A sad day - I've decided to sell my Westy......

[cjdad76]

Just to be clear - I still love the car!!!  However, after a short, 1 year affair with her, I have decided to sell up and move back to motorbikes............ for a while at least.  Since I was a kid, I have dreamed of owning one, but 1 year in, I have decided I also need a motorbike and I can't afford both.

 

My opinion of the positives / negatives of my short ownership experience are below:

 

Positives:

 - the most amazing driving experience when on track days.  This has been the best part of ownership for me and the bit I will miss the most by far.

 - still love opening my garage door and seeing it sitting there, and the desire to be out driving it!

 - this forum and other Westfield owners have been nothing but welcoming, helpful and sincerely all sharing in a love of everything Westfield / car related

 

Negatives:

 - in 12 mths it has spent 6 of them in bits trying to get it working properly having broken something or worn it out - I know this is part of it for many, but for me it was more about the driving

 - it's been pretty damn expensive, costing me £2500 in labour, parts to keep running and 3 track days, but for only 1400 miles of fun. Most of the money spent was through necessity, rather than by choice on upgrades I wanted!!

 - the sad realisation that I will either lose my license or end up in a ditch / wall if I drive it how I want to drive it on the road.  Pottering is not my thing and to drive quickly in a Westfield means you are going very quickly by all other cars standards!

 - it needed more power to be my ultimate Westfield, but without spending a lot of money, I couldn't see this being easy to achieve.

 

What I have learnt from this:

 - I would always have a Westfield by choice, if money / time was no object, I love them, this hasn't changed!

 - I would still need a motorbike as well.

 - The next one I own, will be a more track focused car.

 - Without sounding all Jeremy Clarkson, my next one will have more power!!

 - I will buy a trailer to go with it, rather than have to pay £80 on top of track day costs for hiring one every time!!

 - Most importantly................ I will be back!!!

 

Thanks all, I will be posting an advert in the next couple of weeks, so anybody looking for a well sorted, solid road / track car - stay tuned!

[Tim Reid]

Hi Chris,

 

Sorry to see you going but glad that you enjoyed your stay.

 

Out of interest for me and for other future Westfield owners... what are the details of your car and issues?

You are not the first person to buy a Westfield and then be frustrated with how much time and money goes into looking after them.

 

The theory I'm getting to is from my own experience... in 2008 (ish) I bought a road going Westfield for around £7,500... it was very reliable tourer but I soon started doing trackdays and things started getting expensive (blown engine, broken bits, etc). If I had bough a more track focused car for say £10k or more it would some of the bits I was missing (a baffled sump) and be better condition.

Are we asking too much of the older/cheaper cars?

 

Just a thought and not a reflection on you or the others.

Tim.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

It's funny I was having a conversation about "expectations" only the other week.

 

When I started sprinting, with my eighteen month old road Westfield, (that I'd built), I had a years worth of "pain" as things had to be upgraded/changed to suit different demands. To be fair, some were self inflicted by building a much more powerful engine that put bigger demands on everything. I also enjoyed the development work.

 

But if you think about what you're asking a track day car that is used hard to do, it's like taking a car off the dealers forecourt and going endurance racing!

 

If the car was designed with that in mind, fine, you'll have no problem. If it wasn't you have a choice, use it, see what isn't up to it and develop it as you go. Or re-engineer it first then go out.

 

Obviously, different builds will come with different levels of over or under engineering, and different drivers will have vastly different track day demands.

 

But just like turning a track/competition car into a cruiser, all be it a fast one, can be time consuming and expensive, so can making a track special be.

[the stoat]

I would echo what the gadgetman says. I bought mine and it would have been fine for sprinting as had good power, but on a track day temperature management was an issue. I spent lots of time and cash putting sticking plasters on. I then did what I should have done from the start and sorted out the cooling with ducting, really good radiator and oil water heat exchanger. I can now run it dry on fuel in a session on track with temps and pressures stable.

My advice would be consider what you want the car to do and either buy to this spec or update to the spec ASAP before something lets go.

