The Venue

Anglesey or Ty Croes, as we know it, first opened to the public in July 1997 after it was returned to the Bodorgan Estate following nearly 50 years of army occupation. Unlike most UK tracks on ex-military land (usually because they were used as airbases), Ty Croes has slopes and inclines which test driver skill to the limit - a welcome chage from circuits which are flat and rather featureless.

Just over a mile long, it's a tricky little place to drive. Tight and twisty places usually are, not because they require bravery, but for exactly the opposite reason. Slow corners are always the most difficult - both in repsect of car set-up, and for the driver - and even when you have an optimum chassis, it is all too easy to ruin a good lap by trying too hard. Anglesey is also difficult becasue the crucial (and only) fast bit at the circuit's western end is sequence where (as is often the case), the preceding bit determines how effective you are through the next part - here it is made more difficult by a steep ridge running north to south. Tidiness at Ty Croes is everything, and if you start getting scrappy and overdriving the car, the lap times will just escalate. A good tour requires both discipline and patience.

Which brings us to the SBD Westfield and the Caterham R500. the fastest of the group mainly because they are the least compromised for track use, but then they are also the least suited for the road and both were trailered to the event - though at a pinch they have been driven. The Westfields's owner, Martin Bailey, was not present, but to oversee proceedings SBD engine man Dick Hulbert was there. He revealed that the 1.6-litre Vauxhall's otherwise standard cylinder head had been fitted with a set of very mild cams, and the standard valves and single springs had a set of Titanium caps. Pistons were standard too (with pockets cut for the valves), and so was the bottom end - although there was a dry sump lubrication system. Obvious addition was the set of four aggressive-looking tapered throttle bodies which are managed by an MBE management system, all of which helps liberate 185bhp at about 8000rpm.

The gearbox is a Ford MT75 Sierra five-speed equipped with just four dog-engaged Quaife ratios and the chassis is standard Westfield with independent double-wishbone rear round an Escort Cosworth differential and double-jointed driveshafts. At the front is SBD's variation on the wide track double-wishbone set-up similar to that which appeared on the V8-engined Westfield of the early 1990s. It's all beautifully done, as is the cockpit with its very deep unpadded race seat and minimal aero screens. After that, it's a bit of a strange cocktail. Dick and his helpers fetched a huge lorry battery from their trailer which was then plugged in to fire up the car. It does have an on-board source and having stalled the engine, I do know it will fire up, but apparently it won't do it repeatedly. Then the throttle pedal was so heavy that at first I feared to tread on it in case there was problem and I broke something in the linkage. Not so, it was meant to be like that. Once on track, you forgot about it (except when trying to heel and toe) and took pleasure from the engine which pulled well from low enough in the range that four speeds in the box would probably never be a problem, and which soulnded like a real racer all the way up to its 8500 limt. The shift was slick too and never crunched, and because the gate was wide and had only four slots you just flicked the lever across the gate as fast as you liked without thinking about it.

So, the Westfield has to go in a class by itself - partly because of its performance, but also because it can't strictly be compared with the rest, which are 100 per cent genuine road-going cars. But there's a little bit of that about Jason Krebs' Caterham R500 too, but because Caterham do incline the head towards road usabilty a masochist could at least have driven it though the freezing winds and lashing rain to reach our test. Krebs is no longer bothered about that, and admits to buying the R500 because he saw it as the ultimate in its category, but he also admits to being "too competitive" to limit his use solely to track days, so he does race the car. He has also spent a great deal of time and money in search of more performance. The standard R500 is petty well specified with (in road trim with silencer) 220bhp from the K-series and a Caterham designed six speed gearbox, but Krebs has ported the head, installed larger inlet valves and a different exhaust cam, Omega pistons, a full Motec M800 'wasted spark' sequential injection engine management with full track map and datalog facility, an Apollo de-aeration tower for the dry sump oil tank and a modified airbox with extra air inlets to complement the special silencer which he specified and which was made by BTB. This lot - from which there can't have been much change from £10,000 - pushed out 256bhp at 8700 and 167lb ft of torque at 7300rpm. Or, quite a lot from a 1.8-litre engine.

The most pleasing thing according to Jason, is that it will do it all with the track day-legal silencer (one which he tried during his research lost 18bhp) and the extra grunt, he reckons, was the only way to deal with the aerodynamics of a Caterham once you start getting up to three figure speeds (well, that's his excuse anyway). The engine drives through a Quartermaster twin-plate five-inch clutch and the Caterham six-speeder with uprated first and third gears to a Suretrac '2002 race spec' slipper diff, and is cooled via a triple bypass radiator with electric pump. There is a 65-litre fuel tank installed for the 10 mile races where refuelling is not allowed, while on the chassis side there is a full rollcage, bigger rear brakes, the option of three different front ani-roll bars and a set of Bilstein dampers ( the biggest difference to the handling - says Krebs). Tyres are ACB10 Avons for the dry on standard R500 6-inch front, 7-inch rear magnesium wheels with CR500s for the wet and slicks for the occasional track day - although not this one.

TESTER'S VIEW by Phil Bennett

To some people a Caterhaam is the real thing with a direct link to the original Se7en. For me a Caterham is just an expensive Westfield and I'm sorry but I just can't understand anyone who spends over £30K on a R500 (perhaps they need an expensive girlfriend to quell their spendthrift ways!) The R500 was very quick but I think the power exceeded the ability of the chassis . It was difficult to place on the road, was too softly set up - even after the owner increased the high speed bump on the damper - and the brakes weren't very good. It is a super quick car - quick enough to make you grin- and in a straight line was the quickest thing on the test. However it is a quasi-race car with an all-up cost of over £40K and big money engine rebuilds after a few thousand kms. And for me it misses the point. Fun factor eight then, but then minus eight because it ain't much fun spending over £30K on an R500 then another £12K on the motor upgrade - and then another few grand more in engine rebuilds.

The Westfield was a different story. It was easily the best balanced car on the track and the speed you could carry into corners reminded me of a single-seater. Understeer on the limit could be remedied by perhaps more front camber but nevertheless is was simply fanastic. SBD has done a great job with the motor and the set-up - if you have a Westfield you should pay these guys a visit. Not only that but the preparation was fantastic - it was race car clean. Only the feel of the throttle pedal let it down (too stiff). But again I think this car misses the point.