Meteor Motorsports

[Croc]

So I was in Wales to admire the sheep and terrible weather last weekend and I stopped in at Meteor Motorsports to pick up some go faster goodies for the upcoming driving season to stay ahead of Seb and Simon.

 

Meteor Motorsports is a Caterham performance specialist based in Court Henry, Wales, about 45 minutes drive north of Swansea. It is literally surrounded by fields of green and sheep. Simon Rogers is a keen Caterham enthusiast and very successful competitor. He is an 8 time class winner of Lotus 7 Club of UK Speed Championships. He is a 2 time winner of the Lotus 7 Club Championship. He holds over 10 class lap/hillclimb records in his Caterham. So he knows how to drive and knows what works for a fast seven (not just Caterhams).

 

Why is he so fast? Well clearly, from my personal experience, the weather is so bad that you can only stay inside and work on your car.

 

But anyway:

 

 

 

 

 

Simon's Caterham is a Hayabusa bike-engined car. Runs the sequential gearbox from the bike. He uses it as a test bed for the products he says.

 

 

 

 

 

His specialty is shock absorbers/dampers/springs for Caterhams. Our cars are so light (excluding Stalkers) that standard production shocks will not work without being custom valved to account for weight.

 

 

 

 

 

I was surprised to hear that Simon has a reasonably sized US client base of seven car owners who he supplies shock absorbers to.

 

If you are interested in browsing the website then it is here

https://www.meteormotorsport.com/

 

He will ship so you do not have to go to Wales like I did!

Edited February 29, 2020 by Croc

[drewbrese]

I endorse Simon and Meteor Motorsport as well. I purchased a set of shocks for my car from him last year. He was helpful in explaining the differences and what might best suit my needs.

[xcarguy]

Croc, thanks for sharing. And sorry about my interrupting your breakfast this morning.

[Croc]

I am 5 hours ahead of you - it was a late lunch!

[coffee break]

I am 5 hours ahead of you - it was a late lunch!

 

Or a second breakfast for hobbits

[Kitcat]

Does he re-valve existing shocks?

[Croc]

Yes - but you have to send the shocks to him.

 

Why would you not upgrade?

Edited February 29, 2020 by Croc

[Kitcat]

Re-valving would be the upgrade. I think what a shock expert does is "tune" the existing shock, whether it is a new one at stock spec, or a used one. They use their shock dyno to determine what levels of compression and rebound are ideal for the application, weight of the car, etc. If the shock is adjustable, the owner can further tune it (usually screw it up by making everything too stiff:)). There should be no reason to replace the shock body etc., when the inner valving is where the magic is. No?

[fastg]

Kitcat is correct, a good shock can be rebuilt and the damping changed. A good shock shop will be able to make changes to the base damping, finding a shop that has experience with our light weight cars might be tough. But the issue is the sophistication of the shock your working with. The engineering inside a Penske or Ohlins shock should not be underestimated. So I can tune my GAZ shocks forever but they will never be a high end shock. Penske is probably the best should you can get full support on in the US. Remote reservoir is a big upgrade as it separates the compression from the rebound damping so they can both do a better job. Do not skimp on shocks they can make a huge difference.

 

Graham

[Croc]

I bought a set of Penske one way shocks off Meteor for my ex-maroon Caterham. Simon had valved them specially for it, allowing for the zetec engine weight being slightly different than the usual Duratec, CRossflow and Rover K series engined cars. Once I had dialed them in the handling was much better than when the 12 year old Bilsteins were on it. Slightly firmer ride on road but a better handling response. Lovely looking shocks too!

[MeteorMotorsport]

Hi Guys

 

It's been a while since I posted here. Forgive me for my sin!

 

Thanks Croc and everyone else who has offered some kind words.

 

Croc (cough sorry clearing my throat) its 22 current records. :driving:

 

Yes any damper can be revalved but I can 100% say that there are light years between each end of the market. Sometimes we even see high end brands that dont adjust as we would like or expect. You would be surprised.

 

We get the manufacturers to build new to our spec as we have such close relationships with them. No need to take them apart again.

 

Penske, Quantum and Ohlins all have a 2 way damper that doe not need a reservoir.

 

Check out our primary suspension website at http://Www.raceshocks.uk for the Tractive Active suspension. As used by Pagani, Dallara and RUF Porsche. I have used it in the past and will again this year.