James Houston chatting to Steve Grubb. Ben Elliot debriefing Stuart Hood
Stuart ‘How do I look’ Hood
James Houston, deep in the data
Stuart’s exhaust is so shiny, you can see your face in it!
So, Academy cars cock an inside wheel! A front one!
Ben Clucas setting a data lap for me.
Strange seeing your own car being driven around without you!
A busy MSVT day at Brands Hatch Indy yesterday. Brands is still my ‘local’ track but at 1.5 hours away, it’s still means an early morning! I had been round the track in damp conditions the previous year in the Elise, but today was dry and at around 8 degrees in the sun, a great day for tracking!
Ben Clucas was along for the ride for a full day of instructing. I’ve known Ben a long time and knew his input was going to be invaluable. The track was a little damp out to begin with but it only took 45 minutes or so to dry itself out. Then it was into the learning!
Ben showing me the lines and talking me around the lap, then me trying to replicate – to mixed success. This repeated for a while, swapping seats once more to start to ramp up the pace a bit. I had brain fade just before lunch and started over driving (and going slower because of it) but after lunch and a data review, I was extremely happy with progress.
Druids and Paddock were losing me time and to that’s what we concentrated on for most of the rest of the day. Paddock eventually came to me, but Druid took all day to get right.
Towards the back end of the day, Ben set a data lap for me and I went out to see how close I could get. Pretty close was the answer – and hopefully a competitive pace for the year ahead.
Again, the Cheesemobile coped well with a very busy day. It understeers like a barge with two people on-board, but seems capable of setting good times – which is great to know. It’s off to DPR Motorsport this week to have its initial setup done, then she’s due a well deserved break until March 10th. (That’s the plan at least!).
I came away from brands FULLY hyped up for the year ahead. It’s been a dream for a long time now, and I’m certainly living it!
It’s been a busy few days, and it’s not easing up just yet. After passing the ARDS test on Wednesday, I travelled up to Norfolk on Friday evening to get ready for another track day, this time at Snetterton. (Surely there’s no other reason to be in Norfolk right :)).
Extremely lucky with the weather, the day started and ended sunny and dry. The first day of the year you’d actually want to be out on track. Michael Coulton from Roadsports (a 2012 Academite) was good enough to let me share his garage for the day. Pete Basterfield from group 1 was also in attendance.
Pete’s got a brilliant outlook on life and I could spend a lifetime trying and never be as laid back.
The day went pretty well. 1. The car came back in one piece. 2. I came back in one piece. 3. I didn’t make anyone else go back in more than one piece. I picked up speed in the morning and then had a session with Paul Lind just after lunch to try and understand what I need to concentrate on.
It was in that session, whilst trying out a few changes in driving style that I had my off’s and also my spin. It’s the first time I’ve spun on track in a full sized car (well, as full sized as a Caterham gets) and whilst it was rather uneventful on a track day, I can’t say it would be so comfortable in a race! Everything ended up pointing the right way again and the car didn’t bat an eyelid. Style-wise, I can now say I’ve completed a scandinavian flick into a 360 spin successfully.
I spent the afternoon trying to implement some of the things Paul had suggested and although I never got a complete lap to stick together, my data shows that the new tweaks could potentially be 0.5 – 1 second on an ideal lap.
So, having only just packed up and recovered from Snetterton, I’m now off to Brands Hatch Indy for a day tomorrow. I’ve got Ben Clucas in the car with me for the day. I’ve known him for a long time and even been out on track with him a few times at Silverstone – so fingers crossed we won’t fall out!
There are some others from Group 1 turning up as well as a group 2’er so I’m sure there will be the usual banter and sideways glances just to see how others are getting on!
I had the luxury of trailering the Caterham up to Donington Park early on Saturday morning. Alarm was set for 5am and I can assure you, it wasn’t appreciated.
I’m new to this towing lark as well and at that time in the morning, my eyes were on stalks to begin with. I did make it in one piece, although my average fuel consumption wouldn’t have been out of place on a big block American car.
The track was damp and cold early in the day and was therefore slippier than a vets arm just ahead of foetal checks. That’s not exactly confidence inspiring on a fast track, in a car that you’ve very little experience of, on tyres that don’t heat up!
