Daniel French's third season of Caterham Racing. Competing in the 2019 Motul 270R Championship. This blog shows my full Caterham Journey from the build of the awesome R500 Duratec, the Academy Car in 2017, track day information, videos and race results.
Being a member of the lotus7 club has it's benefits, and one of them is low price track days. One of this years events that I was very much looking forward to was Cadwell Park.
I'd provisionally booked the day with a view to checking the weather three days before the event and booking once I knew it was definitely going to be dry. The forecast showed a lot of rain, so I decided not to book, and quite rightly so... By all accounts it was extremely wet, and there were three accidents - certainly not what I was making a 220 mile round trip for!
Nevertheless, another session at Cadwell was available yesterday (with MSV track days this time) and being a bank holiday Monday - how could I turn that down. The price was only a tenner more than booking through the lotus7 club and the weather forecast was dry - it was a no brainer!
Unfortunately none of my mates could attend - so I left home early (5am!), and blatted up to Cadwell Park. The first half of the drive there was cold and boring, but the second half was great with some fun A and B roads which helped to break up the long journey.
on track at Cadwell Park in my Caterham R500 Duratec
Cadwell Park is a really nice circuit with blind bends and lots of elevation changes - the video doesn't do it justice! You can get a little bit of air over the mountain, and the next series of corners (hall bends) flows really nice and it's a great feeling travelling under the overhanging trees - Gooseneck is also very challenging and rewarding when you get it right! It really is a very technical circuit, so great for Caterhams (if a little bumpy in some parts)... The only problem is it’s so twisty you just catch everyone quite quickly, and there aren’t that many straights – so a lot of time is spent behind other cars... Out of the whole day I only really got ten or so laps in where I wasn’t held up by a slower car...
Having had the car flat floored by Rob at Rat Race Motorsport last week I was extremely keen to check out the new setup. In short, the handling is vastly improved; the car now turns when I want it to - so if you're having understeer woes I'd highly recommend getting your car flat floored by Rob based on my experience.
Below is a video of three laps where I wasn't caught up by any other cars. Hope you enjoy.
After experiencing some pretty significant understeer on various track days (the most recent being Folembray a couple of weeks ago), I've since been researching a number of ways to cure the problem (see this first corner, and the same corner at 58 seconds into the video below):-
From a different driving style, to anti roll bar settings, shock valves, flat flooring, the list is endless... A bit of head scratching, some questions asked on the lotus seven club and to some other suspension 'gurus' I decided to have the geometry and suspension setup adjusted which is known as having the car 'flat floored'.
Whilst building my car last year, a local Caterham owner told me about Rat Race Motorsport, suggested Rob there was a decent guy, and I should give them a call if I was interested in getting my car flat floored or even having any service work done and so on. I'd kept this in mind, and tried over the last couple of weeks to contact them, but there was never any answer on their landline... The long and short of this is that Rob is usually under cars - and subsequently can't get to the landline in time to answer it, so he prefers if you call him on his mobile 07956 269605.
After agreeing a price and time, I took my car down to his workshop in Potters Bar. We discussed what I was struggling with, what my weight is and how I'd like the car to handle in an ideal world. Rob's answer was pretty much 'Yes I know exactly what to do' which was good to hear... So I left the car with him for the day to do his magic.
Rob put the car on the scales and made a note of the existing settings.
Caterham R500 going onto the weigh bridge
The scales actually gave some interesting results... The weight for a start is somewhat heavier than the quoted 506kg, and they also suggested the settings were far from ideal. More about this on this page of my blog.
Geometry adjustments
Rob commented that the A-frame, De-dion and caster settings were very good, and testament to a well built car - which was either fact or flattery - either way I'm happy with that!
