caterhambuild

I attended the Williams Charity Track Day in mid August 2023 at Castle Combe near Bristol with previously mentioned mate Steve A (who only has family cars available at the moment, so somehow borrowed his Dad’s Porsche !). Ticket cost around 250 GBP.

This was my first time tracking a car I owned, but I’ve done several different track days in the past such as palmer sport (highly recommend), caterham drifting at silverstone, lotus experiences and a couple of assorted red letter day type experiences. So while I had some experience on a track, I was still very much an amateur and was one of the least experienced there. The day was oriented towards Caterham, Lotus and Morgan owners but was very civilized, with all drivers very courteous.

Helmets were required – I used a motorbike helmet. Long sleeve tops and trousers also needed, jeans and a jumper. We were very fortunate with the weather and didn’t get any rain, which was a miracle for summer 2023 in the UK.

Insurance – if you choose to insure for a track day (I did). Your normal annual road insurance obviously does not cover you hooning your 35-40k car around a track. You can purchase insurance for one day on a track from various companies, I went via Adrian Flux for this and paid 340 GBP for ONE DAY, which I was told was roughly where the market was. I got many quotes higher. The excess for this was 3.5k GBP. However I think without this insurance I wouldn’t have enjoyed the day as much.

I drove down to Bristol the night before, stayed at Steve’s place, did the track day, stayed the night again and drove back the next day, so split the road driving from the track driving. Another thing I realised on this trip was how much difference having the doors on the car makes. I have previously been driving around without roof or doors, and it gets a bit turbulent. I put the doors on for the drive down to Steve’s and it was just so much more comfortable and enjoyable (and far less tiring) on a long journey – around 130 miles.

In future I will use the doors nearly all the time on the road.

The track day itself started around 8am with briefings and sign on, after a sighting lap track usage was limited to 12 cars at a time. There were maybe 40-50 cars there, but we soon got a rhythm going and I found after 15 minutes or so on track I was ready for a short break. You were never waiting too long to go on track. Break for lunch then an afternoon session. All in all a huge amount of fun, something I can’t wait to do again.I get the car serviced at Caterham Silverstone (bit closer to me) and they run a day at Silverstone circuit in May which I’m now very tempted by.

Another massive highlight was this exact 420 Cup was there (with passenger rides on offer by drivers from Caterham). It had a windscreen and doors on. This was the fastest thing on the track and if I had enough space in the garage and did more track days I would definitely get one. Absolutely insane. Unfortunately not available in kit form due to sequential gearbox and other tweaks (I did check!!)

All in all a great day out and felt good to put the car to the test on a track.

I never noticed how humid it gets in my detached garage. I started noticing more that after not being driven for a while the brake discs would develop light rust. Then I had some tools starting to show some signs of rust and finally, part of the exhaust one day was wet (in mid winter) and starting to rust.

I needed a dehumidifier.

I’d recommend anyone get one for an uninsulated garage like mine. Did a bunch of research, if you are using it outside you need something called a ‘Desiccant dehumidifier’ – a normal cheap household dehumidifier can often be a ‘Refrigerant dehumidifier’ but this type won’t work at the low temperatures you can get in your garage. So if you have one already, check what type it is – nice summary here.

After some research I opted for the Ecoair DD3 Mk2 10.5L/day Desiccant dehumidifier.

You can purchase direct on ecoair.org or via amazon – those links are to the Mk3 version (Mk2 seems no longer available) – please note as always if you do use the amazon link I earn a small commission (no impact on amazon price you pay). Other brands and models are available, but I have had great results with this one. I leave it running around the clock, set the target humidity for 60% and empty the tank anything from once a day to once every 4-5 days. You can also plumb it to run a pipe through a hole in the wall so you don’t have to empty the tank manually (I haven’t done this yet). I also try to air the garage out wherever possible. This does use some power so just bear in mind power consumption.

After having it for 6 months I wouldn’t be without one for the garage now – its not just the car, its the bikes, the tools, everything. Highly recommend, and wish I had it when I started my build.

Managed 1100 miles this year, caught short by the fuel panic at the end of September – absolute pain looking at beautiful skies but having nothing in tank. I didn’t feel like being strung up by attending a petrol station in the Caterham!! In future I’ll be keeping that tank full, lesson learnt!

So now time to get ready for winter. I don’t want to take the car on the roads over winter as they tend to be covered in salt/grit, it gets cold, darker and just isn’t what I wanted to use the Caterham for. Handling apparently a lot harder and short days with low light in sky is another drawback. As a result the car will stay in the garage.

There are lots of approaches people take to winter it seems. I did the following:

• Full tank of fuel (I use super unleaded)
• Clean it well inside and out
• Put a couple of large silicon moisture absorbing pads in the driver and passenger footwells. I have no idea if this will add any value, but had them lying around so thought it was worth doing to help prevent any moisture build up
• Inflated tyres to 26 PSI (Usually run at 22PSI) – will check these sporadically throughout winter
• Handbrake off and used chocks to secure the wheels (instead of bricks!)
• Connected battery trickle charger using the ring connectors and running wires underneath the car, so I can leave the bonnet on
• Put the roof and doors back on and cover with the cover bought from caterhamparts.co.uk

Every few weeks I’ll go and roll it forward or back a bit so it doesn’t sit on one particular area of the tyres. In particular I’ll keep an eye out to make sure the battery trickle charger is still running, and for any sign of rodents in which case I will lay down traps.

I considered jacking the car up to rest on axle stands, but that operation comes with some degree of risk (screwing up and dropping the car), which I felt outweighed any potential reward so opted to keep it on the ground.

I have decided it is easier to leave the car fully insured year round. However, I got my reminder in the post that the tax is due 1st Dec … 280GBP for the year or 24.50 per month as a direct debit. So I decided to do a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notice) which is actually incredibly easy to do on the gov website. Just filled in the 11 digits from my V5C form (you can also use the 16 digits on the V11 reminder letter you get sent). The car is now registered as off the road, so I can’t drive it on roads until I tax it again. I’ve written this on a piece of paper in capital letters next to my keys because I have memory of a sieve!

I will tax it again in March once the weather improves. When you tax it again, you can start driving that day. In future, my MOT will be due in December, you are apparently allowed to drive a SORN’d car to and from an MOT, so this won’t be an issue. It’s only saving 100 – 150 quid a year, but that’s better than nothing and adds up over years.

In mid December I got the car out onto the driveway, started up and just let it run for 15-20 minutes.