Category Archives: Costs

How much does it really cost to enter the Caterham Academy

Insurance 2016

Every year I get quotes for racing cover. This year is no exception. The most competitive quote I got was from BlueFin insurance. It may save some of you some time / energy from asking around.

The BlueFin deal covers all 7 race weekends plus all testing and track days up until the end of October. You don’t have to notify them if you’re going on a track/test day in advance.

Just to give the casual reader an idea of how much it costs to insure a race car for a season (remember this is a good deal I’ve found…)

Premium: £3.2k
Excess: £2k
Cover: £12k
Includes reinstatement clause (if you make a claim, the cover will return to £12k up to twice in one year.)

Speak to Richard Pellegrini (Richard.Pellegrini@bluefingroup.co.uk ) if you’re interested in a similar deal and please mention Cheesy sent you!

If you’re an Academy driver, why not try for a better deal with them as you’re only doing 7 competitive events rather than 14? Let me know how you get on if you do enquire.

If you’re currently insuring your car on trackdays via your road insurance, just be aware that any claim made will affect your no claims bonus and that’s not always made clear!

Second Payment

Whilst I was away enjoying the Moto GP at Silverstone over the weekend, a nice letter from Tim Ward at Caterham arrived on my mat… asking for money! As upsetting as being asked for a second instalment of £6000 is, it is also exciting! It means that I am now in the region of 12 weeks ahead of receiving my kit.

Weeks are going by fast at the moment, so 12 weeks almost sounds soon!

Optional / Semi-optional costs

Ok, so I’ve given myself a break from costing for a while. However, it’s time to get back to it. This time though, these costs would be considered to be optional or at least, semi-optional. They won’t raise my estimated ‘minimum’ cost of racing in he Academy as you can perhaps live without them.

Bag Seat

Bag SeatAlthough the car is supplied with Tillett race seats, many chose to race with a bag seat – a custom made moulded seat.

Reasons for using a bag seat being one or more of the following: sitting lower in the car (or higher); making sure that the helmet is clear of the roll-cage by the amount stipulated in the regulations; comfort and driving position; safety (a bag seat can support the body better in an accident).

It is possible to do a DIY bag seat using a bin liner/survival bag and 2-part expanding foam kit (about 5kg kit). This is cheap – the foam costs about £20-£30. (Here’s some you can buy!) – you then wrap the resultant seat in duct-tape.

However, don’t be surprised if it takes a couple of attempts to get it right. You’ll also need bodies around to help you with the process.

There are more advanced techniques using better quality materials (foam beads and resin mixes inside a special flexible bag). However, these come with additional cost.

You can also get someone to do it for you. I believe that Caterham offer the service for around £250.  You’re more likely to get a good result first time and some good advice on position – but that comes at a price.

If you do stick with the Tillett, the I believe it is best practice to pack expanding foam behind the seat to make it stronger.

Lap Timer

In the academy, you’re not allowed any form of data logging throughout official events. The one concession on this is a basic lap-timer. Racecentre made T100 (£90 ex VAT) and T200  (£100 ex VAT) are the only ones allowed. Caterham can supply.

Because these devices are so basic, they aren’t really used outside of the Academy. The rest of the Caterham ladder allows more advanced data-logging and therefore don’t be surprised if lots of these devices become available at the end of the previous season!

Onboard Camera

There are lots and lots of options when it comes to recording your achievements on camera. They stretch from the budget end – say £100, to the Rolls Royce end – £2000. All vary in quality, size and features.

A lot of drivers opt for the GoPro HD (and now the GoPro HD2). At £250 ish, it’s not the cheapest option on the market but it offers big picture quality bang for the buck. It’s also used EVERYWHERE – so there are an absolute tonne of accessories and mounts. It’s light weight and waterproof. The HD2 also offers the capability to live broadcast!

I’ve personally used 2 companies before and had good service from both of them. www.dogcamsport.co.uk – I purchased a Bullet Cam HD Wide (£129) (Here’s some helmet cam footage). www.sport-cam.co.uk – I have an HD Pro from them (£299) (Here’s some on-board footage). Both companies also sell the GoPro.

At the Rolls Royce end, there is the VBox family of cameras. Unlike the lower end cameras, these are real tools. As well as recording footage, they also have the capability to data-log using GPS. Having the video and GPS data means that post testing analysis can be done and directo comparison can be made between your laps and, say, an instructor. You can identify exactly where you are losing time.

However, all this capability comes at a cost. Prices don’t start until just short of £1000 and quickly rise to £2000. That’s a heck of an investment. It is also essential that the data logging is turned off if these cameras are used at official Academy events because the regulations strictly prohibit their use. If you’re tempted, you can find out what they can do and their heft price tags here.

The insurance debate

To insure or not to insure? That’s the question. And it’s one for which I haven’t got all the answers to at the moment. As the idea of this blog is to open up information for potential participants in the Academy, here’s what I’ve found out to date…

So long as enough of the Academy entrants are willing to sign up, there is often a ‘deal’ on the table to cover drivers at the sprint and circuit races for the year. I understand that the  price was £1600 for the year. Prices year on year will obviously vary – and I have every confidence that the previous years entrants have more than a slight impact on the kind of deal being offered! Especially if it were their cars doing the impacting!

Hopefully someone will be able to clarify the deal in the comments to this post, but this covers you for £12,000 total damage over the season. However, every claim made comes with a £2000 excess (which also counts towards this £12,000 total insured value). I believe the cover is only for the 4 races and 3 sprint events. No testing or track days are included in the cover.

So, let’s take some scenarios:

Insurance best case:

Your car is damaged to the tune of £12,000 (I hope you’re OK….). Insured, you’re out of pocket £3,600 (premium plus excess) and you’re off and running. Uninsured, you’re looking at £12,000 bill…. for most, that’s unlikely to be met! Likely end of season…

That would be the end of your insurance though, and if you wanted to continue onwards insured, you’d have to re-insure and you can be certain that you’re next premium/excess will be far greater.

Insurance worst case:

If accident damage through the year never exceeds £2,000, you’re always going to be out of pocket for the £1,600 premium and would have been better off not insuring.

In fact, accident damage lower than £3,600 still leaves you behind.

So, as far as the insurance gamble goes, you’re really insuring on a major accident. Or two biggies (say 2 x £5,000). It’s also worst enquiring whether the insurance will cover VAT costs and labour costs. I would imaging most in the Academy won’t be VAT registered for their season, so VAT on a hefty repair bill shouldn’t be left to chance! And labour costs could be major.

A new chasis costs £4,500. Ally paneling costs about £200 per side. Rear panels not far off £100. Floor panels around £120 per side. Nosecone £160. Front wings £50. Rear wings £100. Gearbox around £1,200. Engine – somewhere close enough to £4,000.

If you do have a big one – then you can see how costs will mount quite quickly.  If you manage to bend a chasis, then insurance will immediately pay off for you. (As well as having to start your build all over again!)

However, it will be interesting to hear what’s normal from the Academy point of view. It certainly seems that most years have at least one fairly sizeable crash shown on Youtube…  But what do most people experience. I guess you can fix a fair amount of damage well within the £3,600 premium + excess costs and multiple minor prangs won’t be covered by insurance.

There are obviously far more variables to consider as well…. for example, you can clearly go and get your own premium and I know some chose to only insure for the track races – taking the gamble on the less risky sprint races.

Then there’s cover to consider for track / test days…

I’m not decided yet. It feels like a deal or no deal ‘banker’ offer that is always just not quite offering what would make it a no-brainer… It would be pretty heart braking to duff up the car beyond your own bank balance and not have any choice but to pull out for the year…