Thursday 19 June 2014

The First Track Day - Curborough Sprint Course

During the ordering process, and the build stage, I'd managed to gain contact with Nigel Pugh - he is on his second R500, and was one of the other (two?) people to build an R500 Duratec (he built his a fair while ago, and now has a factory built R500 in the F1 colours)....  We'd been speaking online for quite a while and we agreed it would be good to meet up, and what better place at a track day?  Curborough Sprint Course was the venue.

So we'd booked the date a couple of months ago, and having only received the car back less than two weeks ago - the pressure had been me on to get it up to the 500 mile run in point... I've been out in it a lot (as you'd expect) and in actual fact I'd driven it every day since I got it, until the weather forecast looked like rain (after a week or so), so I took my other car to the office (a 997 Carrera 2S)... Turns out that going from a weeks worth of R500 driving back to the 911 was somewhat of a shock - the 911 felt absolutely massive, as though the steering was really light and very wallowy in comparison... Now, I'm not saying the 911 is a bad car - not by any stretch, but it just goes to compliment how excellent the R500 is to drive.

Anyway - too much digressing...
The car hit the 500 miles on M6 on the way up to meet Nigel - so it was run in..!  Happy days, and time to give it the full beans at the track...  We arrived at the circuit around 11am and Nigel being a bit of a regular round Curborough, had the lap record... Needless to say, there was only one thing on my agenda for the day!
My Caterham R500 at Curborough Sprint Course
My Caterham R500 at Curborough Sprint Course
In the queue for a run - Nigel Pugh's R500 in front of supercharged Z4M
In the queue for a run - Nigel Pugh's R500 in front of supercharged Z4M
So the day started with a couple of slow(ish) runs... Then I got bombarded with 'can I have a passenger ride?' which I obliged with for a while, but then wanted to get my laptimes down, so got to the stage where I had to tell people 'yes... later'  Anyway... the times gradually came down, and down and in the end - the lap record was mine!  1:20.3..! Well happy, and about 1.5 secs quicker than Nigel's old record - what added to the sweetness was it was my first track day in the R500, and also my first time at Curborough.  The event was run by a chap called Dan and his team - a link to their site is here http://www.sprintandtrackday.co.uk and I'd highly recommend a visit when they're running the event, as it was a really good day (especially if you have an R500 :-))

I think this is the lap record video, and the only reason I say 'think' is that there are a lot of videos from the day, and I'm pretty sure this is the right one:-

A short while after setting the lap record a guy came up to me (who I took for a passenger ride earlier in the day) and said... "Can you take my girlfriend's mum out for a passenger ride?" I was like.. "erm... yeah I guess so, so long as I can video her" that was agreed, and here is the video - which I think is absolutely hilarious:-

And to finish it off, here is the collection of todays onboard videos... Hope you enjoy them half as much as I did:-

Tuesday 17 June 2014

Carbon Rear Light Blocks and Clear Indicator Fitting

During the long days, weeks and months between Caterham collecting the car and eventually getting it back to me, I decided to buy a couple of upgrades to keep me 'into' the process... I ended up buying a pair of carbon headlights, rear light blocks, reverse and fog light blocks, hand brake lever and tax disc holder.
Caterham Carbon upgrades.
Caterham Carbon upgrades.
There was an issue with the headlights - basically they arrived quite badly scratched, so I sent them back to the manufacturers (in Germany) and asked them to re-lacquer them to an acceptable standard.
Caterham Carbon Headlight Bowls - with some of the scratches highlighted.
Caterham Carbon Headlight Bowls - with some of the scratches highlighted.
They came back, and initially I was happy with the new finish - BUT, in the daylight, they still looked  a little scratched and dull plus there were visible differences between the colour of them and the front cycle wings.  I took them to a local carbon manufacturer, and he suggested there wasn't enough lacquer on them which is why they looked the way they did, and recommended a local body shop to add lacquer.  Needless to say they are now at the body shop being lacquered, before I finally fit them.

Onto the bits I could do...
Last night (Monday) I decided I to fit the clear indicators, and whilst I as at it thought I may as well fit the carbon rear light blocks I'd purchased too.

