A race car is born

[Luke_Eliasz]

Last night (around 12:30am), i couldnt sleep so i went downstairs and started flickin through the channels and came to discovery home and leasure ( i think), and saw the next programe was "A Race car is born", so i went into tv guide and looked at the description and it was a set of episodes where they were building a westfield from a kit, i was likew woah what the devil, hell ueah   . So they i sat down and watched a bit of the first episode when this women was showing him around the factory and the different types of cars etc.. Then he chose his kit, it think it was a 2.0 zetec on carbs in a SEi (something like that, didnt catch it all was too tired). So i've recorded it from 12:45am - 60am and i'll be sure to watch it, in the later episodes it says he takes in on trials/hill climbs etc.. so should be fun to watch. 5:15 hours of westfield build/race

[karlgurney]

Its an excellent series Luke, i used to have them all on tape untill someone taped over them , i think you can pick it up on VHS/DVD from the factory.  What made me laugh was how most of the work was allready done for him, he hardley had to us a dremel most of the holes where cut for him and all the hubs were asembled, still it was a really good reference for a novice car builder and a good source of inspiration when things wern't working out during the build.  enjoy the rest of the series  

Karl

P.S the last time i went to the factory the car he built was on display for sale looked pretty good shame it only had a zetec in  

[neilwillis]

Yep, an excellent series.   He also built a Cobra (a car is born), a helicopter, a plane restored an E-Type Jag, and several bikes.   Seems to me his judgment was spot on when it came to engine choice too

Trouble is Luke, if you watch the series, you'll want to build your own Westie too!   If you do, there isn't a need to blow tunes through the exhaust system, or crack awful jokes.   The hubs are pre-assembled on all module based kits, as are the ali panels though he fits his own in the series.

[Chris.B]

There's a big thread here when we discussed it when it first was shown.  Lots of comment on the army of factory technicians he had in the background and the many "pre-prepared" items which none of us had with our kits.  Still, it was quite a good watch.

[Luke_Eliasz]

Well i watched some of the building but he just talked non stop and all i wanted to do was watch it being built, so i fast forwarded it to the part where it showed that scotish guy taking the tvr tuscan challange around the track, and then i watched the part where he took his westy for that £20 test thing.

I'll watch the rest tonight when my mums finished watching tennis.

[v7slr]

You can hardly knock the man (Mark Evans). He is a vet by trade, so his knowledge of cars has been accumulated throughout the few series. His latest was a pretty specced-up LandRover and it certainly looked like he did a lot of the work himself.

[Luke_Eliasz]

True, i've watched the series "a 4x4 is born" was pretty good too.

[Kevin Wood]

You can hardly blame Westfield for "preparing" his kit a bit either. I recon they built in and then stripped it down before delivering the kit. Wouldn't do to have some bloke swearing away on TV like I was at certain parts of the build???

I must admit to being slightly disappointed at the lack of detail in some of the programs but I guess if it was at a level where it only appealed to geeks like us the general public wouldn't be interested.

He has had the coolest job in the world over the last 2 years or so though. Imagine you go to work in the morning and your boss says "here's a big pot of money, now go and build a load of boy's toys" I'm trying to think if he's missed any toys: Cobra for cruising, Westie for blatting, E-type for posing. Not sure about the trike thing he built. Nice old Triumph bike for when you get bored with the Cobra's exhaust note. Plane and helicopter for when the traffic sucks - complete with PPL. Land Rover for when it's pi$$ing down and you want to go and wallow in mud. Only thing missing is a boat.

I be he doesn't pine for the days when he was shoving his arm up a cow's @rse!

Lucky Batsrad!

[v7slr]

Have you noticed how his "workshop" has gotten bigger and better over the series (what's plural for series?)? It'd be lovely to work with him. I think that yes, his jokes are corny but I reckon he'd be a good laugh off camera where he obviously has to watch his language. Not only that, he's definitely onto a good thing and I wonder what will be next. I hope he keep is automotive. I find that although a helicopter and kit plane are interesting, I can't really identify with them.

I too was slightly disappointed by the lack of tech detail, and the way it seems to switch to the end of something just as it was getting interesting, but I have to be honest and say that each series has inspired me, particularly the 4x4 one. I now want one myself... or at least would love to build a Bowler Tomcat (the Wildcat is a tad expensive even for this Caterham owner   )

Did you catch the cost of the Jag E-type that he rebuilt? ISTR the rebuild was in the order of £75K. Erk..!! A pristine example can't be worth more than £35 (judging by some of the recon 2nd hand ones I've seen advertised). I know that's not the point, but sometimes you have to take a sanity check.

Still, I know you laugh at some of us but I really don't have anything else to spend my cash on other than my toy so who cares.... (note: all this changes when baby is born at Christmas   ).

[KerryS]

I had mentioned to a friend at work that I had plans to build a Westfield and he recorded the first series of the programmes for me - can't be a****d to get cable/satelite myself - and I found it quite inspiring. I was surprised how much tweaking was allegedly necessary at the factory to meet SVA but when I mentioned this at the factory, they said that most of it was staged so that there was something to film otherwise it would have been a non-event.

After I'd paid my deposit, I got the build manual and a copy of the video which went on from the first half I had watched about the build to the competion side of things. I did notice in the build part though, it had been edited down from that shown on the TV but cut out the track stuff too.

Kerry S

[hilux]

His latest was a pretty specced-up LandRover

Not half......

at the end of the programme he admitted that 2500 hrs.... yes 2500 hours went into it....and I believe it cos it was faultless, concours almost. Then he went off road in it

IMO about 30,000 was spent and guess what (especially if you`ve been reading my latest Ginetta exploits) he had a sticking oil pressure relief valve twice on his newly build rover v8        

[Luke_Eliasz]

Well just watched the rest where he took it on a hill climb, and his track day and a 2 day amature race meetin in france. Was great to watch, and has made me even more enthusiastic about westfields.

[Luke_Eliasz]

I'll watch that part later and look out for it :P

But the thought of going on a track day makes me feel weak at the knees, it looks so much fun, people were takin normal cars etc.., and then people in £150,000 ferraris were on there, and it was such a range of cars.

When he took his westfield sei duratec into the amature race in france it was awesome, he did so well for his first race. He spun it on one of the chicanes*sp* and lost a few places.

[Mark Stanton]

Engine was actually an 1800 Ford Zetec        

Did you notice all the changes made from road-going car to race car         change of tyres and wheels, removal of trim and all surplus equipment - perhaps not quite the easiest of things that can be done overnight but need to be developed over a period of time    

The race was at Croix en Ternois part of the BARC Westfield race series - some of the guys featured and interviewed hang around here       Calling Mr Keith Scarfe