No grip on the rears? How does it get to 100 mph in 9 seconds then?
Some race schools use Caterhams (or equivalents) with race tyres on the
front and crappy old overinflated road tyres on the back to teach car
control, maybe it was one of those you drove? :0)
Really? That _would_ make it handle like a pig ;-)
Why not just use crappy tyres on all four corners if you want to learn car
control?
Malc.
"rrevved"
Is that the Austin Caterham?
dave henrie :)
Excellent! Does anyone get static in the left speaker? Other than that,
very enjoyable to watch.
Speaking of the 'ring... what sort of rules are there for people who want to
drive around? Do they just let any Joe with a license on the track, or
what? It looked like the driver in this vid was careful to only pass on the
straight sections and only when it was clear the slower car was letting him
by.
Brian
Almost as good as the original Porsche 924 "wedge of death" wheel. Lacking
sufficient thigh room, the geniuses at Porsche-VW made an eccentric wheel.
Great for going straight ahead, but when things got exciting and you dialed
in the lock, it wedged against your thighs. Dohhh! The 944 redesign of the
interior was a welcome change.
Stephen
> Speaking of the 'ring... what sort of rules are there for people who want
to
> drive around? Do they just let any Joe with a license on the track, or
> what? It looked like the driver in this vid was careful to only pass on
the
> straight sections and only when it was clear the slower car was letting
him
> by.
> Brian
1. There's all sorts on there from buses (tourists) to GT cars to bikes to
Trevor in his knackered escort going for gold (probably the most
dangerous!).
2. It's not a video game, people are killed on the circuit every year
(normally bikers though).
3. There's no emergency services. If you fly off into the trees, it'll be a
while before you're found.
4. Thrashing the t*ts off your car for a few laps could kill it, and you've
still got to get home. (think brakes and clutch).
5. You're not insured, it's a race track.
Having said this, I'll be there at some point next year!!!
AndyC
Pretty much ...
They use a Rover engine :)
--
Ian P
<email invalid due to spam>
A tip is to bring a set of brakepads. I had to use the handbrake on
the autobahn on the way home while searching for a volvo dealership to
get a set of front pads!! Interesting experience... :) Cost a small
fortune too(110???)...
AFAIK, it actually counts as public road, so your insurance should or
rather could cover it. At least it counted as public road 10 years
ago, could have changed since though. A biker mag. here in Sweden used
to have 'Ring-articles in every issue back then, and they explicitly
said that your road-going insurance policy is valid. Well, swedish
policy that is, YMMV. Better read the fine print... Like I said a lot
could have changed in 10 years.
;)
pez
> > ive driven alot of cars, but the caterham was the worst behaved car ive
> ever
> > had the pleasure of experiencing. just no grip on the rears at all.
> > pez
> No grip on the rears? How does it get to 100 mph in 9 seconds then?
> Some race schools use Caterhams (or equivalents) with race tyres on the
> front and crappy old overinflated road tyres on the back to teach car
> control, maybe it was one of those you drove? :0)
Hehe.. well, it's true.
I raced a lot of SCCA in my earlier years, and among my rides was
my Lotus Eleven Le Mans. My SCCA driving school lead instructor,
at Road Atlanta, in about 1970 when I had the Lotus, was
Peter Revson (F1/Indy/CanAm). 'Eggshell under the right foot'
were the exact words he used in our instruction, and my Lotus's
performance would be considered poor compared to the R500 Caterham.
I had 130hp in an 800 lb car. The R500 is 230 hp in a 1000 lb car.
To put that in perspective, if these cars were Corvettes weighing
3000 lbs, the horsepower required to achieve the same power/weight
ratio would be 500+ horsepower and 700+ horsepower, repectively.
These are very light, powerful cars, and they get a little .. frisky.
The braking performance is incredible as well. As for the handling,
well it's a Lotus ..
Both my old Lotus and the R500 are front-engined, DeDion rear
suspension cars. My Lotus had very skinny tires compared to the
good tires on the Caterhams.
Back in the day, the Lotus Super 7's (now Caterham) were so
fast that even after rule changes that bumped them up to the
top class of the Production racing category in Britain where
they raced against far more powerful Porsche 911's, Cobras,
production Ferraris, Jags, Corvettes, Astons etc., the RAC
(Royal Automotive Club) finally BANNED the Super 7's from
further participation in Production Car racing. They simply
crushed any and all production car competition that was
placed against them. It may still be that way in Europe,
I don't know.
They are Q-U-I-C-K.
I would REALLY like to own an R500, even as old as I am now.
DAMN!!!
>> > ive driven alot of cars, but the caterham was the worst behaved car ive
>> ever
>> > had the pleasure of experiencing. just no grip on the rears at all.
>> > pez
>> No grip on the rears? How does it get to 100 mph in 9 seconds then?
>> Some race schools use Caterhams (or equivalents) with race tyres on the
>> front and crappy old overinflated road tyres on the back to teach car
>> control, maybe it was one of those you drove? :0)
Are you sure about this? I thought it was public road, with normal
insurance policies..
Andre
Be that as it may, Andre, ADAC will not come to your aid on the track
itself, even if you have European wide breakdown insurance. I checked.
Jan.
=---
> >5. You're not insured, it's a race track.
> Are you sure about this? I thought it was public road, with normal
> insurance policies..
> Andre
> >Having said this, I'll be there at some point next year!!!
> >AndyC
Cya
JensSchumi
>Caterham Superlight R500
>Bests McLaren F1 in 0-100-0 MPH World Record
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