Wednesday 26th March 2014

Caterham Academy 2014: Handling day

Having never even driven his Caterham before Matt hits the ground running at Silverstone

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A minute and a half. Sounds like ages to get into a car, doesn't it? That was our first target at the Silverstone handling day. After six minutes of fumbling I was no nearer being secure in the Seven's seat. It was going to be a long day...

Sunshine and a Seven. Marvellous

After much practicing since, a four-point harness is far less daunting. And that was sort of the point, to get everyone as familiar with their cars as possible. Many of us were Caterham neophytes (at least I hope they were) and so what seemed very simple to those more experienced was completely befuddling to the newcomers. So many thanks to the Caterham staff on the day for your patience!

The day at Silverstone comprised an introduction to scrutineering, practice starts and a variety of slaloms. A tame intro then, and probably a total of three miles driven during the day, but every single minute was a joy.

The video you can see below is from the first slalom; please don't laugh, I know there's room for improvement. In another faff with the harnesses and the ignition, I had missed the practice and the first few hundred metres with the car was to be as fast as possible. Err...

And he didn't hit the cones once! Really

But of course the wonderful thing with Caterhams is the involvement and immediacy of everything. It responds exactly how you expect it would and telegraphs every little change in surface, grip and traction. Which is useful if you're a ham-fisted idiot.

Practice starts are brilliant fun, and hopefully of some use later in the year. Too eager initially, my first run was slow, smoky and smelly. But fewer revs, less clutch slipping and a swifter change made for a vastly improved second run. Then I had a shocker. Then a good one. Can I have more practice please?

There's still a bit to do with our car to prep it for competition, as pointed out during scrutineering, but that will follow over the coming weeks. Right now, the full sticker set looks like the most daunting!

"Just watch my feet, OK?"

Our race equipment is on the way and, if the handling day experience is anything to go by, it can't come soon enough. Trying to drive a Seven hard for the first time with size 11 trainers is complicated to say the least! And fully kitted up there will be no excuses for dismal driving.

Two of the morning's slaloms were combined for a competition in the afternoon. Despite plenty of friendly chat around the food marquee (the pro driver diet isn't quite in place yet), it seemed evident everyone wanted to do well. My time was quick enough for fourth, meaning either Caterham have built the media car to a slightly enhanced spec or everyone else was sandbagging to be nice. Either way, next time out can't come soon enough!

Vid here.

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Previous reports:
Caterham Academy 2014 - game on!

[suffolk009]

What fun! But, stickers please.

(it's looking like a chest freezer)

[LB14]

I have a 7 Supersport and have done a few trackdays in it but I'd love a go at the Academy - I went to watch the first sprint at Aintree last year and was struck by the camaraderie between competitors.

I'm sure that disappears when the lights go green though.............

[ghibbett]

Don't be hard on yourself Matt - I thought that looked a thoroughly decent effort

[Matt Bird]

suffolk009 said:

What fun! But, stickers please.

(it's looking like a chest freezer)

We were only given stickers on the day, they're being applied soon. It's colder than a chest freezer at the moment too!

[Evo]

Yep, you did great

[oop north]

Different format from when I did the Academy (in 2000, eek!) - we had the licence day at Silverstone and a test day (with tuition) at Pembrey. The camaraderie between competitors was excellent, though some were a bit irritating by spending lots of money on testing. One guy even brought an employee to every event to work on his car!

[framerateuk]

Looked like a pretty good run to me!

All the best with the preparations!

[Mellow7]

Taking up the colour comments, I see it's even missing stone guards. Dare I say it but in sparse flat white it looks a bit like a "kit car" - there was a Dutton for sale on PH that didn't look too dissimilar in the blink of an eye. Plus, not sure where Caterham is going with the "new" wheel design - they look great on the parts store of their website but strike me as a 1983 Halfords special for Sierra's in the photos here. Hope it's just the photos playing tracks.

More importantly, who's the girl????

[BritishRacinGrin]

Can't remember if academy cars are permitted to run with stone guards on the wings, if they are they shouldn't be!

[Gorbyrev]

Sterling effort sir. Caterhams are also great fun on the Queen's highway - see if you can blag a drive.

[binnerboy]

the girl is Sam Parker, she has been a grid girls and does the demos on the drift days

lovely lady and she can drive

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=...

[Hark]

Looks alot of fun, still never been in one.