OK, another step along the route towards actually getting to drive my car! It’s back with Caterham for its post build check. Apparently, it’s the first one back for checking…

I met one of the support team for the Academy, Mark, who was brilliant and let me have a good nosey around the factory production lines and answered as many of my questions as he was allowed to. (See below for a summary of my IVA/Build queries and the answers)

I also spoke to Lee, the IVA specialist in the factory and a 2013 Academy Racer! Group 2 though, so I’m allowed to talk to him :)

There were still Academy kits going down the line and some very shiny complete builds all looking ready to go, so there must still be some excited people out there! And all different colours at that! Mark said that this years groups seem to have gone to town on colour combinations for their cars – much more than in previous years. It seems that you may stand out more this year if you stick with no paint!!

Finally, I also saw the media car going down the line. Each year, one of the positions in Group 1 is taken up by a media partner to race through the year. There’s been no announcement on who will be racing with us yet, but the car is lime green – which may or may not be a clue.

So, one more week to go until the seminar up in Leicester and then, all being well, I should have the car ready to be picked up during the following week! So close I can smell the petrol!

1. Drivers seat

In the factory, they bend the adjustment arm so that it still has clearance when the seat is in the forward position. They also start with the rear bolts (where the manual says to start with the front ones). Another case of the manual not catering correctly for the latest rails and the lowered floor option that the Academy car comes with.

I would still be tempted to go with hex head bolts in the rails rather than the allen key bolts if I were attempting it again. But I’m not! (And hopefully never will again!)

2. Inner starter motor bolt

Mark confirmed that a lot of people just leave this bolt out and it isn’t a problem.

3. Rear A-Frame torque

Confirmed you just need 2 deep sockets for this, but that they also need to be thin walled to enable them to sit correctly.

4. Brake bleed nipple – different sizes

Apparently, there isn’t an issue when bleed nipples are a different spanner size. The size can vary.

5. Tethering the fuel tank cap

This isn’t needed on the new Rover cover apparently.

6. Bending exhaust spring brackets down

It’s not clear what the IVA guide means by this, but essentially, on the two hooks on the outer edge of the exhaust, the whole hook needs to be bent back in towards the car, so the ook sits further under the cat.

7. Forward popper base on boot cover (near hood stick mounting point)

This isn’t fitted by the factory as it’s part of the hood assembly and is done during that process. If you aren’t fitting a hood, then you need to fit this yourself if you want it.

8. Fire extinguisher handle

Mark said most people just leave the handle in for Caterham to remove when they present for IVA. However, if you need to remove it, you unhook the cable from the fire extinguisher bottle and then pull the cable all the way through from the dashboard. He said it’s an easy job to feed it all back through when you need to put it back on. Not sure if that’s “Caterham” easy, or “Normal Person” easy.

9. Handbrake position and warning light

There are two settings that the handbrake can be connected to the chassis. One makes it lie flat up against the tunnel cover material, the other makes the handle stick upwards very slightly away from the material. Mine lies flat against the material, which initially I thought was incorrect but actually, Mark confirmed this isn’t an issue and, in fact, will be fairly useful next year when I have to gaffer tape over the handle when racing.

He also confirmed that the warning light that comes on when the handbrake is off/goes out when the handbrake is on is because I connected the wire to the wrong terminal on the handbrake lever switch.