My Caterham race car
Discussion
Right then:
So the last update had paint on all the parts that unbolted from the car and I was getting ready for a track day before pw32 ruined the flow
I had Peter Young from Spy Motorsport picking me up at 16:00 the afternoon before the track day and I managed to finish it at 16:15! This is how the car looked when Peter arrived:
We bolted it back together, loaded it in the trailer and left for Snetterton - I was like a kid at Xmas
Here's the car in the garage at Snetterton sporting the sponsor logo's
The car ran almost faultlessly but I had connected the fan switch round the wrong way so it got a bit hot before Peter noticed it. Rookie error on my part but no damage done
After a quick telling off for driving sideways (first time I've driver a Caterham with an LSD) it started to rain. I had a big moment (will dig the video out) and decided enough for the day and it was getting late. First track day done and the car was fan-bloody-tastic
So the last update had paint on all the parts that unbolted from the car and I was getting ready for a track day before pw32 ruined the flow
I had Peter Young from Spy Motorsport picking me up at 16:00 the afternoon before the track day and I managed to finish it at 16:15! This is how the car looked when Peter arrived:
We bolted it back together, loaded it in the trailer and left for Snetterton - I was like a kid at Xmas
Here's the car in the garage at Snetterton sporting the sponsor logo's
The car ran almost faultlessly but I had connected the fan switch round the wrong way so it got a bit hot before Peter noticed it. Rookie error on my part but no damage done
After a quick telling off for driving sideways (first time I've driver a Caterham with an LSD) it started to rain. I had a big moment (will dig the video out) and decided enough for the day and it was getting late. First track day done and the car was fan-bloody-tastic
So the plan was to test the car through winter, get up to speed and then hit the ground running for the first race at the end of March.
This didn't go to plan as funds were low and it was mid February before the car was finished. I managed to get 3 more days in before the start, Silverstone GP, Brands Hatch Indy and the wonderful Oulton Park.
Here's the car sat in the pit lane at Silverstone with its twin
And in the scrutineer garage at Oulton, again with its twin:
Testing had been going well and I was surprised to see that I was on the pace after limited time in the car.
After the 4 shakedown days I booked the test day before my first race on the Silverstone GP circuit. I was nervous/excited/scared/apprehensive and kept going to the toilet a lot even on the test day - I'm pretty sure this is common for those who race
The twin car belongs to my friend Ben Tompkins who has been blogging his exploits here:
http://oneracersview.com/
I've been racing with Ben since 2010 and he has been steadily getting quicker and quicker, his blog is well worth a read if you get a spare 5 minutes
This didn't go to plan as funds were low and it was mid February before the car was finished. I managed to get 3 more days in before the start, Silverstone GP, Brands Hatch Indy and the wonderful Oulton Park.
Here's the car sat in the pit lane at Silverstone with its twin
And in the scrutineer garage at Oulton, again with its twin:
Testing had been going well and I was surprised to see that I was on the pace after limited time in the car.
After the 4 shakedown days I booked the test day before my first race on the Silverstone GP circuit. I was nervous/excited/scared/apprehensive and kept going to the toilet a lot even on the test day - I'm pretty sure this is common for those who race
The twin car belongs to my friend Ben Tompkins who has been blogging his exploits here:
http://oneracersview.com/
I've been racing with Ben since 2010 and he has been steadily getting quicker and quicker, his blog is well worth a read if you get a spare 5 minutes
Edited by Ian P on Friday 2nd November 16:41
Edited by Ian P on Friday 2nd November 16:42
HustleRussell said:
Ian- Update yours and I'll resurrect mine!
I wonder if you'd remember my Dad, Adrian Russell- who had a fraught season in R300s in 2010?
Hi James,I wonder if you'd remember my Dad, Adrian Russell- who had a fraught season in R300s in 2010?
I joined R300's after your dad but know him well. He provided a quote for some bodywork I needed on my road car after hitting a cow
I'm on a roll now so one more update for today
The official test at Silverstone had gone well and if the rumours were to be believed I was 3rd quickest and very happy with that!
