What the postie brought today!

[Ewan]

Santa bought me some heated gloves, for winter Westy fun 🤩 

[Andrzej]

Received refurbished shocks for my track Westfield from  https://www.thunderlane.eu .

 

I bought the car in 2018, with a few years of history before that, and I think the shocks had never been overhauled. They got new bearings, thinner valves for a lightweight car, new bump stops, etc. They were dyno tested (I don’t understand those diagrams at all 😕, but I was assured they were matched in pairs).

I’m really curious whether I’ll feel the difference. When they were “new” ( I mean after few seasons in Westfield Cup NL , and on some endurance challenges (got few broken wishbones with that car ) , even on the softest settings the car was quite darty. Hopefully this effort  and the expense — will be noticeable 🙂

 

Edit – oh, and I had my springs measured: front (RED) 60 N/mm, rear (BLACK) 40 N/mm. Not sure if this is right or wrong, but at least I now have a baseline if I learn which way to go softer or stiffer at the front or rear in the future.

 

[Caldrin]

Just took delivery of the following Pipercross filter to replace the old K&N filters that the car had on it. Managed to find one with the same dimensions as the K&Ns so I don't have to go cutting up the bonnet haha.

Has not taken me long to start changing things up, only picked the car up just before xmas. 

[Captain Colonial]

40 minutes ago, Caldrin said:

Has not taken me long to start changing things up, only picked the car up just before xmas. 

One of us… one of us… 🧟‍♂️

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

New tyres to replace my 20 year old budget ones. I was getting the wheels refurbished today, but I seem to have booked a skiing holiday somehow. 

[mega ade]

How do you make them last 20 years i can't get past 18 months.

[Robin Parker (Red Spider) - Yorkshire AO]

21 minutes ago, mega ade said:

How do you make them last 20 years i can't get past 18 months.

You've never driven with me!

[Andrzej]

I used to run those tyres (Nankang NS-2R) a few years ago, back when the softer compound (TW 120) was still road-legal, and on a much heavier car (around 1050 kg). They were genuinely good tyres — very predictable and resistant to overheating, even during long track sessions.

That said, they were already quite limited in damp conditions, and in the rain they really required a lot of caution. In your case, the 180 TW version is a noticeably harder compound, which may be even less suitable given the very low weight of a Westfield and the likelihood of encountering wet or cool road conditions.

On a dry day, they will of course be better than running on 20-year-old tyres. However, for normal road driving, semislicks rarely make practical sense — they take longer to warm up, offer little advantage at legal speeds, and come with clear compromises in wet grip and overall usability. A good modern road tyre is often the more balanced and safer choice.