He went on to say that the ride height wasn't ideal though, raised the front by around 8-10mm and the rear was lowered by 6mm which left the car with a rake of around fifteen degrees. Rob winds the shocks in full then dials them out giving a positive number, whereas Nitron do it the other way around - anyway the front shock damping setting was changed to +8 (-16 in Nitron terms) and the rears to +12 (-12 in Nitron terms).
The front toe was changed as adjusting the ride height would effect this, so the car has been set back to a fairly neutral setting with a little toe-in. The front camber was also changed for similar reasons, but is running 2 degrees negative.
The rear toe remained unchanged as this was spot on.
Corner weighting
The final job was to adjust the weight on each corner for a perfect balance... 83 kilos of weight was added (which is my weight plus crash helmet) and then the preload platforms were wound across the front, then diagonally against the rears until the perfect weight distribution setting was achieved.
Caterham R500 on weigh bridge
On the journey home I decided to take a 'detour' (as you do in Caterham!) and go for an extended blat to see if I could notice any differences... To be fair the main understeer problem was on medium to high speed corners on tracks, which is difficult (if not impossible) to replicate on road driving, but the car did turn noticeably more with additional steering angle, which will hopefully be replicated on circuits.
I guess the full and final test will be at Cadwell Park this coming Monday (25th May 2015) where I'll be on a track day, which I'm very much looking forward to.
Overall a good service and from my initial findings a job well done by Rob at Rat Race Motorsport. A link to their website can be found below, along with his mobile number - 07956 269605. http://www.ratrace-motorsport.co.uk/
Now onto a new 'sore topic'... The car's weight...
I recently had the car flat floored by Rob at Rat Race Motorsport, and during the process the car was weighed to enable each corner of the car to be setup correctly. The weight figure for the car with 16.1kg of fuel and fluids is a shocking 575kg! Which is 69kg heavier than the quoted 506kg weight...
Caterham R500 'Superlight' Duratec going onto the scales - eventually weighing in at 575kg
There were the following fluids in the vehicle at time of weighing (all approximate figures)...
22 litres of fuel (the weight of the fuel would be 16.1kg)
six litres of oil
a litre of diff oil
a litre of gearbox oil
five litres coolant
brake and clutch fluids
Using an internet archiving system I've found the R500 'Superlight' Duratec page, and will quote what Caterham advertised the car as weighing at the time I placed my order:-
"Weight savings are achieved through a philanthropic application of carbon-fibre goodies, bringing the total weight of the car in at just 506kgs."
...they go on to say:-
"Mathematicians amongst you will have already calculated that anyone committed enough to strap themselves into the Kevlar race seats will be deploying a mighty 520 bhp-per-tonne with their right foot, capable of firing the car from 0-60 mph in just 2.88 seconds."
There's no suggestion or disclaimer mentioning that the 506kg is a dry weight, so I'm not sure how anyone would be able to 'deploy' 520 bhp-per-tonne with their right foot if the car doesn't have any fluids - as it won't run... which to me - is clearly advertising the car as ready to run in a 520 bhp-per-tonne state. Using the following online calculator the only way of achieving 520 bhp-per-tonne is by the car weighing 506kg, not the 575kg mine does - providing the engine is actually outputting the quoted 263bhp too!
Caterham R500 advertised weight and bhp-per-tonne
So I wondered what else could be adding weight, and have listed the options that would be heavier than standard spec:-
Heater (probably a kilo)
FIA roll bar (five kg extra max?)
Carpets (max two kg)
Hoodsticks still fitted underneath boot cover (max one kg)
Lowered floors (extra couple of kg max?)
With all of the above accessories fitted (approx 11 kg (maximum)), an allowance also needs to be made for the 10kg I've shaved off by way of lighter shocks, battery, headlights and other bits I've fitted (or removed), so I'd be extremely interested to see what specification Caterham ran when they managed to get a 'Superlight' R500 Duratec to weigh in at 506kg and run...