I remember the 26th March well. Most importantly it was my first R300 race, it was dry and everything happened on one day, 20 minutes for qualifying and two 30 minute races.
This was the conclusion of months and months of hard work. I had been working on the car all over Xmas, on my birthday and NYE. Me and Mickey had frozen our boll***s off in a garage painting the car in minus temperatures, I had my first migraine from inhaling the Nitromors and had been stripping panels when I had tonsillitus.
I qualified well and bagged an early quick lap which put me P2. I pitted after making a couple of mistakes, got my tyre pressures checked and went back out but didn't go faster. At the end of it all I was P3 and chuffed to bits. 30 identical cars and I was in the top 3
Things went a bit downhill from there unfortunately. I won't go into detail but this happened:
https://vimeo.com/39497628
Sorry about the video cutting out, I didn't screw the power lead in tight enough!
The official test at Silverstone had gone well and if the rumours were to be believed I was 3rd quickest and very happy with that!
I remember the 26th March well. Most importantly it was my first R300 race, it was dry and everything happened on one day, 20 minutes for qualifying and two 30 minute races.
This was the conclusion of months and months of hard work. I had been working on the car all over Xmas, on my birthday and NYE. Me and Mickey had frozen our boll***s off in a garage painting the car in minus temperatures, I had my first migraine from inhaling the Nitromors and had been stripping panels when I had tonsillitus.
I qualified well and bagged an early quick lap which put me P2. I pitted after making a couple of mistakes, got my tyre pressures checked and went back out but didn't go faster. At the end of it all I was P3 and chuffed to bits. 30 identical cars and I was in the top 3
Things went a bit downhill from there unfortunately. I won't go into detail but this happened:
https://vimeo.com/39497628
Sorry about the video cutting out, I didn't screw the power lead in tight enough!
Ian P said:
I'm on a roll now so one more update for today
The official test at Silverstone had gone well and if the rumours were to be believed I was 3rd quickest and very happy with that!
I remember the 26th March well. Most importantly it was my first R300 race, it was dry and everything happened on one day, 20 minutes for qualifying and two 30 minute races.
This was the conclusion of months and months of hard work. I had been working on the car all over Xmas, on my birthday and NYE. Me and Mickey had frozen our boll***s off in a garage painting the car in minus temperatures, I had my first migraine from inhaling the Nitromors and had been stripping panels when I had tonsillitus.
I qualified well and bagged an early quick lap which put me P2. I pitted after making a couple of mistakes, got my tyre pressures checked and went back out but didn't go faster. At the end of it all I was P3 and chuffed to bits. 30 identical cars and I was in the top 3
Things went a bit downhill from there unfortunately. I won't go into detail but this happened:
https://vimeo.com/39497628
Sorry about the video cutting out, I didn't screw the power lead in tight enough!
Gutted..............so some bellend ran into you then, much damage?The official test at Silverstone had gone well and if the rumours were to be believed I was 3rd quickest and very happy with that!
I remember the 26th March well. Most importantly it was my first R300 race, it was dry and everything happened on one day, 20 minutes for qualifying and two 30 minute races.
This was the conclusion of months and months of hard work. I had been working on the car all over Xmas, on my birthday and NYE. Me and Mickey had frozen our boll***s off in a garage painting the car in minus temperatures, I had my first migraine from inhaling the Nitromors and had been stripping panels when I had tonsillitus.
I qualified well and bagged an early quick lap which put me P2. I pitted after making a couple of mistakes, got my tyre pressures checked and went back out but didn't go faster. At the end of it all I was P3 and chuffed to bits. 30 identical cars and I was in the top 3
Things went a bit downhill from there unfortunately. I won't go into detail but this happened:
https://vimeo.com/39497628
Sorry about the video cutting out, I didn't screw the power lead in tight enough!
First lap! That's a real shame, and even more of a shame that some eejit (can't tell if it's the same car or not) couldn't stop themselves smacking into you after you'd slid to a halt either.
Hope there wasn't too much damage from that, because the car was looking gorgeous before, a very high-quality job!
