Caterham Academy 2012

Caterham Academy 2012

Author
Discussion

fromserenity

Original Poster:

11 posts

162 months

Tuesday 10th May 2011
quotequote all
Hello All and greetings from south of Spain! This is my first post here in PH.

I'm about to participate the Academy next year and would like to start planning it early enough.

As I'm not UK based, transporting the race car to the events and having it serviced in between of
them, is going to be a bit of a problem. My initial plan was to purchase race support for a motorsport
company, who would take care of everything for me and I would just arrive and drive. However, this
seems to be forbidden by the Academy rules.

Something like "race support minus" could work. If there is a team, who takes several cars to the Academy
events and looks after them during the time in the middle, cleans them etc, that would be great from my
point of view. So, just transporting and cleaning. No servicing, no race support, no personal mechanic,
no data, nothing.

I have been in touch with Caterham about the same, but they couldn't point me to the right direction.

If you had any ideas or suggestions, I would be grateful if you shared them with me, and all of us! Thank
you in advance!


ArosaMike

4,390 posts

218 months

Tuesday 10th May 2011
quotequote all
Hi,

The rules state that you have to get the car to and from the event yourself. I.e. you can't have it trailered there by a company. I'm not sure it has to be you who drives the tow car though, so if you could convince someone to drive a trailer with your car on the back it might be ok! It's a bit of a grey area though. Have you tried emailing Caterham's Motorsport Manager Simon Lambert? It's Simon who helps to decide these rules so he's your best option if you're trying to find stuff out!

Mike

fromserenity

Original Poster:

11 posts

162 months

Tuesday 10th May 2011
quotequote all
ArosaMike said:
Hi,

The rules state that you have to get the car to and from the event yourself. I.e. you can't have it trailered there by a company. I'm not sure it has to be you who drives the tow car though, so if you could convince someone to drive a trailer with your car on the back it might be ok! It's a bit of a grey area though. Have you tried emailing Caterham's Motorsport Manager Simon Lambert? It's Simon who helps to decide these rules so he's your best option if you're trying to find stuff out!

Mike
Here's what Caterham just replied me:

Caterham do not offer a transport service for the Academy series, it is
the drivers responsibility to transport there own cars to and from
events, it is also against the rules of the Academy to use a race team
to transport the car to and from events. It would have to be a transport
company only.

number2

4,557 posts

194 months

Tuesday 10th May 2011
quotequote all
You may be better off choosing a different entry into motorsport. The Academy is three sprints and four single header races. In the case of the sprints especially, it's a long way to come for a few minutes on track.

Don't get me wrong it's a great experience but the logistics for you sound like a nightmare.

sjg

7,530 posts

272 months

Tuesday 10th May 2011
quotequote all
There are lots of other "arrive and drive" series, and lots of other routes into Caterham motorsport if that's your thing. Why the Academy?

fromserenity

Original Poster:

11 posts

162 months

Tuesday 10th May 2011
quotequote all
sjg said:
There are lots of other "arrive and drive" series, and lots of other routes into Caterham motorsport if that's your thing. Why the Academy?
Because of I'm a complete novice in racing! It wouldn't hurt to know the basics, I think.

Classic Grad 98

25,197 posts

167 months

Wednesday 11th May 2011
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Come racing in classic graduates- it'll cost half, you'll spend less on accident repairs and you can transport the car however you like! The only 'problem' being that even the youngest cars are 10 years old.
If you prefer to use an academy spec car, you can buy a used one and race in the growing Sigma Grads series.
One plus point is that all the events are races- no hillclimbs or sprints.

James.S

585 posts

219 months

Wednesday 11th May 2011
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Contact Simon Lambert at Caterham.

There are Several Caterham series in Europe which will suit you better.

J

Bund

2,624 posts

228 months

Wednesday 11th May 2011
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This is my first year in racing and i race a graduate mega car. I was/am a novice and had never raced a car before. I had looked at going the academy route but as i want to race on track as much as possible and have the same problems as you regarding race support and delivery of car the graduates is a excellent series. My car is delivered race prepped and all i have to do is look after it over the weekend.

Everyone is very helpful and are extremely good at getting you prepared for your first year not just your first race.