My Race Car for 2010

ArosaMike

ArosaMike

Resident Kart Racer
Joined
Apr 30, 2005
Messages
883
Location
Leamington Spa
Car(s)
Mk5 VW Golf GTI, Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Race Car
It's been a good while since I posted on here properly. Thought many of you would be interested in my latest automotive acquisition though!

I've been karting for almost as long as I can remember, and have wanted to get into proper car racing for almost as long as that :p So whilst I'm still young and foolish and have a bit of spare cash, I thought I may a well take the opportunity whilst I've still got it and sign up to do some!

I put down a deposit on a new Caterham Academy car last April and after waiting over 6 months, I finally took delivery of the car in early November. I decided of course to build the thing myself to save a bit of cash and to get an understanding of the car.

For those unfamiliar with the whole Academy concept here's a basic explanation.

  • 56 people pay ?17,995 each and get a brand new Caterham Roadsport with a 125bhp Ford engine and a few race related mods
  • Caterham sort out all the race fees, championship fees and club memberships
  • You effectively turn up with the car and compete in 4 sprints and 4 proper races against the other 56 people.

You then keep the car at the end of the season and you can either sell it, or upgrade it for about ?1k and race in Roadsport B's.

So enough of the boring bits. Some pictures of the build, the final car and a couple of videos!

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The cave before the car arrived

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All the boxes arrive!

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Front suspension installed

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Gearbox in

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'Dropping' the engine in. How on earth you get the 2.0L Duratec in I don't know!

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Getting the diff in is great fun if you like to lie on your back for 2 hours whilst trying jiggling bolts and dropping shims all over the place!

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Exhaust in

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Wheel and centre console in

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Cage and seats in

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Rear De-Dion bits in

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Rear hubs and driveshafts on

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Rear brakes and discs on

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Engine wiring and cooling

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Getting there!

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Setting up the front toe

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Rear wings

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Front wings

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Warming up for the first time

[YOUTUBE]eFGb20fFQFg[/YOUTUBE]
Starting up for the first time

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Finished!

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Off to Caterham to get registered for the road

[YOUTUBE]incy-Hbw2G8[/YOUTUBE]
Some laps round Cadwell Park Mid December

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Some of the more exciting bits from the track day
 
Ah clubmans, its nice when everything comes in box's nice and clean!

I've never actually looked at a complete off the shelf kit. By the looks of it, everything is really set out well.

Where I work we built 16 road going cars -- our cars are much larger and use Nissan SR20's.

But anyway it looks really cool :) I love driving cars with separate front guards, you never miss an apex.
 
Yeah everything is brand new. Engine hasn't even run when you get it! It is all nicely organised, but there is room for improvement. They've been doing it for 50 years now, and yet they still can't send you everything you need (they always miss bits out of the boxes!) and they supply you with bags and bags of bolts, nuts and washers that you just don't need! So much money wasted on each car.

Some of the bits are a real pig to assemble too. You end up doing up bolts with 5 extensions joined together and making special tools to do stuff up in tight spaces!

R500 would be interesting to build.....Caterham make you sign a disclaimer though since they're so complicated. They won't officially sell you it as a kit unless you've got proven experience putting stuff together before I believe. A lot you end up having to figure out yourself as there is no build manual for it, and I know of one guy who was one of the first to have one who had to take is engine out after discovering the dry sump kit they'd sent him didn't actually work properly with the engine. It was trying to suck the oil out without pumping any in and unknown to him, trying to turn it over to get oil pressure resulted in it rubbing the main bearings on what is effectively a ?10,000 race engine! Caterham rebuilt it gratis, but it set him back 2 months!
 
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Wow, that's awesome! Can't wait to see your progress racing it!
 
ArosaMike said:
They've been doing it for 50 years now, and yet they still can't send you everything you need
Click to expand...

Bear in mind that the first Seven was designed over Sunday lunch at Colin Chapman's house for manufacture by Lotus and has been evolving rather than just refining ever since.
 
MadCat360 said:
Man I WISH we had the Caterham program in the states. Good luck man.
Click to expand...

You can buy them here. In fact there is a distributor here in north Texas.
 
starfox07 said:
You can buy them here. In fact there is a distributor here in north Texas.
Click to expand...

Not the Academy racing program, that's the one I meant.

There are pretty much no organized ways to race modern Caterhams in the US.

I couldn't think of a better track toy though. Probably a blast to drive just on the streets, too, what with no doors and all.
 
Very nice. How are you finding the transition from karts?

Also, do you have a dog box in it? It sounds like it but I wasn't sure.

Certainly a lot of fun, though. Where will your races be?

Steve
 
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