This is a site which will try to document why I bought a Westfield, how I built it and what I do with it.
Pic is a quite recent one showing me going full speed in a slalom/cone racing event on the 15th of August 2004

What is a Westfield?

A Westfield is a "relative" of the original Lotus 7. Why mine is called a Westfield is a long story, but to cut it short, a company called Caterham today manufactures the only "7-type" car that is actually rightfully called a 7 ("Seven"). Mine is thus just a "Westfield", but is very similar in many ways.

Westfields come in all shapes and sizes, not many are alike due to the many ways it can be customised with both factory or aftermarket options. Below are some more pictures that I have shamefully stolen from others websites.

Why I bought a Westfield

About four years ago, I bought a Mazda MX-5. It had all the goodies on it, like lowered suspension, performance brakes, heavy swaybars front and rear, loud exhaust and "rollbar". It was all made, installed and services by one company (Söderqvist Racing). It turned out that the swaybars were too heavy and broke a mount. The lowered suspension was just that, lowered, but not changed shocks so it rode on the bumpstops all the time. The brake pads fell off the car while I drove, causing me have to cross an intersection on a red light and dart the traffic since I couldn't brake. Even the coolant was strange, some kind of orange-color that when leaked (which it did after a short while from the thermostat housing) looked like rust. It even had body damage that I didn't see at first when I bought it. Anyway, after fixing these things during the first year of ownership, I realised I'm pretty good at this mechanical stuff, I kinda in a strange way, enjoyed it. So it continued, I made more modifications (a real rollbar for instance, not a style bar which was on it) and I even made a custom turbo-system after two years. Installed all that, made it all work. It was great, fast, good handling and excellent track ability with a sweet balanced setup. I started doing track events pretty soon, and after four years (last year), I was doing maybe 7-8 per year, along with some minor cone-racing events nearby.

At the end of 2002, we bought a house with a garage, previously I had lived in an appartment doing most of the wrenching almost on the street so to speak. A friend of mine was going to go visit the Swedish agent for Westfield in January and asked if I wanted to tag along. Sure. That's when I got hooked. Didn't see it go, just looked in his garage at one, and decided I had to have one. I had seen a few Caterhams previously, but these were 80's version with aging x-flows etc. This was a modern car with individual suspension, modern brakes, modern engine etc. So I started reading homepages, reading the chat-forums. The more I read, the more I wanted it.

The process of getting one

Started taking things off the miata to make it back to near stock so I could sell it. Took me three months. Sold it in the beginning of June and three days later I had ordered and put the downpayment on a Westfield SEiW starter kit with some extras.

What I originally intended to use it for

The main idea was to build a car that is as light as possible, no extras, no carpeting, no window, just pure basic driving machine. Some road use, but probably mainly track use. I intended to drive it to and from, whichmeans it needed to be driveable on the street and not use too much tires on the road. I intended to make some kind of arrangement to carry extra tires. The idea was no heater, no screens of any kind - they just weigh and not add to the driving experience.

The engine I intended to use was either a Mondeo or Escort 2L or 1.8L Zetec inline four cylinder engine. I intended to design and make my own oil sump as the stock one is too deep and not baffled enough. Transmission would be Ford Type-9 and rear I already had acquired, a Sierra "B" Type unit with LSD and 3.62 ratio. The idea was to make my own electric harness and see if I could arrange cheaper four-pot brakes rather than buying them from Westfield ($$-ouch). The budget was set for something like 120 thousand kronor, which is about $13k. Pretty much what I got for the Miata and all the stuff I had on it.

What actually happened

Well...where do I start? The car is "bare bones", no frills like windows, heaters or anything like that. A pure driving machine. I ended up not getting a Ford engine, rather an Opel/Vauxhall unit that turned out to be cheaper and better supported, plus I made a friend during the build who has extensive knowledge of the unit and that kind of expertise doesn't grow on trees. It's a 2l 16V unit with about 155hp. With some freer flowing exhaust and liberated intake, I'm guessing 10 more hp, so maybe around 165hp which is more than plenty in a car weighing around 570kgs. Budget-wise I came in quite close. Maybe about 130.000kr went into it, but not far off from the budgeted 120k. I am really really happy with how it's turned out - the car is a thrill to drive!

Would I do it again?

Yes, without doubt. Is there anything I would do differently? Maybe the painting of the chassis...I admit, I'm not happy with how it turned out. I wouldn't get it powder coated as that scratches just as easily, but the paint did not quite stick as well as I hoped. That's a minor issue. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing. Sure, I'd like a dry sump system, sure I wouldn't mind throttle bodies and programmable ECU and yes, I'd like some anti-roll bars, but that's stuff I can add later on. It's another 30.000kr though, so I'll wait awhile. Oh, and while we're dreaming...I'd like tighter gearing, sequential gaitor, alloy case and longer first gear and perhaps a quaife LSD.