Brent G. DeWitt writes :
>
> I have been comparing the Caterham against the Westfield and wonder if
> anyone out there might have any direct comparison of "on the road"
> experiences. The Westfield is cheaper and has what appears to be a better
> suspension design, too bad it is also NOT as pretty and has all that
> fiberglass. While I may be banned from the group for mentioning it, there
> seem to be a couple of other "clones", notably Rotus and MCC Super Seven.
> At least the Westfield is British.
>
> Any input would be appreciated.
>
You asked for it.....A year ago I was in the same boat as you, I was
considering the caterham and the westfield. After having a look at
both in the flesh, the decision - for me anyway - was simple.
I finished building my Caterham 7 seven months ago. Seeing as you
specifically mention it, I will start by commenting on the suspension.
The de-dion suspension on the Caterham is not 'truely' independent.
It does however have some significant advantages.
The purpose of suspension is to follow the road as closly as possible
to maintain the largest tyre/road contact patch. Several aspects of
the make this possible. The trye should remain at right angles to the
road and should follow the undulations in the road closely.
The wishbone suspension on the westfield has a slightly lower 'unsprung
weight' than the Caterham (at a guess), this helps the trye move with
the road. But any body roll AT ALL will cause the the tyres to tilt
of vertical (the tyre, wishbones and fixing points form a parralellagram).
This will decrease the contact patch area => less grip.
The dedion suspension thinks about it in a different way. The good old
live axle suspension has excellent wheel location, the axle and wheels
stay at right angles to the road - not the car, body roll doesnt matter.
BUT and heres the catch. The unsprung weight is high, the differential,
the halfshafts (driveshafts) and the whole casing is unsprung. The
de dion suspension has a lightweight tube running between the rear
wheels, the rear hub carriers and hence the wheels are attached to this
tube. This give the excellent wheel location of a live axle. The
diferential is mounted to the body the halfshafts run down to the rear
wheels in a similar way to a wishbone arrangement. The de-dion tube is
located by radius arms (back-to-front fixing) and an A frame (side to
side as well as a bit of back to front fixing). End result, excellent
wheel location and contact patch maximisation when the car goes round
a corner and rolls coupled with a low unsprung weight causing good road
following ability.
The front suspension on the Caterham and the westfields are very similar,
twin wishbone and anti-roll bar.
In general what swung me towards Caterham was :
Better build quality, the chassis was a work of art as was the panelling.
Less work involved in finishing it - no glass fibre panels to cut/file
to shape.
In my opinion the Caterham looks better than the Westfield but other
people think differently.
I prefer aluminium to glass fibre.
When its all said and done there are lots of 7 clones but only one original
the Caterham is the direct descendent of the Lotus seven. That matters to
some people.
Of the sevenesque type cars the Caterham and the Westfield stand head and
shoulders above the rest. The bottom line price difference between the
two is small. The resale price is huge, Caterhams maintain their value
very well indeed.
I hope nobody thinks I'm slagging of Westfields, C and Ws are both great
cars, they both embody the same spirit. A 2nd hand Westfield has got to be
one of the best deals around.
Anyway its coffee time and I'm off....
Anymore questions, get in touch....a gif of my seven is on the ftp server
as seven.gif in the /pub/sol/Images directory. The ftp address has
recently changed and I've lost it but try hoosier.utah.edu...
TTFN,
Ben.
--
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ Ben Hodson, _/ Email : hodsonb@prl.philips.co.uk _/
_/ Philips Research Labs, _/ Tel : 0293 815000 ext 5750 _/
_/ Crossoak Lane, _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ Redhill, _/ I'd rather push a Triumph than drive _/
_/ Surrey, RH1 5HA. _/ an MG, but best of all I'd vrooooommm _/
_/ England. _/ in a seven. _/
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