Hope there wasn't too much damage from that, because the car was looking gorgeous before, a very high-quality job!
Hi chaps,
Yep, first lap of the first race of the season! I got a little tap coming out of the right hander after the new pits and then whacked at the right hand hairpin after. As it was so early in the race everyone was so tightly bunched up that getting hit was inevitable and I can't really blame Adam who hit me.
Anyway, the Clerk disqualified the driver who hit me and he decided to stop racing in R300's after that. My result was a long front, de-dion, de-dion ear, paint etc and was a £10k repair! Luckily I had the foresight to insure so had to fork out £2k for the excess!
Yep, first lap of the first race of the season! I got a little tap coming out of the right hander after the new pits and then whacked at the right hand hairpin after. As it was so early in the race everyone was so tightly bunched up that getting hit was inevitable and I can't really blame Adam who hit me.
Anyway, the Clerk disqualified the driver who hit me and he decided to stop racing in R300's after that. My result was a long front, de-dion, de-dion ear, paint etc and was a £10k repair! Luckily I had the foresight to insure so had to fork out £2k for the excess!
Ordinary_Chap said:
Interesting thread, I'd like to see a lot more of this.
Shame about the accident at the start of the race and the subsequent 2k although I guess this is what can happen with racing!
Lee
Thanks for your comments Lee - I will keep it updated as it starts to get better after the first round Shame about the accident at the start of the race and the subsequent 2k although I guess this is what can happen with racing!
Lee
Accidents happen and it's rare to get through a season without a big bill though I thought I might at least complete a lap! C'est la vie...
So that was Silverstone, a complete disaster and none of my own doing! The championship is contested over 7 weekends with 2 races per weekend. The best 12 results from 14 races count towards your final championship score and I was now on thin ice having scored my two zero's 
The car went off to Spy Motorsport and I started claim proceedings - all credit to Bluefin who insured me they got everything sorted pretty quickly despite 3 drivers claiming from that weekend including the destruction of the sister borro car!
Bruce and Phil Robinson at Arch Motors put a long front on the car and it came back to Peter to have the new parts fitted ready for rounds 3 & 4 at Oulton Park - one of my favourite circuits
Testing on the Friday went 'OK'. The car didn't feel the same and I spent all day chasing the set up before finally getting it right for the final session but still 0.5 seconds off the pace. To give you an idea how close the racing is the first 10-12 cars are normally separated by 1 second!
A couple of pictures from testing:
The car went off to Spy Motorsport and I started claim proceedings - all credit to Bluefin who insured me they got everything sorted pretty quickly despite 3 drivers claiming from that weekend including the destruction of the sister borro car!
Bruce and Phil Robinson at Arch Motors put a long front on the car and it came back to Peter to have the new parts fitted ready for rounds 3 & 4 at Oulton Park - one of my favourite circuits
Testing on the Friday went 'OK'. The car didn't feel the same and I spent all day chasing the set up before finally getting it right for the final session but still 0.5 seconds off the pace. To give you an idea how close the racing is the first 10-12 cars are normally separated by 1 second!
A couple of pictures from testing:
Hi everyone,
Here's the race report I did for the sponsors blog after Oulton Park. There's no point me regurgitating the write up so here goes:
It’s amazing how quickly 4 weeks can pass when you have to get some big jobs done, mainly that of repairing the damage from the Silverstone weekend. After a small battle with the insurance company they agreed all the repairs on the car and Peter at Spy was given the green light to get it ready. At one point it was touch and go as the sister borro car of Ben Tompkins was in a similar situation and also needed a complete rebuild. We made it – just!
I picked the car up from Spy Motorsport HQ on Wednesday and was due to leave for Oulton Park in Cheshire on Thursday straight after work. At least that was the plan – true to form, not everything went smoothly. My trusty old steed (Audi Allroad) had decided enough was enough and broke down. A quick call to a hire company and I sourced a car with a tow bar on Thursday night and made the long trip to Cheshire, finally arriving at gone 23:00. A quick pint and then bed before testing on the Friday.
