BMW RACER Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Bruce. Congratulations on third place at Thunderhill. I've run that event four times and it's a tough one for car, driver and especially crew!! You guys have mastered the secret of long races STAY OUT OF THE PITS!! Do you have any photo's of the car after 25 hours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBe Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Here is a shot of the front of the car after the race. Just a little caked-on mud and oil from other cars, and 25-hours of bug jerky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 Thanks for the follow-up story. Amazing feat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersportsp Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 Here is a shot of the front of the car after the race. Just a little caked-on mud and oil from other cars, and 25-hours of bug jerky. Looks like you are running CSR (or CSR style) front fenders. But it also looks like you are running an offset that doesn't quite mesh right with them as the fenders extend to the inside significantly more than the tire. How much were you losing on top speed to the faster cars? Your laps times seem to be about 4-5 seconds slower than GT2/3 times based on the lap records for Thunderhill that I was just looking at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southwind25 Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 Proud of the results and what our little giant killers can do! fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBe Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Looks like you are running CSR (or CSR style) front fenders. But it also looks like you are running an offset that doesn't quite mesh right with them as the fenders extend to the inside significantly more than the tire. How much were you losing on top speed to the faster cars? Your laps times seem to be about 4-5 seconds slower than GT2/3 times based on the lap records for Thunderhill that I was just looking at. Those are CSR fenders, in fiberglass. Mark has 8(!) sets of 13x6 wheels, which ultimately constrained the tire package. The roll-cage adds a lot of additional aero-drag, and all the drivers could notice a big difference when drafting behind a larger BMW or Porsche. Thunderhill is certainly an open, flowing, horsepower track, more so with the bypass, which is how the race was run. Unless otherwise noted, the track records you'll find are indicated for a counter-clockwise orientation without the bypass of the Cyclone (Turn 5). This Caterham started life as an SCCA E-Production racer. The mods add a bit of horsepower, but probably not much more than a ragged-edge build for a National Run-Offs car. The car is also not at EP class weight, due to the larger fuel-cell and other ancillaries. Nonetheless, our fast lap of 1:58.2xx is right in line with the E-Production lap record of 1:58.757, given all of the adjustments. Our race strategy included a 2:01 lap-time target, to save the equipment and keep everyone on the paved side of the race-track. In fact, on several occasions drivers were "warned" to slow down. 25-hours is a long time. The faster Porsches could turn 1:49's at pace, and the Porsche behind us could turn 1:54-1:55 consistently. The 2nd place car was 22 laps in front of us. We had a total of 28 minutes in the pits during the entire race, which constituted 10 pit-stops. At a race-pace of 2:00/lap, we would have only gained 14 laps on the 2nd place car if we were pulling a trailer full of fuel, no tire changes, and had a single catheterized driver run the entire event :-) -Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersportsp Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 That big Recaro race seat with the flared headrest area seems like it would catch a ton of air as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBe Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 That big Recaro race seat with the flared headrest area seems like it would catch a ton of air as well. As well as the big people *in* the big Recaro seat :-) BTW - I noticed at least one other thread talking about vehicle weight. This car weighs 1340lbs without fuel and driver. -Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I just bought this Caterham. Decided to go full-tilt w/dedicated track car and skip the street experience. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowss7 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Congrats Mike!:hurray: Can't wait to see it at NJMP in a few weeks. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvl Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Very cool. Congrats. I recall checking out this car at Thunderhill in 2010, as we were pitted next to their team. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxologist Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 like woah. Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bball7754 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Mike - You seem to have become a serial Seven owner. Congrats. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I think Hank's Westfield would round out my collection nicely:). (And I seriously thot abt it, before buying this one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blubarisax Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Well now, that just looks like a lot of fun. I look forward to seeing it on the track in June!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBe Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I just bought this Caterham. Decided to go full-tilt w/dedicated track car and skip the street experience. Mike Congratulations, Mike. I just stumbled on this. Don't hesitate to PM if you have questions. -Bruce Beachman Beachman Racing Authorized Caterham Dealer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky dawg Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Bruce just completed my CSR a few weeks ago and did a great job. He probably knows as much as anyone about taking these apart and putting them back together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Thx Bruce, will do. There are a lot of very nice touches on my car. Repeated fuel pump failure has kept me somewhat sidelined (on pump# 3) but hopefully the glitches are gone, gas tank is clean and I can start to pile up the laps. I have a weekend track day on the near horizon and we'll see how it does. I swapped the tiny removable steering wheel for a much larger one. I was exhausted after 15 lap sessions from the steering effort. Prior drivers must have been specimens, I cant imagine how they did 1-3 hour long sessions, I wldnt be able to lift my arms. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceBe Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 Hi Mike, As one of the drivers at the 25, I can tell you that your forearms do get a workout. We actually swapped *out* the autocross rack, which has an even closer ratio. The only two technical aspects that pre-date our management of the car are the fuel-cell and oil accumulator. I have swapped out that pump in the past (actually upgrading it to a higher capacity). I would take a different approach with the fuel-cell/pump if we had a clean sheet of paper (in-tank OEM-spec pump for 2003 Focus). Best, -Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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