Full Marks To Www.kitcarspares.co.uk. ( Or Robin Hood Cars.)

[mhc]

I went to kit car spares today to pick up some rubber strip.

Can only say that the presentation and quality of the current Robin Hood cars was the equal of anything that Westfield currently produce.

Cars come in both narrow and wide bodied, main bodywork is in either stainless or like Caterhams, in aluminium.

Welding and powder coating were both excellent, they have certainly come a long way since their early days.

Its a shame that the name Robin Hood still carries a stigma in some peoples eyes

There was even a Westfield outside having some work done with the owner enjoying a cup of tea supplied by the lady in reception.

Shades of Mrs Smith.

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

did you put a deposit down then Mick probably not light enough for you are they

[Paul Aspden]

Robin Hood....I remember the video, Carry on Kit car! What a laugh.

[SteveD]

mmm pot noodle carton instrument surrounds

[mhc]

Robin Hood....I remember the video, Carry on Kit car! What a laugh.

I've still got it.

Those were the days when even Westfield were interested in their customers cars and carried spares for all the models.

[Dibby]

Came from a Robin Hood 2B before the Westie. It was a little rustic but a great car to cut my teeth in the kit car world. Parts were everywhere and cheap, performance per pound was good. An all round great beinngers/ budget car. It was a sad day seeing it drive off but the Westie is a step change in performance.

[dombanks]

<p>do these guys have a website?

[Rory's Dad]

Well they have an advert in the latest Westfield World...

Rory's Dad

[dombanks]

huh... what happened to the rest of my post? doh...

i did say i tired www.kitcarspares.co.uk and it didnt work....

also dibby why was it a step change? did you just have a smaller engine in it or was the engineering/final product/package as whole etc just not as good. they look a little smaller than the westy from the robin hood site.

[XTR2Turbo]

MNR also seem to be pushing out some nicely made chasis

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Should it not be http://www.kitspares.co.uk

[KugaWestie]

Or is it this one? http://www.robinhoodsportscars.co.uk/ZERO/

[Dibby]

also dibby why was it a step change? did you just have a smaller engine in it or was the engineering/final product/package as whole etc just not as good. they look a little smaller than the westy from the robin hood site.

The Hood was a 2-litre EFI, Sierra donor car and the Westie is a Megablade. Completely different cars in terms of performance.

Also very different in terms of build quality, the Hood's chassis was a lot thicker and heavier, more for road cruising than sport. It had a wiring loom with a bunch of dead ends, fuses tucked under carpets, the sump hung out of the bottom of the car and got caught on speed bumps, the front suspension squeaked and rattled, the cycle wings kept parting company with the car. It was a good fun to tinker with and learn from.

The Westfield was built by a McLaren engineer and the way it was put together is immaculate. The whole car feels so much more balanced and complete, we've got rolling road printouts, corner weight graphs from when it was all set up. The base kit, donor parts and build quality are all a step change from the Hood.

The Hood was a bigger car, even though the Westie is a wide body it's a lot narrower than Hood with a lot less space the cabin, especially for your feet. A few shots from when we sold the Hood:

[dombanks]

so if you ignore engine choice, or alternatively say the hood and westy were both 2l zetecs on tbs, would you say the hoods overall quilty isnt as good as the westy in your experience? lets also assume your hood was build by someone who payed attention to detail and didnt just leave crap wires and squeeks and also provided the corner weights graphes/printouts etc.

im just trying to get a feel for them as a whole as we all know any kit can be built badly or not but not every kit is equal and some things no matter how good you are cannot be altered. bad handling can be cured, i drove my westy for a bit before i had a geo set up done on it and the difference was massive.

your pictures look good, and i quite like the yellow/polished look on the website.

[Dibby]

Given the same engine, parts bin and attention to detail, there isn't a great deal of difference in 'quality'. The Hood is more for the road and the Westie is more track centred - thickness and diameter of chassis tubing is noticeably thicker on the Hood. It feels more robust, chunkier and heavier. The rear suspension was a live axle from a Sierra and a lot more basic than the Westie.

It was probably more down to the engine and suspension - started off with sliding pillar and we swapped to wishbones which was a big job - but the shole car was a lot more sedate and suitable to touring. The Westie is a lot lighter, more quickly spring and rides the bumps in the road a lot better without bottoming out with a clang.

The way the wheel arches were screwed to the brackets wasn't very strong (nearly decapitated the wife when one let go at 60mph!) whereas the Westfield cycle wings have the brackets moulded into the fibreglass, a lot stronger.

It's all about budget and what you will be doing with it, the Hood is cheaper but feels more robust and comfier for long distance touring. The Westie is over the top performance-wise for what I do in it but for the price I would have been a fool to pass it by, we bought it for the same price as we sold the Hood. For a budget kit it was very good at what it's designed to do, providing an entry or budget route into the kit car world and only the seasoned car enthusiast can tell the differences between a Caterham/ Lotus/ Westie/ MNR/ Dax/ Robin Hood.

I quite liked the blue or red with the stainless bodywork, but like all kits, the choices of engines, colours and parts are endless.