Today we had the setup day for the cars, where we had a tour of the Factory and were shown the concepts, terms and adjustments that can and should be made to the car.
I have created a video the of Simon Lamberts setup talk for the cars and once I have had a chance to turn the orientation round I will look at posting some or all of it on U-Tube. but if anyone wants a copy you can download it below.
It was a good day we got to see the SP300R as there was one at the factory where they had been testing earlier in the week, all I can say is ... I want one !!!!.
I also took one of my caterham wheels to show Simon, as during the week i checked that the tyres met thier race rules, and my tyres did not have the "Caterham" stamp on them, which would mean they would fail scrutineering.
Caterham were under the impression that all tyres after week 16 of 2010 had caterham on them either in small or large writing, it would appear that this is not the case as my tyres proved. It appears that there will be an amendment for the rules on this to remove the need to have Caterham on the tyres, but the tyre must be after week 16 of 2010 (which is when they were started to be manufactured in the UK instead of China).
So hopefully I will find out in the next few weeks that the rules have changed so that my car is legal on that point.
Yesterday we went to the Bedford Autodrome. Paul and I arranged a track day at Bedford in celebration of Paul's first track day in his new car.
And low and behold there were a few of us at the track, in total 5 academy drivers were there in our caterham's and one in a Arial Atom.
It was a great day out, and full of camoradery and "non competative" rivalry with a little bit of seeing who had the stronger engine and an open sharing of tools, oils and experiences.
Having spent the day in the company of a few academy entrants yesterday i am mor and more enthused about the year ahead.
I expect to see lots of friendships and plenty of friendly rivalry on the track.
Whilst I have not had a car i have had a look at the 2012 Regulations and made some notes on what i need to do in order to get compliant and ready to race.... and let’s just say there is a fair bit of work to do.
Add more things
- I need to add the Vinyl protection to the sides of the newly painted car
- I will need to add the Fuel Tap to the fuel line
- I need to fit the Oil breather kit
- Fit the wrist restraints to the car (and add tape to identify one arm from the other
- Fit the roll cage padding
- Add yellow tape to the black battery leads
- get the HANS Device fitted
- Fill the void behind the Tillet seat with expandable foam
- Put tape between windscreen and Roll cage to stop rain
- Tape up doors
- Fit the second Mirror
- Checklists
* Create a checklist for pre-race preparation
* create a list for track day
* create a list for cockpit
* create a post-race day check list
- Fit T200 Lap timer to the car
- Fit competition numbers and decals when received
- Fit Timing strut for first sprint race
Change some things
- Fit the upgraded front brake Pads
- Fit the racing brake fluid cap
- check the fittings of the harnesses
- adjust the drivers seat
- put the seven in front of the grille in the nose cone
- Seal the boot floor
Remove some things
- I need to remove the extra rubber from the car (all the SVA stuff) so that it cannot come off the car
- remove the excess bolts from under the car (in case they scrape on a kerb)
- remove the passenger seat
Buy some things
- Car setup needs to be done, balance all needs to be completed
* Ride height to 145mm
* Camber
* Weight of car and driver to be checked
* Pedal set up
* etc
- HANS device and setup .. need to still do this
- I am looking at a second mirror to fit to the driver’s side (convex) to allow racing without doors if i want to)
- buy the silicone and aluminium tape required to seal the boot from fire
- I am thinking of buying a cigarettes lighter socket to fit in to the boot for the Tyre air compressor I have purchased.
- I need to get another Jerry Can for the track meets
- there is the dilemma about new tyres and wheels... do I or don’t I?
- buy some electrical tape for the fitting of the roll cage padding
- Duct tape for general use (but specifically for use between roll cage and windscreen)
- Buy T200 track timer
Some things to Learn
- The rules
- The light sequences
- Heel and toe
- Smooth driving
Considerations
- consider if going to use half doors - probably not
- consider under tray for protection of car - probably not
- consider usage of heat diffusing kit (30P242A) - probably not
- movement of the inertia cut out switch into the cockpit ---- possibly, but not sure where it is
- think about marshalling and how that is arranged
Bedford Aerodrome Turismo circuit, is 4.1miles long, and with a 1km straight means you get the top end of the car, and with two hairpins, and numerous other technical corners, it means you get to play on what i would say is a firly challenging, but forgiving track.
Forgiving because it is wide, and the runoff is wide, and mainly grass, which means that you are unlikely to take all the lovely paint of your car with kitty litter or Armco
I finally got to take the car on track and play with what it can do, and I have to say in the dry what a car, superb. I was a little nervous about what i could do with the car, and although i had done 600 mile in it, i was not really that confident with the car yet.
At first I started a little cautiously as the track was a little damp. but once I got into stride, the track dried out and following a minor adjusted to the tire pressure (down to 23 and 25 (front and rear respectively)) the car behave with impecable character and my confidence and understanding of the car really did start to grow.
However after lunch, the rain came (and when i say it rained, I had the wipers on full for about an hour). In the wet the car was a completely different animal, stopping was a trick in itself (one it took me a few goes to master, and cornering, well lets just say there were a few twitchy moments, some from the back of the car, and some from the back of me.
however I class the couple of sideways cornering incidents and the one excursion onto the grass when I failed to make the chicane at the end of the 1km straight as a very successful day.
That coupled with progress as the day went on, to start with i was passed by quite a few cars, but by the end of the day i was passing most of the cars on the track (with a few exception). and before you ask, some of them were the ones passing me in the morning.
I have put a few pics below which a friend took whilst i was playing, and i will upload a couple of vid's which i took on the new "drift HD" cam i brought at the autosport show.
RSS Feed