Stupid fixation with BHP

[Guest]

Indeed the most important figure is the comparitive one , BHP/TON there are lots of 200bhp cars on the road these days but look what they weigh .

thats the figure people should really be interested in and harks back to the routs of the original 7 and what r chapman set out to acheive .

if you have a good setup and a good power to weight then you have something ,and that ulimately is what people strive towards ............

[polly_x]

Wow......feel like ive just had a right telling off!!!!

[Mitchamidilly]

Well I fulfilled an ambition by building my Westie and I love driving. In the last two months since registering I have had a fantistic time and the open top motoring again is great.

For me thats what its all about.  

Car is now tucked up for winter.

[AR1961]

Well its a case of "different strokes for different folks" (can someone hand me another cliche please?). I have 135bhp xflow in mine which was enough to see off my mate's Exige at Donnington. He is a bit Captain Slow though!

I love my car. Choose an engine you like the sound of, start with not too much power and enjoy. If it starts to feel slow then ££££££=BHP!

[chazpowerslide]

I have posted up on here many times that you don't need big bhp to have a lot of fun.

It seems that 200bhp has become the benchmark to aim for in a Westy and you'd be forgiven for thinking that if your Westy has less it's pretty useless example.

It wasn't so long ago (1985-86 IRRC) that Caterham would only let you buy an XE engined HPC (circa 180bhp) if you did a high performance driving course.

Prior to that about 150bhp was the norm from the crossflow and 8 valve XE engined cars (unless you had an exotic motor such as a BDA or YB)

As the power outputs of the typical donor engines has risen (Crossflows and Pintos typically with 100 to 140bhp going onto the XE and Zetec with 165 to 180bhp and now the new kid on the block the 200bhp Duratec) so has the benchmark by which the cars the engines are fitted to are judged.

Looking at the member list for Cambs area (which I rekon would be typical of the general ownership of the club) it would seem that cars with 200bhp+ are in the minority.

I personally think the "ideal" ammount of power for a Seven to be somewhere between 160 and 190bhp, enough to make it really fun but not so much it overwhelms the chassis and the tyres.

Chaz.

[XTR2Turbo]

I have posted up on here many times that you don't need big bhp to have a lot of fun.

It seems that 200bhp has become the benchmark to aim for in a Westy and you'd be forgiven for thinking that if your Westy has less it's pretty useless example.

It wasn't so long ago (1985-86 IRRC) that Caterham would only let you buy an XE engined HPC (circa 180bhp) if you did a high performance driving course.

Prior to that about 150bhp was the norm from the crossflow and 8 valve XE engined cars (unless you had an exotic motor such as a BDA or YB)

As the power outputs of the typical donor engines has risen (Crossflows and Pintos typically with 100 to 140bhp going onto the XE and Zetec with 165 to 180bhp and now the new kid on the block the 200bhp Duratec) so has the benchmark by which the cars the engines are fitted to are judged.

Looking at the member list for Cambs area (which I rekon would be typical of the general ownership of the club) it would seem that cars with 200bhp+ are in the minority.

I personally think the "ideal" ammount of power for a Seven to be somewhere between 160 and 190bhp, enough to make it really fun but not so much it overwhelms the chassis and the tyres.

Chaz.

Good point

Power has become ever more affordable. Might as well take it if you can - you don't have to use it.

But if on a tight budget / looking at older cars don't think them as being inferior or less capable. At the end of the day if you are a new buyer best advice is to try a few (bike and car engined), attend owners meetings and go with what you are happiest with.

David

[JeffC]

I have around 170bhp roughly 340bhp per /tn  Im happy with the way mine goes,very little can get the better of it on track , and even if it does I can normally think up a good excuse for it happening          

start of the year busa  feels awesome, couple of trackdays later and you quickly get used to it.. I dont think I *need* more power as im still getting quicker so I know there is more to come from what Ive got.. but it doesnt stop me *wanting* more power          

swmbo reckons I need help    It doesnt matter what I buy I cant leave it alone,from day one Ive  have had pretty much every tin top ive ever owned tuned/remapped     I tell her its a bloke thing          

anyway Ive passengered in quite a few lower bhp westys and got to be honest It wouldnt be for me , I struggle to see the excitement in it, I bought this type of car for the buzz of the performance   but in saying that Im sure driving a much slower car on track will make you a better driver quicker if you know what I mean  

[Nick Algar - Competition Secretary]

IMHO all the comments about not needing big BHP are very true whilst using the car on the road. It's when you take it on the track that you really start to want more.

