Tuesday 26 August 2014

Domain Bonnet Decals

This could be scraping the bottom of the barrel for content, but thought I'd post it anyway...  

I'd not had any decals fitted to the side of the bonnet as the Superlight R500 decals I'd been supplied were black, and subsequently didn't really seem to go with the overall colour scheme...  So I had a version of the latest Caterham typeface and the 'R500' added together to make the domain of the blog.

I asked a local printing company to source the MacTac MACal 9807-07 Pro SL luminous orange media (URL to MacTac pdf here), and then cut it using the vector files I'd been supplied.  I decided to get a square version and a more domain type (landscape) version cut, in a number of sizes which were finished off today.
MacTac MACal 9807-07 Pro SL luminous orange decals cut in various sizes and formats.
MacTac MACal 9807-07 Pro SL luminous orange decals cut in various sizes and formats. 
Having had a number of different sizes and orientations cut, I decided to go for the longest landscape option, so measured up the bonnet height, centralised the decal and held it in place with a bit of masking tape.
www.caterhamr500.co.uk decal lined up, ready for fitting.
www.caterhamr500.co.uk decal lined up, ready for fitting.
Once I'd checked it was 100% straight and in the right place, it was time to peel off the adhesive backing, press the decal in place and carefully peel off the mounting paper.
Adhesive backing removed, ready for sticking to the bonnet and final mounting paper removal.
Adhesive backing removed, ready for sticking to the bonnet and final mounting paper removal.
And the end result - my domain on my car, and I think it looks like it should've always been there.
Domain decal stuck to bonnet on both sides.
Domain decal stuck to bonnet on both sides. 
Very easy to fit, was a five minute job and I'm very happy with the result.  I always wanted to get the domain on the car somewhere, and this was the authentic look I was aiming to achieve.

Sunday 24 August 2014

The Third Cat Bypass Pipe

Believe it or not this is my third, yes third! R500 Cat Bypass Pipe... Well the first one was for a different model, so in reality this is my second, but even so I've spent a fair few quid on cat bypass pipes now!

The second pipe had to be cut to allow the Raceco exhaust to fit - which felt a little weird if I'm honest, as cutting a brand new pipe just didn't seem right.  Link to my post about cutting and fitting the Raceco exhaust and bypass pipe is here.

So the third pipe was so I could run the standard R500 silencer without the cat.  It arrived at the beginning of the week, and as has been the general theme with quality control from Caterham, the pipe was scratched somewhat.  I considered polishing it myself with the steel polishing kit I'd recently bought (link to polishing cat here) but I just couldn't be bothered, so I took it to a local polishers.
Brand new, but scratched Caterham R500 Duratec Cat Bypass Pipe.
Brand new, but scratched Caterham R500 Duratec Cat Bypass Pipe.
I left it with the polisher for a couple of days. He rang on Friday to say it was ready, and it really looked significantly improved.  The sheen was much better and all the scratches had been removed.
Freshly polished Caterham R500 Duratec Cat Bypass Pipe.
Freshly polished Caterham R500 Duratec Cat Bypass Pipe.
Today I got round to fitting it - not a long job, as I seem to have been swapping my exhaust configurations over quite a lot recently... I'm becoming an expert as I can do the swap in under ten minutes!
My Caterham R500 Duratec with Cat Bypass and Standard Silencer fitted.
My Caterham R500 Duratec with Cat Bypass and Standard Silencer fitted.
So I went out for a quick blat to see if I could notice any difference, and I'm not sure if it was the placebo effect or not, but the car seemed to accelerate a (very) little better (if that was possible!) and the noise was certainly improved too!

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Bedford Autodrome South West Circuit Track Evening

Having had a fair few stressful days in the office, I was in desperate need of a 'release' and what better remedy than a few laps blasting around a track?!?

Matthew Larbey (silverback on blatchat) informed of a 'Track Evening' that was being run by Lotus on Track (LoT) at Bedford Autodrome.  There were only two places left, so after a brief email exchange with Paul (at LoT) this morning he confirmed they could fit me in and it was ok to attend.

