SBD Westfield – 1.6L EcoBoost
The 1.6L EcoBoost SBD Westfield is being driven by a few drivers depending on the event, they include Zoe, Steve, Matt and Carole.
2023
Lydden, 15 July Report
Abingdon CAR-nival Sprint, 10 June Report
Lydden, 20 May Report
February
Steve finished put the Westfield back together with the parts that had been repaired by Hansell Composites Fibre-lyte . John Hansell had re-inforced the diffuser along its front edge and this allowed Steve to mount it in a different way making it quicker to remove and refit when necessary. John had made a completely new fuel tank cover which was now in one piece and this has made for a much neater installation. The repaired engine side panels were also refitted, which allowed the bonnet to be refitted. Steve made some small repairs to the beam splitter. We are only waiting for the steering wheel, which is at KP Components being rewired in a redesign, this should be finished in a couple of weeks and then ready for testing.
2022
December
We have been down to collect the Westfield from KP Components, it is 99% finished, there is still one more part that we have been unable to complete unfortunately again due to silicone shortages. As you can see from the photos, the car looks great. The wiring harness has been reduced in size and simplified, the plan is that over the Christmas and New Year period is to finish putting the car together and start setting up the geometry and then as soon as the silicone components are ready, we will be able to finish the car.
It has now been over 1 ½ years since Steve crashed it, it hasn’t really taken this long to finish everything, but if we told you the catalogue of disasters which have been out of everybody’s control to get this far, we would need at least 20 posts! After the initial checks on the car and replacement of the battery that has died, the engine started first time. As you can see from the video, we let it get up to temperature. Everything sounds good and all the gear change works, which we were a little worried about due to crash.
March
Having pre-arranged last year with Steve at KP Components KP Components to have the SBD Westfield rewired, we have now dropped it off ready for a complete new wiring loom built & fitted.
Steve spent the weekend on the Westfield refitting all the fuel tank, oil tank, components for the gear change system and compressor along with the replacement battery. Everything is almost ready to go for rewiring, even changed the oil and filled it with fuel. He only fitted the 2 side body panels which are required because the roll cage bolts over the outside. Everything else has been left off for easy access. Unfortunately, whilst doing the final re-assembly, Steve noticed a bent steering arm on the opposite side of the car to where it was hit and also thinks the wishbone might be twisted. As a plan in the middle of the week to take these parts off and see what needs to be repaired or replaced. Hopefully nothing too major and is annoyed with himself for not spotting this before.
February
Steve spent all weekend on the SBD Westfield. After everything has previously been pinned together, the floor was then disassembled and the mating surfaces all sanded. Everything was then glued together and riveted into its final position. The edges of the honeycomb floor sealed using the same glue. This was allowed to set overnight and then on the Sunday, the floor was fitted to the car and bolted into position. Preparation has now started on refitting all the internals.
January
Steve has been spending a couple of hours every weekend, when work isn’t getting in the way, to work on the Westfield. It was one of those tasks that was difficult to get motivated on due to the mess he made at Pembrey last summer, when hitting something hidden in the grass. Some of the car was wreaked more than expected and some of it a lot less. Once all the damaged carbon was removed and the repairs were made to the fixings to the carbon honeycomb floor, the car started to look more normal. Thanks to John Hansell and his team at Fibre-lyte for making the new carbon angle required to mount the floor. Steve got further ahead than expected this weekend and has managed to cut the floor to size and started to mount it in position. There is still a lot of work to go yet and everything that is required, is difficult to get manufactured due to supply chain issues so still not sure whether we will be able to get the car ready for any kind of testing before the season starts. Fortunately or unfortunately, whichever way you look at it, the first event that Zoe is likely to be able to do will be around the beginning of May and although this seems a long way off, this should give us plenty of time to get everything ready, hopefully with a test a month before, so we can iron out any issues.
2021
Full details and results from SBD Events 2021
June
We managed to get our Westie out of the trailer at the weekend to see the damage. There is lots of work needed to get it back on track, including replacing various components including a new battery, new floor and carbon bits. The chassis harness has been also wrecked.
June 2021 – Pembrey
Zoe, who had been competing quite happily on her own on Saturday in the SBD 1.6L EcoBoost Westfield, then found she had a co-driver – Steve! She had been gradually getting faster over the day despite the changeable conditions, also qualifying for both BSC run offs. On Sunday, we were competing on the Clubmans Circuit and the weather was sunny with a few clouds.
