Mike Wood
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| posted on 17/11/21 at 08:38 AM |
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Chris Smith RIP
Hi
Sad news that Chris Smith, the founder of Westfield Sports Cars Ltd passed away at the end of October. Nice early picture outside the factory on
RetroRides forum: https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/220138/chris-smith-founder-westfield-sports
I guess the early Westfield 7 (the pre-litigation models) was one of the sources of inspiration for the design of the Locost chassis.
Mike
[Edited on 17/11/21 by Mike Wood]
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roadrunner
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| posted on 17/11/21 at 08:53 AM |
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myke pocock
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| posted on 17/11/21 at 07:04 PM |
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And the original Lotus 7 would have been the inspiration to Chris Smith to develop his car. Just think of the numbers of people that have been
inspired by the Lotus 7 original design for so many years!
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Mike Wood
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| posted on 17/11/21 at 08:12 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by myke pocock
And the original Lotus 7 would have been the inspiration to Chris Smith to develop his car. Just think of the numbers of people that have been
inspired by the Lotus 7 original design for so many years!
Good point. The Simple Sevens website - http://www.simplesevens.org/ - has some great info on early Lotus Sevens. I am inspired to build my Locost to
be reminiscent of a Series 2 car, complete with narrow steel wheels and a 948cc Austin Healey Sprite A Series engine with twin SU carbs. The very
early Westfield Sevens apparently were MG Midget based in relation to engine, gearbox and rear axle (Standard 10 axles thin on the ground)
Mike
[Edited on 17/11/21 by Mike Wood]
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Paul M
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| posted on 17/11/21 at 10:38 PM |
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A Great man who had a huge influence on our hobby / passion - will be much missed.
SSC Stylus 2.0. Blacktop, Omex
ECU & Bodies
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perksy
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| posted on 18/11/21 at 10:35 PM |
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Sad news
I met him a couple of times and thought he was a really nice chap
RIP Chris
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Sam_68
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| posted on 19/11/21 at 12:59 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by myke pocock
And the original Lotus 7 would have been the inspiration to Chris Smith to develop his car. Just think of the numbers of people that have been
inspired by the Lotus 7 original design for so many years!
The first Westfield was the Eleven, and the story behind its inspiration is well known: Smith had an original Lotus Eleven chassis in his back garden
(he raced classic Lotus, and they were worth a lot less, back then). One of his friends asked if it would be possible to build it into a new car, but
Smith replied that it would be easier to build something from scratch.
The Westfield Seven came later, and for the same reason it followed the Eleven for Lotus: he wanted a budget model that would be easier to build than
the complex bodywork on the Eleven.
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perksy
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| posted on 20/11/21 at 09:52 PM |
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The name Westfield came from the name of Chris's house
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