Bike engined Westfield - track day reliability?

[domcross]

First posting on this forum so please bear with me

I've done a fair bit of track day driving in various previously owned cars (Dax Rush, Ultima Spyder, Noble M400) but it's now time for a cheaper but equally good fun track day toy that I can also use for the odd trip round the country lanes in the sunshine.

Having had a Dax Rush I've experienced the joys of 'Seven style' driving and would happily go back to that sort of car again... Caterham, Westfield, Dax, Tiger, etc. There seem to be a lot of relatively low mileage and new bike engined options for sale at the moment which brings me to the point of the post... finally!

Do these machines make good track day cars and are they reliable compared to say, a 2.0l Zetec powered alternative? The performance figures sound good, but I'm no engineer - no really, I just about know where the engine is! - and I don't want to spend my life on the back of a breakdown truck

Any advice welcome - I'm looking at a £10k budget and want loads of reliable fun in return

Thanks in advance,
Dom.

[dern]

I don't have 1st hand experience of running one but plenty of people in the wscc seem to run them reliably for track days. It would be worth asking for more specific bec westfield advice on there... WSCC.

Have you considered a v8? I have a 285bhp/303lbft 4.6lrv8 seight that just sneaks in at your budget. Check the wscc for sale section for details unless you have your heart set on a bec.

Regards,

Mark

[jon Ison]

Never owned a Wesfield but owned plenty of BECs including racing them, I chose too race them over CECs for a couple of reasons........

more reliable.
£ for £ much quicker.

For well under £10k you would get a top spec Mk indy with R1 power, 160+bhp in under 500kgs of car, track day heaven.

Check out locostbuilders.

[Furyblade_Lee]

I did about 10 trackdays in my Fury Fireblade, probobly over 1,000 track miles thrashing it to death. Also been touring France 3 times, again thrashing it regularly. Done airfield days at North Weald also . IT NEVER BROKE DOWN ONCE. Even when an RGB racer shifted from 10,000 rpm in 4th into 3rd on the straight at Brands (it just went BANG!, coasted in some soft of neutral gear then went back to working perfectly). In fact, even stuffing it through the motorway armco didn't break the engine. As long as you change the oil regularly (and clutches!) keep the water topped up, and do not thrash until properly warmed up they are bomb-proof. Also, it seems that "blueprinted" engines go bang more often when in race cars. If it does break, just get another from a scrappy for £500.

[tvrolet]

I had a Westfield Megablade; I used to hire it out to cover my costs on track days so it got used pretty hard. Also, with sometimes 2 or 3 drivers sharing on a track day it would be out EVERY session, so basically running full tilt all day long. I sold it on and the bloke who bought it also did loads and loads of track days (including Spa) and usually shared, so again running non-stop for a whole track day. Apare from a problem early on with the 'box it was 100% reliable (and still running strong after years of abuse)...and the 'box problem could well have been in the motor before I got hold of it. In any case, a set of shafts/gears from the breakers was about £100 I think, and it only took a few hours to get the motor out, change the box internals and bung it all back together again. So, in my experience (of only 1 car, but many many track days) the bike motor was pretty bulletproof. And, if you did hit a problem it was a single person diy job to fix. And remember, most bike engines in cars are 100% standard, so if you do hit a problem it's just a trip or a call to the bike breakers for a standard part that being Japanese you know will slot straight in. Lots of the car engines are modified, so if something breaks you have to not only source the part (which could be tricky if it's a one-off) but also carry out the mods...like re-port heads etc...

If I were buying another lightweight car for track days it would be bike engined without a doubt. Car-engined cars only work for me if they're monster engined

[chubbsr1]

I've got a dax rush with a hayabusa engine, I've used it most weeks at least one night a week and at the weekends too, I've done a number of trackdays in it and i've never had a problem.

I think the thing is with BEC's is when people build them, some of them done convert the engine and running gear to cope with a bike engine being in a car. I've had a couple of small problems with the car, but that was only down to the guy that built it saying that he'd done work to it, and he hadn't.. but now i've got my aftermarket parts on there, there is nothing that can really go wrong with it.

I'm based up north, but i'll be at elvington in the car on the 5th august, you are more than welcome to come and have a few passenger laps in the car to see what the difference is between a bec and a cec.