Westfields and Caterhams

[DuncS3]

I watched on Discovery Home and Leisure a load of back to back episodes of a "racing car is born" last night- where this guy built a Westfield himself and was then taking it to various motor sport events, such as hill climbs, auto test (looked boring to me) and circuit racing in France. He also went on a track day at Donington which looked well busy but still it was good to see the track as I remember it!

Made me think a bit better about Westies and Caterhams - used to think they were piddly kit cars but they appear very quick and great fun.

Anyone had one/got one?

Dunc [img]images/graemlins/s3addict.gif[/img]

[Thorney]

Had a Caterham 1700 SuperSprint for 8 years.

Great fun but a pain in the arse practicality wise.

[wazza]

Never even seen a Westfield in the flesh, but I have driven Caterhams. Soooooo much fun [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Shame about the tyre bill [img]images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[runrowsam]

They are fantastic fun, but not the best things to have a crash in, and not the best thing to drive in the wet! Practicality is a joke, with no space for much in the "boot", and they're so low they ground ALL the time. They are FANTASTIC fun though, until the bill for rear tyres comes in as usual! As for the amoutn of power you need for it to be such great fun, and reasonably quick, it really doesn't matter! I've hard of 1300cc ford engines with about 80hp going in them and it STILL being rapid. Power to weight ratio with such an engine would still be comparable to something like a 4.2 Audi A8 or so, so if you get a 1600 or even a 2 litre, you'll annihilate anything else! [img]images/graemlins/rocketwhore.gif[/img] Only real problem with the more powerful engines is traction, especially with the UNBELIEVABLY peaky but potent motorbike engines in the Westfields. If you really want the biggest, baddest byach, then the twin Hayabusa engined Westy's the best. 340hp, twin gearboxes (has two shifters, but the sequential shifters are designed basically as one lever), twice the insane noise, and twice the fuel/parts bill. There's also the fun of one engine conking out and the lack of balance screwing up the whole deal! Good fun though.

Rock on
Sam [img]images/graemlins/thumbs.gif[/img]

[DuncS3]

forget practicality, if I ever got a car like these it would be for the track, not shopping!

Dunc [img]images/graemlins/s3addict.gif[/img]

[johneroberts]

Its my pet hate [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Caterwests [img]images/graemlins/033102bad_1_prv.gif[/img]

[Thorney]

Its my pet hate [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Caterwests [img]images/graemlins/033102bad_1_prv.gif[/img]

Only cos you can't get in the feckers [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[johneroberts]

Yes i have got rather a long set of legs [img]images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]
and thats why you sold yours [img]images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[tombs]

Hi,
Im either lucky or unlucky to run a magazine dedicated to the Kit~Car Industry, it as you can see has come a long way in the last 5 years or so, these cars are extemely fast and will out run anything else you care to find on today's roads, due to the weight versus engine ratio. I have played with many Kit~Cars including a twin bike engined Tiger sports car, this now can reach 0-60 in under 2.8 secs!! The only thing with these cars is they can be very uncomfortable on long journey's, I drove a Ginetta G70 all the way from England to Zolder in Belgium and back for the Auto Happening, all ok untill it started to rain. Anyway there are over 100 Manufacture's in the UK producing all sorts of Kits and specialist sports cars, but I got to say, [img]images/graemlins/s4anogaro.gif[/img] I love my S4!!