For example on radiators, without wanting to be obnoxious to other members , if a Polo radiator can dispate 200BHP and beyond while running hard on track for prolonged periods I will eat one of these Polo rads! What brought me to this conclusion was data monitoring and brings me to my point. Don't just focus on the mechanical bits but also do you have gauges etc to highlight risks, such as high temps, before it becomes an issue.

Off soap box , I just hope it encourages thinking and fixing upfront as in my experience doing it incrementally costs much more.

[SootySport]

Such a shame you've only been with us for 1 year,  all that money and work and now the car is running right.  Can't you just SORN the Westfield, hide it at the back of the garage, have your motorbike fix for a while, then start driving the Westfield again?

[Dodgey]

I think Westfield ownership shouldn't cost you anything in labour - nearly everyone does their own work on their cars - it's part of the deal, so to speak. I'f I'd let a garage fix my Westie problems over the years (3 diff replacements to mention a few) I'd be broke! 

 

I understand the speed thing - though I just pick my moments to go mad when there is no one around and good run-off in case of a mistake ;-) (overtaking in the V8 is a little amusing as you end up overtaking 4 or 5 cars when you intended to overtake one...)

[cjdad76]

I think in this case, for me personally, it's definitely me, not her!!

 

The car has been fantastic, I recognise that most of the issues came about as a result of doing a couple of track days in a 13 year old car, but all the same, it's been quite costly.  With 2 young kids and a 60 hour working week with lots of travel involved, I have had to have friends do some of the bigger jobs, so although not paying garage rates, it's still cost me something.

 

None of the problems I had were massive, but just one thing after another:

 1) Front shocks leaking - replaced with Protech one's

 2) Gearbox rattle (severe) - engine / gearbox out for full rebuild

 3) New clutch, balanced flywheel / clutch assembly, balanced drive shaft as a precaution to above happening again.

 4) Seized front caliper - both front calipers replaced with new one's

 5) Starter motor died - replaced with new one.

 6) Perished water hose leading to losing all coolant (whilst on rolling road - very embarrassing) - replaced with new

 7) Perished fuel lines - replaced with new

The gearbox one is the only one I am sore about as I noticed the rattle within a couple of weeks of buying the car and it turned out to be an absolute pain to diagnose, leaving me with the car in bits for a bout 4 months of last summer.

 

Other than the above niggly problems caused by tracking a car that was a little mechanically tired - the car is still solid.  She looks very pretty, is really well finished, handled great, and when on track, seemed to be one of the quicker cars even though not particularly track biased.

 

I love the car and have loved the experience of owning her for a year and if there was any way I could afford to keep her and a bike I would.  I am likely to have another within a few years and honestly speaking, having looked at all those on sale at the moment, other than a V8 (which is where I may end up in the future) - I would have mine back again if that was possible.

 

I just wish I had more time to devote to her and it would be a match made in heaven.

[pickmaster Andy Lowe]

[tisme]

I've had my Westie since 2002 and there were a large number of years (2005-2012) when basically it never got used due to pressure of work and too many other commitments (family, racing car, boat, caravan, horses...). I'd already started on the Westie tinkering and upgrade route and I did at least pop in the garage now and then to see how she was (though tba, I should have properly mothballed her as in the end I had to repair/replace or clean up a lot of suspension related parts that had been attacked by damp) - I did start the engine now and again and I know that was not ideal - but I was determined NOT to sell it as I know from other hobbies I've taken a break from that a) you never get back what you've invested in time or money and b) you rarely, if ever, find something that was better than what you had which means you invariable start again on the tinkering and upgrade route.

 

Fortunately, I took early retirement (which gave me more time but a lot less money ) but also slightly poorer health has meant the end to the motor racing, sailing and horse riding - so that just left the Westie 

 

The car's now back on the road and upgraded to where I want it and I've been out more in the last few weeks than I did in the last 10 years. I know this will be my last "big hobby" so making the most of it before I end up dribbling off and ranting at the Daily Mail.

 

Difficult decision I know, but if it were me, I'd find somewhere to keep it under cover, lay it up properly and who knows - in a year or 2 or 3 you may feel differently