Honda Elise/Exige to Caterham

[bdev]

Anyone here made the move ? If so what are your thoughts... do you regret the move ?

I currently have a well sorted Honda Exige... which is currently a track car only... I've hired an R300 a few times and had immense fun (even whilst getting completely soaked at a wet Donnington Park), so am wondering if a Caterham (road legal) may be a better option for me at the moment. For outright pace, my Exige is probably on a par or slightly quicker than an R300 I'd say... so thinking at least R300 and possibly R400/500 and even 620R if man maths comes into play!

Usage would be trackdays and perhaps the odd blat when the weather is good... probably just like most other Caterham owners!

Is there a substantial difference in the feel between an R300 + R400/500 ?

[HurryUpAndWait]

Well if you're talking about K-series superlights, the R300 didn't come with a dry sump as standard whereas the others did. Duratec R300s are very quiet in my experience, R500s a different matter

Handling-wise, out of the box they should all be virtually identical assuming they have the same wheel / tyre combos, as unless I'm mistaken, the springs/dampers used on super lights are the same.

[bdev]

Sorry - should have said - I was talking about Duratecs specifically... as that's the only Caterham I have experience of really.

[OliilO]

I've got a friend who has a Honda powered Elise and he's been out in my bike engined car a few times. I'd say that they're pretty comparable in terms of pace which ties in with your R300 comment.

I think you need to consider why you want to change, is it for a different experience or for something faster?
For my friend, we came to the conclusion that he'd want either R400 upwards power or something turbo'd to make it a significant enough step change to make it worth changing for him. If its a different experience then any 7 type cr will probably provide that, as you've seen through rentals.

[Gingerbread Man]

I believe there is a lad on here with a Honda powered Caterham.

[jonnyleroux]

note on R400/R500 vs R300 - once you move to roller-barrel throttle bodies you could have noise issues at quite a few UK circuits (Donington, Brands, Goodwood, Combe, Bedford)

a good friend has a honda K20A in a Caterham - driven it a few times and still maintain it's the best engine for the car.

Jonny
BaT

[bdev]

Hey Jonny, Would love a K20 in a Caterham, fantastic in my Exige, so can only imagine what it must be like in a Caterham ! - but reading on here I think Stuart Faulds did the conversion and swore he wouldn't do another !