gareth

I'm interested in doing a "Caterham Experience"-style track event. It'd be my first time in a Caterham and on track, so I'm looking for a combination that includes a bit of tuition.

Looking for recommendations, preferably at tracks accessible from the northwest...

Thanks!

Marc W

Take a look at www.bookatrack.com

They run track days and airfield days all over the country and have various cars including Caterhams for hire on the day.

They run very good value and very safe days and will have instructors on hand to go out with you.

Marc

darren f

Wife and I did the actual Caterham Circuit Experience (i.e. tjhe official Caterham run event) earlier in the year (in April, in the wet. This is, (I believe) only run at the Bedford Autodrome.

The format is as follows:
They take 10 drivers at a time, you get assigned as 2 drivers plus an instructor per car. The instructor takes you each out for 4 or 5 laps to show you the circuit- it was the small (South?) circuit at Bedford. Then you each have 2 sessions each of 5 laps or so whilst the instructor assesses your ability (or in my case screams at you to go faster . If they are happy you are not a complete loony, they then allow you out on your own, in our case for I think 4 sessions of 7 or 8 laps each. Everybody in our group were ok to do so. At the end the instructors take the drivers out for 2 or 3 laps and they basically compete amongst themselves to see who can be side-ways the most

Its good in that there are only 5 Caterhams on the track so you don’t have to worry about massively quicker machinery behind you. Also, as its Bedford there is miles of run-off and no armcos, so you can really give-it-some- ideal for finding out how a Seven behaves and also (in my case) how much there is to learn!

Its not fantastic value for money (the whole thing from start to finish is 3 hours or so), but very good if you have a particular interest in Sevens and want to know if you could live with one for track work. Other people (e.g. Bookatrack) will offer better
VFM and you may get a choice of which track you get to drive on. Having sid that, Bedford is great fun for 'giving it some'....

gareth

Thanks for the replies. I am looking for VFM and ideally a full day, but the Bedford event sounds like a good intro.

Basically my objective (apart from simple enjoyment) is to prove or disprove this theory: I'd be better off with a bog-standard everyday car plus a track-oriented Caterham, than with my scooby which is too expensive to risk on track and is wasted on today's congested and speed-restricted public roads...

Cheers,
Gareth

darren f

Gareth,
Put it this way (and IMHO of course....), after doing a couple of Caterham days, this is exactly the route I have gone. I have sold the Scooby (broke my heart mind) and have a Caterham R300 on order.

Giving it lots of careful consideration, I thought it seemed daft to thrash a heavy tin-top round the track (with the associated expensive wear on brakes / tyres etc) when a 7 or similar is actually designed for that task.

Also, the Scoob was a lovely car, but I worried about the heart-break that would result if I pitched it into a tyre wall (not to mention the aggro of losing my main mode of transport!!).

darren f

If you need any more info on the Caterham Experience, let me know

Marc W

Have fun.

Be prepared to WANT ONE very badly indeed.

(I own a Caterham 2.0 VX )

Marc

Dirty_Den

Gareth -

I've also got a Caterham and am looking into doing some driving training to get the best out of it. My mates speak very highly of Don Palmer, so I will probably end up doing something with him.

If you're after more 'roadcraft' training, then you want training from Cadence. They are the approved driver trainers for Caterham themselves. A search on Blatchat will get you the details.

Den

gareth

Den - actually owning a Caterham is a good way down the road yet...

I spotted an ad for Cadence on the Caterham site. I think Evo did a feature on them a while back and IMHO they seemed a better option than HPC.

Dirty_Den

Gareth -

I think (and am ready to be corrected ) that Don Palmer's training is more toward on the limit driving etc.

Cadence is more toward improving your road driving - positioning, reading of the road etc.

Den

gareth

Just wondered if anyone had experience of "Premier Road and Track Events"? They run a full-day Caterham experience for what seems like a good price (£250) and have an upcoming event at Oulton Park. They also have a link on the official Caterham website.

gareth

I'm torn between a full day at Oulton Park with PRTE and a half day at Bedford with Caterham... the OP event seems like the better option but is on a weekday and - as a contractor - this is against my religion...