First job was nice and simple... Clear front indicator kit.
Basically the instructions are - unscrew the existing indicator lenses, remove bulb, replace with orange bulb, then replace indicator lenses with clear ones... Easy!
Clear Indicator Kit Ready for Fitting.
Clear Indicator Kit Ready for Fitting.
As I had the scales out to discover the weight saving of the carbon bits versus the original parts, I thought I'd weigh the standard indicators against the clear ones to see if there was a difference in weight.
Standard Caterham Indicator Lenses with Bulb - weighing in at a massive 32g.
Standard Caterham Indicator Lenses with Bulb - weighing in at a massive 32g.
Caterham Clear Front Indicator Kit - Surprisingly lighter than the standard part at 26g.
Caterham Clear Front Indicator Kit - Surprisingly lighter than the standard part at 26g.
So the before pic:-
Caterham R500 Front with standard indicators illuminated.
Caterham R500 Front with standard indicators illuminated.
And the after pic - now all of 12 grammes lighter too:-
Caterham R500 Front with clear indicator kit fitted and illuminated.
Caterham R500 Front with clear indicator kit fitted and illuminated.
Next job was to fit the rear clear indicator kit and carbon light blocks.  The picture below is of the rear end with standard indicators and light blocks..
Caterham R500 with standard rear indicators and light blocks.
Caterham R500 with standard rear indicators and light blocks.
Starting off with the carbon reverse light and clear indicator kit for the fog light.
Caterham Carbon Reverse Light and Fog Light Mounts.
Caterham Carbon Reverse Light and Fog Light Mounts.
The standard mounts were fairly easy to remove.  Unscrew the indicator cover, then remove the reflector... I found that when removing the reflector the positive wire was very loosely fitted which ended up breaking off, which wasn't a great problem as the cable needed cutting to get the connectors through the central hole.  Then simply remove the screws holding the mounts in place.

Indicator blocks removed and weighed in at 66g each.
Standard Caterham reverse light mount - 66 grammes in weight.
Standard Caterham reverse light mount - 66 grammes in weight.
Picture of carbon blocks below weighing in at 42 grammes each.  The manufacturer's website states that they are a diminutive 48 grammes each - which sounds amazing, but in actual fact it's only a 24 gramme saving per unit (total saving 48 grammes) and for £100 I don't really think it's money well spent in terms of weight saving, but hey they look cool - which is what I really wanted them for, so I'm happy.
Carbon Caterham reverse light mount - 42 grammes in weight.
Carbon Caterham reverse light mount - 42 grammes in weight.
I noticed that the offside mount wasn't quite horizontal, and fiddled around with it thinking that the mount was wrong, but it turns out the nuts in the bodywork are slightly wonky, so out with the dremel to open up the mounting holes and then it fitted great.  I then threaded the cut cables back through the central hole of the carbon mounts, and then screwed the mounts in place.  Once in place I soldered the two cables together then applied heat shrink tubing (approx 3mm heat shrink diameter).
Carbon mount in place with wiring threaded through, soldered and heat shrunk ready for fitting to the reflector.
Carbon mount in place with wiring threaded through, soldered and heat shrunk ready for fitting to the reflector.
As the brass eyelet was extremely weakly fitted to the bullet connector, I took a trip down to Maplin to buy some tiny screws to screw the eyelet and cable into position.
Tiny screws and nuts for tightly securing the eyelet connector.
Tiny screws and nuts for tightly securing the eyelet connector.
Eyelet connector securely fastened to reflector / bulb mount.
Eyelet connector securely fastened to reflector / bulb mount.
Then it was a case of sliding the reflector over the long hex bolts inside the mount, then fitting the bulb, lens and screwing it into position.

Reverse light completed, now onto the fog light - which is the same process.
Caterham Carbon Reverse Light Mount.
Caterham Carbon Reverse Light Mount.
Next up - Carbon Rear Light Blocks.  I thought these would be straight forward, but they're a bit of a faff due to the connection block - so this is what I done.  I'm not saying mine is the right way (or the wrong way) but it seemed to make the most sense to do it this way...

