My Nurburgring Caterham experience
Discussion
I've just had my first experience of a Caterham, renting an R300 at the Nurburgring from Rent4Ring. I made the booking arrangements with Dale, and although he was away on holiday this week, I was well looked after by Fredy and the others working there. So, plug out of the way, and onto the car...
As I said, I've never driven a Caterham before, nor in fact even sat in one. I previously owned an Elise S1, in which I did a lot of trackdays and around 300 laps of the Ring, so this was my only real point of reference. I quickly discovered that a Caterham is not like an Elise. In fact, the difference between the Cat and the Elise is as stark as the difference between an Elise and something like a Fiesta or Clio.
The car is LHD, which is not a problem for me since I've lived in Canada for a while now, and I've also driven a few other LHD cars at the Ring before. The gearshift felt very stiff at first, particularly moving into the 5-6 plane, but once accustomed to it you could punch it through the gears quickly enough. The steering was also surprisingly heavy for such a light car, which I put down to the speed of the rack and possibly a decent amount of caster in the setup. The car was setup to predominantly understeer, but on such a short acquaintance this was no bad thing, and by the end of my eight laps I was only just starting to push the limits a little bit. With only a little aeroscreen, the wind was trying to rip the helmet from my head at high speed - the R300 was hitting an indicated 210kph at Schwedenkreuz and the bottom of the Foxhole.
This was by far and away the most exhilarating driving experience of my life, and one I would definitely love to repeat given the opportunity. You Caterham owners are lucky, lucky chaps.
I was filming my laps, and this was my final, and quickest, run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2npK98Cbc1A
As I said, I've never driven a Caterham before, nor in fact even sat in one. I previously owned an Elise S1, in which I did a lot of trackdays and around 300 laps of the Ring, so this was my only real point of reference. I quickly discovered that a Caterham is not like an Elise. In fact, the difference between the Cat and the Elise is as stark as the difference between an Elise and something like a Fiesta or Clio.
The car is LHD, which is not a problem for me since I've lived in Canada for a while now, and I've also driven a few other LHD cars at the Ring before. The gearshift felt very stiff at first, particularly moving into the 5-6 plane, but once accustomed to it you could punch it through the gears quickly enough. The steering was also surprisingly heavy for such a light car, which I put down to the speed of the rack and possibly a decent amount of caster in the setup. The car was setup to predominantly understeer, but on such a short acquaintance this was no bad thing, and by the end of my eight laps I was only just starting to push the limits a little bit. With only a little aeroscreen, the wind was trying to rip the helmet from my head at high speed - the R300 was hitting an indicated 210kph at Schwedenkreuz and the bottom of the Foxhole.
This was by far and away the most exhilarating driving experience of my life, and one I would definitely love to repeat given the opportunity. You Caterham owners are lucky, lucky chaps.
I was filming my laps, and this was my final, and quickest, run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2npK98Cbc1A
Thanks for sharing.Treat it like it was a B road where you are fairly sure that nothing is coming the other way (it is not unusual to find half of the track closed off for barrier repairs, or a VW van chugging slowly along) and you will be OK.
Hint: if you see crowds on the banks next to the track, slow down - they are only there because there is a tricky corner coming up. The worst one is just after the 14km marker.
Steve
Hint: if you see crowds on the banks next to the track, slow down - they are only there because there is a tricky corner coming up. The worst one is just after the 14km marker.
Steve
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