Tuesday 30 May 2017

Three Years Later - My R500 is SOLD!

It's a week away from three years, since I took delivery of my beautiful Caterham R500 Duratec... And now its become Cliff and Alli Malone's beautiful Caterham R500 Duratec.
Handing over the keys of my Caterham R500 Duratec to Cliff Malone, the new owner.
Handing over the keys of my Caterham R500 Duratec to Cliff Malone, the new owner.
I've had a great time with the car; with a few ups and downs along the way (downs mostly  throughout the build phase) and plenty of fun/expensive upgrades - which was all part and parcel of the 'Caterham experience' which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Cliff and Alli were a genuine delight to deal with, and although I've asked for 'first refusal' if they ever decide to sell it, I can see them both having many years of pleasure out of the car.

Here's a video of Cliff leaving in 'the beast':-
I trust they had a safe journey home, and will hopefully see them on a track-day or any other event in the near future.

I'm pleased I've sold the car, as the Academy season is more of a commitment than I initially thought it would be and the additional space in the garage will make general 'maintenance' more straight forward.  It's a shame as I utterly loved the R500, and now I'm left with a 125bhp Academy car in my garage, and an empty space where the R500 was - how did that happen?!?  Again, all part of the 'Caterham experience'!  ☺

Next up, Brands Hatch this weekend....  My race is at 4pm on the Sunday, so hopefully see some of you there ☺

Sunday 21 May 2017

Curborough Sprint - 5th Place

WARNING - MOTORSPORT CAN BE CRUEL!

Having been to Curborough a couple of times in my R500, I was feeling confident about the day ahead.   The only thing that was going to get in my way of a win (and hopefully a new lap record) was the weather which looked like it could be a bit of a lottery.

Onto the day...  There were two practice runs, followed by three timed runs...  The practice runs were dry, then there was a shower and the first timed run was wet; we stopped for lunch, the track dried out, the first seven runners in my group had a dry run and then a monsoon hit flooding the circuit,  leaving no-one else the opportunity of a comparative time which was highly frustrating.

Here's my times for the day:-
  • Practice 1 - 68.05 (fastest overall - dry)
  • Practice 2 - 67.28 (fastest overall - drizzle)
  • Timed Run 1 - 77.44 (fastest overall - wet)
  • Timed Run 2 - 79.15 (weather effected - dry/wet)
  • Timed Run 3 - 74.44 (fastest overall - wet)
And the full times are here:-
Timed runs for the 2017 Caterham Academy Green Group at Curborough Figure 8 sprint course - wet/dry/wet/dry
Timed runs for the 2017 Caterham Academy Green Group at Curborough Figure 8 sprint course - wet/dry/wet/dry
It's safe to say I was very unlucky with the weather, and I feel pretty down right now, but that is the harsh reality of motorsport - in particular sprint racing, where a 15 minute downpour in the middle of a session can win or lose you a weekend.

Here's two of my notable onboard videos from the day
74.44 Lap in Timed run three which was 2.5 secs faster than anyone else in like for like conditions:-

67.28 Lap with a bit of drizzle was the fastest time of the day - shame it was in practice 2:-


Having calculated the points I think I'm still 2nd in the Championship after this event, but I feel somewhat robbed, but I will dig deep and will be even more determined for a podium finish at Brands Hatch which is the first 'proper' race of the season two weeks today (4th June) - hopefully see you there!