Which series class to enter and will an older car be competitive ?

[istinton]

Hi all,

I’ve got a quick question for you. I have two Westfields, both vintage models with a history in the championship and raced at the start of the Speed Series. I’m planning to do a two-day meeting and race eight weekends this season. Which car would be more fun to race?

 

Here are the details:

 

Car A: Road-going Westfield 7SE (1986)

Engine: 1700 Crossflow, 180bhp

Transmission: 5-speed Tran X H-pattern with LSD

Modifications: Updated roll cage to current spec (since my original 1992 RAC roll bar wasn't legal). The car has been thoroughly checked and is race-ready.

 

Car B: Modified Production (likely to be in Specialist Production) – Westfield SEIGHT (1996)

Engine: Rover 5.0L V8

Transmission: Gatrac 5-speed manual

Mods: Slick tires, wings

Additional Notes: This car has been updated with a current MSA passport and the roll cage has been updated. From looking at sprint results, there don’t seem to be many competitors in the class, and hill climbs seem to be dominated by BEC 7’s.

 

Both cars held records in their prime, but I know that things have moved on considerably since then. Realistically, do either of these have a chance at being competitive, or should I look into something more modern and front-running, or perhaps even a different model altogether?

 

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

I’m hoping this might help others with older cars still in the garage who are considering getting back into racing.

Thanks in advance!

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

 

[Nick Algar - Competition Secretary]

2 hours ago, istinton said:

Hi all,

I’ve got a quick question for you. I have two Westfields, both vintage models with a history in the championship and raced at the start of the Speed Series. I’m planning to do a two-day meeting and race eight weekends this season. Which car would be more fun to race?

 

Here are the details:

 

Car A: Road-going Westfield 7SE (1986)

Engine: 1700 Crossflow, 180bhp

Transmission: 5-speed Tran X H-pattern with LSD

Modifications: Updated roll cage to current spec (since my original 1992 RAC roll bar wasn't legal). The car has been thoroughly checked and is race-ready.

 

Car B: Modified Production (likely to be in Specialist Production) – Westfield SEIGHT (1996)

Engine: Rover 5.0L V8

Transmission: Gatrac 5-speed manual

Mods: Slick tires, wings

Additional Notes: This car has been updated with a current MSA passport and the roll cage has been updated. From looking at sprint results, there don’t seem to be many competitors in the class, and hill climbs seem to be dominated by BEC 7’s.

 

Both cars held records in their prime, but I know that things have moved on considerably since then. Realistically, do either of these have a chance at being competitive, or should I look into something more modern and front-running, or perhaps even a different model altogether?

 

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

I’m hoping this might help others with older cars still in the garage who are considering getting back into racing.

Thanks in advance!

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Ian

Great to see you thinking of coming out again. Either car is going to be a lot of fun and competitive in your hands. 

Also this year we are planning on having the Main Championship with 10 events counting, then a Hill Cup and a Sprint Cup if you prefer those events, 7 to count, see below :-

 

 

" Our ‘2026 7s Speed Series’ ‘provisional calendar; you will see that we have been extremely lucky to secure a large number of quality events for both Hillclimbs & Sprints. With this in mind, it gives us the exciting opportunity to try something totally different for our 2026 7s Speed Series Championship.

In short, we will now be able to offer to our 7s Speed Series registered competitors the following:

· Overall ‘7s Speed Series Championship’: Best of 10 events count from all events

· The Speed Hillclimb Cup ‘Hillclimbs’ only’: Best of 7 Hillclimb events count out of all Hillclimb events

· The Sprint Cup ‘Sprints only’: Best of 7 Sprint events count out of all Sprint events

· The ‘Mini Series Cup’ mixture for both ‘Hillclimbs & Sprints’: best of 5 events count out of 7 nominated events

The above will run alongside the overall championship, you will see that there is now something for everyone i.e. the main 7s Speed Championship or different series running alongside the full championship - depending on your own personal preference.

 

Send me a PM if you'd like to chat about it. 

Cheers Nick