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WestfieldWestfield Cars are manufacturers of both factory built and kit versions of several two-seater, open top sportscars. Their main product line is in Lotus Seven derivative cars - vehicles originally designed by Colin Chapman with only the bare essentials for motoring in order to give the rawest and most exhilarating driving experience.
Whilst Caterham cars bought the rights from Lotus Cars, Westfield set up a rival company and manufactured kits with very similar styling and construction. This led to successful litigation by Caterham in the 1980s which resulted in Westfield changing the design of their cars. Westfield cars, whilst not commanding the same high price tags as Caterhams, are widely regarded as standing shoulder to shoulder in terms of quality. They have also pioneered technical innovations such as Independent Rear suspension, which other manufacturers have adopted. There are several other Seven-derivative kit manufacturers such as Sylva, Dax, Locost, Robin Hood and Luego.
Like Caterham, Westfield builds cars based on the Lotus Seven, but with more deviations, such as V8 power, independent rear suspensions instead of de Dion axle and recently a full carbon fiber body / chassis integral. The man who drives such progress is the company founder Chris Smith, who was a racing driver during the 60’s and 70’s.
Unlike Caterham, Westfield primarily produces cars for week-end racing and provides services alongside. Its business also extended to the USA where Caterham is still unknown. Obviously it is the number 1 arch-rival to the Caterham.
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