More bits for the XI... Handbrake lever with bracket for warning switch. Needs to be loosened off somewhat.... Handbrake switch. Handbrake mounting bracket. Couldn't be bothered to de-rust and repaint the one I have for the price of a new one... Mounting screws. Existing ones are very chewed and may need drilling out....

Today’s items

The first of this years coffee mornings at GBS Cars is on Saturday 7th March starting at 10am. Great British Sportscars and Kitcar spares Maun Way Boughton Ollerton Nottinghamshire NG22 9ZD

Very impressive @Davemk1 we look forward to seeing the update after you've tested at speed. I really like how you're incrementally improving your car for it's task.

So finally got the gear indicator sorted and tyre pressure monitoring system

Another quick job that I’ve been meaning to get round to for longer trips and euro blats, was using the empty underhood space to fit a tool roll including a jack and wheel brace. Just popped some M5 rivnuts in and used a couple of cycling toe straps, held down with stress relieving plates to hold this natty canvas bag from Amazon. Easily removed if out locally, but I’ll probably just leave it in there.

Out to play at our monthly meet tonight. Eight of us there which is a great turnout. I recently discovered a Caterham owner living very near me, and he came down with me in his car. Had a great run back over the Blackdown hills, very dark, but dry, no fog and no traffic so was good fun.

I’ve been swinging around most of this evening. Now ready to remove the engine. Rear main seal I’m coming to get you! Single garage fun!

Baggy appears again in the Caribbeano thanks to our Tony aka Bigfoot.

Meet at The Great British Car Journey, Ambergate, DE56 2HE for breakfast before heading off into the Peak District for a run out. We will be taking the exact route we took at our last meet because we loved it that much, this time we are able to finish at the Calver Arms for lunch (no local derby on the football screen this week) Weather is forecast good at the moment, please check on here before travelling just in case it changes and I have to cancel. All welcome at the museum, members only on the run out, keep it fair to those that pay. Who is able to join us?

Meet as usual, at the Golden Pheasant roughly 7pm if you're eating, 7.30 pm or so, otherwise. See you there!

Possibly, I will post pics to reveal on the night.

Are you at a specialist trade show like the ones you tease Dave about

These arrived today, hopefully enough in here to join most of the XI loom bits together. Main loom is on order from Autosparks, have gone for a generic loom with more circuits than I currently need. It can take up to 14 weeks to arrive... will have to get on with something else for a bit... Also in recent arrivals was an IVA foglight module from MK sports cars along with a momentary toggle switch to trigger the latching relay.

Yes I've just had a look and it says the struggle is still open.. It's a very twisty road with narrow lanes and steep short climbs. Caution recommended but passable with care. Right on the top of kirkstone pass if you didn't know there's a pub and a junction. Coming from glenridding at the pub you turn off down the Struggle right at the pub. The A592 is closed from there. It's not far for a diversion. There's not much options tbh.. Mountains are hard to shift...

That's a good article. I stumbled on this one recently and found a lot of good info in it - dave https://aricstreeter.substack.com/p/applying-aerodynamics-to-lotus-seven?r=2bb48a&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=split&fbclid=IwY2xjawPpi1FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR5uYPu176OSu_fnIGlc_pALA3lyBfoOovmG3rgJ7ib7s-9KPizfQO_qv-HVQw_aem_nlr5xgEGaY8T33nY4sdcvw&triedRedirect=true

I was planning to post it to you to ask you that very question as I figured you’d know.

Did it smell like a black pony's ar$e?

