It was good while it lasted..

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gordon
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It was good while it lasted..

Post by gordon » Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:14 am

:( Didn't race at the weekend there ................... and just found out my Class E lap record has been beaten. Bugger!!!

I held it with a 57.934. But it got beaten with a 57.894 at the weekend.

Thats the thing with the Caterhams, you can make so much time up from tucking right in and slipstreaming a faster car. ... so if i do get back out to race.... watch this space. :twisted: Also i like the feel of it on the Avons... but i've been hearing it's a bit quicker on the Yoko's. :?

My heads still up my ass about what to do next season. After the run through to Lawrences in the car the other week i doubt i could drive it down south as it's geared really low and sits at about 5000rpm at 70mph in 6th IIRC. Too high to be sitting at a constant rev on a race engine for hours on a motorway. (On a "private road" it pulled right up to the limiter in 6th at just ove 130mph on the clock. :) )

Thinking about the hillclimbs..... but after watching testing on Saturday i dont think it'll give me the rush i need. Kinda need to be out there racing.

My heads pickled with it all. I'd always wanted a Caterham... and the car is known throught the Scottish racing scene as one of the best RSA'a out there, so i'm reluctant to sell it... but then again... there's no point it having it sitting there and not being raced in some way. Dunno what to do???? :roll: :?

Is that the sound of Ali rustling pound notes i hear??? :lol:
Last edited by gordon on Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Dominic
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Post by Dominic » Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:26 pm

Don't sell the caterham! I have lusted after one for years, but never quite planned things well enough to get one :cry:

It makes a good all round motorsport car. You can drive it on road / road runs etc, you can use it for several different forms of motorsport, and competitivly at that! There are few other cars that offer such flexability. If you are unsure of what motorsport route to go down, keep the caterham, because you can try different sports with the one car.

Several of my friends & I regularly have the discussion of what motorsports to do: race Vs rally / club sports etc. At least you have got out there and done some racing (where my heart is too). What ever you decide, keep us all informed, I'm sure there'll be plenty of us up for supporting where we can.

Dominic

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alicrozier
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Re: It was good while it lasted..

Post by alicrozier » Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:54 pm

gordon wrote: Is that the sound of Ali rustling pound notes i hear??? :lol:
Don't tempt me, I've already been looking at what the change from my Exige would leave for a tow car... ;)
All characters appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Any references to laptimes, speed or driving on the public highway are purely for dramatic effect.

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thinfourth
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Post by thinfourth » Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:57 pm

i'm sure i could talk to dave and you could keep it there with the banana

Just keep the puma as a hack car and buy SWMBO an X5

the get a 7 and go racing against gordon :)

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Fluoxetine
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Post by Fluoxetine » Tue Aug 22, 2006 3:06 pm

I can sympathise...At the end of the 2004 season I was so keen to keep racing, I signed up for the 2005 Super Graduates Championship and paid a reasonably substantial registration fee...

As I can't tell one end of a spanner from another, I bought a trailer and dropped the car off with a well known Caterham race team down south.

It was subjected to a substantial overhaul, suspension & brake upgrade, along with flat flooring & geo setup...Bill was for £2k (Including a set of wheels, A048R tyres & lots of other bits and pieces...)

Tested the car at Donington in Feb 2005, and that was the last time I drove it on track :(

Image

Why sell it after all that hassle / expense?

Basically to run a budget season in a national Caterham Championship you're looking at £7-10k per year minimum... That includes entry fees / testing / tyres / spares / travel & accommodation, along with a small accident fund...

...Then you need to consider the time commitment - Many hours spent driving up and down the M6 / A1 dragging a trailer...(Don't forget testing / trackdays (if you want to stand a chance of a decent result).

It all adds up to a massive financial / time commitment...Which, after much soul searching, I couldn't justify...I wanted to see more of my girlfriend / mates, not to mention have the disposable income to go on holiday etc...

I guess you have a few options:

Keep the car...

• Bite the bullet, accept that the SMRC are the way they are, and enter Sports & Saloons next year.

• As above, but enter a few BRSCC Northern Saloon's rounds at Croft

• Just enter the BRSCC Northern Saloons Championship

• Enter the Scottish Hillclimb & Sprint Championship - Although you'd likely be lumped in with the BEC's / crazy power kit cars...

Flog it...

Buy a Super Grad / Grad Caterham (£6-11k), enter the Graduates Racing Club championship, and race in grids of 30 identical cars at all the best UK tracks, and Spa in Belgium...