Firstly I removed the standard indicator cover and loosened the rubber light block.
Indicator cover removed and rubber light block loosened.
Indicator cover removed and rubber light block loosened.
It's worth noting that the P21/5W stamp is always positioned closer to the centre of the car - the picture above is of the nearside, and the picture below is of the offside and as you can see the offside is the same unit, just mounted upside down.
Caterham offside rear light block with cover removed.
Caterham offside rear light block with cover removed.
Next stage is to remove the grommet from the bodywork inside the rear arch and disconnect the connection block.
Rubber grommet removed showing light connection block.
Rubber grommet removed showing light connection block.
Once the connection block is disconnected everything pulls through the holes quite easily.  I then removed the black plastic sheath covering the indicator wiring.
Rear light block removed, with plastic sheath removed exposing indicator wiring.
Rear light block removed, with plastic sheath removed exposing indicator wiring.
I then cut the wiring about two to three inches from the connection block end - this is to enable you to remove the metal bulb unit from the rubber block and then to be able to thread the wiring back through the carbon block.
Metal bulb mount removed from rubber block and wires cut ready for soldering back together.
Metal bulb mount removed from rubber block and wires cut ready for soldering back together.
I then decided to line things up as a dry fit, and I noticed the foam strip wasn't really positioned well.
Carbon rear light blocks with original poorly fitted foam strip.
Carbon rear light blocks with original poorly fitted foam strip.
It seemed like a good idea to redo the foam strip, so I removed it with some methylated spirits on kitchen roll and a bit of elbow grease.
Carbon rear light block with foam strip removed.
Carbon rear light block with foam strip removed.
I couldn't find any foam tape that was about 2mm wide, so I carefully cut my existing foam strip, and then fitted that - which I think was worthwhile.
With my hand cut foam strip applied.
With my hand cut foam strip applied.
So this bit is IMPORTANT... Make sure you thread the wiring through the light block, add the relevant heat shrink tubing (3mm for small cables and 10mm for black longer section) as otherwise you'll end up soldering it all together and either not having the heat shrink in place to shrink, or worse still (like I found out) not having the carbon light block attached which is extremely irritating after you've soldered the lot together - trust me..!
Indicator wiring, soldered, with heat shrink and threaded through carbon rear light block.
Indicator wiring, soldered, with heat shrink and threaded through carbon rear light block.
Its's worth mentioning that there are two green cables, but they're easy to identify as one has a blue line in it.
The finished assembly ready for lights, weather proofing and fitting.
The finished assembly ready for lights, weather proofing and fitting.
Next job was to fit the new bulbs.  The orange one goes to the outside (indicator) and the LED one in the mount next to the P21/5W badge - the picture below is of the nearside unit.
With orange indicator and LED brake / light.
With orange indicator and LED brake / light.
Then I applied a small amount of silicone in the wiring hole to minimise any water ingress with the next stage being to fit it all back together, which is basically a reverse of taking them off.  
Wiring hole with silicone to minimise any water ingress.
Wiring hole with silicone to minimise any water ingress.
Before refitting, I weighed both rubber and carbon light block units to see if the manufacturers claims were true... Their claim was a weight saving of 269 grammes each which isn't entirely true as can be seen below, but they are 200 grammes lighter (each) than the rubber blocks which is a 400 gramme saving for the two.  Added to the weight saving of the reverse light, fog light and clear front indicators I've shaved off nearly half a kilo and added plenty more carbon loveliness, so overall I'm happy with the upgrades.
Caterham rubber indicator unit weighing in at 442 grammes.
Caterham rubber indicator unit weighing in at 442 grammes.
Carbon indicator unit nearly half the weight at 248 grammes.
Carbon indicator unit nearly half the weight at 248 grammes.
Here's a close up shot of the fitted carbon indicator block with clear lenses - I think they look really good.
Carbon rear indicator block with clear lenses fitted.
Carbon rear indicator block with clear lenses fitted.
And some before and after shots of the lights in action.
Carbon rear indicator and lighting mounts fitted to Caterham R500.
Carbon rear indicator and lighting mounts fitted to Caterham R500.
Standard rear indicators illuminated.
Standard rear indicators illuminated.
Clear rear indicators illuminated.
Clear rear indicators illuminated.
Standard rear lights including fog light illuminated.
Standard rear lights including fog light illuminated.
Clear rear lights including fog light illuminated.
So that's it for the upgrades for now.  I'm hoping to get the carbon headlight bowls back middle next of next week and will do a post about fitting those as and when.  

In the meantime I hope the weather stays good for plenty of evening blats and on Thursday (19th June) I'm off to Curborough Sprint Course, for my first track event - I hope it stays dry!  

Wednesday 11 June 2014

Passenger Ride, Blatting and Cat Bypass Pipe

I went for my first blat with another Caterham yesterday - Richard Malley, (aristocat on blatchat).  Had a good drive around the local area, and ended up stopping off for a pint at the Herts Classic Car Club meet at the Lordship Arms in Bennington, Hertfordshire.

Was a good turn out of cars there, and the Caterham's certainly drew plenty of attention and quite a few questions from the public too.

Here's a couple of pictures from the meet below:-
My Caterham R500 WOT at the Herts Classic Car Meet - Richard Malley's car in the background, Richard and his son James having a light refreshment.
My Caterham R500 WOT at the Herts Classic Car Meet - Richard Malley's car in the background, Richard and his son James having a light refreshment.
Aristocat's (aka Richard Malley) Caterham Sigma 175.
Aristocat's (aka Richard Malley) Caterham Sigma 175.
Here's a video of a passenger ride of Lee a friend of mine, and then the best bits of the journey to the meet whilst following Richard.


