Leaderboard

Since the wife is out at a show, and I finally have an evening with nothing else pressing to do for once, an hours blatting round the little back roads soon cleared some cobwebs. I may even put this forward for the calendar, although I do wish I had been a minute ot two faster getting to this spot, as the sun would've been full.

The car museum was super busy, it was a 'meet' plus they were celebrating the Mini being 65 years old today and I think a 'good weather Bank Holiday day might have helped too. Ollie on the gate looked after us and directed us to a natty little parking spot, out of the way but still on show, I like it and we will park there again. here we are. After a bit of tyre kicking we mgrated to the cafe for a quick brew before our run out. Just as we were about to leave @ben1975 and @Exige man Ben and Allan arrived, they had come to the museum event and were not coming on the run, so we swapped parking places. Our run out avoided Matlock Bath and Bakewell, it was busy out there and there was even traffic on our usually empty little lanes. I did my first emergency stop for a while, I knew that ruddy woman was going to pull out on me, I knew it. I was glad Big Andy is a good driver and also managed to stop, thank you buddy. We managed to make good time and landed at Wormhill for cake, 'What before lunch?' I hear you ask. Yes it was how the route planned out and you wouldn't want to miss this would you? Just in case you missed the actual size of this home baked lovliness from the local village ladies, have a closer look. Real stuff, that's where it was stuck to the tin, that flaky bit. With a distinct lack of Andy's @AndrewBClarke @aeg @Andy Westwood, who usually get the largest slices of cake, we bought our own Andy, @Big Andy who obliged. Next was a pop over the hill for those far reaching views, a tickle through Litton, up the twisties and we arrived at The Cow Shed for lunch, we were hungry after eating all that cake. Cow Pie Chris had one of those Bagpuss style number plates James MX5 supercharged engined Westfield which I really enjoyed travelling behind me That's All Folks, I think James and Jake carried on up to Ladybower but the rest of us scooted off home to beat the traffic before it all decided to leave the Peak District in one go at tea time. We had a good run back with Big Andy and a ruddy good day out, thanks for coming everyone, especially to Terence and his wife who promised at Malvern to pay us a visit.

Well it's come around to three years since I built my Westfield, time flies. So as well as a birthday clean and rub down this afternoon it was MOT time this morning and I was delighted to get my first pass certificate. I need to give high praise to Ed and the team at Franks Garage in Kingswood, Gloucestershire, very knowledgeable on Westfields, Caterhams and the like and knew their way around the car no problem. Turned out the car did have a problem which they spotted and fixed before a fuss-free MOT and I was on my way. Had a few good recommendations of where to go but really glad to have found these guys. It might just be me, but having built the car myself I have been slightly dreading the first MOT milestone, felt like handing my homework in at school many, many years ago 😅

Back home after a very moist trip home from Umberleigh. Grand day out, driving around Devon with the rest of the gang. Weather was kind during the day, but got bad for the trip home. This sky is that colour because the Crewkerne Street Fair is in town!

Had an impromptu overnight camp on the Isle of Skye last night, what with the terrible weather this year, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. 510mls of fun 😊. The scenery was stunning.

With Westfield before weekend And after exhaustingly hot 2 day trackday weekend : If not my painfull left foot and sooooo hard clutch ... Looking for excuse it is not 1 1 1 (Really need to do sth with that clutch but it is for Tech topic later)

New high-level brakelight. In hindsight I probably didn't need to use as FIA-spec rainlight, as it's a bit retina-searing. Still, no one will miss it!

