Caterham Academy 2018

[Slick_Rick]

Anyone here signed up for the 2018 caterham academy? After years of wanting to do it i've finally scraped enough cash together (and i think enough spare weekends and time next year but time will tell!)

I've got booktracks academy car booked at Rockingham on Sunday 6th August for a bit of familiarisation prior to getting mine in October (lets hope i don't get put off by it then!). Anyone else been looking at doing anything similar, or want to head along for the day?

Cheers

Rick

[justleanitupabit]

Yep, I have - Although I'm a little worried they have asked for the 2nd payment yet....I understand there is a delay in production....

[m4tty2000]

Hi Rick. I'm taking part in the 2017 Academy season and will be testing at Rockingham on the 6th Aug. Feel free to pop into whatever garage I'm in to say hi. I'll be in the bright yellow Academy car hopefully going fast. Unless I break it at the Snetterton race on the 5th!

Cheers

Matt

Edited by m4tty2000 on Monday 10th July 15:53

[Lemoncurd]

hello! I am signed up for 2018 - can't wait

[Slick_Rick]

Nice one, good to meet you both lemon and justlean. Matty yep ill def come and find you. Be interested to hear how its been going so far!

They have taken my second payment about a month ago. They didn't say anything about things being delayed but lets see I guess!

Are either of you next year drivers interested in joining for the day? I'm going to do a similar format to the circuit driver days (each hour is split into 4 x 15 mins with 3 drivers per car and then one of the 15 mins as the instructors break (surprised they don't need more after taking people like us out in caterhams but apparently thats all they need!). Have already got a mate buying one slot so still got one left.

Ill send you both PMs anyway as easier, but if anyone else at a similar stage as us and fancies joining let me know

Cheers

Rick

[justleanitupabit]

Slick_Rick said:

Nice one, good to meet you both lemon and justlean. Matty yep ill def come and find you. Be interested to hear how its been going so far!

They have taken my second payment about a month ago. They didn't say anything about things being delayed but lets see I guess!

Are either of you next year drivers interested in joining for the day? I'm going to do a similar format to the circuit driver days (each hour is split into 4 x 15 mins with 3 drivers per car and then one of the 15 mins as the instructors break (surprised they don't need more after taking people like us out in caterhams but apparently thats all they need!). Have already got a mate buying one slot so still got one left.

Ill send you both PMs anyway as easier, but if anyone else at a similar stage as us and fancies joining let me know

Cheers

Rick

Funnily enough, I got a call just after my post so mine has also been paid now. Are you building yours?

Edit

I would have joined you at Rockingham but I'm on Holiday then so can't - looking to do Snetterton around the 16th Aug though

[Slick_Rick]

No they are building mine. Just know i wouldnt have a hope of getting it finished on time of i was attempting it. How abput you? Also factory? They were a bit later than i was expecting asking for my second payment as well though. I signed up in feb

Enjoy the hols and shame you cant join us. Good you trying to get out for one too though. I did a circuit driver day at Silverstone last month which was great, but interested to see just how much worse the brakes and tyres on our cars are going to be!

[justleanitupabit]

No I'm building mine, something I've wanted to do for a long time, alongside dipping my toe into racing.

Delivery is expected to be End October/Early Nov - I think I might have to call in a few favours......thankfully I'm ok with a spanner and have a number of people living close by who have built a number of Cats over the years..... I Signed up at end of January....

I've done Brands, Silverstone GP and Cadwell so far this year in my current 7, (Cadwell isn't in series but is just an excellent circuit), trying to get to Snetterton and Brands GP before I get rid to make space for the kit.....

Edited by justleanitupabit on Saturday 15th July 12:35

[Lemoncurd]

Sorry for the slow reply, just seen this thread again.

I got the call for the 2nd payment last week too. I was a bit surprised it was so late; I ended up signing up back last September! I will be building my own too - I would have wanted to build one myself at some point, so combining the two helped justify the man-maths a bit. Hopefully I will manage to do it in time!

Thanks for the offer Rick, but I don't think I will be able to make it up to Rockingham that weekend. Hope you have fun. I did a day there earlier in the year on the same track layout - great fun, particularly the left-right through pif-paf.

I didn't really click until trying to look at some track days this year how rare weekend days are 'in season'. Snetterton and Brands Hatch have almost nothing but weekdays at the moment.

[Sobrut799]

I went to Donnington recently for the Caterham racing. It was fascinating to see 1st time racers in the Academy.

My question is...in the package do you get to keep the car with the option to make road legal or enter in the next race season?