On Monday I decided it was time to get to grips with my upgrades, and decided the first thing to do was to put the cat bypass pipe on.  As the exhaust has been polished, the cat bypass pipe was still in the 'normal' brushed stainless steel finish, so I sent the pipe off to custom chrome (the guys who polished the exhaust).  They polished the cat bypass pipe on the day they received it and then sent it straight back to me, and I received the polished pipe this morning - looks great, and will match the rest of the exhaust.
The Polished Caterham Cat Bypass Pipe
The Polished Caterham Cat Bypass Pipe
After loosening the manifold bolts, removing the exhaust and cat I then tried to fit the cat bypass pipe.  Unfortunately it doesn't fit!  As you can see in the picture below this must be for a different variant, as the pipe diameters are totally different.  So it all went back together, and I went for an impromptu, but totally hilarious blast around Stevenage... Was an absolute hoot! Shame I didn't have the camera's on as there were 'plenty' of good bits...
Cat Bypass pipe offered up against Cat - as you can see the pipe diameter is different.
Cat Bypass pipe offered up against Cat - as you can see the pipe diameter is different.
I even started to make a comparison video of the two exhaust notes, so for now it's just a 'startup' video:

Anyway... Dean (CC Midlands) will have an email from me in the morning, and we'll need to work out what happens now as I've already shelled out for the polishing work.

Monday 9 June 2014

Video Overview, First Drives and Initial Thoughts

It's three days since the R500 finally came back from Caterham Midlands.  I took a video before I went out in it on the Friday, as I wanted to video it in it's delivery state...  It's taken a little while before I've had some spare time to redo the voice over (as my first one was rubbish!) so... here's my Caterham R500 video 'tour':-
If there's anything else you want me to video in detail - perhaps the engine bay, or something else, just let me know.

After taking the video above, it was time to go out in it...  As I'm running it in, I can only really do 'around' 5,000rpm... After 500 miles it'll be run in and ready for the full beans with the red line at 8,750rpm!  Here's a few snippets of my blats to date (all with passengers I'm afraid!)...

In all fairness to taking passengers out... Everyone who's been in it has absolutely loved the experience... Myself included (obviously)..!  Some of the comments have been "I don't get cars, but that is absolutely amazing", "holy fcuk that's fast", "it's like a massive go-kart", "it's really good fun" and so on.

My initial thoughts were on my last post, but to re-iterate to anyone out there waiting for their Caterham to arrive - it is GENUINELY worth the wait... The handling, power, braking, feelings, experience, analogue connection with the car and road are all absolutely fantastic - and I can't wait to go out in it again.

Saturday 7 June 2014

Two Months and Two Weeks Later

Caterham collected my 99% completed car way back in March - the 24th to be exact.  A long story with a number of very low points, followed by a gradually ramped up performance of good news and updates later... It's arrived..!

Dean personally turned up about 4pm today to deliver my car with one of the vans he collected from the Silverstone location earlier today.  Some pics:
My Caterham R500 on the delivery van ready for unloading
My Caterham R500 on the delivery van ready for unloading..!
Side view of the R500 on the transporter
Side view of the R500 on the transporter 
Dean talking me through some bits
Dean talking me through some bits
Dean probably feeling the same as me right now... "I never thought this day would happen"
Dean probably feeling the same as me right now... "I never thought this day would happen"
The first drive - not worth videoing as it was over in about 18 yards.
The first drive - not worth videoing as it was over in about 18 yards.
Here's a quick time lapse video of the unloading and very first drive:

The R500 engine bay with carbon air box and carbon rocker cover.
The R500 engine bay with carbon air box and carbon rocker cover.
The 620R seats and harnesses - they really look amazing.
The 620R seats and harnesses - they really look amazing.
I'll be spending a lot of time in here
I'll be spending a lot of time in here
I decided to crack on with a few changes before I took it out.  First was to put the front number plate on.  Second was to remove the carbon track day air box and to fit the piper cross air filter.  I also put some foam strip on the body panels to protect where the bonnet sits.  Third was to put the carbon tax disc holder in place, but I couldn't be bothered to waste any unnecessary time so slung it in the boot... for now, and went for my first blat..!
R500 carbon fibre track day air box with k&n air filter.
R500 carbon fibre track day air box with k&n air filter.
R500 with piper cross air filter
R500 with piper cross air filter
So as I write this blog it's about 1:25am and I've been out in it all evening.  Went for a few bevvies at a friends house afterwards, and even now I'm still buzzing.  A lot of the positive guys on blatchat have always said the experience is worth waiting for, and genuinely, it is.

Why it's taken me so long to get a Caterham (no pun intended) really beats me - it's amazing to drive, handling superb, power brilliant (I'm only running it in right now) brakes amazing, and what really surprised me is the reception the general public give you - lots of looks, smiles, waves and plenty of nod's of appreciation.

First drive videos and so on to follow.
Well impressed.