So I had to pop home in my lunch break to change the air filter, exhausts, get my track day gear together and pick up the car... All in an hour!  It was tight, but I managed it.

The circuit being used was the South West Circuit, which is a configuration at Bedford I've not been on before, but I enjoyed it, as it was a bit more twisty than the GP configuration.

A couple of the videos from the evening are below.  As you'd expect from a Lotus event, there were a lot of Lotuses!  In the video below, there are fourteen overtakes, and mostly all of them are of Lotus Elise's.

Matthew Larbey has an R400 SV Duratec, and the video below is a bit of me following him, overtaking, putting half a hot lap in, then following and re-overtaking.


It was a good evening which was well run, and was the good release of adrenalin and stress that I needed.

Auto Express Issue No 1,333 20-26 August 2014

Last week when I was at Bedford Autodrome track day, a chap popped into the garage we were using and asked if we'd like to take part in some pictures for their magazine... I instantly recognised him, as it was Mat Watson from Auto Express magazine the guy who presents all of their YouTube videos.

Anyway, I was asked to be in the pictures alongside the SEAT Leon SC they were testing.  Pictures below of the front cover, and the article that I was pictured within.

Auto Express Issue No 1,333 20-26 August 2014 Front Cover
Auto Express Issue No 1,333 20-26 August 2014 Front Cover.
My Caterham R500 in Auto Express magazine.
My Caterham R500 in Auto Express magazine.
Seat Leon SC report in Auto Express magazine page 66 with my Caterham R500 pictured.
Seat Leon SC report in Auto Express magazine page 66 with my Caterham R500 pictured.
Seat Leon SC report in Auto Express magazine page 67 with my Caterham R500 pictured.
Seat Leon SC report in Auto Express magazine page 67 with my Caterham R500 pictured.
I'm back off to Bedford Autodrome tonight for an evening track blast with Lotus on Track which I'm very much looking forward to.  Just need to pop home at lunch to stick the carbon airbox and Raceco silencer on (again!).