No it's not a typo, it's the name we've given to our version of the NC500. My friends and I have done the NC500 or our NC250 route every year for the past 8 years and varied the route and stops to suit. Its only just up the road so would be rude not to. This year due to it being midweek it was only the two of us, me and my mate in his MK Indy. Our route on day one took us from home and up a short section of the A9 where we cut off for Crieff and fun began. We then headed up to Dunkeld for a quick pit stop. We were interrogated by some American tourists who were impressed we had Miata and Ford engines. We then headed into the Cairngorms via the A93 through Glenshee to the ski centre. It's a fantastic road and we had a clear run up. We stopped in Braemar for lunch. Not here though, far too expensive, went to the tea room next door. Our route then took us past Balmoral Castle, where we took some single track towards Corgarff Castle and the Lecht ski centre. Again brilliant roads with little traffic to hold us up. Then onto Tomintoul and Grantown on Spey, pretty sure this is always the first road to be closed by snow every year. Then onto our overnight at Inverness via Nairn and a stop at Fort George, but the dolphins weren't out to play. All tucked up. Day 2 promised to be better weather and no hoods. We crossed the Kessock bridge, then the Cromarty bridge heading in land towards Bonar Bridge. viewpoint for the Dornoch Firth and bridge in the distance. Always one of my favourite views of the whole route, never fails to impress. Bonar Bridge in the distance. Thankfully never needed these guys... Our Airbnb in Lairg was a bit too bijou, even if it was on a private island. So we gave it a miss and continued North towards Altnaharra and Tongue. This is where the roads turn to single track, but you often get a good view ahead and can open to car up a bit. This wind farm wasn't there the last time we past here about 3 years ago. Apparently at times we make five time the electricity we use. So why aren't my bills coming down! Stopped at Tongue for lunch and cake. For once it wasn't raining here, we've been soaked often before. After lunch we continued West towards Durness and the Smoo cave. Loch Eribol was picturesque as always. You drive along one side to its end and then 10mins later your driving along the other side you had just been looking at. We topped up our tanks and chocolate supplies at Durness. We also spoke to a couple of bikers from the Netherlands whom we'd past a few times at passing places. Really nice guys who were over on the DFDS ferry for 10 days. Then onto Kylesku for the obligatory pictures. The car park was busy and the cars got lots of attention, one woman even sat in my drivers seat. This year we stayed at the Gairloch Hotel and this was my view, nice eh. Day 3 was forecast to be wet and it didn't disappoint! Although it was raining it didn't damped or spirits as we knew we had some fantastic roads and views ahead. We continued down through Torridon to Shieldaig and the only advantage of the rain was the roads were quiet. Shame Calum the deer is no longer there. This year our route took us on a new road to the base of the Bealach na Ba and not the usual Applecross loop. Again we stopped for the obligatory picture at the Bealach sign and contemplated our next move. The rain was heavy and the mist pretty much covered the mountain, but we had planned to go up and back down the pass, so that's just what we did. The video shows how extreme it was, wind and rain blowing right through the cars! There is a fantastic cafe next to the sign and is highly recommended. After a quick brunch we headed south towards Plockton via Lochcarron. After Plockton we had planned to jump onto Skye and then catch the Glenelg ferry back off and do the Ratagan pass, however the weather was so bad the ferry was off. So a quick picture on Skye and then head for home, via Fort Willam, Glencoe and Callander. Where we hit the motorway. My total mileage for the trip. We usually do this trip in September and maybe it didn't pay off weather wise, but we still enjoyed it. The video should give you an idea just how wet it was. Thanks

I bought it! Drove home 1hr 45min in the dark on the motorway last night which was interesting! Love the car, it does have a few very small niggles which I’m looking forward to addressing once I’ve finished re-concreting my garage. Will post some pics soon, in the meantime this is a bad photo of me stopping for fuel!

Great to get back out after a week off the road. Just a pain having to climb out to close my gates...

Clare cutting a lonely path through to hall bends at Cadwell yesterday ...

Spend 4 days in Scotland with my son in his Boxster doing a small section of the NC500. What an amazing roads.

The car is in her new temporary home! Somewhere purpose built for her, where we can actually work on her! Got a week in September cleared to go up and sort her out with an MOT!

All set for the weekend

Shall we have a laugh and see what happens with this morning’s photo. Taking bets on wether it’s upsideownia or not 😂😂😂

Not long now until show weekend 😎 we hope to see as many members attend this growing show as possible 👍 Please see below information for the weekend, anything I've missed please shout up! Friday 20th Sept set up is from 10am to 8pm, no access before 10am, van and show gear will arrive approx 12 noon. Any club member can come along to help set up 🙏 should only take a couple of hours 👍 Please use the main entrance for entry to the showground, clearly sign posted for kit cars. Club gazebo will be erected with tea urn and hot and cold drinks provided FOC with Charity donations appreciated 👍 Club pitch will have electric. Club pitch will have racing SIM. Club pitch will have BBQ. Club pitch is not as big as Malvern, there will be a smaller version of Westfield Avenue 😁 Club pitch should be easily located by the WSCC blow up arch. Club camping is also on our G3 pitch this will be behind cars/Westfield Avenue. There will be no official rota, we can decide on the day who does what.. main tasks are parking cars on Westfield Avenue, meet and greet, tea/coffee. Site plan below (not to scale!! WSCC plot is bigger than shown allowing for camping etc)

Here are our weights from this year's Essex WSCC area weigh in:

I took part in a run through the scenic route to Oban yesterday with about 8 cars, a mixture of kits. Mk, Westie, Caterham and 3 Lotus. There was an S2 exige with over 300 bhp, had fun trying to keep up. Lots of getting lost on the way and various routes taken but we met up in the end. 360miles covered and smiles all round.

In good company at Brooklands this evening….

There is no more Westfields in the area so I organized "meeting" of my Westfields

A last minute Blat up to the Ponderosa Cafe this afternoon with the leg-end @Terence Arthur, a great little drive out, decent weather, lovely roads and 20 mph limits still in towns/villages 🫣 - next trip out Newark 🙌

Took the opportunity to fit a honeycomb grille yesterday while doing a coolant flush - quite like the cleaner look.