Even 300BHP, didn't feel fast enough, with big sticky slicks to help get through the corners as well, SO

I bought a proper car          

[V 8]

I fully agree with all the above to put a high horse power engine in one of our cars is bordering on lunacy.

Thankfully I never felt the need to do such a silly thing myself.  

Here here!!

[pistonbroke]

Gimme a nice sounding V12 with about 300 bhp

Valhalla hear we come  

[Matt Seabrook]

I think the sentiments at the start of this thread are about right. For someone new to Westfield ownership looking for the big BHP cars is not necessary as even a 100BHP will feel quick. But when you have had a Westfield for some time (since 1998 for me) you may feel the need for more power. Just don’t get hung up on it. By the way my Zetec car has a PWR of 360bhp per ton and it feels a little slow these days after driving my sprint cars at track days and sprints

[Phil. S]

On my long list of things to do to my Westfield trying to get more power out of the engine is pretty low down. I have around 170bhp and use it on track a lot, and it's difficult to imagine having more fun. It would be nice to be able to keep up with my mate's tuned 340r, but I think that may be more about brakes and suspension setup.

I like the idea that I struggle to keep up with some of the more powerful (Honda engined) Elises. It's much more exciting seeing if I can make up the deficit round corners and with exit speeds. I definitely wouldn't want to be flying past everyone with ease.

(Though I may change my mind when Leon B going flying past me with ease at Silverstone on Sunday   )

[markcoopers]

Yes to clarify my point, I take perhaps 3 or 4 calls a month from people wanting to purchase a Westfield, new to the whole sceen, and telling me that this site tells tham they must have a VX or Zetec cos it can produce 200bhp.

I ask that when making recomendations to people about purchasing cars that we consider the other 2000 components rather than just fixate on engines and BHP.

Time after time I see the same similar posts basically saying "for your budget get a modern 16v engine car, as these will make more power". Please, nothing against any engine or bhp for that, but what about the gearbox, brakes, shocks, weather gear, or even condition. I never see these parts discussed or suggested, are they not important?

[Keith@FM]

I'm in the business of making MX-5s go indecently fast (who said the MX-5 SDV isn't going to be a fire-breather?) and we've seen this "bhp inflation" recently as well. We get a lot of phone calls from interested parties, and they'll name a bhp figure as a target when we ask them. We can usually tell after the first couple of sentence what the target will be. Typically, take the most powerful MX-5 that's shown up on the forums and add 25-50 hp. After all, if one person made 350, 400 must be easy and inexpensive. In almost every case, the person who needs all this power has never driven an MX-5 with more power than stock and thus has no idea what a 265 bhp example (a number that is relatively inexpensive and easy to attain) is capable of. I imagine the same thing is happening with Westfields - if there are three cars with 200 bhp, then newbies assume they need 220.

I do have to agree that my own Seven is the first car I've driven that had far more chassis than power. At a similar power/weight ratio, an MX-5 starts to feel dominated by the engine. My Seven, on the other hand, could easily take more power. And of course, my boss will be shoehorning one of those 265 bhp engines into his Westfield so now my lap records will come under fire...

[adhawkins]

I guess I'm partly guilty of this. The thing is, if someone has 8k to spend, surely it's better for them to get an engine with some potential (a stock Zetec say) than a Pinto that's been upgraded to within an inch of its life and has no more to give.

Yes, if the suspension etc. is no good then all the power in the world isn't going to help, but the question people tend to ask is 'what kind of car should I be looking for?' and not 'what make of shocks should the car I'm looking for have?'

Point taken though, I'll try to be more broad in my recommendations in future

Andy