dannylt
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Everything posted by dannylt
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DaveyBee - can't imagine it's going to make sense financially throwing away what you have if that's what worries you! Anyway, depends what you mean by "track car"... if you want something fast, then why bother with a Caterham anyway? If it's because the Caterham is more fun to drive, then torque makes it more fun. Unless it's because you want the fastest Caterham... well, it's always going to be expensive at the point of diminishing returns.
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I had the Radical for 2 years - probably taking the first year learning to drive it! I have some rolling road dyno chart of the 1500 somewhere, but then again, it's on their dyno.
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Griff :- When talking R500 vs Duratec, I don't mean CSR - I mean mean R500 chassis with Duratec (525kg). I have no idea about CSRs.
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My SR3 and Caterham both seem to top out about at 135+ down Revett at Snett vs 150+ for my (snaily around a track) TVR so mere top speed shouldn't put you off! And besides, the difference with downforce is far, far greater around a track than mere weight, so it's pretty irrelevant overall. I find the torquey duratec 250bhp far more entertaining than Hayabusa (claimed) 250bhp - pure personal preference!
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Well, I know the relative difference of the weight since having a passenger in my 1500 Radical or Duranail is a good 70 to 80kg - much more than the difference we're talking about BEC/CEC. I haven't driven an R500, but people who've driven them and also my car say there's no comparison. Certainly in an SLR I'd be thinking about refusing to let a passenger climb on board!
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Change as much as your conscience dictates? Treat track day mileage as somewhere between 3x and 10x road mileage. In your case I would change once a year, or twice if I was bored!
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"This year i have passed many r500's and have been held up by a few very powerful duratec cars around a couple of circuits" - these comparisons mean little in my experience because the driver/tyres/mood/cicumstance are far larger factors. I would honestly be surprised if a 40kg lighter 1500 Hayabusa-powered is really that much quicker than my 250bhp Duratec car. There is also a huge difference between an R500 and a 250bhp Duratec!
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If it's anything like Radical's turbo SR3, then not much quicker except down the straight - much harder to drive round the corners on the limit with lag! Still - highly entertaining!
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The torque really makes a big difference on corner exit again though. If anyone has a 250bhp 'busa Caterham I'll be very interested to join them on a track day though!
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My Duratec weighs around 520kg, what I meant was that I think the torque makes up for the weight difference.
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Oh right - sorry! With slicks I doubt there would be much in it, or at least, down to the driver.
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The gear changes are definitely quicker, but the weight is roughly the same, at 530kg claimed. The advantage is simply downforce and monster grip!
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The one I found was in http://www.databox.es/Details/Dataacquisition/PDF/mychron/Datasheet_MY3XGLOG_eng.pdf. Bob, any chance you could mail me also?
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Maybe 250 is optimistic, but it's not far off. I can only just outdrag SR3's from 60-100. I can't remember what the standard engine costs (Radical get crated factory engines in huge piles) - around 4 to 5k? Then 4k for the 1500 conversion, plus 2k dry sump, plus 1k for injection (a must for a hassle free life IMHO!). Roughly, and I'm sure their prices have gone up! A shot of nitrous might help you get past... until the next braking area and corner! :-)
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The Powertec Hayabusa is 1500cc (stroker crank), bespoke cams, porting and throttle bodies plus many detail things to make more reliable - mainly in the clutch and gearbox area. I don't know of one without a dry sump either. The revlimit is 10,500 instead of 11,500 for the 1300 but it has much more midrange. I think it depends on how you prefer you driving - either neat and grippy and fast, or plenty of adjustable and entertaining oversteer on demand. The Radical is much too fast for track days, so the Caterham is far more fun (though still pretty quick!).
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Having come from a 250bhp tuned 'busa (SR3) to a 250bhp Duratec I can honestly say I'm having much more fun now. The Caterham is obviously far slower, but tyre shredding torque is far more entertaining that outright speed IMHO. Opinions will obviously differ :-) On the road there's no competition - the SR3 was absolutely awful, pose factor aside.
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I'd also appreciate pictures! My plate is also quite a way back from the seat and haven't got round to padding yet, but will require a lot. I didn't realise there might be a longer threaded post. :-(
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I had to brake hard once while trailering, coming off a motorway sliproad on to a round about when some nutter in a 355 decided to enter stage right at high speed. The towcar (bmw 330d) has this bonkers emergency brake assist feature when you switch quickly from the throttle to stab the brake. Anyway, with straps hooking into loop extensions through centerlocking wheels on a Radical the force was enough to bend the steering arms on the hubs. I suspect with the Caterham it would have been fine since the force would have been the same as braking directly? I was lucky; Radical replaced the two front hubs with the car still on the trailer the next morning in 2 hours flat!
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I thought Scouse was too busy with his VAG kit these days to do airboxes any more?
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Rather long stroke on the 2.3?
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HOF266 is same as HOF203, but it much shorter so it fits without interfering with a chassis rail.
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I have strange oil pressure also, bu tin a different way. By the time the oil is warm (65+) the pressure is a steady 75 up to about 5000. But above this RPM it blips up to 85, and even 90 on occasion. I was wondering if it was a stuck relief valve - are these straightforward to simply replace on the Duratec - where is it? I'm also wondering know if it might be a voltage issue, or from this thread, the filter! The car as built had a very short Fram on the RaceLine adapter to not foul the cross rail. I've since replaced with variously HOF266 and the equivalent Champion - could it be these filters have restrictive flow and increase the pressure? Both appear to have a relief valve inside. The car is a dry sumped 2.3.
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The syncros are the weak point right? The dogs aren't so bad on the road - rather it's the straight cut gears at 30mph limits which is annoying. Plus practice helps a lot. My 250bhp 525kg car can outdrag a 250bhp Radical from any speed in-gear (lose some time changing gear), but on a track they come out the previous corner so much faster and brake so much later and less for the next that the advantage is completely irrelevant. They're *really* crap on the road though . They weight a bit more, and lack midrange torque (relative to a Duratec anyway!).
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Which gearbox do you have? Mine is an alloy cased type 9 with quaife straight cut and dogs. Isn't the limit the engine output torque rather than bhp? Thanks for the tip about leaving off the surround - sounds like a good plan! Agree it's very nippy in a straight line, but around a track you won't see which way a Radical went - not even with 300+bhp! But more power always equals more fun 😬 danny
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Ah Rob - you get a hot leg from the gearbox too! I hadn't owned a Caterham before, so I assumed the burnt leg was entirely normal :). Anyone have an idea of the maximum safe temperature for the gearbox - something like 140 degrees for synthetic oil? I have a posh laser pointy temp thing somewhere. Also the diff I guess.