which Caterham Day ?

[flying trotter]

my girlfriend has offered to buy me one of the Caterham days - which circuit and day would people recommend as an intro - I've done a few in a porsche (Oulton Park) but fancy trying the the Caterham experience and have seen Easy-Track and Caterham's own with options in Oct at Brands (GP circuit), Snetterton, Goodwood and Bedford

I was at Brands on Sunday for the F3/GT cars and know its a classic if maybe a shade challenging for an intro to circuit driving - what do people think - happy to delay to the spring for the right combination of event organiser and circuit - as I'm in London I'd prefer to avoid the more northerly

[Jubal]

If she could afford it I'd recommend choosing one of the trackday organisers and hiring a Caterham at one of their events. We hired from Bookatrack earlier in the year as a gift for someone and the experience was awesome, thoroughly recommended.

[sdd]

Yep, you will get far better value for money and much more track time if you hire a Caterham for the day from track-club (www.track-club.com) or BookaTrack (www.bookatrack.com). The Caterham days at 'Silverstone' are hopeless, they are in the car park at Silverstone and you spend haf the day standing around waiting for your 3 minute sessions in the car.

Depends what your budget is though, track-club have some open days coming up where you will be able to drive a couple of different Caterhams including the CSR260 as well as other stuff like the Atom for about £250. I think once you get into October the BookaTrack hire charges include the track fee which makes it very good value.

Stephen

[jleroux]

i'm obviously biased here but I would strongly recommend comparing apples with apples wherever possible. there are quite a few "caterham drive" options out there and I dont think any 2 are alike so you definitely need to dig deeper than the price. We are not the cheapest by a long way BUT i am supremely confident that we offer the best overall value for money in terms of track time, reliability, convenience, support etc.

if you want to discuss the BaT option - please don't hesitate to get in touch.

cheers,

Jonny
BaT

[wee_skids]

I think the chap is talking about the days caterham run themselves at various tracks. With those you share a Caterham with no more than 3 other drivers (possible less) for the entire day, and you have a single instructor working with you throughout that day. They run 3 or 4 cars, each with an instructor and a group of drivers.
If you are new to track driving and Caterhams then that is very valuable and will really help you to get the most from the car and the track.

Tony

[jleroux]

like I said - make sure it's apples for apples. BaT also provide ARDS tuition but you do not share the car with anyone - when you hire a car from us it's exclusive use for the whole day.

fairly sure anyone looking to spend £500+ for a day in a Caterham will be investigating all the options thoroughly anyway :-)

cheers,

Jonny
BaT

[wee_skids]

But isn't an instructor with BaT at an additional charge per 20 minute session as well? The Caterham day means an instructor working with you throughout the day, inclusive.

It depends what is wanted from the day. A chance to rag a car however you fancy, or a chance to learn a circuit and hopefully improve your track driving.

[flying trotter]

thanks chaps - I want the chance to try out a decent circuit driving car with some circuit driving tuition included for a portion of the time and I don't really want to be one of a host of people waiting around for snatches of time here and there/deal with a knackered vehicle/poorly run/borderline dangerous event

happy to pay a little more for a more rewarding event

boiling that down - is the view that the Caterham specific days are a good idea or is it better to put together your own package linking a well run track day, hiring in a car and then booking tuition ahead of time for the day

which tracks would you say should be the preferred venue

[jleroux]

wee_skids said:

But isn't an instructor with BaT at an additional charge per 20 minute session as well?

nope - car hire price includes tuition - admittedly not all day, but a couple of 20 min sessions are included in the price.

Jonny
BaT

[sdd]

track-club can include an instructor dedicated for the day in the hire price i.e. you get the car and instructor to yourself for the whole day.

Stephen

[wee_skids]

jleroux said:

wee_skids said:

But isn't an instructor with BaT at an additional charge per 20 minute session as well?

nope - car hire price includes tuition - admittedly not all day, but a couple of 20 min sessions are included in the price.

Jonny
BaT

I see, not too bad a deal then. Need any more instructors [] LOL

Tony

[rmac]

I can only second the bat idea - you get to choose the circuit and have a real superlight for the day - not a 5 speed roadsport.

I believe you can also buy sessions for £50 or £60 at one of their airfield days that gets refunded if you book a full day in one of their cars at a later date.

I have done 2 of the caterham run days and there were 3 cars between more than 20 of us - total time in car was less than 30 mins for a full day. It was definately enjoyable and cost less than a full days car hire but it is not comparable.

The other benefit with the bat day is you can share the car with 2 or 3 other people if you want less track time yourself and this reduces your own outlay massively.

[Mustang Baz]

wee_skids said:

I think the chap is talking about the days caterham run themselves at various tracks. With those you share a Caterham with no more than 3 other drivers (possible less) for the entire day, and you have a single instructor working with you throughout that day. They run 3 or 4 cars, each with an instructor and a group of drivers.
If you are new to track driving and Caterhams then that is very valuable and will really help you to get the most from the car and the track.

Tony

Good to hear. I have put together a team of 8 of us and we are having a full day experience at Bedford on october 14th - run by Caterham - with no more than 12 people in total. The day will give us 3 cars for our specific team, one instructor per car, which for a full day, should hopefully prove a comprehensive experience. Anyone out there done this day?

[wee_skids]

I know the Caterham days quite well as I work for them as one of their instructors. You should get sufficent seat time. At Cadwell last week I had just 3 clients to my car for the entire day - so they got plenty of track time. No car had more than 4 clients linked to it.

Bedford is a little odd as the circuit is so long, so if you count laps as seat time it may seem short, but each lap is going to be around 4 or 5 minutes.

[t5bxr]

Wee Skids (Tony)
Tony, you was most likely my instructor for the day,I would like to say that the Cadwell day was superb,it is my local track,and although having built and owned two caterhams I never did take them onto the track which was a big mistake.The sessions of 3-5 laps were more than enough to take in and we must of had 7-8 sessions during the day, I wasn't counting but it was plenty for me.The cornering ability of these cars is unbelievable and throughout the day I do believe my performance improved (although I'll still admit to being a cr*p driver).
I would definately recommend these track days.Wee Skids fast lap at the end of the day (assuming it was you) did prove that caterhams are faster round corners than Golf VR6's-the golf was taken away on a recovery vehicle !
It was an excellant day,thanks for your instruction.
Regards another Tony

[Stephanie Plum]

which tracks would you say should be the preferred venue[/quote]

Go for Bedford - great track for a first timer, and not too far from London.

[wee_skids]

If you were the in the caterham passenger when the VR6 binned it in front of us, then that was me instructing. Glad you liked the day, even I enjoyed it