2017 Academy Sponsorship Decals

With the first 'real' on track event coming up this Friday at Castle Combe circuit, the Caterham team have been pretty specific that unless the cars are 100% race ready, we will not be able to go out on track.  

As the race decals are part of the requirement, they have to be fitted for Friday otherwise I won't be able to partake... So time to get a move on, and get the decals applied.

First things first - clean the car (after Spa it was a little grubby) to remove any grit / dirt, tyre debris etc etc.  I found autoglym intensive tar remover to work the best at removing tyre rubber.

Car washed prior to decal fitment

All the decals were supplied at the handling day and in the decal pack there was a full schematic with positions, sizes and so on...

I mixed up a bit of fairy liquid, and water into a spray bottle, got the decals out and worked out where everything would go before getting stuck in... I decided to start with the front of the car, and found that putting plenty of lubrication on the bodywork and the decal would give plenty of slip, giving more than enough time to line everything up.  With the decals positioned correctly I squeezed out all of the water, and then used a heat gun on a low setting to dry the decals and make the adhesive go off.

2017 Caterham Academy Car nose cone with sponsors decals fitted

Naturally, me being me, I wasn't happy to use the supplied side decals (in white) and wanted them in a similar colour to the yellow the car stripes and cage are painted in...  I had a bit of a 'wobble' a few weeks ago when deciding on the final yellow, as the options were not 100% right, but I decided on the MacTac MacCal 9807-00 Pro Semi Luminescent.

Three different yellows, all not 100% right, but the 9807-00 Pro SL was what I decided on.

The side sponsor decals and Caterham logo were cut by SignsUK and here's a picture of them fitted, and I'm pleased with the colour I went with as on the car it's an excellent match, and I think it looks superb:-

Side Decals Fitted

I also decided to get the rear decal in the blue of the car, and the colour I found was pretty much spot on, so fitted all of the wing decals and then the centre decal too.  I may splice in the smaller parts of the rear centre decal with yellow bits, but I'm still undecided if this is too fussy or not.

And today I took this picture of the car finished and 'race ready':-

My 2017 Caterham Academy Car with Sponsorship Decals fitted and Sprint Race Number

Next up - Castle Combe test day ☺