Sunday 17 August 2014

Cat and Exhaust Polishing

Last weekend whilst in Wales the heavens opened, and I hurriedly unpacked the car cover I had taken with me, and chucked it over the car... Andy jumped in to get out of the rain and Alex kinda got in the side too... See picture below.
Me, Andy and Alex taking cover from the rain on the Top Gear Mountain road.
Me, Andy and Alex taking cover from the rain on the Top Gear Mountain road.
So why am I writing this?  Well it was a case of too much haste, and not enough thought as the car cover was resting on the roasting hot cat and silencer, and subsequently melted all over it.  Needless to say it looked a mess and I was very irritated, but once it cooled it was fairly easy to pick the plastic off.  However, it left a right old mess on my cat and exhaust.
Caterham R500 Catalytic Converter looking a bit of a mess after plastic removed.
Caterham R500 Catalytic Converter looking a bit of a mess after plastic removed.
I decided to buy a stainless steel polishing kit from Halfrauds, which cost about £25 in an attempt to get the exhaust back to it's original shiny standard.
Steel and Stainless Steel Polishing Kit.
Steel and Stainless Steel Polishing Kit.
The kit comes with three different graded buffing mops, with a straight arbor which allows them to be used in your hand drill.  Also supplied are three different compounds for using with each mop.  The instructions state to use only the correct compound with the right mop.
Steel Polishing Mops and Compounds.
Steel Polishing Mops and Compounds.
Below is a picture of the silencer and catalytic converter ready for polishing.
Caterham R500 Standard Silencer and Catalytic Converter ready for polishing.
Caterham R500 Standard Silencer and Catalytic Converter ready for polishing.
Close up picture of cat below.  As you can see there is quite a lot of tarnish on there from the heat which is fine, but where the plastic stuck to the cat you can see the tarnish has been removed and it just looks a little unpleasant.
Close up picture of my catalytic converter looking a bit sorry for itself.
Close up picture of my catalytic converter looking a bit sorry for itself.
At first I thought it would be ok to use the softest fishing mop, but I quickly found that the hardest mop (called a sisal mop) and the grey compound worked quickest.  Sometimes it's worth following the instructions!  However, the hardest mop did look very abrasive, hence my apprehension to use it straight away.   It took a good hour or so to get all the tarnish off as you can see in the picture below. The instructions suggested spending the most time on stage one, then less on stage two and stage three would be fairly quick.
Caterham R500 Catalytic Converter at first stage of polishing after using Sisal Mop and Grey Compound.
Caterham R500 Catalytic Converter at first stage of polishing after using Sisal Mop and Grey Compound.
Next it was onto the firm mop and pink compound.  It took about half an hour to polish it up to the standard below, but after seeing it slowly polish up it was very satisfying.
Caterham R500 Catalytic Converter at middle stage of polishing after using Firm Mop and Pink Compound.
Caterham R500 Catalytic Converter at middle stage of polishing after using Firm Mop and Pink Compound.
And the final stage was a quick polish with the soft mop and the blue compound for a mirror finish.
Caterham R500 Catalytic Converter polished after using final Soft Mop and Blue Compound.
Caterham R500 Catalytic Converter polished after using final Soft Mop and Blue Compound.
A couple of hours of polishing, and two battery re-charges of my hand drill later, here is the end result.  I think with a corded drill you may get a better RPM, so a quicker polish, but I'm still happy with the finish and it didn't take up too much of my Sunday.
R500 Silencer and Catalytic Converter looking nice and shiny... again!
R500 Silencer and Catalytic Converter looking nice and shiny... again!
So I fitted the silencer and cat, then took the picture below.
Freshly polished silencer and catalytic converter refitted to my Caterham R500.
Freshly polished silencer and catalytic converter refitted to my Caterham R500.
I'm very happy with the end result, shame the cat won't be on there for much longer as I've ordered (another) cat bypass pipe... My existing cat bypass pipe had to be cut to allow the massive Raceco silencer to fit.  But... I'll be looking forward to hearing what it'll sound like with the cat bypass pipe, standard exhaust and Pipercross air filter!

The question I'm left with now... Does this make me a 'polisher' :-( ???

Monday 11 August 2014

Bedford Autodrome Track Day

So my first proper track day... A month or so ago I went to Curborough Sprint course (link to post here) which was a track day too, I guess... but it was only one car on the circuit at a time and the laps were being timed too.

Today I was at Bedford Autodrome and as it is one of the toughest circuits in the UK in terms of noise, the restrictions for the day (which I think are the same throughout the year) were 101db static and 87.5db drive by.  So I pulled up, got tested at 5,500RPM and came in at 99.5db!  Preeetttyyy close to the limit!  Very glad I've got the Raceco can and carbon airbox now, as with the pipercross air filter and standard exhaust, there's no way it'd pass.

So onto the briefing (yawn) and then it was time to hit the track.  Below are some videos of the day... Chasing down some Ariel Atoms:-

Here is a video of some of the sideways moments and drifting / general playing around with the rear end...

Chasing down a new 991 GT3 - which sounded very nice and was driven extremely well by an 80 year old chap... He took me for a passenger ride in it, and he could drive... powersliding, drifting, deep in the braking zones, the lot!  I couldn't believe it... Amazing really.

And here's another view of the same action this time from Andy's onboard cam...  He done well to keep up as he has an R300, but... was running on slick tyres with flat floored suspension too... nice.

As you can see from the videos the gearbox was giving me a little bit of grief, and we ended up getting black flagged for noise... This was because the three of us were running very close together and were getting close to the db limits...  However as we were having so much fun, we didn't care, and it was the end of the day anyway.

A great day out, and am already looking forward to my next track day.  I'm also looking forward to getting that gearbox looked at too, but that's not until early September.

Track Day Prep

After a 636 mile blat to Wales and back yesterday the car was well and truly filthy.  It was a late finish last night, and with a track day at Bedford Autodrome tomorrow, it was time to clean the car, give it a spanner check and to put the carbon airbox and raceco exhaust on.

