Riggers in almost-on-track shock
If you're an aspiring novice racer and the idea of racing a grid full of identical Caterhams piloted by similarly inexperienced hands appeals, then you'd better act quickly, because only a handful of places for the 2011 Caterham Academy are left.
If you've been following the progress of the PH entry in the 2010 PistonHeads.com Caterham Academy, you'll know that putting 20-plus drivers equally as short on experience as they are long on enthusiasm is a recipe for some seriously fun racing.
The Academy remains an enduringly popular entrance into motorsport, with more than 40 of the 56 places for 2011 already gone.
Of course the class of 2011 won't have quite as good a time as this year's racers, because we won't be the title sponsors of next year's series and, well, a Caterham bereft of PH smilies somehow just isn't quite as good...
Identical cars encourage close racing
will still get a fair bit for their money - £18,495 will buy you the race car in kit form, technical support from Caterham, and a whole season of circuit racing and sprint events. Your ARDS test - which you need to pass to get a race licence - is even chucked in as part of the package.
"We believe there's no better way to take your first steps into motorsport and our view appears to be backed up by the continuing demand for our grid slots," says Caterham motorsport manager, Simon Lambert. "At the end of July we've only got a few places left to sell, so anyone else who wants to join the fun is going to have to act fast."
A word of warning, however - I can tell you from personal experience that motorsport is possibly more addictive than heroin (I'm talking from personal experience of the Caterham Academy - not personal experience of heroin). And addictions never prove to be cheap.
There's a saying on the 2010 Caterham Academy grid - there's no such thing as cheap motorsport. Choosing to have Caterham build the car for you is an obvious extra expense, but by the time you've added all the kit you'll need (a trailer, a trip to Demon Tweeks for your clothing and headgear etc), that £18.5k racing season is becoming a distant memory.
Then there's track days and test days to throw in. In other series these might be used to improve the car, but although that sort of tweakery is effectively prohibited in the Academy. But turn up to circuits without having learned them on a test day or a track day and you might find yourself a little further towards the back of the grid than you had hoped...
But the Caterham Academy is as thoroughly enjoyable as it is unavoidably addictive. And, unlike heroin, Caterham racing is legal. There might be no such thing as cheap motorsport, but I seriously doubt you could find a race series that represents better value...
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)