chris956

Why is all the type so BIG. On the forum home page I get to see only the top 2 topics and the rest is hidden off screen down below. On all other forums you normally get about 20-30 per page ??? Not having a dig as I appreciate it must have been one heck of a job , so well done to those involved. Just the fine tuning now to do.

After an unfortunate "car taking itself off at walking pace driverless incident" I need a new nose cone to fit 2012 SV please.... ☹️ Or any advice where to get one other than Caterham ??

Quoting Igno7: oops, sorry MadCat52, time to fess up! It was me that was black flagged: first track day ever and first time at Brands Hatch. Managed to turn right after Surtees onto Maclaren rather than going on to Pilgrims drop! Then had to re-join on Clearways after my sneaky short cut. I think I am the green car in your second video with the caption "What is he doing there?". The really embarrassing thing is that I did it TWICE! I was black flagged (quite right) but the guys were fairly understanding and a bit amused about it. Maybe should install satnav for my next day out. Anyway, got the hang of it in the end and had a great day. Sorry you got the blame first. Paul You pays all that money to do the GP circuit and you decide to use the indy circuit 😬 Ask for a refund ! 😬

Quoting A10ROX: Clearance is no problem Surface texture and 'stiff' suspension makes for uncomfortable ride Try it to tick a box and carry on driving round the top ... +1 after the first time and then picking up all your teeth out of the footwell , drive round the top.

Quoting Pendennis: I must of been done by the one at the end of pit lane then. 3rd time this year I've been thrown off, two other times during test days all midweek 😬 Not a lot I can do about it I think, just need to steer clear of track and quiet test days Put a small diverter on the end of the exhaust that channels the noise down as a posed to straight out the right and at the microphones. Mine knocked a couple of db`s off and got me through the rest of the day. I have no sourced a proper bit of kit that bolts in the end that is non restrictive but knocks 3db`s off on a static test. Its a pain but its only going to get worse as the neighbours get more vociferous. Last time I was noise tested I said to the bloke , well if you have got to be a meter away from the exhaust can you move round to the other side of the car please. You should have seen his face !!

Quoting Pendennis: I only did one quick-ish lap, then come in to let no.2 driver have a go, but marshal wouldn't let the car out again as I just broke the noise limit. I have reviewed my video to try and see where I got caught, Chris I know you stated in the past where the meters are, but I could of only been done on the pit wall between the pit lane entrance and approximately garage no. 8, as I hugged the pit wall, then pulled out way before start/finish line. Personally I think the meter is in a nice little white box pit side approximately opposite garage 10. But of course I could be wrong They are on a aprox 6 foot stalk with a typical microphone covering ( looks like an afro !). I dont know where if at all they have one on the GP part of the circuit but on the Indy as posted before.

Quoting makingff: Chris, no, mistaken identity! I had no problems with noise and was expecting to after being tested at 98db in the morning. Ahhhh ..... had problems there before with same. Glad you all had a good day. Couldnt make it in the end due to work ... boooh !

Let me guess .... Duratec engine and right hand side exit exhaust ?

Quoting MadCat52: Anyone know what the cooked breakfasts are like at the circuit? Need something to set me up for the day. Bob There is a small "burger bar" type thing within the paddock for teas and coffees and bacon rolls etc and it is really bad and really expensive. OK if you are desperate I suppose. The Kentagon is a proper restaurant on the outside of the circuit with a bar area , so you get the picture. I have never seen it open in the morning though as you go straight through to sign on in the paddock. Its perfectly fine for lunch though doing the usual Chilli , chips , salad , cottage pie & lasagne type stuff. Come to think about it and maybe because I live 10 mins from the circuit but I have never had a cooked brekkie from Brands, only a crappy supposed "brekkie in a bun" which I have then regretted. moral of the story and slightly long winded post is ---- get it elsewhere at a proper place. Quick google search brings a few up

Just put 40psi in your tyres ! If I encounter a nasty looking speed bump I cross it diagonally. That way the front wheel that hits the bump first & lifts the front of the car before the sump passes by. That way the first thing on and off the speed bump is a wheel which should hopefully be keeping part of the car up in the air until you have crossed it entirely.

... and be sat in it or the equivalent weight at least whilst its done. I was surprised how much it all changed whilst on the corner weights with me in and then out of it. Then of course it all goes up the pictures when you take a passenger

I can't commit to the full day but would love to pop along and get the current settings. Only if there is space after the booked up boys of course.

Looking cool dude with your white shades Made me realise that I have not driven mine for a while ☹️

Quoting John Vine: Quoting chris956: Number 1 coil was the culprit.How interesting/odd that #1 also failed in my case. Is there something special about that position, I wonder? Anyway, very pleased to hear all is now well. JV Hmmm , very suspicious 😔 The coil pack which was in #1 position clearly on inspection had not been there all its short life as it had 3 dots on it indicating it came from #3 ...... I guess I`ll never know for sure.