I jacked the car up as there was an weep of oil coming from the gearbox, which needing investigation, put the car on the axle stands, took the wheels off and got to work.
Caterham R500 after wales blat with wheels off ready for cleaning and spanner check.
Caterham R500 after wales blat with wheels off ready for cleaning and spanner check.
Took a look at the gearbox and could see there was a small weep of oil from the propshaft area.  I spoke to Caterham and the car is booked in to have this checked out, but Tom there suggested this was still ok to use.
Propshaft Seal Oil Leak
Propshaft Seal Oil Leak
Andy is joining me on the track day tomorrow, so he came along and parked his R300 (on it's trailer in the garage).
Caterham R500 and R300 Duratec's parked in my garage.
Caterham R500 and R300 Duratec's parked in my garage.
So with the exhaust changed, carbon airbox fitted, spanner and fluid check complete the car is ready for tomorrow.  Looking forward to it.

Saturday 9 August 2014

Blat to Aberystwyth and Back... In a Day!

Quite a few months ago, a blat had been organised to go to Wales to explore the lovely roads there.  The original plan was to get up early on Saturday morning, drive there, blat until we dropped, camp out then do it all again on the Sunday and return home.  However... with the looming bad weather forecast, the weekend quite quickly changed to a mega one day event.

So at 4:45 it was out with the car to meet up with the guys at Reading services on the M4.
Leaving for Wales at 4:45am
Leaving for Wales at 4:45am
A mildly slippery and dull hour and a half later I turned up at Reading services, where Alex (white R500) had been waiting for a couple of minutes, quickly followed by Andy (blue R300) and Steve (Black 1600 Superlight K Series).
The boys meeting up ready for the blat of the year!
The boys meeting up ready for the blat of the year!
We got the pleasantries out of the way pretty quickly - had a coffee and a bacon bap, at which point I decided to run up a tab of the day to see how much a day like this costs and then we hit the road - current spend £5.  I think we left Reading services around 7am... A bit of fun on the motorway, and around an hour later we arrived at Chepstow services for a fuel fill at and a couple of bottles of water, current day total now £42.87.  We prepped ourselves and got ready for the good stuff.
At Chepstow services getting ready for the good stuff...
At Chepstow services getting ready for the good stuff...
The first route was from Chepstow to Builth with a stop off half way to grab some fuel £24.14 and a cheeseburger and fries from the Burger King £1.98, current spend total £68.99.
The route we took from Chepstow to Builth
The route we took from Chepstow to Builth
A couple of hours and many miles of great blatting roads later we stopped off at the dam at Pen Y Garreg in the Elan Valley and took some pictures... Link to the 6 Dams website is here:
 
2x Caterham R500's, 1x Caterham R300 and 1x Caterham K series 1600 Supersport at the Pen Y Garreg Dam
2x Caterham R500's, 1x Caterham R300 and 1x Caterham K series 1600 Supersport at the Pen Y Garreg Dam.

left to right... Me, Steve, Alex and Andy with our Caterhams at the Pen Y Garreg Dam.
left to right... Me, Steve, Alex and Andy with our Caterhams at the Pen Y Garreg Dam.

Caterham R500 interior shot at the Pen Y Garreg Dam
Caterham R500 interior shot at the Pen Y Garreg Dam.
We left the dam, heading onto Aberystwyth where we intended to stop off for some lunch and make a decision as to which route back we were going to take.

Builth to Aderystwith blat route via the dam at Pen Y Garreg in the Elan valley
Builth to Aderystwith blat route via the dam at Pen Y Garreg in the Elan valley

