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build diary July 25, 2007: I spent the past week in Michigan with the guys from Automobile Magazine and the FM Westfield. Automobile tested the Westfield for performance numbers, and the results are interesting. It turns out Car and Driver (and most other magazines) subtract a "rollout" correction factor, basically removing the time it takes for the car to move the first foot. I'm not sure why, perhaps it removes some of the variation between testers. Automobile does not. The Westfield was fitted with a 1.8 Miata engine that was stock internally and I'm going to guess it's making about 110 at the wheels. That's down on my car, but it also should have more torque. The 0-60 time was a half second slower than my car. The braking was about 15' longer, probably due to different proportioning. Since the Westfield was tested on a proper skidpad on the Bosch testing grounds (as opposed to a small dusty parking lot at a Texas dragstrip), lateral acceleration was a very strong 1.15g. The interesting bit is the quarter mile, though. The elapsed time was a half second slower, but the trap speed was within a couple of mph. Meanwhile, my car was a full 2 seconds faster to 100 mph. That doesn't make much sense to me, but I'm not a drag racer. There's a track day this weekend and I'm considering taking the Seven, but I think the recent push to get the Westfield finished and the 3000 mile road trip has me too tired. Besides, my rear springs are on the Westie and I'm not going to get them back until next week! But then it's time to get the Seven on the dyno and into top shape, it's going to be quite a battle for the lap record at the Open House this year. Not only will the Westfield be chasing, I'll have a turbocharged Caterham to deal with. entry 1385 of 1439 |