Quoting Jonathan Kay: Well done. Was that the one that was squeezed by the cover? Jonathan No it wasn't but it can't have helped. Number 1 coil was the culprit. The intermittent problem finally became a permenant problem which made it far easier to diagnose .... Thankfully

New coil pack from Euro car parts (£22) installed and all is well with the world again. At that price I`ll probably replace the other 3 for the hell of it. Amazon that was linked too above ( thankyou) only had 1 in stock and ECP were the next best on price

Just paid £100 a corner for AO48r`s supplied and fitted. The fronts only lasted 1500 miles though 😬 Liking the sound of the AO21`s at £50 a corner at this rate

UPDATE UPDATE Took the car out for a drive and this misfire has returned. Firstly on partial throttle and then it dropped to 3 cylinders for ages despite trying to coax it back onto 4 with full throttle. This was the perfect opportunity to see what cylinder was not firing. Slung it over in a parking space and whipped the top off held by my glamorous assistant ( who thought we were out for a pleasant drive not a testing session 😳 ) The old spit on the finger and touch the headers revealed number 1 was way colder than the others.. maybe the suspect has been found. Whilst I was at it I disconnected the Lambda sensor and set off home. That made not difference to start with and then about a miles from home it started to run spot on Back in the garage and checked that voltage being delivered to number 1 coil and it was 12.5v and consistent with the others. This further leads me to suspect dodgy coil pack. Hopefully I`ll be getting a loaner to swap it out to see if makes the difference .....

Well you could do what I did and zip tie a plastic lemonade bottle underneath and run the end of the breather into it...... That will immediately tell you if it leaking out through that. Still think it looks like the petrol has pooled on top of the tank near the sender unit though

I`ve had this recently so did a bit of digging and fiddling. Looking at your picture , to me it looks like there has been petrol sitting ontop of the tank around the sender unit opposite to the fuel breather and filler neck. I had the same as you on left handers and I couldnt find any obvious problems. My theory is that once the car has been thrown round a bot the petrol expands in the tank and that expansion has nowhere to go as the one way valve fitted to the breather only allows air into the tank not out. So , therefore it must be seeping through various cracks in the rubber or through bad joints under pressure. It costs peanuts to replace all the rubbers which is what I intend to do for piece of mind. No need to get the bespoke Caterham parts ,any decent motor factor will carry fuel resistant pipes & rubbers. I did suggest my mechanic sits in the boot whilst I blast it round and round trying to get the petrol to leak out but he wasnt to sure about that !!

Quoting sforshaw: I've found that although I like the open pit lane format I actually do more track miles when it is 7 x 20 minute sessions! And £135 is a massive difference to £199, for many the difference is the cost of overnight accommodation. Stu. You do more miles in 2 hrs 20 minutes as a posed to 7 hrs I get its cheaper doing sessions but its far less time and if you have travelled the length of the country to get there I personally want the most track time possible. Horses for courses an all that.

Quoting Mankee: With MSV, it'll be a 20-min session per hour and 7 sessions over the course of the day. Without urinating on anyone's starchy potato snacks, there is an open-pit mid-week October day currently at £149 for which an L7C group booking could possibly be organised if there aren't enough takers for a dedicated club session to make it financially viable. Even I'm tempted to make the trek up! We are looking at the 19th Aug with Javelin. Full noise and Open Pit and only £199. Again not wishing to upset the apple cart but several other car clubs have collaborated with TDO`s to offer a better than regular punter rate. Merrick ?? I regularly block book spaces to enable a discount. Most offer 10% for 5 spaces and over 🤔 20 mins per hours sound good in theory but if anyone has an off or you have a problem then you lose that session and therefore a long wait till the next one. You cant even do a couple of laps and then come in to check tyre pressures etc as you will be out of time. There is also the overlap after the session which adds up during the day whilst you wait for the track to clear of the previous group. Open Pit is the way forward

JV - it wasn't that severe so nothing that obvious I'm afraid. SM - cheers for the offer , already have one.

Quoting John Vine: As mic says, Duratecs can suffer from a number of misfiring problems. IME (and I've encountered all these!), they can be caused by: Fractures where the wires enter the TPS Fractures where the wires enter the COPs Dirty COP connectors (especially #1) Faulty COP(s) Often, a good clean of the COP connectors is sufficient. Do you have the flexi-coil loom fitted? (Info here and here.) This has silicone-sheated wiring and is much more resistant to high-frequency vibration (which causes the fractures). IIRC, the Ford COPs are about £30-£35 each, but you can get the equivalent thing cheaper here. JV Edited by - John Vine on 8 Jul 2014 20:44:14 Cheers for all the suggestions and links - yes mine is a 2012 car and has the flexi coil fitted and looks identical to your photos. No evidence of split wires but I did as posted above find a COP rubbing on the engine cover. So far the misbehaving has gone but I need to give it a proper drive to make sure.

Could you do something with a vacuum cap like this .... Vacuum Cap