Wednesday 24th July 2002

Westfield XTR2

Quite simply the best track day toy money can buy

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[jeremyc]

Did you get a chance to find out what it was like on anything other than a smooth track?

Do you think it could realistically be driven on the road, even if only to/from the track?

[PetrolTed]

quote:Did you get a chance to find out what it was like on anything other than a smooth track?

Do you think it could realistically be driven on the road, even if only to/from the track?

This was Curborough, not a smooth track

That's the thing that impressed me really. The ride was firm but handled the bumpy track really well. Not sure how much ground clearance there is but I don't see a problem driving it to a track - that's what they've designed it for.

[smeagol]

Ted heres an odd question but perfectly reasonable. Does it have any space for luggage? Before you laugh here's the situation. You and friend decide to go to watch motor racing, so you both have a small rucksack for food waterproofs etc. also Both of you wearing lids for the drive up but when you arrive it would be nice to be able to store the lids securely and enjoy your day. Other example is what if you wanted to go see the Le-mans with this car.

I know this question is odd, but with a bike you either wear a rucksack or get a paniers/topbox set up ready for that fun long trip.

[PetrolTed]

Good point and one I hadn't considered. Off the top of my head there doesn't seem to be anywhere to put your gear on the way to the track. The footwell would have room for a soft bag but you'd have to wear your helmets! As for securing stuff, you'd have to padlock it into the cabin somehow which wouldn't work particularly well.

[smeagol]

Thanks Ted, I wonder if Westfield have thought of this. Seems a shame to build a Le-mans Prototype car which you can't take to Le-mans. Cracking car though.

[stig]

It will be interesting to see how the MK Engineering GT1 stacks up against it.

It's definitely an inexpensive option - whether it's an imitation is yet to be seen.

A lot prettier than the Westie though!

[smeagol]

MK still haven't done anything on their webpage though. Still looks very much in the development stage. I'm certainly interested on how this car compares. Interesting Times.

[Podie]

What about the Radical SR3...?

[smeagol]

quote:
What about the Radical SR3...?

Its twice the price of the Westfield self build. Okay so its built for you. Perhaps they should look into a self build version, but at £30k min its still v expensive for not that much gain.

[Podie]

ouch - hadn't realised the cost...!

[james]

The Radical SR3 did very well in the CCC back to back test. Mind you, the final result was that although the Radical was a better car, the Westie was better on the VFM front.

If you can afford 40k for a track day toy, go for the Radical.

If you can't, get a Westie.

[oakers]

I had a good look at both the xtr2 and the MK . They both look the part but the big differance is you know the westfeild will work.With the MK you hope it will.The xtr2 is well finished, the MK is a little agricultural in comparrison. If it does work 6k on the road against 24k will be a big pull and when you bear in mind most track day users don't go anywhwere near the limits of normal cars the cheap one may well be fast enough. Apparantly MK have sold around 10 so far.

[PetrolTed]

There's some video of the XTR2 on the Birmingham101.com website.

www.birmingham101.com/WestfieldTESTDRIVE.wmv

[gnomesmith]

quote:
This was Curborough, not a smooth track

Ted you have made my day!

[ringrosem]

On the subject of the XTR2 ride height, I think it is possible to keep it low for the track and then and raise it relatively easily by a couple of inches so that the car can be driven home on the road. This is what I remember of a brief conversation with Westfield at the Autosport show in January this year.

Good point about space for any other gear - there isn't much. Very serious looking little car though. Nice!

Oh, and on the Radical - I think there are currently more engine options for it than for the XTR2, but Westfield are/were considering larger - i.e. conventional car engines as well as the bike engined version with which they launched the XTR2.

[rotax man]

Out of interest, anyone know how much it weighs?

[PetrolTed]

440kg according to Westfield

A few spec details are here www.pistonheads.com//roadtests/verdicts.asp?modelId=15

[AndrewD]

I'd still rather have the SR3.

Engine reliability, does anyone know much about that? I'm an unbeliever on the bike engine front at the moment...

[westy]

regarding luggage space it has a removable panel in each sidepod plenty big enough for 2 crash helmets and weatherproof coats

[smeagol]

quote:
I'd still rather have the SR3.

Engine reliability, does anyone know much about that? I'm an unbeliever on the bike engine front at the moment...

The SR3 is overpriced by a long way. Someone with a bit of skill could build the XTR2 with the same sort of quality and engine option for a lot less (my guess would be £25k).

Certainly if I had £40k plus (the one tested in Evo was £45k) Then surely an Ultima GTR would be better value for money.

As for engine reliability if you tune it like the SR3 to 450bhp I would agree that the reliability/longevity would be in doubt. However a standard engine should be absolutely fine, Suzuki (like all japanese bikes) are renoun for their reliability. I don't see any great difference between choosing a high rev engine and choosing a standard ford or similar to put in a kit car.

quote:
regarding luggage space it has a removable panel in each sidepod plenty big enough for 2 crash helmets and weatherproof coats

Cheers Westy, so its back on the list and to saving and working hard. At the moment this car or the MK engineering car are definately high on the list for possible future builds, even though that is a long time off yet.

>> Edited by smeagol on Saturday 27th July 01:04