Neal H

I have sold my 7, but have replaced it with a Lotus S1 Exige. I enjoyed a few sprints with the 7 this year and had planned to do the same with the Exige next year. The trouble is, the Exige (and Elise) are entered into the same kit car classes as the 7, so if they go ahead with this rule interpretation, it will mean that I have to fit a full cage to my Exige. My car came with 1b tyres (Yoko AO39's) from the factory - it was designed to run on them. I am certainly not going to fit a set of inferior 1a tyres just so that I can enter three or four sprints per year, neither am I going to go to the considerable expense and inconvenience of fitting a full cage to an Exige! I have considered getting an additional set of wheels, but even this solution would set me back about £1k. I think that if this rule is enforced, it will mean the end of sprinting for me and probably many casual sprinters like me. This would be a shame, as I have really enjoyed the sprints I have attended. I hope they decide to leave things as they are. Neal.

You regularly read that the VHPD engine needs a rebuild at about 30k miles, is this the case? Also what is the typical cost and is the rebuild usually following a catastrophic failure? I am looking at buying a car* with a VHPD that currently has about 23k miles on it, so was wondering what I need to budget for in the next 12 months! Cheers, Neal. *The car is actually a Lotus S1 Exige - to replace my Caterham R300.

Now Sold

Thank you

Caterham Blue with white nose band and bonnet stripe. For sale, my unmolested Caterham Superlight R300. The car was registered in January 2007 and has covered approximately 5000 miles. It is taxed until 31/12/08 and has a full service history with Caterham Midlands. I am the second owner having owned the car since January 2008. The spec includes: Rover K-Series 1.8 Litre VVC engine – 160bhp Caterham 6 speed gearbox Anti-Cavitation tank (oil/air separator) Catalytic converter Wide track suspension 15” Superlight alloy wheels with Avon CR500 tyres Full Caterham ‘Black Pack’ FIA roll bar Heated windscreen and full hood/weather gear Tonneau cover Interchangeble composite aero screen Aces shift lights Carbon fibre cycle wings and dashboard Composite Tillet race seats Drivers 5 point race harness Passenger 4 point race harness Quick release Momo steering wheel Heater Cigar lighter (power point for sat nav etc) Engine immobiliser £20,995 http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/671269.htm

Thanks for the feedback It seems clear that mine is fitted with the 3.92 diff - hence the 120mph maximum. I didn't know that this was an option. I am happy to leave it as it is, as I wouldn't want to compromise the acceleration and there aren't many tracks where the maximum speed will be an issue. Given that it has the optional 3.92 diff fitted, does it automatically follow that it would also have an LSD. Sorry if this is a stupid qusetion, but having purchased it used I am unsure whether it has an LSD or not. Cheers, Neal.

The car was running with the aero screen and I run the CR500's on 15" wheels. The rev limiter seems to cut in at about 7250rpm. Is it possible to fit the different diff? Is it wise? TBH I wouldn't want to lose the acceleration that I have. The car is very quick to 120mph and then just stops accelerating This is quite different to anything I have previously owned, where the acceleration starts to just tail off towards the top end. Another 10mph would be very useful at places like Silverstone or Snetterton! Cheers, Neal.

The quoted top speed of my K-Series VVC R300 is 130mph, but as I found out at Silverstone on Friday it will only do a little over 120mph when it reaches the rev limiter in 6th. I discovered that I hit the rev limiter about 3/4 of the way down the Hanger straight. I was curious whether the R400 & R500 (K-Series) use different gearing to achieve higher top speeds as the extra horsepower won't help if they simply run out of gears? Is there a straight forward way to increase this? It does seem odd that the actual top speed is a lot less than quoted and that the car simply isn't geared to achieve 130mph. It doesn't really bother me, as the car was simply superb around Silverstone - but it would have been nice to carry a bit more speed down Hanger straight, if only to stop the really quick stuff from drafting past me Neal.

Looks like these people had a go. No idea whether it ever got finished though... http://www.clockwisemotion.co.uk/index/cars.html Neal.

During my years of Elise ownership, I decided that I wouldn't bother spending money anymore on upgrades of less than 50bhp, as this was what was really needed to make a noticeable difference to the way the car performs. This means 210+ bhp from where I am currently. My problem with 200+ bhp K's is not only potential reliability and longevity issues, but also MOT compliance and noise! I know that DVA has a terrific reputation with the K Series and would certainly have a chat with him to see what my K-series options were before making a decision, but the beauty of the Honda was that it was an un-opened off the shelf engine developing 220bhp so should be good for 150,000 miles! This is something I will look seriously at this winter, but like to do my research well in advance :) Another thing I have noticed - Caterham don't fit a dry-sump kit to the Duratec R400 as standard (they did to the K-Series R400). Does that mean it isn't necessary on the Duratec? If not, then the cost saving (£2k) goes some way between bridging the gap between tuning a K and fitting a Duratec. Neal.

