RE: Westfield 11
Monday 12th July 2004
Westfield 11
Classic Westfield model to be relaunched
In an unexpected move, Westfield is to re-launch their original model - the classic styled Westfield Eleven.
The distinctive car is based on Colin Chapman’s famous Lotus Eleven which brought in a new era of sleek and streamlined sports cars and racers in the 1950s. The Eleven broke new ground and attracted a strong following for the marque at the time.
The new Westfield will be available new and in kit form this year. The kits will require some components from an MG just like the first Westfield Eleven and will also carry the original Westfield branding, instead of the current logo.
Order are now being taken. Prices start from at £8,950.00 with deposits required of £1000.00.
Links
Discussion
And you could probably have a go at racing one of these in the Sports Racing & GT Challenge
See http://srgtc.org.uk/ for info on the Cobras, GT40s, Ginettas and so on that compete in this series...
See http://srgtc.org.uk/ for info on the Cobras, GT40s, Ginettas and so on that compete in this series...
- smart move.
skid said:
A mate of mine in Bury had one of these around ten years ago, chassis number 001.......
He sold it IIRC for 3000 pounds to buy a Silva Striker......
My point entirely!
Do bear in mind, though, that the aerodynamics on the original Eleven were good enough for Road and Track magazine to record an accurate to speed of 132mph with an 1100cc engine giving 83bhp, in 1957! The Striker wouldn't even hit the ton with that sort of power - even my Striker Clubmans (which has a very Eleven-esque fully enclosed bodyshell) will only go a few miles per hour faster with double the power!
The Westfield was a very pretty little replica, and I'd certainly consider one, providing they have kept to the original design (they brought out an updated version called the Westfield Sport a while back, which just looked cheap and nasty). The new Mazda RX8 rotary might be an entertaining choice of powerplant, I reckon...
I bought an alloy bodied Westfield Seven in 1985.
They were still making Elevens at that time and they really were beautiful cars.
They were a fairly convincing replica of the original at a fraction of the cost.
Looking at the daft prices achieved for Westfield Elevens of late, I'm only surprised that this hasn't happened earlier.
Good luck to them.
I bought a live axle Caterham Seven a few years ago. If the Westfield Eleven had still been available, then I might have been tempted.
I seem to recall someone built an RV8 example that was campaigned quite successfully.....
They were still making Elevens at that time and they really were beautiful cars.
They were a fairly convincing replica of the original at a fraction of the cost.
Looking at the daft prices achieved for Westfield Elevens of late, I'm only surprised that this hasn't happened earlier.
Good luck to them.
I bought a live axle Caterham Seven a few years ago. If the Westfield Eleven had still been available, then I might have been tempted.
I seem to recall someone built an RV8 example that was campaigned quite successfully.....
, my late FIL drove one of the originals in a race for Colin Chapman. Must get his old photos scanned in at some point. 
As a builder and owner of one of the original series W-11s, I can answer a few of the questions about the cars.
Although generally similar to the series 2 Lotus Elevens, the chassis is easy to distinguish. Most noteably, the transmission tunnel is fully framed in square tube rather than just being formed aluminum. The body mold was pulled from an original Eleven -- a thoughly used and dimpled one at that.
Front suspension is dual a-arm, as in the Lotus series 2 cars. Rear suspension is live axle located by four trailing links and a panhard rod, as in the lotus 'Sport' model. Noise, vibration, and harshness are all words that could all have been coined to describe the experience of driving a W-11, although the wind buffet is minimal.
Performance is very good with a modified BMC-A series engine. My car (with about 95 HP) has never seen the far side of 120 MPH, however. The handling characteristics tend toward mild oversteer with the stock front swaybar. There is a problem with sudden drop-throttle oversteer that can catch the driver out. Stay on throttle!
I don't know what you would consider 'outragious' prices for W-11s, but here in the USA the few examples of the car (original production run world-wide was about 150) available for sale run $10K to $18K.
It was my website that PistonHeads linked to for 'History of the Westfield Eleven', and there are assorted picures and articles available there.
Mark Joerger
Westfield Eleven
Salem, Oregon USA
www.open.org/joerger/westfield.html
Although generally similar to the series 2 Lotus Elevens, the chassis is easy to distinguish. Most noteably, the transmission tunnel is fully framed in square tube rather than just being formed aluminum. The body mold was pulled from an original Eleven -- a thoughly used and dimpled one at that.
Front suspension is dual a-arm, as in the Lotus series 2 cars. Rear suspension is live axle located by four trailing links and a panhard rod, as in the lotus 'Sport' model. Noise, vibration, and harshness are all words that could all have been coined to describe the experience of driving a W-11, although the wind buffet is minimal.
Performance is very good with a modified BMC-A series engine. My car (with about 95 HP) has never seen the far side of 120 MPH, however. The handling characteristics tend toward mild oversteer with the stock front swaybar. There is a problem with sudden drop-throttle oversteer that can catch the driver out. Stay on throttle!
I don't know what you would consider 'outragious' prices for W-11s, but here in the USA the few examples of the car (original production run world-wide was about 150) available for sale run $10K to $18K.
It was my website that PistonHeads linked to for 'History of the Westfield Eleven', and there are assorted picures and articles available there.
Mark Joerger
Westfield Eleven
Salem, Oregon USA
www.open.org/joerger/westfield.html
My little knowledge of sitting in a couple of these is that they are fantastic feeling cars, no they are not outright beauties but feel very special. I am not surprised that they have started building them again, as the ones I've felt were bespoke automotive delicacies. (as like the C type Jag to my mind)
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