Westfield Sportscars
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| Manufacturing Company | |
| Industry | Automobiles |
| Founded | 1982 by Chris Smith |
| Headquarters | Dudley Road, Kingswinford, England |
| Products | SEi, MegaS2000, Megabusa, SEiGHT, Sport 2000S, XI, XTR2, XTR4 - see Models |
| Website | Westfield-sportscars.co.uk |
Westfield Sportscars are manufacturers of both factory built and kit versions of several two-seater, open top sportscars. Their main product line is a Lotus Seven inspired car - vehicles originally designed by Colin Chapman with only the bare essentials for motoring in order to give the rawest and most exhilarating driving experience.
Contents
History
Whilst Caterham Cars bought the rights from Lotus Cars, Chris Smith set up a rival company and manufactured kits with very similar styling and construction. This led Caterham to threaten litigation (based on Industrial design rights) in the late 1980s which was eventually settled out of court and resulted in Westfield improving and changing the design of their cars. Whilst externally sharing a common look, Westfield and Caterham cars are somewhat different in construction. Westfield prefers to employ the same glass fibre body method that Lotus has traditionally used for their other models such as the Elise, Esprit, and Elan, rather than the aluminium used by Caterham.
Westfield has also pioneered technical innovations such as Independent rear suspension and a wider chassis, which other manufacturers have since adopted. The company has recently introduced a version of its SEi kit that uses donor parts from the Mazda Mx5 Miata. This is generally called an SDV (Single Donor Vehicle) kit. There is also an SDV kit that uses a Ford Sierra as a donor. The wide range of drivetrain configurations available to Westfield customers now includes the Honda S2000 engine and gearbox as part of the company's MegaS2000 kit and cars.
According to figures given to the magazine Total Kit Car, Westfield produces about 450 SEi and XTR chassis each year.
In the first series of BBC's Top Gear, a Westfield XTR2 driven by the black Stig set a faster lap time than the reigning record holder of that series, the Pagani Zonda.
In December 2006, Westfield became a part of Potenza Sports Cars Limited.[1] In December 2007, it was announced that GTM Cars also became a part of Potenza Sports Cars.
In June 2009 Westfield became the first Niche Vehicle Manufacturer to be awarded European Small Series Production Status with its Sport Turbo model, and has subsequently produced the iRacer - an all-electric racing vehicle, as well as a Hybrid vehicle version of the Sport Turbo model.
Models
Racing models
Prototypes and concept cars
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Westfield 25 logo small.png
Westfield 25th Anniversary Logo
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A 'Pre-Lit' Westfield Seven
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A 1997 Westfield SEi
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Westfield Sport
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Westfield Sport
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Westfield XI
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Westfield XTR2
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Westfield Race Engine
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Irish Westfield SEi
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Westfield Megabusa
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Westfield Seight
See also
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westfield Sportscars. |
External links
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Official
Clubs & Forums
- Westfield Sports Car Club - Black Country Area
- Westfield Sports Car Race Drivers Association
- Westfield Sports Car Club
- Westfield versus Caterham on youtube
Resources
- Pictures, info and Technical help on Westfield Sports Cars
- Information on Westfield kit cars and other kit car manufacturers
Build Diaries
- John Williams's Westfield - An example of a builders website
- Mellow Yellow - A build up of a Vauxhall powered Seiw Westfield - by Tigger
- A build up of a Sierra based SDV - by Rob Sims
- The Build Diary of a 2ltr Zetec Westfield - by Kevin Baldwin
Racing
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