JohnCh

Welcome Mike, and glad to see you picked the right color! It's well documented that red cars are fastest Are you planning to keep the engine stock or will you be exploring any upgrades? -John

I ran into this issue when bringing my CA registered Westfield into WA state about 12 years ago. Prior to purchasing the car, I called to verify that it would be a smooth transaction given the car had been legally registered in CA for the previous 5 years, and was told "not a problem." However, when I showed up to go through the normal transfer process, they took one look at the Westfield and told me they couldn't do it, and I had to see someone ominously referred to as The Specialist. When I countered that CA had already deemed the car worthy for road registration, they eloquently explained "This ain't California!" The Specialist (aka The PITA) initially planned to deny my request, but eventually relented because WA state law was changing the following month to allow for my situation and he would have to grant it if I simply came back in a few weeks. Bottom line, each state is their own fiefdom when it comes to registration. -John

I don’t have the Mega S2000, but I’ve had my SEiW for about 12 years. The only real differences between the Mega S2000 and my car are engine/gearbox, and the transmission tunnel is a little wider to accommodate the bigger Honda unit. Therefore, foot room is a little tighter than in my car. Although Westfields are very popular in the UK, they’ve never really seemed to catch on over here, and for some reason, virtually none of the owners participate on USA7s.com, so not lot of information on this side of the pond. However, the forum at WSCC.co.uk is a vibrant community and a great resource. Westfield places a larger onus on the builder than Caterham, so the end result is a little more dependent on their thoroughness. There’s nothing that requires additional skill, but there are more opportunities for shortcuts that can impact the end product. The flip side is there are more opportunities to take things to the next level and make the car exceptional. My Westfield started life as a crossflow powered car that was used for magazine tests in the mid 90’s, including Road & Track who gave it a positive review and praised the build quality. I disagree with the latter. I didn’t seem that the assembly was done with great care, and it looked a bit cheap in places. This is when Westfield seemed to have some steam in the US marketplace and most of the cars were assembled by the same person in the US. My personal opinion is that the build quality of these cars, including the chassis setup, was not up to par and negatively impacted the marque in this country. The car was fun, but it definitely had a kit car vibe to it, and underway it felt more vintage sports car than back road weapon. After undergoing a complete rebuild in ‘03/’04 where virtually everything but the frame was replaced and upgraded, the car was transformed. Even the fiberglass quality of the body was noticeably improved in the intervening years. The cars are sensitive to a proper alignment, and getting the rake wrong can really impact the handling, but get it right, and it handles beautifully. I’ve driven a highly specced Caterham on several occasions, and even considered buying it, but at the end of the day, I didn’t like it any better than my car. There were aspects about each car that I preferred, but ultimately it was a wash -- they are both great cars. There is more info in the Westfield section of my site, including some build pictures. Feel free to ping me if you have any specific questions other than engine/transmission. Edited to add: I forgot to mention that the Mega S2000 uses some of the chassis improvements from the Sport Turbo, so it has a revised front suspension, and improved stiffness from my earlier generation chassis. -John

I have the Land Rover lights on my Westfield and replaced the stop/tail lights with Radiantz 1.85" LED clusters. They are very bright, and maintain an edge over the outgoing 2357 bulbs even at extreme angles. It's available in a pigtail version that terminates in an 1157/2357 plug, which enables you to fit the large cluster at the base of the light fixture. -John

Somehow missed this the first time around. Very interesting to see the various views based on different camera mounting locations. Really like the ones where you can see the front suspension in action. -John

Bob, reading your description, I was having visions of a game of Twister gone horribly wrong...but then I came to the part about your car being RHD. Now it makes sense Like others here, I keep my left foot behind the clutch pedal, although with the interior panels removed, the Westfield has just enough room that I can slip my foot between the pedal and the outer aluminum skin, rather than slide it underneath. Given my left knee is shot, that makes driving a lot more comfortable. -John

First the new Aero Concept car, and now this. Has Caterham finally jumped the shark? :jester: -John

That's sounds like a screaming deal given the engine. mfast, if you're seriously considering the car, there's a slim chance I can swing by later this week and take a closer look. Send me a PM if you'd like to discuss. -John

Just read this tidbit in the press release: "the race-inspired steering wheel incorporates 'Road' mode, 'Flash-to-Pass' and 'Pit Lane Speed Limiter' functions." I can't recall how many times I wished I had that last feature on my cars... -John

Not to be mean, but that looks like I designed it -John

I have a Covercraft. They have a pattern for a Lotus 7 in their database that fits my car pretty well. It's a little tight in places, but a Westfield is closer in size to a Caterham SV, so it should be just about perfect for your Birkin. -John