Zoe was going out first for the runs and once again gradually improving her times. Although Steve had to re-adjust to driving a Westfield again and having no downforce, to carry him round the corners, he felt that the car wasn’t handling very well. He made some small changes to the set up during the day in an effort to improve the handling. Both competed in the 1st Top 12 run off, however because the temperature of the tyres is very different for the first and second driver, for the 3rd timed run, it was agreed that Steve would go out first to feel the difference. Off the start line he was going well even if it was a little lively at the rear, unfortunately the rear stepped out just on the entry to Woodlands and Steve had to make a small correction which forced the car slightly wide, causing the car to head towards the edge of the circuit and touched the grass causing a spin, which launched the Westie into the air when it hit a bump in the grass, which ripped the floor off (it stayed in one piece!), he then spun another 360 degrees and stopped facing the wrong way but back on the track! And that was the end of the Westie’s day.
April 2021- Regis Sprint, Goodwood
The SBD Westfield had the new intercooler ducting and repositioned radiator, the air temperature and water temperatures considerably lower than last year, back down to levels we had never seen before. Probably need a little bit more work on the ducting, just to get the last bit out of it. Zoe was going well and her times were coming down, unfortunately a coil connection failed on her second timed run when going down the main straight. This slowed her down dramatically, we could see it was going to be a much quicker run. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to fix it for the third timed run.
March 2021
With the culmination of all the testing we did in 2020, where it was discovered that the air was not physically getting to the intercooler and simply going over the top of it due to the shape of the nose cone. The Westfield was returned to Alicool, where the radiator was repositioned as low as possible, the intercooler was enlarged slightly due to the extra space we found. We refitted the original bonnet/nose cone and Keith at Alicool designed a completely new scoop to drawn straight from the front of the nose cone where the air would normally supply the radiator. This meant the 50% of the entry to the nose cone now supplies the air to the intercooler, we have opened up the splitter underneath the nose cone so air can entry through the splitter to the lower half of the radiator. We won’t know the results until the first event, hopefully at Goodwood on the 17th April.
SBD Westfield 1.6L EcoBoost
2020
Full details and results from SBD Events 2020
November
Although this season has been very short, we have carried out a huge amount of testing on the intercooler and radiator on the 1.6L EcoBoost SBD Westfield, which was built for us by Alicool. The radiator has been extremely efficient and we haven’t been using it to its full potential. We have been struggling with intake temperatures and at the final event where we tested a major modification to the air intake to the intercooler, we finally proved that there was a lack of air flow going into the intercooler. So Steve & Keith at Alicool have devised a plan to relocate the radiator and intercooler then change the way the air enters them both. The air flow will then be provided from the same source for both, the design will also allow us to make the front end of the Westfield effectively look standard again, the currently secret design will be revealed once finished!
July
We could tell from the data, that the intercooler wasn’t working properly on the Westfield at Castle Combe. We were guessing that it was a problem with the ducting because there is a similar version functioning correctly on another car, so we forwarded the data on to Keith at Alicool and he confirmed that he could see the intercooler working efficiently under certain conditions but not at speed, so this confirmed that the air is not being forced into the intercooler so we have initially modified the entry ducting ready for Goodwood. We may also need to improve the engine bay circulation because it is as equally important, if not more so that there is low pressure behind the intercooler to draw the air through it.
The 1.6L EcoBoost engine was upgraded over the winter with more horsepower, up to 376bhp and 341lbft
The Westfield went to Alicool over the 2019/2020 winter to have a new cooling system designed.
Alicool
2019
Full details and results of SBD Events 2019
Goodwood, 11th May
Steve: 3rd Overall, 1st in Class – 84.38s
Zoe: 2nd in Class, Fastest Lady – 88.74s
Steve’s first go in the Westfield for about a year, the car feels much smoother with all the updates with a better feel with the new Pirelli tyres fitted. It was a cool start to the day and he had to dial himself back into a different style of driving from the SBD Dallara. The car was already quick being fastest in class after practice, as the day warmed up and Steve got more comfortable in the car, he made small adjustments to the settings. The car was quicker again on each run, although it wasn’t until the final run when the temperatures had warmed and Steve was beginning to remember how to drive a Westfield, that he really got comfortable in the car. We will be making a few adjustments to the car before Blyton, so it should be quicker again for Zoe and Chris Jones.