Let's put it this way - if you add the car (in a useable state with fluids as specified above), then add a driver - (I'm 83kg clothed with crash helmet) you're looking at a total weight of 658kg! Checking that in the power to weight calculator that gives exactly 400 bhp-per-tonne... hmmm... That's a very long way off the 528 bhp-per-tonne quoted...
I'm also certain that my car isn't any heavier than any other 'Superlight' R500 Duratecs, so I'd like to see what Caterhams stance on this is... I feel a letter to Caterham HQ coming on!!! :-)
On the first bank holiday weekend of May-15 around thirty sevens (and a couple of westies) went on an weekend blat to St Quentin, France and back with some track action at Folembray in the middle.
Was a great, well organised weekend, with lots of good blatting to St Quentin - perhaps a bit 'too good' as a few of us collect a speeding ticket on the way.
After we'd handed over our 90 euro fine, we continued 'slowly' onto the hotel. A bite to eat and a few beers later meant the first day was over and it was onto the track action at Folembray.
Folembray Circuit is located around an hour and a half south of Calais and seems to be a really nice little circuit, perfectly suited to Caterhams. Below are a few on board videos of the action from the day.
The first video is four reasonably hot laps of the circuit (in the morning)... There was still a little understeer which I dialled out a little later on in the day.
some off board action - I took JV for a passenger ride, and afterwards all he could say is... "You shouldn't treat old people like that!" LOL!
....and finally my quickest lap of the day a 56.55 - which is around two seconds off the circuit record... I think there is plenty of extra time to be had, and the first thing that will help will be a flat flooring setup which I'm getting done by Rob at RatRace Motorsport this coming Wednesday... and perhaps a little more bravery on the high kerbs would help too!
My OCD had a bit of a flare up around a month ago, when I found myself inspecting the purple heat tarnishing on the top of my exhaust manifolds. I managed to rein it in, and quite liking the purple look I decided not to have the manifold re-polished.
We then went to France for a track day at Folembray Circuit (last weekend), and on the way back the heavens opened... For hours! With the car in the garage (and dried) I took stock of the situation and freaked! It was a mess! A week long partial dismantling project, cleaning and rebuild later the car is now looking like new... and in the cleaning process I decided to get the whole exhaust re-polished.
I took the exhaust to a local polishing company, and suggested to them this could well become a 'once a year thing' and left it with them. Thinking with my sales pitch I could get a good price, but it that wasn't the case... the quote was astronomical and the lead time was huge, so I decided I could do it myself - being the 'polisher' I clearly am :-(
Exhaust, cat bypass pipe and manifold prior to polishing
The polishing machine is a bench grinder with the grinding wheels removed, two spindles and interchangeable polishing mops fitted at either end. The kit included the bench grinder, mop spindles, three polishing mops, six differing grade compounds and general protective wear.
Draper 550w bench grinder with polishing mops attached
The first stage was to use a sisal mop with the black compound. This process is the longest part of the polishing cycle, and took around three hours, but the results are very impressive.
Caterham R500 full exhaust polished using sisal mop and black compound
After the first stage the exhaust and pipes had what I can describe as a 'brushed steel' finish. The second stage was to use the cloth mop with the green compound to remove the brushed finish and to add some sheen.
Caterham R500 full exhaust polished with cloth mop and green compound
After the second stage the exhaust and pipes had a really nice shine, and I thought it couldn't get much better, but went through the full process anyway. The third stage was to give the exhaust a final mirror polish using the cotton mop with the white compound.
Caterham R500 full exhaust final polish with cotton mop and white compound
I refitted the exhaust system, and as you can see from the following pictures the results are very impressive. The whole exhaust system looks brand new, and the total hours spent 'polishing' was around five hours.
Polished manifold pipes on Caterham R500
Another picture below, showing the full polished system.
Caterham R500 full polished exhaust system - looking brand new
I'm really happy with the results, and I think it'll be a once a year (or two) job, but having invested in the equipment I may have some spare time to do more... For the right price :-)
After a long return trip to Folembray (which was superb by the way) there were a couple of general maintenance things that cropped up to do.