[Lemoncurd]

Yes, the car is yours to keep as part of the package. It is actually road legal as built and needs to remain road legal throughout the season (tread depth etc.). I beleive there are some upgrades you would want to make if continuing to the 2nd years racing, but they are not huge.

[justleanitupabit]

Sobrut799 said:

I went to Donnington recently for the Caterham racing. It was fascinating to see 1st time racers in the Academy.

My question is...in the package do you get to keep the car with the option to make road legal or enter in the next race season?

Yes, in the Academy (and the next couple of rungs up actually) the car is fully road legal, the upgrade from Academy to Roadsport is only a change in tires.

The car is yours and you can go from the bottom rung to the top with the same and an annual incremental upgrades. (I think theres 5 or 6 rungs/divisions) The 1st two years support is provided by Caterham exclusively and is part of the package.

Edit

Just checked
Academy > Roadsport > Seven 270R > Supersport > Seven 310R > Seven 420R

Edited by justleanitupabit on Thursday 20th July 12:02

[Sobrut799]

Okay I see

The package is better than I thought.

I also remember the Academy to 310 cars sounded more racier than the duratec engines in the 420r class..but it could just be how they sounded to my ears.

[m4tty2000]

The supersports have been replaced with the 310R but will continue to race while there are enough drivers taking part.

If you started in the Academy that car will get you 4yrs. I'm 99% sure the 420R is buy a new car, if you get that far.

Academy -> Roadsport -> 270R -> 310R

Each year you get upgrades which I believe are:
Roadsport = rear anti rollbar, better brakes and tyres.
270R = 10BHP+, lose the windscreen, wider front track
310R = 17BHP+, LSD
Might be other smaller changes

Car is road legal but most people give up with driving to events and get trailers or vans. I was dead set on driving to everything for the first year. However as I started taking it more seriously I've got multiple sets of wheels and tools, etc it just wasn't practical. Oh and a 5hr drive sat in a puddle getting to curborough one night was the final straw!

[caterham_lad]

justleanitupabit said:

Yes, in the Academy (and the next couple of rungs up actually) the car is fully road legal, the upgrade from Academy to Roadsport is only a change in tires.

Tires, brake balance, front rollbar, rear roll bar, about£1k upgrades

[justleanitupabit]

Not according to the Caterham Motorsport guide, Academy to Roadsport for 2017 mandatory upgrades were tires and AP master cylinder cap.

[Lemoncurd]

I think the difference is that in Roadsport you are allowed to fit a bias valve, rear anti-roll bar (not allowed in Academy), and stiffer front roll bar so people do.

[caterham_lad]

Lemoncurd said:

I think the difference is that in Roadsport you are allowed to fit a bias valve, rear anti-roll bar (not allowed in Academy), and stiffer front roll bar so people do.

Yep. Tyres are mandatory.

The rest are optional

[Slick_Rick]

Its nice to get the next few years spending mapped out isnt it?!?

But yes in the answer to keeping the car that's one of the big factors in working out the finances (in my head at least!) as residual values don't seem that bad even for the academy cars as people are still interested in buying them second hand and upgrading them to participate in some of the higher rungs.

I was already thinking trailer route as driving for several hours in the caterham from some of the tracks after racing is probably going to be hard work, even in the dry. I did get a flyer from bookatrack saying they offered a storage and delivery option for all the seasons events. Its a few £k but was thinking of giving them a call. Vs. the hassle of buying a trailer, finding somewhere to keep it, getting a towbar fitted and then tugging the caterham around to each race it might start to make sense. Only problem is they keep it at Donnington which means you dont get to practice driving very much apart form the race weekends....that and the fact the £30k budget is looking a bit small without even entering a shop that sells racewear and helmets etc!

[bcr5784]

Slick_Rick said:

I was already thinking trailer route as driving for several hours in the caterham from some of the tracks after racing is probably going to be hard work, even in the dry. I did get a flyer from bookatrack saying they offered a storage and delivery option for all the seasons events. Its a few £k but was thinking of giving them a call. Vs. the hassle of buying a trailer, finding somewhere to keep it, getting a towbar fitted and then tugging the caterham around to each race it might start to make sense. Only problem is they keep it at Donnington which means you dont get to practice driving very much apart form the race weekends....that and the fact the £30k budget is looking a bit small without even entering a shop that sells racewear and helmets etc!

It's a pity in some ways, but all the Caterham series have become more competitive - and more expensive as a result - over the years. Factor into your calculations that some of the guys you are racing will be doing quite a lot of testing, often with professional instruction.