Zoe’s quote after her first time competing at Goodwood:
‘Only went and came 2nd in class (Steve was 1st) AND fastest lady of the day at Goodwood today
Practice: 102.41
Timed run 1: 95.56
Timed run 2: 95.12
Timed run 3: 88.74
Already looking forward to Blyton this coming weekend’
Castle Combe 23 March
Chris Jones was sharing our Westfield, he qualified for the Top 12, achieving a new BSC Class Record – 128.78s YouTube Video
2018
Full details and results of SBD Events 2018
Snetterton 23/24 June
The SBD 1.6L EcoBoost Westfield had a good Saturday at Snetterton with Matt winning class in 93.32s and Zoe improving her time by 13s to 104.44s. On Sunday, we were testing some different boost settings, we are still struggling to get the power down on to the track, which is causing a few handling issues at the moment, so we had to revert back to reduced boost. Unfortunately a boost pipe blew off, but it was repaired in the paddock.
Abingdon
This was the first time Steve had driven the SBD 1.6L EcoBoost Westfield since a few laps at Llandow, we had changed the spring rate significantly on the rear of the car but hadn’t had time to cornerweight it. Justyn Potter from Aurok agreed to come along to Abingdon. The car was lacking in grip for the first few runs but slowly adjustments were made to the settings including the brake bias and the car got improved. It wasn’t actually until the final run of the day that we started to get very comfortable & were able to put a lot more of the power down. Steve won the class, Zoe improved again throughout the day and got within of 10 seconds of Steve’s time on Abingdon course.
Pembrey 2/3June
The SBD 1.6L EcoBoost Westfield ran faultlessy all weekend, with Matt winning class both days. Zoe enjoyed her first event & improved her time over the weekend by 31.26s! We are continuing to improve the suspension settings so the power can be put to the ground, the next event is at Abingdon on Saturday where the car will be shared by Steve & Zoe.
Matt at Pembrey, June 2018
Picture: Kim Broughton
May
We had a successful day at Llandow testing the SBD 1.6L EcoBoost Westfield. Steve, Matt, Carole, Craig and our newest driver Zoe all went out on track to put it though its paces. The Westie will be out at Pembrey Summer Sprint with Zoe driving both days and sharing with either Steve or Matt, who are also driving the SBD XE Dallara. So a busy weekend is forecast!
Zoe testing at Llandow
Picture: Kim Broughton
March
The SBD Westfield went to Simon at Sileck Motorsport Wiring to have the full chassis harness finished and 1st time fire up, our thanks to Simon who worked all of Saturday and into Sunday to finish it.
SBD Westfield wiring
February
Steve has spent many days over the last 2 years at DTW Engines, running the 1.6L EcoBoost engine on the dyno to test the turbos developed by Turbo Technics and to fine tune the mapping and strategies in the MBE9A6 DI ECU. The first production turbo for the 1.6L EcoBoost 350bhp spec kit has now been fitted to the Westfield. You can see the ceramic coating, which is an optional extra. In testing we have found the ceramic coating helps to heat up quicker and retain heat, this means that boost is achieve sooner due to the fact that the turbo is up to temperature.
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1.6L EcoBoost
1.6L EcoBoost
1.6L EcoBoost 350bhp spec kit graph
2017
Our 1.6L EcoBoost engine developments were featured in the HSA’s magazine Speedscene, who have given us permission to reproduce it on our website.
Speedscene, August/September 2017
April/June 2017
Steve built up the gearbox actuator assembly and mounted it on to our Sadev gearbox, he has fitted a larger than normal actuator due to the high force required to operate the Sadev gearbox. It was then mounted into the chassis of the SBD Westfield and coupled up to our 1.6L EcoBoost. It is a nice compact unit and fitting the ancillaries continued to further progress the build.
2016
January
Steve has been working hard over the weekend with Matt and Colin installing the first production EcoBoost dry sump system and bellhousing in to our SBD Westfield. The production version fits beautifully and the dry sump kit and bellhousing match together with engine making for an incredibly strong installation. The bellhousing is designed with a Ford pattern to mate to the gearbox, we are using Sadev box but could be connected to Quaife or Tractive type boxes however it needs to be a strong gearbox to cope with the torque of the EcoBoost.
1.6L EcoBoost SBD Westfield
2015
August
The engine was due to be run on the dyno in the next few weeks, to run initially in standard form and then with a redesigned turbo being developed by Turbo Technics for us. MBE have produced a motorsport version of their production car EcoBoost ECU especially for us.
1.6L EcoBoost on DTW Engine dyno
2013
We began building a new Westfield which was to be powered by the 1.6L EcoBoost engine, progress as you can tell was slow due to work load.