This is hypothetical at the moment as I am really happy with my 160bhp VVC powered R300, but I am sure in the future I will be seeking more HP and I am not a fan of highly tuned K's. How easy is it to convert a K powered 7 to a Duratec? Is it a nightmare or a relatively straight forward conversion? I am a technical numpty so would need to be paying someone to do it for me. Previously I had an Elise which had a Honda K20a Vtec fitted. FANTASTIC engine and conversion. I wonder if it would be ruinously expensive to have one fitted in a 7, as I think it would be the perfect choice - 220bhp and 8500rpm 🥰 Neal.

I ran Pagid RS4-2's on mine. Brilliant but v.expensive!

Sounds like a really common problem on CR500's. I have this on one of my rears - it loses 2 or 3 psi per week. Neal.

Put the full hood on for the first time last night - it only took 35 minutes Now it's on, I notice that it has a few scuff marks - probably where it's been laid out on the floor. It isn't badly scratched, just some scuffing. It also has a couple of odd stains. Is there any particular product recommended for cleaning it or polishing out the scuff marks? The hood isn't staying on the car, I only put it up out of curiosity and drove it into work today to check it stayed in place - it did! Thanks! Neal.

Thanks for the feedback, I will take a look at the various options Do the larger silencers have any effect on engine power? I am pretty sure my car will be fine at the majority of tracks and don't want to stifle the performance just to get it down to the Bedford noise limits. Neal.

Following on from my failure of the drive-by noise meters at Bedford Autodrome, can someone provide any advise on how to make my car quieter? It is an R300 with a K-Series VVC, road silencer and cat. Are there any Caterham options or after-market options for a quieter silencer? I have heard of Supertrapp - does anybody know of them or whether they offer any Caterham compatible products? Thanks, Neal.

Well, my day today at Bedford was fairly short lived! I just passed the static test with a reading of 100.1 As far as I could tell, they put the noise meter right on the exhaust exit and made me rev it to 5k. After five or six laps I was black flagged after I apparently tripped two meters, the first reading was 88.2 the second 88.8 - the first time they gave me the benefit of the doubt as I was with another car. It was my first session out on the track so I was taking it fairly easy and short shifting to try and keep the noise down. I will see what can be done to quiet the car down, but it is already a bog standard K-Series VVC with a cat and large silencer. It doesn't appear that loud, and I don't want to risk strangling it. It probably means that I will now have to strike Bedford off my track day list, which is a great shame as I love going there ☹️ Neal.

I'm off to Bedford this Saturday with LoT. My car is Superlight R300 with a bog standard K-Series VVC, cat and road silencer, so probably about as quiet as a Caterham can be! I am more or less expecting to get thrown off in pretty short order (assuming I make it through the static test) but will let you know how I get on Neal.

My car did something very similar yesterday. No flat battery in my case, but when I started it I noticed that the immobiliser light was permanently on. It ran okay and when I got home it went out when I pressed the disarm button. I then went for another run out. It disarmed and started fine (no light this time) and ran fine. When I stopped mid-journey it did not want to re-start. On the first attempt it started and ran for a second and then died. After that it just cranked over without attempting to fire. After several attempts at arming and disarming the immobilser, it started (I was about to call the AA!) Neal.

The aero whiskers fitted to the nosecone on the CSR's - are they supposed to do anything, or are they just cosmetic? They seem far to small to do anything useful areodynamically. Neal.

Good to know as I ordered one yesterday

Mike - Thanks for the information - It's a big help a quite reassuring. To be honest, I am having a hard time believing that Caterham would produce a car like the Superlight - which is clearly destined to be used by many as a track toy - and spec it as standard with an engine set up that is likely to fail in a short period due to oil starvation! The net result would be a lot of warranty claims and a lot of very unhappy customers. When I bought mine from Caterham Midlands, I specifically asked whether the warranty would be invalidated by track use, and was assured it wouldn't be (within reason). Neal.

Okay, I've scrapped the Hellier idea Mine definitely has the Apollo tank fitted which is good news at least! Neal.

Steve - thanks for the tip. I will look when I get home tonight. I am also quite liking the look of the 'wet sump anti surge baffle system' available from Hellier (thanks for the link Mick), which seems a sensible precaution at a sensible price. Neal.

Thanks for all the feedback - very informative It seems that fitting a dry-sump kit is the only sure-fire way of avoiding potential problems - but at about £2k supplied and fitted that isn't an option right now ☹️ I am pretty sure that my car has the anti-cavitation (Apollo) tank fitted, but will check the original invoice tonight which came with the car to be absolutely sure. I am going to track it, but am no driving god, so I doubt I will be pulling too many G's through the fast corners! First time out I will take it easy and keep a beady eye on the oil pressure guage until I am confident that there aren't any problems. How many on here actually track their cars without a dry-sump set up? Cheers! Neal.