There's also the option of 750MC racing etc, or the Caterham Eurocup will take RSA's... (But most Eurocup cars are run by teams, and travel costs are way higher...)


Whatever you end up doing, hope it works out for the best! :)

Cheers,

Ross.

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Post by Gareth » Tue Aug 22, 2006 3:11 pm

Go for it Ali. You have deep pockets and it's a excellent way to get racing. :)

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Lawrence
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Post by Lawrence » Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:08 pm

ROFLOL at Ross's " I used to be a racer" story :lol:


If only you had tried Ross then at least you'd have respect

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Fluoxetine
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Post by Fluoxetine » Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:56 pm

Don't know about regarding myself as a 'racer', but I suppose I did give it a go...As I said - I'm grateful that I even had the opportunity to occupy grid space... :D

Maybe I could have tried harder, but maybe that was as good as I was going to get - The 2005 season would have been the litmus test, but I elected to settle down instead...In fact, I got engaged a fortnight ago...Definitely no motoring fun for me now! :wink:


Lawrence wrote:ROFLOL at Ross's " I used to be a racer" story :lol:


If only you had tried Ross then at least you'd have respect

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Brian J
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Post by Brian J » Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:21 pm

Best wishes, Ross.

Wondered what you had happened to you - now we know :D
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GregR
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Post by GregR » Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:28 pm

Congrats chief!

/never met you but a sucker for a happy ending faction :D
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gordon
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Post by gordon » Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:31 pm

Fluoxetine wrote:
Buy a Super Grad / Grad Caterham (£6-11k), enter the Graduates Racing Club championship, and race in grids of 30 identical cars at all the best UK tracks, and Spa in Belgium...

.
All i'd have to do if move to an open diff and 5 speed box and change the exhaust to run in the megas. The 6 speed and LSD are worth quite a bit so it would prob make me cash to convert.

I dont have a tow car or trailor and have bugger all budget so there's no way i could get to all the meetings.

Incidently... the guy who's leading the mega grad championship was testing at Knockhill on Saturday and didn't hit the 57's.... got close... but didn't get a 57.

I think i could run quite competitively in the series....but there is no way in hell i can afford it.

The SMRC make me sick.... it is a totally pointless championship.
After racing, running round on trackdays just isn't doing it for me.... so i'm completely at a loose end. Have the drive and (maybe) ability to do well.... have a good car.... but cant afford to do nothing with it. This is why i've been thinking about selling. It's daft to have it sitting there not racing it.

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mac
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Post by mac » Tue Aug 22, 2006 6:59 pm

Gordon,

Drop Greyrigg a PM (Malcolm Johnstone) what he doesn't know about racing the cats isn't worth knowing.

I'm still quite tempted with the caterham idea (flog the S1, give Mandy the S2, and use the cat for trackdays - bit of racing hopefully)


Just don't know if I could part with the elise - even if it is just to Mandy.


Mac
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Lawrence
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Post by Lawrence » Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:02 pm

Gordon

There are a good few here wanting to help you, why not swap out the diff and gearbox and see if it changes much?

I can help with the diff


BTW congratulation Ross :)

gordon
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Post by gordon » Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:38 pm

shooomer wrote:Gordon
I have a transporter like below if you ever need it
Paul
Paul... you might have just saved my racing career :D That would be un-f*ckin-believable. :shock:

I really am shocked at all the support i get from you guys. It really is genuinely appreciated. :thumbsup

It's coming to the end of the season so i've got all winter to get everything together and try and get a package to do some kind of championship next year. The big stumbling block is the cash. The tyres, entries and travelling costs have to come from somewhere. if i can find a way to get all that together, then you can be sure i'll be looking to form a good "team S-E" around me.

Many thanks again guys. :wink:

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thinfourth
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Post by thinfourth » Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:54 pm

when rossini was racing he did two rounds in englandshire

One was at brands and a few folk turned up to support including myself. I even gave him a lift back to scotland though he was expecting me to turn up in the BMW not the 7

Though the turnout for the croft round was huge there was myself, Lawrence, shug, robin, campbell and a few other that have escaped my mind.

So don't underestimate the amount of idiots that will turn up to give a hand for TSE

I think going for a full championship is going to be damn expensive but doing a few select rounds would be more realistic

And once Ali buys his 7 then we can have a 2 car team.

Also the shed and trailer are sat for about 6 months every year doing nothing Those are also available if you need to borrow them.

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