Phillip Meyer

Sadly I was with my family in a black Merc 4x4, we spent a few days in the area.

Sorry, newbie, what is the event?

Hmm, surely our cars are bad enough for the environment without making matters worse by removing the cat?

I was on a bicycle heading down the hill. Loved your colour scheme, very similar to my 7!

We followed you just off the M23 Pertersfield exit heading west. We followed for quite a while until it started raining but might have been too far back for you to see. We were heading to Goodwood.

I have been watching the engine temperature over the last few days with some interesting findings. On warmer days or in the afternoons (possibly when I have used the car once or twice already) it seems to run at a good temperature usually hovering between 80 and 90. However, it does sometimes drop right down to about 60, particularly immediately as I exit a motorway and come to a stop at a junction it will drop down to 60. However, this morning was sunny but not tremendously warm (although still comfortable enough to drive the Caterham in a short-sleeve t-shirt). It took two attempts to start but then idled nicely. I had a 25 minute or so drive (14 miles) to Penshurst and it took a good 10 minutes to get up out of the blue and hover just below 60 and it really didn't lift much past 65 for the whole journey. It was all on little country lanes so no opportunity to drive fast or hard, mostly hovering between 30mph and 50mph and a lot of time in 3rd and 4th gear. After an hour I had a short (4 mile) drive to grab some lunch and again the temperature remained between about 60 and 70 although mostly around 60. About another hour later I took a slightly longer route back but then the engine seemed to get up to 80 very quickly and hovered between 80 and 90 until about the last 1/4 of the journey where it seemed to drop back down to about 60 for no obvious reason. I guess this all mean that the car is definitely suffering from the cooling issue. I am going to initially email Caterham Cars and see what they say but I will speak to PGM this week (I actually tried them today but got their voicemail so I assume they are closed on a Monday). If this really is a huge performace and longevity issue I will look to get the PGM upgrade but I'm keen to be sure that it will not invalidate my overall Caterham warranty on the car. (Incdentally the clutch seems fine now and the car runs much better since the Lambda sensor was replaced)

Thanks, that doesn't sound good. It has to go back as I am still having an issue with the clutch so I will keep an eye on the temperature and ask them to look at that. They have been very good and will fix whatever it needs, they think clutch has either a problem with the clutch master or slave cylinder (the later will need the engine out so good job it's under warranty). in terms of cooling I will speak to them but also give PGM a call next week and see what they can do.

I took the car to Caterham Cars this morning and you guys were correct, there was an issue with the Lambda sensor which has been replaced. They also bled the clutch. I have to say that the car actually seems to drive much better now, I'm not sure if it was the clutch bleed or the sensor but it is much smoother in general but noticeable pulling away in 1st and moving into 2nd. I will still speak with PGM and see if we can improve the cold start. Not sure if I have a temperature problem, I do notice that the temperature generally sits just below 60 but does head up to the top-right of the dial (over 80) if under stress.

Thanks all. Caterham have been super-helpful and I am taking the car to them tomorrow morning. They did push back on the stalling and petrol smell ("it's a high performance engine...") but we will see tomorrow. Incidentally my mother used to be the operations director at Brands Hatch (30 years ago) so I have spent a lot of time around and driving high performance cars. In general they haven't smelled quite this strong but we will see and the smell is not a deal breaker, it adds to the charm! I will probably call or use this as an excuse to take a drive down to PGM next week. I'm really interested in what they can offer, possibly a reality check would be a good investment as if they do turn up any issues I can take that back to Caterham Cars.

Thanks for all the advice. The car runs comfortably at 2,000 rpm in 5th gear (and significantly lower revs) and will accelerate off fairly nicely (but I don't have anything to compare it to). I did email Caterham and had a call back but I was tied up, they are going to book it in a take a look because of the clutch. I will also give PGM a call and maybe drop in to visit them. I'm keen to get an outside opinion on the car (which I am very happy with) but I'm also really interested to see/hear what PGM do and can offer. I'm not sure if the car has a cooling issue or not (again nothing to compare it to) but the temperature does tend to hover around the upper-middle-left of the guage. I will try looking at one of the spark plugs and see if that shows anything. I had a quick look at SBD motorsport, is it worth buying a connector and the Easimap software? I'm not sure how easy it will be for me to extract the info I need in a fashion that I will understand it. (I'm a fast learner but not sure I have the bandwidth for a long, steep learning curve right now).

So funny, I arrive at Adrian_7Oaks house to collect the rain cover and instantly recognise him. Our children were at the same school. Small world, great to catch up Adrian!

I had a Supersprint in the 90's, I am reasonably tall (6'2") and always had to drive with my shoes off. Also my head was highher than the roll bar. That being said I still loved the car.

I have used up 3/4 of a tank in 2 days (Gatwick to Westerham and a couple of shortish school runs). While I always remember my old Caterham being very smelly, this car has a tremendous smell of petrol (it's all I can smell for hours after driving and I have a terrible sense of smell). I would also say that the accelerator is very lively, a tiny touch brings the revs right up but I was assuming that this is just normal. I'm actually struggling a bit with pulling away, I assume it's just that I'm out of practice but I am either bunny hopping when I pull away in 1st or wheel spinning off (often similar moving into 2nd). I wonder if it is running very rich. I am about to head out to Thundersports in Oxted so will give 2000rpm in 5th a test. Thanks for everyone's responses.

Hi, I will take the long nose rain cover for an SV. Phillip

Hi, I picked up my new 602s (well, it's new to me, it's the first 602s they built aparently) from Caterham Cars, Gatwick on Monday. I have noticed that very occasionally when I press down on the clutch it seems to go 'floppy' with no resistance, almost as though the clutch cable has snapped but it hasn't. I can't seem to change gear easily until I release the clutch and depress it again, then it acts like normal. I have also noticed that when I start it in the morning (it's garaged overnight) the engine starts but if I even touch the accelerator pedal the engine will stall. This morning in stalled almost immediately after starting but then started again without issue. If I leave the car for a few minutes to warm up everything works. The car is under warranty so I will email Caterham Cars but I thought I would check to see if anyone here has experienced similar or has any thoughts on the cause? Phillip

Hi. I was interested in everything if it's available. I have a new Caterham incoming so would all be useful if it fits. It is a 620s SV

Just to check, will this an SV with FIA roll bar?

Sorry, newbie question and I'm sure there are already 1000 other threads but where did you get those covers, they are great.