Testing is different to a track day as its race cars only and race licence holders only as well. It also means no briefing to sit through! Testing went, errrrr OK! I wasn’t happy with the car and was over 2 seconds off the pace and couldn’t work out why. I had a mechanic from Spy with me and throughout the day we changed the set-up of the car to dial out understeer and make it more planted when changing direction – a must for the picturesque Oulton Park: http://www.oultonpark.co.uk/circuit-information.as...
I went quicker and quicker throughout testing until I posted a fastest time of 1:50.80 – half a second off the lap record and 4 tenths off the quickest time of the day. I was finally happy and felt much better going into qualifying the next day
We had been promised rain overnight and boy did I not want rain! Having never driven the car in the wet it would be a baptism of fire and with little room for a mistake on this circuit. Saturday morning and the skies are grey and its tipping it down! Great! Qualifying was at 9:30 with 2 sessions before us, if it just stopped raining and the track would clear it would be dry for qualifying – my prayers were answered. It rained on and off during the day but we lucked out with only a very short downpour over the back end of the circuit in race 2.
I went out at the back again for qualifying as I like to pick off the slower drivers easily whilst using the slipstream effect, this was working perfectly until one of my wings popped off and I had to pit. I was P8 with 7 minutes to go so had to get on a charge. The team put me out in amongst traffic as requested and I was following last years Pole Position King, Mark Shaw. I was gearing up for a lap behind him when I made a mistake sending me through the gravel and into no mans land, still no damage, regain composure and off we go…
The end of qualifying was signalled with a chequered flag 2 laps later and with no slipstreaming I was expecting the worst. Little did I know my last lap had been my fastest and I posted P3 with no slipstreaming – excellent My time was a 1:50.3 with pole on a very fast 1:49.4 – both under last years lap record!
I was surprised at how relaxed I was before the race, no last minute trips to the toilet, no dry mouth and feeling confident as long as I got a good start. We lined up in the assembly area before the race and were kept waiting for nearly 30 minutes as they had to clean up after an accident in the race before us. 30 minutes felt like 2 hours and true to form, the butterflies set in. My stomach was tight, hands sweaty and heart rate beating twice as fast – all this before the race had even started! The race eventually got underway and I went straight past Mark Shaw from the start as he missed a gear and also passed James Sharrock who made a great start and then his throttle cable snapped. I was P2 behind Paul Wilson and set off after him. I followed Paul for 5 laps and I have to say he is a very good driver, I was driving over my limit and yet he was edging away frustratingly by a few metres here and there until I lost the slipstream on him. By this time Mark Shaw had caught me and was starting to apply pressure. I didn’t have an answer for Paul and thought Mark would so let him pass going into Lodge and tucked in behind him so we could both go after Paul. This worked to a point. Mark started defending from me compromising his lines and meant his tyres ‘went off’. Paul took a well deserved victory with Mark in second. 2 laps from the end I nearly ended my weekend by outbraking myself going into Shell Oils hairpin. I went off the track, through the gravel, hit the slippery grass and somehow managed to miss the wall by a few inches – the TV footage will be interesting as I was the camera car for Motors TV. So, P3 in my first R300 race finish, I was happy with that.
