No Caterham needed - hence comfy transport
Dr Chris Fryar is proof that club motorsport gets into your blood. I'm at Castle Combe circuit for my ARDS test (the test every racer must take before being granted a 'National B' licence) and the first real step along the road in my 2010 PistonHeads.com Caterham Academy season.
Chris did the Academy in 2004 and followed it up with a couple of seasons in Roadsports, the next Caterham category up. Now he has the dubious pleasure of testing competitors' 'samples' as Caterham's medical chap for the series.
"I kept in touch with the Caterham guys after I finished racing, and when they needed a doctor to help out I was the first to put my hand up. The whole series really is brilliant fun and it's good even to be involved in a non-competitive way."
'this is what we call a straight, Riggers...'
The (relatively minor) medical is just one of three examinations you'll go through on your ARDS day - although the Academy is unusual in providing that exam on the day - if you sort your ARDS independently you'll have to get your local GP to complete your medical. The other two are a practical on-track assessment and a written test.
Since Castle Combe has to process all 29 entrants for Grid Two of this year's Academy (Grid One has another 28 entrants), the group is split into two parts, with half doing the practical and written tests in the morning, while the other half go and lark about on a skid pan, then get a scrutineering briefing from Nick Potter of Caterham Midlands.
Instructor survives stint on track with Riggers
For me, the first test of the day is the practical. Lined up in the Castle Combe pit lane are four Mk1 Ford Focuses (you aren't expected to use your Caterham - in fact plenty of this year's car's haven't yet been completed). We all duly climb into them - three to a car, plus instructor - for some sighting laps.
Now, a decade-old Focus might seem like an odd car in which to take an ARDS test - especially if you're racing a light rear-drive roadster like a Caterham - but, as our instructors take us round Combe showing us the lines, the choice of car begins to make sense.
The circuit today is damp and greasy and, even at relatively low speeds, the ridiculously short run-offs loom large in your mind. In that context a forgiving front-wheel drive car seems eminently sensible. Besides, as I find out when I get behind the wheel, the old Focus is still a surprisingly pleasant thing to drive on a circuit, with a slick gearchange and faithful steering.
The actual driving part of the test is relatively simple. Nerves are inevitable, but essentially all you have to do is to listen to your instructor when they tell you the lines and to prove that you can drive with consistency and reasonable speed over the course of a couple of laps. Even so, if you spin you are, to put it bluntly, b*ggered. But nobody's timing you, so it should be avoidable.
I manage to get round with nothing more dramatic than a couple of locked inside front wheels (the racing school disables the ABS deliberately), leaving only the written test between me and a shiny new racing licence. This takes 15 minutes and is largely a multiple choice affair. If I told you precisely what the questions were I'm informed that the MSA would hunt me down, but suffice to say that it's not too hard - learn what all the flags mean, employ a spot of common sense and a pass should come easily. A PhD thesis it is not.
In the afternoon we get to play around on a skid pan with an old Rover 400 and a battered E36 BMW 316i to teach us a little about understeer and oversteer (and largely how you can do nothing in an old Rover but understeer). This is followed by a short seminar on, as far as I can work out, exactly how many bits I have yet to attach to my car (crotch strap, arm restraints, roll-cage foam, head rest - I could go on). It's all useful stuff, but it does make me very aware that there's still a lot to do before the start of the season.
These last two activities aren't actually part of the ARDS test, but they are typical of the Caterham Academy - just giving you that extra bit of value for money. I come away from the day a little wiser and a little more qualified. And very, very eager to get out on track in my little Seven...
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