Firstly the aero screen mirror mount cracked, so a new one had to be fitted.
Cracked aero screen mirror mount
This was a straight forward replacement. Remove the old unit (as pictured above) completely unscrew the grub nut holding the ball into the socket. Remove the ball from the mirror stalk, then it'll drop out of the bottom of the mount. To refit reverse the above, and it should look something like this picture below:-
New aero screen mirror mount fitted
Whilst replacing the aero screen mirror mount, I also wanted to change the length of the bolts that were according to Caterham 'correct length' to some that didn't look wrong in my opinion.
The 'correct length' bolts for the aero mirror mounts... According to Caterham that is...
I ordered some stainless steel M5 countersunk bolts that are 10mm in (total) length, and they fit perfectly - and don't look like there's too much bolt left over, unlike the Caterham sized bolts (which I think are 16mm).
Stainless Steel Countersunk M5 10mm bolts used to fit aero screen mirror mount
I also noticed one of the rear boot cover poppers had broken, so this needed replacing.
Rear boot cover popper broken off
Quite an easy fix as I had some spare poppers.
Rear boot cover popper replaced
The exhaust also looked a complete mess after the soaking we had on the way back from France, so I decided to remove the exhaust and take it to a local polishing company for a 'spruce up' details of which I'll continue on the next post.
Exhaust can, cat bypass pipe and manifold pipes removed for polishing
On a recent trip to France I picked up my first 'blat'tle scar - a cracked headlight lens...
My first 'blat'tle scar - cracked headlight glass
Normally a cracked headlight isn't too much of a big deal to fix, but as they're the carbon headlights by Westermann Motorsport the glass is bonded into the headlight bezel with black silicone. Having said that it was still pretty easy to repair. I removed the headlight bezel, carefully cut the silicone out which was holding the glass in, removed the broken glass unit, ordered a new headlight glass unit from Caterham Parts, aligned and refitted the new glass and then using black silicone bonded it back into place.
New headlight glass bonded into carbon headlight bezel
With the new glass bonded into the headlight bezel, I left the silicone for 24 hours to dry and refitted the bulbs and screwed the headlight into place - job done.
New headlight glass fitted - carbon headlight now like new
It feels like I've only been running this blog for a month or so, but it's been live for nearly 18 months at the time of writing this, my 100th post.
So I thought about a post related to the number 100, decided to write a quick post about club100 which is the karting championship I race in.
Club 100 is Europe's fastest arrive and drive karting championship. The karts are made by Birel, direct drive (so no clutches), have 18bhp at 15,000rpm and are shod with Vega slick tyres - which makes them fast and all identical in spec.
The racing is arrive and drive, and the format of each race meeting is designed in a way to make the racing down to just driver skill - which is great. Turn up, get the kart that's allocated to you for qualifying. After qualifying you are allocated a different kart for your pre A final and then another kart for the main A final.
Last weekend (Sunday 26th May 2015) was my best result to date (this season). I had a poor qualifying session which put me in twelfth for the start of the pre-a final. I made up three places, finishing ninth and setting the class lap record in the process which put me on pole for the main A final. I had a bit of a lazy race, made a couple of mistakes which allowed a couple of other drivers through and I eventually finished in third place. There is a full race report on this page on the club 100 website.
Podium picture and on board videos below.
(pictured left to right) Darrell Lowe, Tim Hill and myself on the club 100 podium
On board video of the pre-A final:-
On board video of the main A final:-
Chris Simpson also provides at some rounds some great coverage, and excellent commentary, and his video of the race is below:-
I think it's a very well run championship. The racing is close, fair, well marshalled and there is great fun and excitement too, all at a fraction of the cost of some of the more expensive forms of racing, and I'd highly recommend it. A link to the club 100 website is here http://www.club100.co.uk/