Westfield Sportscars

Westfield Sportscars are manufacturers o baith factory built an kit versions o several twa-seater, open top sportscaurs. Their main product line is a Lotus Seven inspired caur - vehicles originally designed bi Colin Chapman wi ae the bare essentials for motorin in order tae give the rawest an maist exhilaratin drivin experience.

History [edit]

Whilst Caterham Cars bought the richts frae Lotus Cars, Chris Smith set up a rival company an manufactured kits wi vera similar stylin an construction. This led Caterham tae threaten litigation (based on Industrial design richts) in the late 1980s which wis eventually settled oot o court an resultit in Westfield improvin and changin the design o their caurs. Whilst externally sharin a common leuk, Westfield an Caterham caurs are somewha different in construction. Westfield prefers tae employ the same glass fibre body method that Lotus haes traditionally uised for their ither models such as the Elise, Esprit, an Elan, rather than the aluminium uised bi Caterham.

Westfield haes an aa pioneered technical innovations such as Independent rear suspension and a wider chassis, which other manufacturers hae since adopted. The company has recently introduced a version o its SEi kit that uises donor pairts frae the Mazda Mx5 Miata. This is generally cawed an SDV (Single Donor Vehicle) kit. There is an' a' an SDV kit that uises a Ford Sierra as a donor.

Accordin tae figures given tae the magazine Total Kit Car, Westfield produces aboot 450 SEi an XTR chassis each year.^[1]

In the first series o BBC's Top Gear, a Westfield XTR2 driven bi the black Stig set a faster lap time than the reignin record haulder o that series, the Pagani Zonda.

In December 2006, Westfield became a pairt o Potenza Sports Cars Limited^[2]. In December 2007, it wis announced that GTM Cars an aa became a pairt o Potenza Sports Cars.