Someone make up my mind for me!

darren f

I think it depends what you want.

The Bedford day would (I think) be on a very basic, easily learnt circuit so you will be able to concentrate on the car- what it will do, how it reacts and evaluating if you could live with one.

The Oulton Day will also involve learning the circuit (unless of course you know Oulton well). In my experience of Oulton, its pretty daunting first time out and will take up a fair degree of your attention

So, in summary, go for Bedford if you want to just try the car (no armcos mean you can really throw it about). If you have experience of Oulton and wonlt lose time learning the circuit, then go for that (be aware some bits of Oulton are very fast and unforgiving).

All of the above is of course,only in my opinion of course.....

gareth

Thanks Darren - impeccable timing, I've just booked Oulton...!

gareth

Just looked into it and actually the official Caterham event looks like good value - half a day including tuition and "car hire" for £190. The Bookatrack site lists trackdays at £100-200 plus £350 per halfday for car hire.

There;s also an event running the weekend after my birthday so it's starting to look like destiny...


[Edited by gareth - 9/10/2002 12:19:42 PM]

gareth

Just thought I'd post the outcome of all the above, having spent yesterday doing the Premier Road and Track Events "Caterham Driving Experience" at Oulton Park.

First of all, the weather couldn't really have been worse, so this is going to influence everything else I felt about the day. Basically, it rained/hailed all morning, and slowly dried through the afternoon with occasional showers. Cars were spinning off everywhere and there were at least five red flags through the day.

In the morning we only got passenger rides in the 2 (!) Caterhams that were provided for the 10 punters like myself. Fair enough because of the conditions, but basically that meant - for me - just three times out with a total of 7 laps for the whole morning.

In the afternoon it was basically drying out so we set about the business of actually driving. Because of the number of cars I didn't get my first drive until after 3 o'clock, with less than two hours of the day left. On this occasion I got a massive 2 laps, the first of course being meaningless while I got adjusted to the car. Cue another long wait and then one more drive at about 4:30 while everyone else was packing up. Three laps this time... great.

Looking back over the earlier posts on this thread I can't help feeling that even with perfect conditions this would have still been a let-down, and at £250 a rip-off. I reckon on a good day I might have got a couple of drives in the morning. Big deal = maybe 10 laps in total?

Never learnt anything about the cars except that I could have got round quicker in my scoob given the conditions.

Pluses from the day? First - some fantastic passenger laps in the afternoon in a UK STi just fitted with PPP. Totally awesome, thanks Kev! Second - I'm no longer scared of the idea of taking my own scoob on a circuit and will be looking into getting some insurance for next year.

Finally, I'm still curious about 7s and might look again at the Bedford event next year.

Cheers,
Gareth

Marc W

Gareth

Shame it didn't go too well. I still reckon its worth your while contacting Jonny at Bookatrack and enquiring about hiring their basic Caterham. If a half day is too much then see if they'll do it by the hour? They've got an Oulton Park date next week.

Worth persevering with the Caterham as they're such great fun - just got back from taking mine round Spa F1 circuit on monday!!!

Else, just turn up at a track day and ask around the owners of the various engined Caterhams and Westfields for passenger rides - you should get a good idea how the different cars compare for free!

I would offer but I think I'm finished with track days for the year now - the overdraft is starting to hurt !

Cheers

Marc

Brendan Hughes

You can hire Caterhams from their place in Surrey for about 100 quid a day IIRC, if you fancy taking it round the streets at your own pace.

I had the same problem as you - did it for my birthday which was in October, and with rain and wet leaves everywhere it wasn't what I hoped.

Still gave me a mad grin though...

gregh

bookatrack also can sort out an instructor to hire with the Caterham, sounds like you were a tad ripped off, have you tried asking for money back or something?

greg