Pedal Extensions to assist with "Heel and Toe", and also new site with all my 3D printed goodies

[graearea]

I've got a new mini-site at https://uberniche.co.uk for the things that I make to make your car easier to live with, so I thought I'd chuck another advert up here as my last one is a year old and a bit cluttered/unclear:

I sell 3D printed plugs (about 60 or so to club members) that will fit into your Caterham's pedal to make it wider, so that you can more easily "heel and toe" (in reality, it's just using the side of your foot to blip the throttle).

 

This is especially useful in SV chassis cars where the gap can be up to 75mm.

I supply a 5mm plug on the right side, and two of 10, 15 or 20, 25, 30 mm extension plugs on the left to tune the gap.

In my S3 chassis I have a 50mm gap in which I use a 10mm plug and in my size 8 driving boots, it's perfect. 35mm seems pretty good to me and is about 1/3 of the width of my foot. for an SV a 20mm is pretty good.

if you're interested in this or my custom mirror mounts, quadlock mounts or any of the other stuff that I make, go have a look at https://uberniche.co.uk

cheers!

John

[Andy135]

I fitted one of these a few weeks ago. Now, having been able to get the car out for a few blats since fitment, I thought I'd share my thoughts.

It's easy to fit, especially if you do as John suggests and take the throttle pedal out of the pedal box. To sand the pedal extension to size I used a bolt to fit the extension into a regular power drill and used it like a lathe to gently sand the insert section until a snug fit was achieved. Took just a few mins.

Reassembly was straightforward.

Heel & toe-ing is now easier - for me it's just a slight roll of the right foot. It's not yet second nature so I need more practice, but at least the throttle pedal is now in reach without having to think about it so much.

 

[Temple Cloud]

Call me dumb or what but I couldn't get the pedal out of the car. I have a 1995 X-flow and perhaps they're more difficult (but possibly not lol) and I also couldn't screw the bits together because of the extremely limited access in a 7 and the fact that my pedal is quite close to the right-hand panel. However, I did manage to get it attached with two tie wraps and it's working brilliantly. I heel and toe a lot but just couldn't get to grips with the default Caterham pedal arrangement, even by shifting pedals around. This little extension has totally changed my driving experience and the slight pain of getting it attached has been far outweighed by the benefits it has brought. Brilliant...

[bensnape]

Do you know whether these are allowed when racing (eg in an academy car - are they a permitted mod?)

[graearea]

I don't know. I know at least a couple of racers have them but couldn't tell you if they've gone through scrutineering.

if you find out, please tell me.

glad to hear people are finding them useful.

J

[Roger Ford]

#4 there's no mention of anything like that in Academy regs, so no - it wouldn't be allowed, and the Academy are quite strict on stuff like that. The Grads regs also don't specifically allow it, so technically you could get protested for it (I doubt that the eligibility scrutineer would pick up on it). I'll consider adding something to next year's Grads regs to allow it.

I can't see it would be a problem from a general scrutineering point of view.

[graearea]

if I were to try and get it added to the Grad's regs, who would I approach?

[Roger Ford]

Me! I'm responsible for them as Technical Director of the Grads. However the 2023 regs have been submitted to Motorsport UK so this won't happen before 2024.

I shouldn't really say this, but drivers would almost certainly get away with using them in the Grads. We're not litigious like the 'official' series, and people prefer to win on track rather than in the Stewards' office. Most drivers would just be interested in knowing where they came from, occasionally someone might have a quiet word and say "I don't think those are approved in the regs, you know. Perhaps you shouldn't be using them until they are".