Race 2 was later the same day and we had been very lucky to miss the rain again. We lined up where we finished the first race (same place for me then!) and the lights went out. The car bogged, nearly stalled and I had to re-dip the clutch to start, spinning the rear wheels – my worst start yet and at a crucial time! Caterham stalwart Peter Ratcliffe came through from behind as did my sparring partner from the Caterham Supersport championship last year, Reece Somerfield. P5 and angry at myself, but hey, we were on our way to time to knuckle down J. There was contact early on between Peter and Paul who started off pole and the top 5 were bunched up and pulling away from the rest of the pack. It was time to get a move on so on lap 2 I entered Druids deeper than Reece and came out quicker on the other side, I drew up alongside him which gave me the inside line into Lodge corner, a tricky right hander which has an off camber exit. One down, 3 to go! I signalled to Reece to get after the others but he couldn’t keep up and I lost him after 2 laps so I could concentrate on the others. It was getting a bit, well, bargey ahead of me which I had no interest in. Paul was P1, Mark P2 and Peter P3. I was right on Peter’s tail but his car was very wide! In racing you can make one move to defend your corner and he did this very well. I was quicker but he was good at defending and I wanted to finish. I started getting frustrated and making mistakes but soon caught him and lined myself up for a challenge 2 laps from the end. I got a better exit coming out of Dears Leap and drew alongside coming down the start finish straight. I was about to sneak down the inside when he came across into my path and we made contact. My front left hit his right rear at a GPS verified 114MPH. 2 wings lost but more crucially he was still P3. I decided it had to be a last lap move and applied more and more pressure hopefully pushing him into a mistake. I was quicker than him through Druids so would try and pull the same move I did on Reece at the start. Druids (penultimate corner on the last lap) came up, Peter braked hard and I closed in, I got back on the power and he lifted off the throttle!! I came inches from hitting him causing me to go wide and the challenge wasted! And that’s how it stayed, P4 for my second race.
I was disappointed I didn’t get past Peter and should’ve been more aggressive but still happy the car was in one piece. P4 is a frustrating position as you are just outside the trophies, camera’s, champagne and podium. Still, there’s always next time!
Here's the race report I did for the sponsors blog after Oulton Park. There's no point me regurgitating the write up so here goes:
It’s amazing how quickly 4 weeks can pass when you have to get some big jobs done, mainly that of repairing the damage from the Silverstone weekend. After a small battle with the insurance company they agreed all the repairs on the car and Peter at Spy was given the green light to get it ready. At one point it was touch and go as the sister borro car of Ben Tompkins was in a similar situation and also needed a complete rebuild. We made it – just!
I picked the car up from Spy Motorsport HQ on Wednesday and was due to leave for Oulton Park in Cheshire on Thursday straight after work. At least that was the plan – true to form, not everything went smoothly. My trusty old steed (Audi Allroad) had decided enough was enough and broke down. A quick call to a hire company and I sourced a car with a tow bar on Thursday night and made the long trip to Cheshire, finally arriving at gone 23:00. A quick pint and then bed before testing on the Friday.
Testing is different to a track day as its race cars only and race licence holders only as well. It also means no briefing to sit through! Testing went, errrrr OK! I wasn’t happy with the car and was over 2 seconds off the pace and couldn’t work out why. I had a mechanic from Spy with me and throughout the day we changed the set-up of the car to dial out understeer and make it more planted when changing direction – a must for the picturesque Oulton Park: http://www.oultonpark.co.uk/circuit-information.as...
I went quicker and quicker throughout testing until I posted a fastest time of 1:50.80 – half a second off the lap record and 4 tenths off the quickest time of the day. I was finally happy and felt much better going into qualifying the next day
We had been promised rain overnight and boy did I not want rain! Having never driven the car in the wet it would be a baptism of fire and with little room for a mistake on this circuit. Saturday morning and the skies are grey and its tipping it down! Great! Qualifying was at 9:30 with 2 sessions before us, if it just stopped raining and the track would clear it would be dry for qualifying – my prayers were answered. It rained on and off during the day but we lucked out with only a very short downpour over the back end of the circuit in race 2.
