Caterham 170 experience

  Having talked about it for a while, enough was enough. It was time to stop making plans and just effin go on a trip there. Like, in the week-end that was just coming up as the weather promised some good (topless) times. The Vosges are actually not far from Belgium, even for us living at the exact opposite from the french border. Gérardmer is only 380km from Liège, just a 4 hours trip.  The morning was fresh but pleasant, we reached and went through Luxemburg with the motorway, then switched to "routes nationales" rather than using the french motorways.  The trip was un-eventful, really smooth cruising under the sun all along. Not forgetting to apply sunscreen was really the only concern. We reached Gérardmer around 2 PM and went for some lunch groceries, at that point temperature did reach 32°C. The "long nose shower cap" (from SoftBitsForSevens) was used as a sunshield with the shiny side out. With our baguette  and a choice of charcuterie, we went to a calm pl...

TL;DR Moto-Lita for the win I hate the standard 11" Momo with a passion. I just can't stand it. And it's my first interface with the car, the hands always in contact with that ghastly thing. Hopefully, Moto-Lita   offers a range of similar options in a variety of 10, 11 or 12" rims with a choice of black, red or blue leather or alcantara, with a black anodised or polished silver frame. I've chosen the 10" black leather with black frame option. I got it from  https://www.demon-tweeks.com/eu/ in the same order as the Caterham handbrake sleeve. It's nice to know that the price on the screen is the price you pay. No fear about unpredictable customs, tax and brokerage fees. It took a few weeks to ship (over a month I think), and I suspect it was made to order. The garage kindly took care of the drilling for me, and I got new fresh allen screws as the former ones were quite marked. To remove the old screws, you maintain the allen screw with an allen wrench,...

British Car Meeting  is organized in Stavelot once every two years. It is dedicated to old and new British cars, and is located at the Abbey of Stavelot. That's close to the circuit of Spa-Francorchamps; the circuit museum is located there.  I went there on the two days it happened: by myself on the Saturday, with my girlfriend on the Sunday. The visit could be done in an hour or two but it was a pleasant place to spend the day, have a drink, lunch, and many more drinks in the afternoon. We mostly remained at the Caterham stand set up by House of Speed where three cars were on display : -A white 170S with red stripes -A yellow SV 340 -A burgundy Super Seven 1600, the last iteration with the Sigma engine. We did chat with the team, as well as people interested in the cars or just curious. Weather was better on the Sunday but the stand got a bit less attention than the day before.  There were multiple marching bands, with or without bagpipes, tours aboar...

TL;DR you should buy a safety wire kit ASAP  Enough with that leaky diff. After two months the Caterham was asserting its dominance in my alley, as well as on my usual parking spot at work. She's British for sure 🇬🇧, but that's the kind of fantasy I was expecting to prevent by buying a virtually new car. And anyway it's never a good looks. As the bolts come with Loctite in their bag, it's no oversight from the factory nor a case of a Friday afternoon job.  Let's assume I drive cleanly but am somewhat demanding with the drivetrain.  The garage did a quick job of cleaning up the diff, understanding what was wrong, and re-torque the bolts that hold the diff on the axle.  It started leaking again 2 months later. Enough was enough and I bought a safety wire kit : a dedicated plier and 25 meters of stainless steel wire. YouTube was a good resource to learn how to use the pliers and also how to place safety wire in a proper aviation-style manner. So I removed the bolts...

TL;DR how to calibrate the speedo The gauges are built by Caerbont Automotive Instruments , they are the current owner of the SMITHS brand and manufature gauges with various brand names. They are the ones supplying Caterham. As they can be fitted to about any car, you have to set them up accordingly, by setting a "number of pulses per mile". Those are digital units with a stepper motor. The user guide is available on the Caerbont website and here is how to adjust the PPU : With the ignition off, keep the trip-reset button depressed  Switch the ignition on keeping the trip-reset button depressed Release the button and press it again until "SET PPU" is shown on the display Press the button again maitaining it for 2-3 sec Read the current calibration value : On my car it was set to 022364 and the car did show 130kph for a GPS speed of only 120kph. We will need to adjust it to 130 / 120 * 22364 = 024228 Adjust the calibration value one digit at a time by pressing the...

  TL;DR nice but a pain to fit All the press cars have it, but it's not even option on the car configurator. You can get it aftermarket from either https://caterhamparts.co.uk/ or if you're in Europe https://www.demon-tweeks.com/eu/ There are 3 versions : the grey one shown here does match the gear knob and key fob of the "S" Caterham, there is a black one to match the  "R", and finally a bare shiny aluminium one to match the SuperSeven 600. The fact is that it's a pain to install because the handbrake lever is not round, and need some serious grinding with a Dremel tool in order to fit the sleeve. You begin with the removal of the plastic sleeve using tongue and groove pliers and a old thick t-shirt or rag. It takes a few seconds : you wrap the t-shirt in multiple layers and twist the plastic sleeve around the handbrake shaft to break the glue. The original grip comes out in perfect condition. I'm just not sure how one would glue it back, or why. ...

On my second attendance to the Static Rally, the Caterham were spread around the parking lot, but around noon I thought it would be a good idea to park on each side of the hummer. It made for an epic sight, we looked like non-credible super-heroes of some sort. The joke was not lost on Jean-Pierre Lienard , who sat down with his paint set and proceeded with keeping that memory on watercolor. Thanks again Jean-Pierre ! "Pool deluxe" adds to the comical situation, as it's a double-entendre with "poule de luxe", which is french for a pricy escort.  But none of that here, they are just a swimming pool company.