HPC

My favourite two pictures from my car. Not as good as other pics in this thread but from track days I have nice memories of. http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/66/catspafz5.jpg Spa-Francorchamps in the rain http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4035/catflugplatznk7.jpg Nurburgring Nordschleife

Check your battery voltage. I changed the relay in my Caterham (exactly that one from Wehrle) when it refused to work but without success. I exchanged the battery then because the Cat didn't always start properly and the relay problem was equally gone, also with the old relay which I put back into the car. BTW: The hazard lights even worked with the old and weak battery so its not a case of "all or nothing".

Superlight means it is equipped with wings, seats, dashboard and nose from CF and a wind deflector instead of a windscreen in order to make the car lighter. It hasn't directly to do with the chassis or the engine. Concerning the CSR. IRS makes the ride smoother but brings a bit more weight. I prefer the S3 chassis though because it is smaller and nimbler (my HPC has an S3 chassis). Of course the Cosworth engine makes the CSR a true rocket. Edit: Some Superlights have indeed windscreens.

I assume you mean the Caterham USA website. The main differences lie in the chassis. Currently there are following Caterham Chassis: - S3 This is the small chassis with DeDion rear axle. The Caterham Classic and the Caterham SCCA is based upon it. The Classic comes without engine and transmission while the SCCA is already equipped with a Zetec and has some racing parts such as a roll cage instead of rollbar, honeycomb panels, race tank etc. - SV This is a chassis similar to the S3 but increased in its dimensions. That means it has still the DeDion rear axle. - CSR This is the chassis that comes with the CSR200 and CSR260. It has roughly the dimensions of the SV chassis but it has IRS instead of a DeDion axle. The CSR is mostly (outside the USA: always) equipped with the Ford Cosworth Duratec 2.3L engine. The transmissions you can use is the Ford T9 or the Caterham transmission. If you buy a Zetec together with a FWD transmission you have to throw away the transmission and use the T9 or Caterham transmission instead.

I did that and, well, at least did expect a short "hi" from someone. The reaction? Nothing, null, nada, niente. Just as if you enter a room and everybody turns away from you. Which is the reason why I deleted it again and will leave this seemingly not very friendly forum. PS: No, I will not let the door hit my back on the way out (in case someone feels the need to post something like that).

Time for me to post something here, I guess, after having an account for some weeks. My name is Uwe and I'm living in Düsseldorf, Germany, working as a software programmer for optical inspection systems. As my user name suggests my tool of choice is a Caterham HPC with 165 bhp Opel/Vauxhall engine. Previously I had a Seven from a german car builder which was, apart from a Cosworth engine with 220 bhp, more of a cruising car, i.e. quite heavy and with carpets, roof, leather seats, normal windscreen. But then I decided I needed something completely different. So the Caterham is equipped with no roof (but a full rollcage), no windscreen, no leather seats (CF instead), no carpets - in short, the (nearly) perfect toy for the track (but with street approval). Cheers Uwe

For this price and with that option list the car would have been sold in Germany in a minute.

I had a Cosworth Turbo in my previous Seven with 221 bhp stock performance. I considered upgrading but after talking to several people and seeing some engine failures myself I decided to leave it as it is. A chipped Cosworth engine which has no internal modifications can take ~280 bhp at maximum. Everything above will go pop sooner or later.

The biggest problem with Sevens at speeds where aerodynamic effects come into play is uplift at the front axle - apart from the aerodynamic drag obviously. So I would think a rear diffusor is somewhat counterproductive and creating downforce at the front is much more important.

I once checked the oil on my previous Seven standing somewhere in the street and while I did some old fellow came and bombarded me with the usual questions concerning Sevens. So I forgot to lock my hood. Guess what happened next day at 60 mph. :banghead: And on that Seven the hood had hinges near the wind screen so it didn't simply fly away like it would do with my current Caterham. Instead it folded itself over the wind screen like a blanket which meant I suddenly found myself in blind flight - and this without a proper IFR license.

The driver was Stefan Roser, then test driver for a german car magazine. If anyone has webspace available: I have the complete video in decent quality (about 110 MB).

I probably expressed myself a bit ambiguously. With "driving the very first season" I meant the other drivers not Mike Solan who was driving the camera car.

Classic grads are driving on Yokohama A539 (normal road tires), Super and Mega grads have the A048 (semi slicks). But there is also a big difference in the drivers. If someone is driving his very first season and being at Spa for the first time he can't be as good as the experienced racer Mike Solan seems to be. Watch the end of the first lap when he brakes into the La Source hairpin (~3:20). It just looks like he was caught by surprise by the early braking of the other cars in front of him and he was lucky the other chap didn't close the door.

He wrote he was in the highest class, so he must have had a MegaGraduates car with 150 bhp. There are two other classes with 100 and 120 bhp in the Academy so he had a hp advantage indeed. Of course his driving wasn't too bad either - even if sometimes a bit optimistic.

The Caterham run was done in the wet. That might explain it.

My car is equipped with aeroscreen and half doors but your figures sound reasonable for me. I've driven my car at topspeed (215 kph / 135 mph) wearing only aviator goggles but this is an exercise in masochism. Every fly hurts and you don't want to think about overtaken trucks throwing small stones at your face (let alone bigger ones).

Looked like your car was a bit more "loose" in right-hand corners than in left ones. I guess the left rear tire didn't look too good at the end of the session.

I have A048 on my Caterham and I think they are quite good in the wet, especially when I compare them to A032 which I had before. The amount of standing water they can take before the car starts aquaplaning is not bad at all. About driving them in cold weather you're absolutely right. I drove the Cat in January - we had no snow this winter hence no salted streets - and on wet roads with temperatures slightly above freezing point you have to be VERY careful. Bit too much throttle and you fishtail down the road (I did - and was lucky to not hit anything).

Yokohama Advan A048 by standard. They are surprisingly good in the wet but one has to be careful on standing water and when it is cold (I guess I didn't have to tell that ).