Cadwell Park 21.05.24 in the Caterham 620S

[andy tims]

So I've just started my 2nd year of owning the 620 & I'm getting quicker on track just by experience and building my confidence with it, but I decided to hire an instructor to accelerate my learning, especially to push me out of my comfort zone in terms of cornering, as wasn't using anything like all the grip available.

My instructor for the day was Scott Gillam, who has a very good record of coaching successful Caterham racers & he was really good. The key learning point was that the "Mike Wilds" (look him up if you like) one steering input only technique, that I'd used in previous cars does not work for a Caterham. You need to turn in slightly earlier but with slow hands and then if necessary tighten the steering to hit the apex. This is closer to the technique you would use on a bike, but on a bike corner speeds are slower than a car anyway. If you use the classic latest Apex possible lines, you just kill too much speed before turning in. Braking less and carrying corner entry speed makes the difference and you can afford to carry more entry speed because the car is so light. Pretty scary the first few times though.

Now I last went to Cadwell about a year ago & it was (I think) only my second time on track in the Caterham, but even so I'm really chuffed with how much I improved - 7 seconds between my best last time & this time & I was pretty close to my best this time on several occasions when I got clean laps without traffic at key points.

By the end of the day, I’d done 220 track miles, used over 80 litres of 99ron and was very tired, but on a real high.

The weather forecast for my nearly 200 mile journey home was not good, so the half hood went on. I was still on a high for the first hour or so, playing over in my head, Scott’s key pieces of advice – Brake harder immediately rather than building brake pressure, get the down change done as early as possible in the braking phase, turn in sooner than you’d think, but with slow hands, speed up the hands and tighten the line to the apex if needed, absolutely no power before the apex etc.

Then the rain got harder and with Avon ZZR’s, 50mph was as fast as I wanted to go in places. At one point I hit a huge puddle / mini lake on the A1. The water came up over the car’s roof, I could see nothing for what seemed like ages and then I got properly soaked as the water came in both sides via the gaps behind the doors. I let out an involuntary yell, as you would if someone poured a bucket of water over you. I put the heater on in a futile attempt to dry out a bit.

A change of clothes was the first thing I did when I got home, followed by about 90 minutes of drying the car out. Several soaking wet towels later and with an electric dehumidifier set to work + several trays of moisture absorbent crystals placed, I eventually got to bed, completely shattered.

A few videos, for those that are interested

I didn't get my best lap on my GoPro (battery died) so this is from the instructors VBox. Loads of wildlife on the camera lens + quiet audio as the unit was in the boot, so turn up the volume

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r3pGyT3QCg

The rest are from my GoPro. Sorry about the audio. I think I have a loose connection to the external mic.

This one is very short - A few "moments" that I had + one where a car span in front of me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIYcf8yxskg

This one is a bit longer - Me dealing with the (at times) heavy traffic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZs6VlmILAs

Not all the slower drivers were watching their mirrors and moving over as they should have been

Can’t wait for the next one, which is Goodwood on Monday. I'm preying for a dry day, but the forecast is not looking great.

[rockmastermike]

7 seconds is an eternity on the track where time is measured in 100 or 1000 of a second - that's a hell of an improvement

I really enjoyed the videos, thanks for sharing

[BacoNoir]

The “Dealing With Traffic” video was awesome. With the camera angle you could feel you setting up the passes. Such a fun ride along.