DOH! I thought he meant Individual Throttle Bodies (ITB) and perhaps the bushings were wearing out. -John

The air horns look like TWM Induction pieces and the fuel pressure regulator looks like it might say TWM Induction, so that's my guess for the Throttle Bodies. They were acquired by Borla a while back, but still make all the components. -John

Lucky Dawg is right, I meant to write Port Angeles. Oh well, at least I got the "Port" part right. -John

I-5 boredom hits within a few miles in a normal car, so doubt you'll make it too far in the se7en. There are a few places you might want to see if you are staying in the Pacific Northwest, including: Olympic Peninsula (rain forest, so weather is hit or miss) Highway 20 (big sweeping corners with beautiful scenery, and Winthrop is an interesting little town) Mt Rainier (great roads, but crowded on weekends) Cannon Beach, Oregon Lot's of great roads, but the fun ones are definitely more remote, so something to consider given the original purpose of this thread. Another thing to consider is taking the ferry from Victoria to Port Townshend, WA instead of Nanaimo to Tsawwassen. This eliminates the boring drive from Vancouver to the border and is a much easier border crossing (The Peace Arch can be very painful). Port Townshend drops you off on 101 with the option of heading East to I-5, or West to the Olympic Peninsula. You could then do a reverse route and head down 101 until you are ready to get back and then jump on I-5 to Vancouver. Lots of options -- should be a great addendum to the GBB. -John

Slightly off topic, but there are several of us here who live in Washington State. Let us know if you would like a sanity check on your route or plans. -John

Maybe a dumb question, but given this happened as soon as you flipped the hazard switch, have you checked the fuse for that circuit? -John

Here are the specs for the Caterham 13" wheels that the US distributor sent me a few years ago: 13"x6" (front) .96875" offset (24.6mm positive offset) 4.375" backspacing 13"x8" (rear) 1.53125" offset (38.9mm positive offset) 5.9375" backspacing Also, my prior research shows the bore center is 63.3mm, not 55mm. Might want to measure what's on your car now to confirm. -John

And considering it was Ed who started this thread... -John

I received some devastating news today via the old USA2005 Se7ens.net mailing list. Ed Hudson, a.k.a. Hudson on this forum, was killed in a bicycle accident last month. The following article has the details, but if there’s any solace to those who knew him, he died doing one of the things he loved. Ed and I were in regular contact, typically sharing multiple emails per week, so although it was odd that he hadn’t returned my last few over the past month, it never occurred to me that it was an ominous sign. I just assumed he was busy prepping for his European bike trip in August. For those of us lucky enough to have known Ed, he will be remembered as a kind, generous, modest, easy going, and very intelligent guy. He was my regular touring buddy, having done several trips together including 2 in our se7ens from Monterey to my house in Seattle, and a fly-in event for Rennsport Reunion a year and a half ago. In fact just last month we committed to doing the Monterey tour again next summer. Words are failing me, so I'll close up with a couple of pictures to remember him by. The first was taken along Highway 1 on USA 2005, where we first met, and the second was taken in the cockpit of a McLaren MP4-12C in Monterey in 2010 - a car that tempted him regularly. http://www.throttle-steer.com/uploads/1/1/0/8/11083275/4159713_orig.jpg http://www.throttle-steer.com/uploads/1/1/0/8/11083275/166926_orig.jpg You’ll be missed my friend… -John

Just realized I had the dates wrong, it's 8/16-8/18, not 8/15-8/17, so I've updated the post with the correct info. Still conflicts with the Turn 2 event though. -John

Slomove is coming through the Seattle area on his way back from the Grizzly Bear Blat, so a few of us are joining him for a day as part of a 2-3 day mini blat. We’ll meet Gert in Monroe on the morning of Friday, 8/16 and drive to Walla Walla. From there Gert continues on to Boise, and we’ll either stick with him for part of that day before heading back, or strike out on our own. We’re way behind on route planning, but we’re leaning towards taking 2 days to get back to Seattle; possibly heading towards Winthrop and then taking North Cascades Highway. Is anyone interested in joining us? -John

Perhaps it's time for a new User Name? Farmer Croc, The Gardener, Mike the Florist... :jester: -John

If you're careful with the options, you can *just* get a Miata-based Westfield kit in that price range including a donor pallet from Flyin Miata. One advantage of the Miata-based route is that there are a lot of power upgrades available as you look to increase your investment down the road. For example, Scannon's FM turbo Miata Caterham is putting out north of 300hp. You can play with FM's pricing configurator here. -John

5-Speed sequential gearbox, deDion out back, and A-arms up front with Ackerman geometry. -John