Another hour or so later we arrived at Aberystwyth...  The weather was superb, so we parked the cars up on the promenade and stopped for some lunch.  Lunch consisted of fish, chips, mushy peas and a diet coke to wash it all down - another £7.20... Total spend up to £76.19...
Caterham's parked up on Aberystwith promenade.
Caterham's parked up on Aberystwith promenade.
Aiming to take as much advantage as possible of the better than forecast weather, we decided to make our way to the Top Gear mountain road which was about 100 mile cross country blat from Aberystwyth, so it was another fill of fuel at £14.01 and off we went... Total spend now £90.20 
Aberystwyth to Top Gear mountain road route.
Aberystwyth to Top Gear mountain road route.
The weather turned somewhat on the way there through the Western end of the Elan Valley , B4574, near Cwmystwyth so we stopped for a picture, a 'comfort break' and to let the clouds blow past.
Western end of the Elan Valley , B4574, near Cwmystwyth
Western end of the Elan Valley , B4574, near Cwmystwyth
Probably around two hours later we arrived at the bottom of the Top Gear mountain road... Started our ascent and the heavens opened..! so half way up we stopped to take some shelter - which wasn't easy as we all had aero screens... Luckily I had anticipated the odd shower and packed my car cover, much to the amusement of everyone else... That is until it rained and I wasn't so stupid then, or at least I thought I wasn't, as whilst hurriedly covering the car I failed to notice the car cover resting on the exhaust and melting rapidly.  The exhaust and cat looked a right mess, but once it cooled down it was quite easy to pull the plastic off, however there are still some marks on the exhaust, so I've got a metal polishing kit and will do a post about (hopefully) making it perfect again!
Three people taking cover from the rain in a Caterham R500... or are they dogging?!?
Three people taking cover from the rain in a Caterham R500... or are they dogging?!?
Once we'd got 'mildy moist' half way up the Top Gear mountain road with time pushing on, we decided to call it a day.  We headed back via a service station for yup, more fuel... £28.55 along with a mint Kit Kat Chunky and a bottle of water... Total spend for the day creeping into the hundred pound bracket at £118.75
 
We headed back to the M4 which we hit around 6pm.  An hour or so into the journey home on the M4 it was time for more fuel, £19.98 bringing the days total to £138.73... Another hour and a half back home, and as the reserve fuel light had been on for 10 miles or so I thought it best to completely fill up to have an accurate cost for the day... So I filled up under a mile from home which was another £36.02 going in, bringing the total for the day to £174.75.

So in summary, the day cost £174.75 fuelling both me and the car, I'd say another tenner or so on topping up the oil and general consumables and 636 miles of depreciation... Well that's looking on the negative... On the positive, it was an absolutely superb day of blatting and I'd highly recommend anyone who has a seven who is considering going to go.  Yes, the motorways there and back are boring, but the roads when you get there well and truly make up for it. Doing the whole lot in a day was a bit much, especially as I live in Hertfordshire, but otherwise an altogether amazing day.
 

Friday 8 August 2014

Low Flying Magazine Arictle - August 2014 Issue

About half way through my build in mid March 2014 I'd been approached by Michael Calvert (editor of Lowflying magazine) to do a write up about my build... At which point I was extremely busy with the build, and I hadn't even finished the car, so I suggested it best to write something once the car was finished and on the road.

With the car on the road since the 6th of June, and a fair few spare hours 'poolside' whilst on holiday last month, I done a write up for Michael and it's been published in this months' Lowflying magazine... pages 30, 31 and 32.  For those of you who aren't subscribers to the magazine, I've scanned this months front cover and the three pages of the article.
Lowflying Magazine Front Cover - August 2014 Issue
Lowflying Magazine Front Cover - August 2014 Issue
Page 30 of Lowflying Magazine - August 2014 Issue
Page 30 of Lowflying Magazine - August 2014 Issue
Page 31 of Lowflying Magazine - August 2014 Issue
Page 31 of Lowflying Magazine - August 2014 Issue
Page 32 of Lowflying Magazine - August 2014 Issue
Page 32 of Lowflying Magazine - August 2014 Issue


In anticipation of some reads of the blog as a result of the link in the article below is a video of a recent blat around some of the lanes in Hertfordshire:-

And below is an excerpt from the video above which is a short tunnel blast with the exhaust noise of the R500 running with Pipercross Air Filter, Cat in place and standard R500 silencer - sounds amazing!

Tomorrow morning is a very early start as I'm off to Wales for the day with a number of other Caterham owners for a (or many) Welsh Mountain Road Blat(s) which I'm very much looking forward to.