I went out at the back again for qualifying as I like to pick off the slower drivers easily whilst using the slipstream effect, this was working perfectly until one of my wings popped off and I had to pit. I was P8 with 7 minutes to go so had to get on a charge. The team put me out in amongst traffic as requested and I was following last years Pole Position King, Mark Shaw. I was gearing up for a lap behind him when I made a mistake sending me through the gravel and into no mans land, still no damage, regain composure and off we go…
The end of qualifying was signalled with a chequered flag 2 laps later and with no slipstreaming I was expecting the worst. Little did I know my last lap had been my fastest and I posted P3 with no slipstreaming – excellent
My time was a 1:50.3 with pole on a very fast 1:49.4 – both under last years lap record!I was surprised at how relaxed I was before the race, no last minute trips to the toilet, no dry mouth and feeling confident as long as I got a good start. We lined up in the assembly area before the race and were kept waiting for nearly 30 minutes as they had to clean up after an accident in the race before us. 30 minutes felt like 2 hours and true to form, the butterflies set in. My stomach was tight, hands sweaty and heart rate beating twice as fast – all this before the race had even started! The race eventually got underway and I went straight past Mark Shaw from the start as he missed a gear and also passed James Sharrock who made a great start and then his throttle cable snapped. I was P2 behind Paul Wilson and set off after him. I followed Paul for 5 laps and I have to say he is a very good driver, I was driving over my limit and yet he was edging away frustratingly by a few metres here and there until I lost the slipstream on him. By this time Mark Shaw had caught me and was starting to apply pressure. I didn’t have an answer for Paul and thought Mark would so let him pass going into Lodge and tucked in behind him so we could both go after Paul. This worked to a point. Mark started defending from me compromising his lines and meant his tyres ‘went off’. Paul took a well deserved victory with Mark in second. 2 laps from the end I nearly ended my weekend by outbraking myself going into Shell Oils hairpin. I went off the track, through the gravel, hit the slippery grass and somehow managed to miss the wall by a few inches – the TV footage will be interesting as I was the camera car for Motors TV
. So, P3 in my first R300 race finish, I was happy with that. Race 2 was later the same day and we had been very lucky to miss the rain again. We lined up where we finished the first race (same place for me then!) and the lights went out. The car bogged, nearly stalled and I had to re-dip the clutch to start, spinning the rear wheels – my worst start yet and at a crucial time! Caterham stalwart Peter Ratcliffe came through from behind as did my sparring partner from the Caterham Supersport championship last year, Reece Somerfield. P5 and angry at myself, but hey, we were on our way to time to knuckle down J. There was contact early on between Peter and Paul who started off pole and the top 5 were bunched up and pulling away from the rest of the pack. It was time to get a move on so on lap 2 I entered Druids deeper than Reece and came out quicker on the other side, I drew up alongside him which gave me the inside line into Lodge corner, a tricky right hander which has an off camber exit. One down, 3 to go! I signalled to Reece to get after the others but he couldn’t keep up and I lost him after 2 laps so I could concentrate on the others. It was getting a bit, well, bargey ahead of me which I had no interest in. Paul was P1, Mark P2 and Peter P3. I was right on Peter’s tail but his car was very wide! In racing you can make one move to defend your corner and he did this very well. I was quicker but he was good at defending and I wanted to finish. I started getting frustrated and making mistakes but soon caught him and lined myself up for a challenge 2 laps from the end. I got a better exit coming out of Dears Leap and drew alongside coming down the start finish straight. I was about to sneak down the inside when he came across into my path and we made contact. My front left hit his right rear at a GPS verified 114MPH. 2 wings lost but more crucially he was still P3. I decided it had to be a last lap move and applied more and more pressure hopefully pushing him into a mistake. I was quicker than him through Druids so would try and pull the same move I did on Reece at the start. Druids (penultimate corner on the last lap) came up, Peter braked hard and I closed in, I got back on the power and he lifted off the throttle!! I came inches from hitting him causing me to go wide and the challenge wasted! And that’s how it stayed, P4 for my second race.
I was disappointed I didn’t get past Peter and should’ve been more aggressive but still happy the car was in one piece. P4 is a frustrating position as you are just outside the trophies, camera’s, champagne and podium. Still, there’s always next time!
And the MotorsTV coverage from Oulton race 2. My little 'love tap' on Peter is at 7:15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_L2WpMeGB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_L2WpMeGB8
Ian P said:
Round 3 as in Donny or race 3?
Thanks bud, still not sure about next year though I have a meeting with borro tomorrow night and they have invited me to the Xmas party
You know it....you need to get back out there. Next years grid is looking very good now.Thanks bud, still not sure about next year though I have a meeting with borro tomorrow night and they have invited me to the Xmas party
You have a great chance.
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