Westfield Sportscars

Infobox Company
company_name = Westfield Sportscars Ltd
company_
company_type = Manufacturing Company
foundation = 1982 by Chris Smith
location_city = flagicon|UK Dudley Road, Kingswinford
location_country = England, UK
location =
industry = Automobiles
products = SEi, Megabusa, SEiGHT, Sport 2000S, XI, XTR2, XTR4 - "see Models"
homepage = [http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk Westfield-sportscars.co.uk]
footnotes =

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 in the words of Colin Chapman "Less is more". 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.

According to figures given to the magazine Total Kit Car, Westfield produces about 450 SEi and XTR chassis each year. [http://www.locostsweden.se/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=2]

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 [ [http://www.autoindustry.co.uk/news/05-12-06_2 Autoindustry news item on sale to Potenza] ] . In December 2007, it was announced that GTM Cars became a part of Potenza Sports Cars as well.

Models

*SE
*SEi & Sport
*FW400
*Megabusa
*Megablade
*SEiGHT
*SDV
*XTR2
*XTR4
*XI

Racing models

*AeroSport
*AeroRace

Prototypes and concept cars

*TRZ
*Topaz

ee also

* Lotus Cars
* Caterham Cars

References

External links

Official

* [http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk Westfield Sportscars Ltd.]
* [http://www.westfieldeleven.com Information on the current Westfield XI]
* [http://www.westfieldxtr.com Information on the current Westfield XTR2]

Clubs & Forums

* [http://www.wscc.org.uk Westfield Sports Car Club - Black Country Area]
* [http://www.wscrda.co.uk Westfield Sports Car Race Drivers Association]
* [http://www.wscc.co.uk Westfield Sports Car Club]
* [http://xtr2net.dnsalias.com/xtr2.net/forums Westfield XTR2 Forums]
* [http://www.youtube.com/v/VRY_GNbPNiQ&rel=1 Westfield versus Caterham on youtube]
* [http://www.westfieldmiata.com FM Westfield builder forum]

Resources

* [http://www.westfield-world.com Pictures, info and Technical help on Westfield Sports Cars]
* [http://www.whatkitcar.com/2008/03/30/westfield-kit-cars/ Information on Westfield kit cars and other kit car manufacturers]
* [http://www.drivemecrazy.co.uk/detail/21021/WESTFIELD/ROADSTER/1800+Sport/detail.htm Technical Details for the Westfield Roadster 1800 Sport]

Build Diaries

* [http://www.westfield1800.com John Williams's Westfield - An example of a builders website]
* [http://www.thewestfield.co.uk A nut & bolt account of rebuilding a Westfield - by Paul Crisp]
* [http://www.mellowyellow.westfield-world.com Mellow Yellow - A build up of a Vauxhall powered Seiw Westfield - by Tigger]
* [http://web.bethere.co.uk/amigafan2003 A build up of a Sierra based SDV - by Rob Sims]
* [http://www.flyinmiata.com/westfield/build.php Flyin' Miata's build diary of Miata based SDV (Single Donor Vehicle]

Racing

* [http://www.wscrda.co.uk BARC Westfield Championship]
* [http://westfieldracing.com New race formula for 2008 in The Netherlands]