Just made a dull exhaust shiny

It’s an SEiGHT. A car you buy for the sounds, the smells, the torque, the grunt. An absolute weapon of a car. I’ve never looked back at mine and thought about things such as panel gaps. I’ve only looked back at it and thought - wow - that’s awesome!

Went to a local multi make car club this evening, furthest I have driven it so far and came back in the dark, another first !

I find it difficult to take the town of Newark seriously after someone pointed out to me that Newark is an anagram of W⚓️.

A few pictures from today.

Kent area monthly breaky run

Had a little blat this evening in lieu of the meeting which I thought was tonight but is actually next week 🤪. This was by the entrance to Cricket St Thomas.

This is my install before and after. I think it turned out good, but I am bias 😁

Hi Members! WSCC will be attending the Newark Kit Car Festival Sat 21st / Sun 22nd September 2024 at Newark Showground NG24 2NY What to expect? Lots of kit cars, Lots of Manufacturers, WSCC Gazeebo, Westfield Avenue, cake(s), bonnets off, mystery WSCC gift, WSCC racing SIM, beer, camping, snoring and hopefully good weather. https://newarkkitcarfestival.co.uk/ Camping is available from midday Friday 20th September and a few of us will be going on Friday to set up the club pitch. If you want to assist please shout up and it will be much appreciated, otherwise hopefully see lots of club members over the weekend.

Thought I’d do a quick comparison of before and after. This is 15months of ownership and counting & only the bits you can see! 😝

Nearly ready to go. Let the comments begin.

Off to harewood tomorrow, last two hill climbs of the season for me.

Last car barn beamish meet of the year last week.

Glen and I plan to go on Saturday 👍

14 cars - varied from Westies, obviously GBS, a Tiger, Atoms, Morgan etc. Even the good weather made an appearance. Met up at GBS factory for a pre start coffee and biscuit and left promptly at 10.15. We were all given a route map but after a quick discussion, decided to follow the leader and only revert back to the route if lost - which did happen to a couple of people!! Stop for a mid morning break at Belvoir. After a countryside route of about 50 to 60 miles ended up at a very nice pub for lunch. A hearty meal was enjoyed and everybody went their own ways - except @Jakejmageeand @si_salisbury who were lead astray by me and we went via an ice cream parlour on the way home. A good day was enjoyed by all. Thanks to all at GBS for organising us. Photos borrowed from GBS - and now from our YouTube star member - Jake 🤪 - Thirsty cars. Thirsty drivers. The bonnet colour matches the waitresses face colour when Jake asked for the beer mat!!

Snowdonia - Saturdays atmospheric run out

Oulton park Saturday 7th September

Nice...

I'm pretty sure the car was built by a father and son and was the second westfield they built and something they wanted to do together before I think it was the son that passed away but of course if I'm wrong I stand corrected. The car had all the right parts fitted money was no object nice brakes shocks diff even the engine was a brand new crate motor and was a lovely looking car when they finished it and it's still a lovely looking car but make checks on the chassis for cracks they are a big heavy engine so check the engine bay and around the diff cage and also the engine mounts .if you need to know where to look just ask I do like a v8 probably the best sounding westfield And they move well.

We were invited on stage! @AndrewBClarke

Good day at the Festival yesterday, but hopefully next time more sun and less wind! Much gratitude to @Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator for coordinating and for my free tickets. Great to meet up with some old and new faces. Here's a few photos from the day: T This one was parked elsewhere and looks like it took part in one of the Festival's runs, anyone on here? On the Westfield stand I can't help but be intrigued by the Tipo 184: Sitting astride the gearbox with a remote stick on the RHS might take some getting used to, but the main thing I see is that, as present, the front of this particular car would never make it through IVA without work on the edges. I'd love to have a go at one of these but £27.5K + VAT for what you get sounds steep. For something which uses so much donor componentry I'd be looking for a lower price point. Here's a few more things that took my fancy or fall into the oddball category, in no particular order:

Diffuser fitted. Would've liked to get away without fixings along the top, but the corners needed brought in a bit.

Some lovely carbon bling

From "stunt-photographers guide" - how this foto was taken:

Now made a video from last trackday, not best lap but only one recorded with sound ( need to look for sth really easy to operate instead all that gopro marketing thing) and with additional second camera shot at front right suspension . For me it seems to work ok, but I am open to sugestions if sht seems to You not properly set / working bad ?

Amazingly the weather gods kept the rain away and we had some cars out to play! Brilliant to meet first timers Gareth (in his Cayman as the his Duratec Westfield is off the road) and Mark in his red Zetec Westfield. Tim and James had also brought their Westfields. Iain and Rachel had just driven back from Telford after collecting a new daily for Iain, a stunning RS7 rep. After only ever seeing Garry's Cossie in the garage, it was brilliant to see it on the road! Gareth's Cayman GT4 is also a stunner A fab evening chatting with loads of us looking forward to Newark and the trackday at Curborough on the 20th September! Great to see everyone, hope you all got home safe 👍

Is this what your car looks like?