Then Monday I'm booked in at Bedford Autodrome for a track day, so let's hope the Carbon Airbox and Raceco Exhaust are worth their money and actually get me within their db limits!

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Carbon Handbrake Grip Fitting Guide

This was one of those 'essential' upgrades that I ordered from Carsten Filmer, over in Germany during the couple of months that my car was away at Caterham waiting for the fuel pump, PBC and the IVA to be completed. 

Anyway, I got round to fitting it today, and thought I'd do a little guide so anyone else that wants to fit one will know what's involved, which isn't much actually - it was pretty easy.
Caterham Carbon Handbrake Lever from Carsten Filmer, Germany.
Caterham Carbon Handbrake Lever from Carsten Filmer, Germany.
The original handbrake lever and grip which I found was a little too large to get my fingers underneath when trying to lift to engage.
Caterham Handbrake Lever and Grip.
Caterham Handbrake Lever and Grip.
The grip was really easy to remove, just a slight twist,pull and it was off in no time.
Removing grip from Caterham handbrake lever.
Removing grip from Caterham handbrake lever.
With the grip off I decided to get the scales out (again) to see what lightness I was adding with this mod.  The standard rubber grip weighed in at 56g.
Original Caterham handbrake grip weighing 56g
Original Caterham handbrake grip weighing 56g
And the carbon lever weighed in at 40g - a massive saving of 16g!
The carbon handbrake grip weighing just 40g
The carbon handbrake grip weighing just 40g
With the original rubber grip removed, I offered up the alloy ends of the carbon unit, and it turns out they wouldn't fit around the metal handbrake lever pipe due to the welds on the underside.
Welding seams on underside of lever restricting fitment of the alloy sleeve ends.
Welding seams on underside of lever restricting fitment of the alloy sleeve ends.
So I covered up the transmission tunnel and seats with a large decorators cloth, then it was out with the Dremel to file away the welding seams.
Filing away the welding seams with my Dremel - nice sparking!
Filing away the welding seams with my Dremel - nice sparking!
With the welding seams removed I cleaned up the metal with some kitchen towel and methylated spirits as Carsten suggested using silicon to stop the carbon sleeve from spinning around the end caps, so thought it best to have a clean surface to silicone to.
Cleaning handbrake lever with methylated spirits prior to carbon handbrake lever fitting.
Cleaning handbrake lever with methylated spirits prior to carbon handbrake lever fitting.
As I didn't want to silicone anything in place before trying out the sizes and so on I test fitted the carbon grip.
Test fitting carbon handbrake grip.
Test fitting carbon handbrake grip.
Happy with the test fit, I thought it was probably best to silicone the end caps to the carbon sleeve, rather than the whole assembly to the handbrake lever, so I ran a very thin bead of silicone round the rim of the cap.  Inserted the cap into the sleeve and quickly wiped away and reside, ensuring the holes in the sleeve lined up with the allen bolts in the cap.
Silicone applied to cap prior to insertion in the sleeve.
Silicone applied to cap prior to insertion in the sleeve.
With the carbon grip test fitted I thought it perhaps a bit too long, but quickly I got used to it and think the finished article looks absolutely superb and miles better than the original rubberised grip.  And as it is thinner in circumference it makes it much easier to get my hand underneath, so a great upgrade. 

I measured the length of the carbon sleeve and on mine it's 91mm in length.  Carsten can make them in any size to order, and whilst I like the size of mine it could do with being perhaps 10mm shorter so that you can see both cap ends.  But... Like I said I thought it was too long initially, however I've grown to like the length and how it fits.
The finished carbon handbrake lever fitted to my Caterham R500 Duratec.
The finished carbon handbrake lever fitted to my Caterham R500 Duratec.
The carbon handbrake grip only costs £50 (delivered to the UK!) and can be ordered by contacting Carsten Filmer by way of email.  I believe he's made plenty, his email address is Carsten.Filmer@gmx.de and he dispatches them very quickly.... All in all a great upgrade.