Monday 8th September 2014

Caterham Academy 2014: Croft

Can an 11-hour round trip be worth it for one race? Yes, absolutely

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A confession to begin with. Following a little altercation going into Clearways at Brands (sorry David), the Seven needed a trip to Caterham to have the tracking sorted. But a couple of comments on the race video suggested 'my' car looked a little slow down the straights and that Caterham should have a look. No harm in asking, right? Either there was a problem with the car or I really was just as bad as I thought.

Look see, it's there in black and white

There was a problem with the car. It's been running with half throttle all season because of a mistake in the build. I need to investigate exactly what that means and the changes to give full throttle but suffice to say it felt a fair bit nippier after its hour with Caterham. The pedal response was more immediate, the car pulled harder in every gear and it felt so much more eager from about 4,500rpm to the limiter. It also had sufficient to poke to power through most understeer which it never seemed to have before. Perhaps that was subliminal but there was no doubting the little Seven was a fair chunk faster than before. Goody.

And I'd been looking forward to Croft all year having enjoyed watching so many BTCC events there on TV. Faster car and a cool circuit; how exciting.

A little too exciting really given the qualifying performance. Knowing that some of the the field had enjoyed two test days during the week prior to Saturday's qualifying, I probably pushed a little too hard. 15 minutes to learn a track, set a time and actually just enjoy it does scramble the brain a little. Missed apexes, missed gears, missed overtakes and a spin at Sunny left #98 in ninth. However, there was just half a second to fourth place so the potential for a great midfield race was there. I won't tell you how far ahead the actual frontrunners were...

Fast circuit and a faster car. Speed matters!

That my fastest lap of the weekend was during the race tells you how bad qualifying was. The race itself was mega though, easily the most fun I've ever had driving a car. The start was OK, bumping me up to sixth by the chicane. But a missed gear (again!) on the exit dropped me back and the pace of the others began to tell fairly quickly.

I've never been so grateful for a safety car. Two procession laps are never ideal in such a short race but it allowed some time to refocus and, far more importantly, put me right behind the lead group.

The last few laps shadowing Rob (third) and Joe (fourth) were brilliant, trying to work out if there was any way through. The run from Tower is easily the best section of Croft. Grab fourth (don't miss it!) before the Esses and then it's flat through the left, right and the Barcroft kink. Sunny then comes up very quickly! It's a fabulous circuit Croft, flat but certainly not without challenge. You must experience it if the opportunity is ever presented.

Ninth to fifth goes down as a great result

I was elated to finish fifth, as you can probably tell by the hands off the wheel going through the chequered flag. To have kept pace with guys who had been at the circuit previously was great. Yes, the result was helped by a bit of carnage behind but having found myself up in the top five I didn't fall away. To have had full power all year eh? The next (and final) round is Silverstone at the end of October. I want to go out with my best result of the year!

 

 

Video here. The GoPro recorded two so I'll upload the one featuring the start soon.

[Pics: SnappyRacers]

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Caterham Academy 2014 - Game on!
Caterham Academy 2014 - Handling day
Caterham Academy 2014 - Test day
Caterham Academy 2014 - Aintree Sprint
Caterham Academy 2014 - Blyton Sprint
Caterham Academy 2014 - Oulton Park
Caterham Academy 2014 - Rockingham
Caterham Academy 2014 - Brands Hatch

[LB14]

Well done Matt, have enjoyed following your progress.

A shame about the build problem only being diagnosed at the end of the season. Did Caterham build the car?? If so that's a bit of an own goal......

[Concerned cat]

When I did the championship (then called the Scholarship in 1999) I only diagnosed not getting full throttle after the season had ended. How close to the minimum weight limit are you? You finished the race with half a tank of fuel. Someone will be along in a minute to say how much weight that is but try & work it so you have just half a gallon or so left.

[405dogvan]

Excellent result - nice one!

On the fuel thing - 1 litre of petrol is about .7kg (so a gallon is 4.54 times that or just over 3kg)

A mate used to swear he could tell the difference between a full and empty tank in his car (realistically 30kgs of weight) - but not the difference between me being in the car with him or not (over 120kgs at the time) - and I've lost "more than a tank of fuel" in the last few years so I should be noticing the improvement too! ;0

Will be a while before I lose enough to fit a Caterham sadly - keep having fun out there!

[ghibbett]

Throttle error sounds strange - it is just a cable after all!

405dogvan said:

A mate used to swear he could tell the difference between a full and empty tank in his car (realistically 30kgs of weight)

I can in mine.

[Matt Bird]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Caterham did build the entire thing, they were very apologetic... And yes, I chucked a little too much fuel in on Saturday night; never can judge it properly! I always race with a more than I need for the race as I know the car has to get home too and I never know where the nearest fuel station is. Certainly not serious enough to measure it out.

Cheers,


Matt

[pozi]

Which begs the question how many other cars have left Caterham with this half throttle setting, is it a secret ploy to aid engine longevity?

I mean taken in isolation I expect half throttle feels sufficiently quick to most people but I can't help wondering if there are a number of people driving round a bit short changed?

[Matt Bird]

pozi said:

Which begs the question how many other cars have left Caterham with this half throttle setting, is it a secret ploy to aid engine longevity?

I mean taken in isolation I expect half throttle feels sufficiently quick to most people but I can't help wondering if there are a number of people driving round a bit short changed?

I reckon it's a genuine mistake. Now they know at least one car had the problem perhaps a few others will have their car checked. I'll be back to the middle of the grid!


Matt