How competitive can a fat bloke be in the Caterham Academy?
Discussion
Following on from my visit to Caterham last week which I documented in another thread I have been poring over the pile of bumf that has been sent to me. And I have to say the idea of some low cost motorsport does sound very tempting. But having checked out the spec of the cars I do wonder how competitive a 16.5 stone man like myself would be up against some fly weight young lass who would be more likely to blow away in a stiff breeze.
With the car being so light in the first place then surely the weight of the driver would have a massive effect on the cars power to weight ration and therefore its performance, or have I got this all wrong?
Being the rather competitve sort that I am I would like to know that I would be racing on a level playing field if I decided to go down this route.
With the car being so light in the first place then surely the weight of the driver would have a massive effect on the cars power to weight ration and therefore its performance, or have I got this all wrong?
Being the rather competitve sort that I am I would like to know that I would be racing on a level playing field if I decided to go down this route.
Min weight of car 525kg, min weight with driver 615kg. So below 90kg (a little over 14 stone) and there's no advantage to being any lighter, you'd need to ballast the car to bring it back up to weight.
There's no doubting an extra 15kg would have some effect - good incentive to lose a couple of stone!
There's no doubting an extra 15kg would have some effect - good incentive to lose a couple of stone!
StreetRod,
I did the Academy last year, and weigh in at around 15 1/2 stone. I was generally running in the top half to top quarter of the grid, finishing: 4th, 15th, 6th (prior to a penalty), 9th (from 22nd on the grid), DNF (running 10th but wiped out by someone else) and 6th.
Most of the time I was within a second of the fastest lap, generally closer, and I think it was more track time / talent that held me back rather than weight. Yes being lighter will help a little, but at that level of racing your driving skills rather than your weight will be the thing that makes the difference. Getting more time on track will improve your finishing position more than losing half a stone...
I had an absolute blast doing it and you won't regret it - the driving was great fun and the paddock atmosphere and camaraderie even better. There were heavy people who were quick, heavy people who were slow as well as light people who were slow and light people who were fast.
As there is a minimum weight limit, which equates to 90kg for driver and kit, that is effectively a minimum driver weight of 13 1/2 stone so you won't be at too much of a disadvantage anyway...
The official Caterham Motorsport forum is here:
http://forum.caterham.co.uk/
There is also Graduates, which is an alternative Caterham racing series that I think Hoonabator just posted...
I did the Academy last year, and weigh in at around 15 1/2 stone. I was generally running in the top half to top quarter of the grid, finishing: 4th, 15th, 6th (prior to a penalty), 9th (from 22nd on the grid), DNF (running 10th but wiped out by someone else) and 6th.
Most of the time I was within a second of the fastest lap, generally closer, and I think it was more track time / talent that held me back rather than weight. Yes being lighter will help a little, but at that level of racing your driving skills rather than your weight will be the thing that makes the difference. Getting more time on track will improve your finishing position more than losing half a stone...
I had an absolute blast doing it and you won't regret it - the driving was great fun and the paddock atmosphere and camaraderie even better. There were heavy people who were quick, heavy people who were slow as well as light people who were slow and light people who were fast.
As there is a minimum weight limit, which equates to 90kg for driver and kit, that is effectively a minimum driver weight of 13 1/2 stone so you won't be at too much of a disadvantage anyway...
The official Caterham Motorsport forum is here:
http://forum.caterham.co.uk/
There is also Graduates, which is an alternative Caterham racing series that I think Hoonabator just posted...
I currently am around the 87kg mark without kit and when I set data laps for the drivers I have been coaching they can't match it and none of the other drivers can. So if you put the practice in and work on you Vision and technique you will be fine.
Don't get me wrong the lighter you can be the better.even if you are under weight is an advantage because when you ballast the car this is placed in the passengers side making the weight distribution a little more even.
Don't get me wrong the lighter you can be the better.even if you are under weight is an advantage because when you ballast the car this is placed in the passengers side making the weight distribution a little more even.
I'm fat and have just won the Caterham Graduates Classics championship, where we only have 100bhp and road tyres.
Weight is a factor no doubt, but it doesn't make as much difference as other factors at this level.
The biggest issue i have is traction on left hand bends. No LSD and it's impossible to get the back of the car balanced because there's no lead to do it with. I always lose ground out of some corners, e.g. the final chicane at snett, though it's gone now, graham hill at brands, mansfield at cadwell.
However, on right handers i actually think it helps because the inside wheel isn't as unloaded as it would otherwise be, and given that most corners are right handers, it's actually no bad thing!!!!
Weight is a factor no doubt, but it doesn't make as much difference as other factors at this level.
The biggest issue i have is traction on left hand bends. No LSD and it's impossible to get the back of the car balanced because there's no lead to do it with. I always lose ground out of some corners, e.g. the final chicane at snett, though it's gone now, graham hill at brands, mansfield at cadwell.
However, on right handers i actually think it helps because the inside wheel isn't as unloaded as it would otherwise be, and given that most corners are right handers, it's actually no bad thing!!!!
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