Haven't a clue !!!!!!!!!

[Richie]

I have been keeping a close eye on this website since I joined the club at the end of last year. I bought a Caterham 1.4k series last year to race in the M750 championship. I was not particularly bothered about the ins and outs of Caterhams, I just wanted to race. But after a few months I have come to love the Caterham, and desperately want to know what the hell you are all talking about.

It seems that you are all accomplished Caterham enthusiasts, and I am having trouble getting the most out of the advice as I am a complete mechanical novice.

Therefore, is there any advice that you can give me on setup of my Caterham for racing, below are some particular areas that I could do with some help on, any other advise is very much welcomed/needed.

My car spec is as follows as far as I know:

Caterham 1.4k series

Rover Supersports

De-Dion axle rear

Live axle front?????

Yoko A021R and A032R

 

1. Tyre pressures

2. Anti-roll bar settings

3. Any other settings that can be carried out to help in my racing.

 

Cheers

 

Richie

 

[V7 SLR]

Hmm, if you are a total novice you would probably benefit from attending one of the fabulous local L7 club meetings, the times & dates of which are mentioned on this web site. I can see you may be confused over certain issues already which I will attempt to address, but talking one to one (or one to many) would be of more help.

 

You mention a live axle front. Unless you are simply using this as a label to describe the single wishbone setup normally found on at the front of live axle cars, you are confused. A live axle describes a rear driven axle. There are 2 types of axle in Caterhams, the live axle and the de Dion. It'd be easier to point out the differences in a pub car park than describe here....

 

Tyre pressures should be under 20psi, but exactly how much under 20 is best left to you for experimentation. I run my ACB10 tyres at 15 at the front and 16 at the rear, although I know of people who run as low as 13. A Caterham's very light and doesn't need high pressures as found on more conventional cars.

 

Anti roll bar (ARB)... I assume only your rear ARB is adjustable. Normal advice is to set it on the second softest (out of 4) setting and experiment, adjusting tyre pressures and ARB settings as you go along.

 

Without knowing how your car handles, and how you'd like it to handle it is difficult to recommend adjustments. I really believe enlightenment can be found at one of the local meetings (in a beer glass?). I've met a lot of friends at mine in Worcs. smile.gif

 

Edited by - V7 SLR on 4 May 2000 16:46:35

[Rob Morris]

Heavy right foot and large bank account should cover most problems

[Anna Rexia]

Richie,

Don't be phased by all the bobble hatted anoraks - just love & enjoy the brilliant car you've got - keep an eye on the web by all means but everyone has to start somewhere, go to some club meetings, do some club events and the rest will come naturally just from your own interest, contacts and experiences, Trust me! Been there,done that!

 

[Wallbanger]

Richie,

 

For racing, set the 32R's at 20psi or just above. You’ll need to play a little bit to get it right. If you do any testing (either trackdays or real testing), try and do race runs (10 laps) measuring the pressure at the beginning and end of the runs. You want the tyres to last the whole race, not just the first couple of laps. There is quite a bit of trial and error in this (also a lot of personal feeling).

 

For the rollbars, use the stiffest for hot days, middle bar for cold. When it's rain, either use the softest bar or none at all. Again there is allot of personal feel here about when to change settings. You can also change the settings at the back, but at present I haven't started playing with these so can't offer any advice.

 

Hope you have fun and I might see you at Cadwell (I'm not going to Oulton Park). I'll be car number 42, last seen spinning in both races at Brands.

 

 

John Benfield

[Richie]

Thanks for the help. I will endevour to make it to a meeting.

In the meantime there was something else I wanted to ask. Oil. As in what type would be best for this type of driving (racing) and how often should I replace the oil?

 

[Wallbanger]

I use valvoline racing oil. I cann't remeber the actually type though. Basically check the oil very regualary and keep it topped up. Not actually sure how oftern the oil gets changed as it depends on how many road miles I've been doing as well.

 

 

John Benfield