South west newbie on the lookout

[b16gnr]

1 hour ago, Philb65 said:

 

Hi Wayne, that’s very kind and I’ll take you up on your offer if thats ok. I’m going up to Northamptonshire this week for my daughters wedding so sometime in the following two weeks would be great if you let me know your availability. 

 

All the best, Phil

No worries I will pm you my mobile 

[Philb65]

Cheers Wayne, I’ll be in touch.

[TAFKARM]

23 hours ago, Philb65 said:

 

 

As a newbie to all this, Im trying to figure out my requirements. Are there any ‘must haves’ for these cars. The only one I can really think of is an lsd to put the power down. Also, is there a sweet spot with power or are you forever chasing more?

 

I wouldn’t rule out an open diff - especially if it’s mostly road use, much less likely to spit you off into a hedge backwards.

 

260 is the sweet spot. 

[Philb65]

Thanks for the advice Meati. I hadn’t thought of an open diff as safer but for a newbie like myself in a lightweight car it probably needs to be given some thought. I guess you can upgrade to an lsd at a later date as you learn the cars limits and get more power down. Driver training will be on my to do list. 260bhp must equate to near 4-500 bhp/tonne, scarily quick I expect, but a lot of fun!

[Kit Car Electronics]

On 11/08/2019 at 21:22, Philb65 said:

 Thanks for the replies everyone so far. No rush to buy, I keep seeing cars come up on eBay but nothing is floating my boat for the price so far.

 

As a newbie to all this, Im trying to figure out my requirements. Are there any ‘must haves’ for these cars. The only one I can really think of is an lsd to put the power down. Also, is there a sweet spot with power or are you forever chasing more?

 

I’ll probably go for a car engine as I worry about bike engine durability not that I’ll be doing many miles a year. Zetec more than likely.

 

Whilst good cars do come up on EBay, PH and the like, unless you're familiar with the cars and all the various upgrade parts it can be a minefield, with lots of speculative pricing. 

 

I'd recommend trying to buy within the club (cars often have nice upgrades and very realistic pricing) or take a trip to somewhere like ToyBox with a range of cars and expect to pay a more consistent dealer premium. 

 

Everyone has their own 'sweetspot' and it really depends massively on the weight and gearing. A 'typical' 600-650Kg road going car engined Westfield in the 150-200HP range takes a lot of beating in my opinion. 

 

Good luck

[Philb65]

5 minutes ago, Kit Car Electronics said:

 

Whilst good cars do come up on EBay, PH and the like, unless you're familiar with the cars and all the various upgrade parts it can be a minefield, with lots of speculative pricing. 

 

I'd recommend trying to buy within the club (cars often have nice upgrades and very realistic pricing) or take a trip to somewhere like ToyBox with a range of cars and expect to pay a more consistent dealer premium. 

 

Everyone has their own 'sweetspot' and it really depends massively on the weight and gearing. A 'typical' 600-650Kg road going car engined Westfield in the 150-200HP range takes a lot of beating in my opinion. 

 

Good luck

 

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

I’d already thought the same about buying off eBay and the like being a bit of a lottery and you are right prices vary a fair bit. I’m sure there are plenty of lemons out there! I don’t class myself as a total numpty when it comes to cars but I can see it would be easy to make an expensive mistake due to the individuality of these cars.

 

The power range you have said is what I had expected. I’m not looking to break any track records and want the car to be every day driveable without causing an underwear change after each trip!

 

My preference would be to buy from a club owner for provenance and best value. What to spend and what cars are worth is difficult for me being new to the mark. I’m keeping my eye on the for sales at the minute. 

 

I’m working my way through some of the guides on the site at the moment which have been very helpful.

[Dave Licence]

Hi Phil and welcome. Hopefully you’ll find that a Westfield is the right car for you. Full membership of the club is definitely recommended - it’s a brilliant resource with a happy contingent of petrol heads to help out and join in the fun. 

You don’t have to find the perfect car from the outset - that’s the joy of kit cars, you make them your own as your funds allow or intended use changes. The important thing is to find one that is well built and, I believe, has several thousand miles on the clock so that any teething problems have been found and resolved. To that end I would suggest buying from a club member that properly knows their car and can talk about all the improvements/fixes they’ve made. 

Performance really is down to individual preference and as it’s unlikely you will get to test drive a private car, somewhat tricky to nail down when you’re searching. I ended up hiring a caterham for the day to check I liked the style of car and then bought a better value car in the Westfield with a bit more power. Zetec on throttle bodies seems fine for the road. We all hanker for more power on the track, but it depends how you intend to use the car most of the time that mattered to me. Having had some teething problems myself the best things to improving driving experience have been better tyres, suspension setup and getting the engine running/mapped correctly. Decent inspiring brakes will complete the package and that will let you enjoy the car to the full - if you’re not confident in the car it won’t matter how much power you have. 

I’ll get some more area meets organised soon and am sure we can be persuaded to enjoy the roads of West Devon. 

Dave

[Philb65]

Great post Dave. Thanks for the advice. I hadn’t thought about hiring a Caterham but it’s probably worth doing, Williams in Bristol do a half day or 120 miles for £99 so might be money well spent. I’ll look into doing this for September,  with a bit of luck we might get an Indian Summer! I know I’ll like the cars but it would be good to do a few miles in a 7 to confirm it. 

 

Cheers Phil

[Dave Licence]

19 minutes ago, Philb65 said:

Great post Dave. Thanks for the advice. I hadn’t thought about hiring a Caterham but it’s probably worth doing, Williams in Bristol do a half day or 120 miles for £99 so might be money well spent. I’ll look into doing this for September,  with a bit of luck we might get an Indian Summer! I know I’ll like the cars but it would be good to do a few miles in a 7 to confirm it. 

 

Cheers Phil

Good plan Phil. I went to Williams. My advice would be to get there early as the paperwork and checks took ages! Not sure on your requirements, but the standard caterham is like a narrow se Westfield - too tight and too short for me at 6’. The wide body longer footwell caterham is the SV so ask for the version to suit you. 

[Philb65]

3 minutes ago, Dave Licence - Devon and Somerset AO said:

Good plan Phil. I went to Williams. My advice would be to get there early as the paperwork and checks took ages! Not sure on your requirements, but the standard caterham is like a narrow se Westfield - too tight and too short for me at 6’. The wide body longer footwell caterham is the SV so ask for the version to suit you. 

 

Glad you’ve mentioned this I’d need the SV as I’m 6’1 13st 7.