As I mentioned briefly in my last post, on Sunday I was lucky enough to get a ride in a Westfield XTR2 thanks to Graham, or KiwiXTR2 as he’s known on the interweb.

In case you weren’t aware, the Westfield XTR2 is fast. Stupid fast. Actually, this isn’t going to be printed in a magazine, so I’ll be honest and use the right noun, its f*cking fast. In fact, it’s so f*cking fast I nearly shat my overalls.

Powered by a 1300cc Suzuki Hayabusa bike engine and backed up by a six speed sequential transmission, the XTR2 doesn’t sound like it would be all that quick, but at a little over 400kg, it truly is.

Heading out of the pits, I became very aware that there wasn’t much between myself and the outside world. I’m not sure what would happen if a major accident occoured in one of these cars, but I think we can safely assume it would not be pretty. But hey, there is no time for that sort of thinking around here, and I was soon grinning ear to ear as the Hayabusa motor revved out to 13000rpm just behind my head. From this point on, the experience was a bit of a blur, but I do remember panicking each time we hit the back straight, firstly because I constantly thought I was about to loose my helmet, and secondly because I was positive each time we approached the downhill “S” section at the end of the straight, we had lost our brakes. I believe my inner monologue went something like;

“Aaaaand start braking… No? Ok now start braking… Still no slowing down I see… Something must be wrong! How will they know to play Highway to the Dangerzone at my funeral?”

And yet, every time, the AP Racing anchors would be applied at the very last moment, and we hit the “S” section with perfect precision . What an awesome machine!

And the kicker? Believe it or not, the XTR2 is completely street legal, with not even a dodgy warrant in sight. Graham must possess some serious self control – I know if I owned that little British bulldog I’d be all over Aucklands face, and quite likely banned from driving for the rest of my life…

A huge thanks to Graham for the experience, its one I wont soon be forgetting!

Check out this clip showcasing the XTR2. (Be patient and suffer through all the french, it gets good).

In fact, considering Grahams particular Westfield is an ex-demo press car, this might be the exact same machine?