Caterham Academy: The Next Chapter

Riggers finds out what happens when Academy racers take the next step

I suppose that from the start I shall have to declare a little bit of journalistic licence for this story. Last season I was lucky enough to spend a season racing a Caterham Seven as part of this esteemed website's sponsorship of the Caterham Academy in 2010, and it was as fine an introduction to the world of motor racing as I could have dreamed of.

Unfortunately, the trouble with being a journalist is that you get to do things with other people's stuff, which is great until you have to give it back. So when the Academy season was over GN59 MWG had to go back to Mr Caterham.

But a large proportion of 'real' people racing in the Academy alongside me - ie those people who paid for and thus got to keep their cars - would be going on to the next level in the Caterham racing ladder - the Roadsport B series.

Fortunately, and probably largely because I had thus far managed to keep their car in one piece, Caterham decided to let me have a taster of Roadsport B, albeit for only one race. And saying no to an offer like that would definitely have been a case of staring Dobbin in the face after he'd gone to the trouble of getting you a lovely present.

The first task was to get the car upgraded, so having been reunited with the car at the sales office in Caterham, Surrey, it was off to the factory in Dartford to make the transformation. Part of the deal was that I would have to get my fingers oily and make the upgrade myself, but that the complicated bits would be left to Caterham service man Mark Rider.

The changes to turn a car from Academy to Roadsport B spec are fairly simple: it's essentially down to much stickier tyres and minor suspension tweaks. Out go the super-hard Avon CR322 tyres, replaced by much more track-focused, sticky Avon CR500s, while an adjustable anti-roll bar is slung beneath the rear of the car. The only really complicated bit is that the valve springs need stiffening up and the belt pulley needs adjusting, as the stickier tyres put more strain on the motor through increased engine braking.

I let Mark do his thing with the engine bit while he gave me a wheel gun and told me to swap the wheels for ones fitted with the new tyres. Which was far more fun to use than a simple tool has any right to be. He then guided me through the fitting of the rear anti-roll bar, a relatively simple process even for a mechanical numpty such as myself. Although I strongly suspect it's a case of being easy when you know how - put me in a garage with the car, the tools and a set of instructions and I would have struggled.

Anyway, in due course the car was ready to go, but it would be a little while before I got to properly try it out - I had a general testing day booked at the newly upgraded Snetterton '300' circuit the following week.

Testing day dawned and I arrived at Snetterton, if not fresh (a two-and-a-half hour journey in a Caterham will always prevent that) then definitely eager to get back on track - both to find out about the new car and the new circuit.

If the journey up to Norfolk revealed very little about the tweaks to the car other than a more steady, surefooted turn-in and more intuitive steering, the first few laps out on track were a revelation. The car now gripped, turned, steered and even braked significantly better than before. It took several laps even to begin to comprehend how much faster and more assured the car now was, a transformation that was scarcely believable considering how minor the tweaks had been.

What was evident, however, was that it was going to take an entirely new mindset to really get to grips with the car - something I wasn't sure I could do in one day.

The same went for the new circuit. Dr Palmer has apparently taken inspiration from circuits around the world for his new Snetterton infield section and it has to be said that the result is an impressively challenging combination, but in places an unforgiving one. Mercifully, Norfolk's finest race track has dodged the attentions of the dreaded Tarmac aprons, which means that when you go off, you really do go off, which keeps you on your toes. As well as the new infield section, Coram, the penultimate corner, has been reprofiled and resurfaced, meaning you now have to pick your braking line very carefully indeed if the back isn't to step out on you. Much like the upgrade from Academy to Roadsport B spec, the 'new' Snetterton is a fun challenge, but seemingly one that might take a while to master.

I certainly hoped my time with the track and the new car would be enough to keep up with the rest of the field - who had already spent a race weekend at Silverstone and numerous test days in the car.

And as if to remind me that there are more things to consider when you go racing than just going fast, the last test session was cut short for me when I lost all drive to the car. Turned out the throttle cable had decided to part company with the throttle pedal. This is not a useful thing to happen at the best of times, but fortunately PHer Alex Day (VauxAl), there testing his new Golf racer, was on hand to help perform a spectacular bodge involving electrical connector terminals and insulating tape (much thanks indeed for that, Alex) to help get me home. Was this a bad omen for the upcoming race? I had to hope not...

Coming soon - the concluding part of Riggers's racing adventures... (stay tuned, etc, etc...)

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