Most of the documents I had seem to have been lost to time, and a major (home) server crash 15 years ago, this is one of the surviving bits of info I have from one of the independent Caterham tests; sadly I can't remember who from, to credit them, not could I find it still on line in just a quick Googling. For those interested! (Obviously, this all pre-dates the fluid analysis modelling that's been done over the last decade or so!) " From Curborough Site I was lucky enough to have my car selected for the test session. Following various conversations with Graham Kendall, who not only manages the Wind Tunnels at MIRA, but also competes with daughter Claire (yes that Claire) in the rapid Metro, I prepared a few add on devices in readiness for the limited time available for the structured tests in the Wind Tunnel, whilst some other lucky club members had a tour around the facility. Apart from the obvious Caterham design I had added a full flat floor under tray and rear diffuser. Previous theories on airflow meant that I already raced with the front number plate mounted low down on the front of the nose cone. Yes I know you are all asking, "Why on earth would you want to do wind tunnel tests on something as un-aerodynamic as a Caterham 7?" Well even though it has the aerodynamics of a brick, there are still very useful things that can be accomplished using a test facility such as the Full Scale Wind Tunnel at MIRA. Armed with a multitude of cardboard cut outs and tank tape I was aiming to reduce lift on the front axle to balance the car and hopefully improve the drag at the same time. The first series of tests consisted of a splitter below the number plate, an additional spoiler below and blending. I won't bore you all with the full technical results but in summary these changes actually reduced aerodynamic drag and lift at the front. The action of reducing front lift actually increased rear lift by pitching the car around its centre of gravity. The next areas of attention were the front cycle wings. The theory was that air flowed both above and below the wing surface acting exactly like the wing of a plane. This caused a depression on the top surface relative to the air below causing lift. Blanking off the gap between the wheel and the wing did indeed reduce lift and drag, but without increasing rear lift. These results were further enhanced with the addition of a low sharp edge towards the back of the wing in an attempt to trip the air up and not follow the contour causing depression. At this stage CD (drag) had been reduced by 3% and front lift decreased by a whopping 14kg. How could I not resist looking at the front suspension? Now obviously I couldn't remove it all so I made covers for all the exposed round section tubes to change them to pear drop section. Although improvements were made, they were nowhere near as big as the effort in making the new sections! Another few kilos of rear lift were lost by adding wheel deflectors to the lower edge of the rear wings in front of the rear tyres, but at the expense of a little drag. Then came the addition of side skirts to the car. I set these to give ground clearance at all times under racing conditions. These had an overall reduction in lift of 9 kg but a slight drag increase. As I stated earlier I had already fitted a very pretty carbon fibre rear diffuser. However the shape of this was wrong based on textbook theory. The MIRA experts decided it was not long enough and the diffuser angle was nowhere near the optimum range. Copious additions of very stiff cardboard went some way to correcting this situation. But no matter what we tried, the best solution was to consign it to a very large skip! (The diffuser, not the car!) From a suggestion by one of the group present, we also added additional blending profiles to the windscreen posts. Although not strictly legal in my racing class, it did improve drag very slightly. Lastly for amusement I removed all of the weather equipment (roof and doors). This increased the drag force through the proverbial roof requiring a further 10bhp at 100 miles/hour, but actually created some more rear down force. I would like to thank Graham Kendall, Ivan Starkey & Paul Atkin for making this very interesting visit happen and for the opportunity to complete these tests, which sadly I have not had chance to convert into road/race-worthy modifications."

I hope it's one of these.

I’ve put a sticker on it

Bookings are now open for this year's L2B kit car run. Once again its on the same Sunday as Malvern but from where we live its its quite convenient to take in Malvern on the Saturday then travel to Brooklands later in the day ready for Sunday. I've just made our booking and requested a departure time from Brooklands of 0900-0930. This will be our 5th consecutive L2B so we obviously enjoy it! @SteveB21 and @Morris have also joined us on recent runs so if anyone wants any more info on the event I'm sure we'll all be happy to respond.

Finally had a great run out today.. Didn't even need gloves on.. Cars a bit crusty tho...

New toys installed - ready for DIY painting…

Had some great views of the partial solar eclipse this morning. Took a couple of fairly average smartphone shots through the scope. Was able to share the views with Mrs Stu and Little Stu which was fun.

If it's modified, you're in.

Yes if I get in in the Westus

2 weeks to go, anyone else coming along?

Thanks for the heads up @BobMet. Think I might join you this year after taking a break last year, will let you know.

I’ll take a photo tomorrow and all will be revealed. Then I’ll show you how I fitted the plates

Westfield on market place, may be of interest to someone. https://www.facebook.com/share/1CSxWxus25/ It is local to me, so could go have a look if you were interested. Please note the car/owner is not known to me

For sale is a New Westfield propshaft from madza 5 gearbox to mazda lsd New mazda lsd 2x Westfield bespoke mazda output shafts Top and bottom westfield mazda diff brackets This package with the prophaft was fitted to the 250 ecoboost car but with a small mod to the end of the prop could fit zetec honda This package from westfield would cost you around £3400 and thats if they have them in stock . £1500 Collection only !

going on with making my track westfield road (almost ) legal ... got headlights and hosings (aliexpress). Unfortunately, due to my own oversight, I ordered two pairs of lamps instead of one pair A few small modifications were needed right away — the screws securing the lamp housing bracket were sticking into the inside of the housing, which made it impossible to fit the insert (the actual lamp). They had to be mounted the other way around, with the rounded heads facing inside the housing and the nuts on the outside. And yeah… they’re kind of big and heavy compared to my previous “lamps,” which I made myself from LED strip, an aluminum tube, and duct tape Ideally, lightweight, smaller Dominator-type LED headlights with built-in sidelights would be best. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any. I did find Dominator-style lights with an LED DRL ring, but without sidelights. Maybe on the next attempt. I spent so much time drilling different elements to reduce weight, and now these bricks sit high and far out front — the worst possible position for ballast… But hey, it will be the same in that area as a brand-new Westfield SE.NA! (just faster )