Caterham CSR pedal spacing

[TurboWood]

Hi,

I’m not sure how widely this applies, but I figured I would share. Ever since building my CSR I found the pedal spacing to be terrible. I could barely fit my shoe between clutch and brake, and this made heal/toe impossible. Frankly I don’t understand why Caterham would do this. My best guess is there is some regulation somewhere about the distance between brake and throttle pedals, but how could that apply to a kit?

 

Anyway, my solution was to bend the brake pedal back to nearly straight. I believe Caterham sells straight pedals, but it was easier to source a factor pedal and bend it.

 

I took my first drive with this over the weekend and it is definitely better. I’ll need some more time to perfect my shifting, but at least my right foot can finally reach both pedals. 
 

Daniel

 

 

 

Edited March 20 by JohnCh
Rotated images

[ashyers]

I did  something similar with my SV. Used a press and v block to bend the pedal so it works for blipping. I'll have to dig up the photos. At some point I want to bend the clutch too so I can fit a dead pedal. The pedal spacing is definitely a bit wonky! At least my feet fit in the SV !

 

Andy

[Croc]

Yes this is an "approved" method. 

 

Sometimes you can adjust the spacers in the pedal box to move them around on the spindle from which the pedals hang.  Failing that then you bend the pedal arm. 

 

Even so I have always found it incredibly difficult to heel and toe in my CSR.  Much less difficult in the 420R. 

 

 

[Croc]

6 hours ago, ashyers said:

At some point I want to bend the clutch too so I can fit a dead pedal.

 

 

I slide my foot underneath the clutch pedal as a rest - not an option for you?

[sf4018]

A 3" gap between the brake and throttle pedals is unbelievable, what were they thinking? I don't have a CSR but I had the same throttle pedal, which I couldn't feel on my foot, so I swapped it out with a Loki pedal and added a heavy duty return spring behind it which made the heel toe a ton easier (the Loki pedal arm did need to be shortened though).

[theDreamer]

I have seen, sat in or driven a variety of Lotus and Caterham sevens over the decades. To be honest, I do not think that there was ever any two with the same pedal spacing. I will agree, seeing your CSR’s stock pedal locations make absolutely zero sense.

Best pedal spacing I have personal knowledge of was in a Caterham that had been upgraded by James Whiting. The spacing was just right for me, (first photo). I suspect it didn’t come from the factory like that. Looking at photos of my own car it appears that I’ll have to do some shimming and tweaking to get the spacing right (second photo). I won’t know for sure until it arrives sometime in the next three to five days.

[MV8]

It looks like the CSR has a notch in the frame to clear the pushrod with a higher leverage/ratio/lower effort (standard seven?) brake pedal, with the the brake pedal pivot about an inch inboard from where it is, in which case the offset brake pedal would make more sense. They may have reduced the pedal ratio for more brake feel/sensitivity and found the pushrod would foul the column, so they moved the new pedal over but the bends were overlooked. Could have been done with hydraulics but it would cost more.