Slipper man

My SLR used to do 30 on road, 8 on track

Rob: I have already done that, but can't get enough purchase on it to shift it. Can't get my impact driver on it either. I have never had any success with screw extractors either. I hadn't thought of threadlocking a smaller bolt, but will try it if I can't get it out with the impact driver. I guess heating the block with a blow lamp might help - am I right in thinking aluminium expands faster than steel? Peter: I guess you are right. I have been trying to avoid taking the engine out, but in the time I have been messing around I could probably have taken it out anyway. Also, having the engine out will make it much less likely that I will destroy the thread while trying. It will also give me best access to what remains of the bolt with the impact driver. Kevsta: I was lucky enough not to lose the spacer.

The bolt securing the bracket that tensions the alternator on my R500 has sheared off in the block. It looks like I will have to drill the bolt out, hopefully without wrecking the thread on the (alloy) block. It looks very hard to get at and it seems to me that the only way to get at it properly is to remove the steering rack, exhaust manifold and probably oil and water radiators and then lift the engine a bit with a jack. It all seems quite a lot of effort. Has anyone had experience of this, and can think of a better way?

I would speak to Dave Andrews for an opinion, and things you can check. I would be surprised if one of his engines had HGF, because he is very careful about the liner heights, but it is possible and your symptoms are consistent with what you would expect.

First thing is to calibrate the Stack. You have to input the circumference of your front wheels to get a correct reading. Or, borrow a Tom Tom. 140 is about right with no screen. With one, I would be guessing 130 or so. And you will still be 10 seconds a lap faster than cars supposedly doing 30 MPH faster on the straights 😬

Like Dave Jackson, I would go the Zetec route. The Duratec is a great engine, but I couldn't live with getting hot feet every time I drove the car, which you would get with the Duratec because the exhaust is right in front of the driver's feet. On the Zetec it is on the passenger side so it is not a problem (for the driver...)

+44 (0) 1869 240404

Can't help with the problem I am afraid. Try talking to Stack - they are very good. The buttons are not always in the same place, but you should have 5. They cover the brightness of the shift lights, a reset button, a maximum value (or lowest if that would be the problem e.g. oil pressure), a program button that you have to hold for 5 seconds, and then lets you set things like the wheel circumference and the button that lets you scroll through the different functions on the display

Sorry Simon, but there is indeed no chance of an R500 being allowed without an airbox and quiet silencer.

what do the plugs look like?

I have always found slicks much more friendly than 'normal' (i.e. not 48R type road tyres that are pretty much slicks) tyres. It was explained to me that treads cause instability and make the tyres less predictable, which made sense to me. It is certainly true that cross ply slicks need less camber (Michelin do radials, which is very convenient), but slow girlies like Aves probably won't notice the difference 😬 During Le Sept I had my car on cross ply settings while running radials. It was slower than I expected (until I realised what I had done) but was perfectly predictable

There is a much simpler solution, I am glad to say. Getting the map changed will help, but you can do a lot but changing the geometry of the operating mechanism. First, make sure it is all balanced (just as you would on an old carb car). Then, if you take off the pedal box cover you will probably find that the lever pulling the cable is at right angles to the pedal. What you need to do is remove the pedal, bend the lever so that it only gets to 90 deg when you are at about half throttle. It was 5 years since I did this and I can't recall if I then had to bend the pedal to get it back to the same place or if the various adjustments can get you there. This change may sound simple but if you are careful about it, you can transform the car.

God that was quick, Mark! It waill have to wait till tomorrow now. How do you upload pictures chaps?

My R500 had exactly the same issue with excess noise. If the silencer is recently packed, it was under 105 dBa, but after a bit of use it got too noisy. I decided that I would get a solution that would work anywhere. The solution was a two silencer system with an R500 can with a different end pipe that connects to a pipe that leads to a transverse rear can. Tested at Goodwood at 95 dbA at 6,000 RPM. It does take the edge of the top end, but I can at least use it anywhere if I need to. The funny thing is that although I take it to every track day, I have only ever needed to put it on the car once (ignoring Goodwood) - that was at Oulton. I can take pics if you like. All the parts were from Caterham

I am 6ft 3 and the SLR cage gives plenty of room. Can't believe a lowered floor is necessary for you.

Ditch the CR500's. My R500 was exactly the same on those tyres - if you were really brutal on turn in they went very well, but it was no fun. A swap to 48R's fixed it. I was not impressed with CR500's. And a new set of rears was more expensive than a complete set of 48R's!

If the lug is the one that holds the spring that pulls the pipesinto the silencer, take it all off and leave it that way. Mine has been like that for 4 years with no ill effects

I can't recall for sure, but I think the R500 uses oil seals. If it works on that it should be OK

Never tried the Toyos, but my comments about 48R v's CR500 echo Peter's about the Toyos. They are very good, and £291 a set for the R500. On a circuit they are not as good as slicks, but much closer than they have any right to be given how they work in the wet!

This is another 'they all do that sir'. I suspect you have hit the rev limiter, which sends some pulses down lines and confuses things. (Mine has done over 640 MPH at one time!)

What do you mean 'see you in France'?! I DO hope you aren't Le Septing - my wine bill will double because yo are such a bad influence

The 3.62 is more than £200 cheaper. I have one in the garage that you can borrow (long term) for free... R500's were supplied with 3.92 as standard, but like Alex I wanted something a bit more relaxed so got them to supply mine with a 3.62. After a cople of years I came to the conclusion that Caterham were right and changed it to a 3.92. I think the 3.62 will be perfect. Give me a call if you want my bits. K

As Dave says, depends on many variables. Mine, with freshly packed silencer shows 104Db at the static test. With a less fresh packing job, 108 static and 106 driveby has been registered. With the reverie and rear exit exhaust it showed 96 at Good wood on the static test. Having said all that, for Bedford, you will need some work on the car to pass the test - ideally the airbox and rear exit exhaust

Whatever, you don't want Jagusr BRG - it is far too dark.

You will probably do what most people do and spec larger wheels because that's what Caterham tend to encourage you to do, and they look better. Then you will end up trying a car with 13 inch wheels and discover that they work much better on a Seven and spend more money to get 13's. We all do that first time round.... Save yourself some money and start with 13 inch whees with either Yoko 21 or 48 or the Toyo tyres people seem to swear by. They do have more grip, but the main benefit to me is that the smaller wheels tramline much less on the road, and give better ride quality (because they have larger sidewalls that the ultra low profile things). They are much cheaper to replace, too - on my R500, two new rear CR500 tyres would have cost more than a complete set of Yoko's