It was more a case of survival early doors. However, it did dry up and as the drying line appeared, things started getting a lot more fun! It was a day of learning and chatting to fellow group 1 driver, Henry and Group 2 driver Dan. The class of 2012 were also in attendance with their newly upgraded Caterham Roadsports. Had some great banter with them and appreciated the advice.
As for the car, it behaved impeccably. It’s not put any more oil into the catch tank and it never missed a beat all day. I’m now using full revs and chucking it about a lot more. I’ve still got a fair chunk of time to find – Henry was around 4-5 seconds clear of my times but looking back at the footage from the end of the day, where the track was a lot drier, I never got a clean lap in. I’m therefore working to around 4 seconds to find and I feel like this is achievable…
Found a heal-toe technique that seems to work OK – although I’m not good at it! I had one full lock correction down at the hairpin and a couple of run wides – but no totally off track excursions!
Can’t wait for more of the same… would say it might be new year before I get out on track again, but never say never!
So, having picked up the car on Thursday evening, and having had an induction of fire into just how cold it is to drive a Caterham in winter, with no heater, no roof and no doors, I felt it was only right and proper to get out there and get going on track!
I chose Keevil Airfield as my first track day for a number of reasons. 1. It was far enough away that I could get some more running in miles on the clock ahead of raising revs and using brakes more fully on track. 2. It’s a great track as far as run-offs are concerned should anything decide to not function properly (including myself). 3. Grubby, James H and Pete B were all booked onto the track day as well – and this social side of things was probably the most important of the lot for me!
So, firstly, the drive up to the circuit. It was a beautiful Christmas scene as I travelled from Reading to the track. Idilic vistas of frost bitten trees and grass. Mist and fog caressing the hills and dales…. and me freezing my butt off in a car that couldn’t give a shit how cold its owner is! Dad chose the only sensible course and decided to travel up in convoy in his nice heated and insulated car…
Sign on, obligatory safety briefing and sighting laps out the way, and it was onto the first forays out on track.
Tentative to begin with – not knowing how the brakes and engine were going to take to being more robustly used – but then gradually gaining the confidence and starting to push on a little more.
I didn’t use more than 6000 revs through the whole day to try and bed things in but everything felt nice and solid. The brake pedal did get longer through the day as things settled in and I never found a good technique for heal-toe with the pedals, so gave up for the day and concentrated on having fun.
Initial impressions of the car are great. It’s spritely, eager and is progressive and communicative. The tyres let you know what they are doing, or about to do and give you ample warning if they don’t like a decision you just made. Kind of a conversation ‘Errm, Cheesy, I think that you might want to think about not trying to get to that apex right now, I’m having a few difficulties…. no really, I think you should stop that now…. you’re still going, I’ve told you a couple of times, I’m not going to tell you again… I warned you…’ and all in the delightful screeches and squeals coming from the tyres. Sure, they don’t have oodles of grip, but they have enough (for now!).
The only two slightly worrying aspects of the day were a catch tank rapidly filling itself (although this seemed to calm through the day, but it never stopped fully) and the oil pressure gauge reading low when the engine was hot but just at idle (on throttle, and cold engine, it’s a very steady 4 bar.)
Speaking to James and Pete lowered some of my concerns as James initially had a catch tank fill itself a bit and Pete had been told by his instructor that any overfill of the engine will end up in the tank… Dad did warn me that we may have overfilled a bit during the build, so that may well explain things.
The oil pressure I will confirm with Caterham that this is expected on a hot engine at idol but again, speaking to James, he had lower pressure once the engine was hot and only idling.
Massive thanks to Steve for sorting me out a temporary in-line solution to getting a ligher socket into the car for my VBox. The box itself seemed to work great through the day. It captured all its data, which I’ll have to start to learn how to assess.
I only attached one camera for the day and hadn’t set up the box to show timing or map overlays. Again, more learning so I can prep this properly going forward.
Now, I just need to make a decision about Donington next weekend. I’ve very tempted and now I’ve got the car fairly run in, I can even trailer it! Luxury.
