Academy car to road car?

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Has anyone here taken their academy car and turned it into their road toy or know of anyone who has. I have had a search on here and blatchat but not much has turned up.
I hope to place my order for an academy car in the next week or two and after i have done a season in the academy i may progress onto the grads or may just keep it as a toy and compete in the local motor club for fun.
Im sure that there are better caterhams for road use but i will have built this one and have some history with it. it will be nice to hang on to it for many many years as really its not a lot of outlay for a super machine.

I just want to know if people have put carpets and soft seats in the cars.

Looking forward to the replies.
Ed.

[LRdriver II]

Easy.. raise the rideheight a tad.. tax and MOT.

thats it.

everything is standard Caterham issue for all of their roadcars.

I did the same, bought a used academy car as first Caterham. got upgraditis and bought a R300 to replace it.
SOd carpets and all that crap..it just weighs. drive your battlescarred beast with pride !!

Edited by LRdriver II on Monday 12th February 22:11

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Thanks LRdriver11 just what i wanted to hear.
Do you still have the R300? looks like you have had a good selection of these lightweight high power vehicles.

[thinfourth]

I've taken a racer to road spec

i put a tax disc on it no other changes needed

Seriously you will get tillet seats with the academy car which are far more comfortable then you would think and the ride hieght of the academy car will be fine. There is alot of ex academy cars wandering round as road cars with zero changes

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Thank you. the racer will be registered for the road anyway so tax will already be on it i was just wondering about, and dont laugh, heaters and only a hlf cage/roll bar. weather kit etc fits over the whole cage i think. Anything else to concider?

[LRdriver II]

Yep.. still got the R300
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/21645

I basically bought an ex-academy car as I wanted an open car to hoon araound in during the summer. Not knowing if I would enjoy caterhams, I bought a freshly painted racer as all it needed was a rideheight change to just raise the sump a tad. (ok so that means you check the rest of the setup as well).Cheap-ish compared to concours street cars, they are light and you can use them as a driving tool and not worry about soggy carpets, the odd stonechip or anything..

I loved it so much, started looking at upgrading bits but financially it made more sense to sell it as a racecar again, and buy an R300 that pretty much had everything I wanted.

Edited by LRdriver II on Tuesday 13th February 09:20

Edited by LRdriver II on Tuesday 13th February 09:21

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Very nice indeed. there are so many colour combinations around. nice to see.

[h_____]

Following my academy year, a lot of people "converted" their car to road spec for sale. Changes included swapping the cage for a roll bar, swapping tillets for standard seats and adding a heater. As well as tiding up any paint work or fibreglass that it may have needed.

This creats a very sellable road spec, plus swapping the cage and seats should nett you money. However, as said above you can just sell as is. Academy spec isnt too low on ride height anyway. Mine was always high comared to the the cars at the local club.

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Ok that sounds great, just what i wanted to hear. i am hoping to get to Caterham cars on thursday for a look around the machines.

Thanks for the replies chaps.

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Well i have just returned from a trip to Caterham and very sad to say i cant fit in the academy cars or the series 3 cars, it has to be the SV or the CSR cars.
Very disappointed but am still looking to purchase a caterham and take part in hillclimbs and sprints locally i will also attend some track days so all is not lost.
I like the CSR credentials but will probably start with a superlight SV 150bhp later in the summer.

Thanks for all the help chaps and i look forward to blatting somewhere near you.

[pesmo]

How tall are you TC ? Most folks up to about 6'3" and 110kg can be accomodated in a standard seven. Its just down to the seat position the size of the steering wheel (an inch less makes a real difference ) and where you position your knees. I am nearly the above size and don't have too many problems but positioning was vital when we made our own foam seat. If you take a standard car and whip the seat out and jump in you will be surprised just how much room there is. You could then make a foam seat around that position

[jwyatt]

I used mine on the road quite a lot, in my Academy and Roadsports B years. All standard issues as people say, just none of the pointless trim stuff. Nowadays, you can even reach the handbrake in the race chassis too!

And if you want to upgrade such as with an LSD and/or more power, you can often do so independently of Caterham for less than their prices too.

If I get another cat, I'll probably get a recent Academy car - the race cars are the best value by far and often in better nick than the road cars.

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Thanks for the info chaps, i am 6 foot and about 85kg so well within the limits as mentioned above. I feel that if i am going to spend the money on the car i dont want to always feel i should have gone for the bigger car. i hope to do some touring in the car too so the extra space will be good. My girlfriend was with me and she said i looked far more comfortable in the SV bodied cars.
I cant stop thinking about the CSR now though, i think it is the 0-60 time and top speed that is swaying me. Anyway, i plan to have the summer months in the Ferrari and place my prder around june time to hope to get the car for the end of september.
Can one race in another caterham catagory besides the academy?

[LRdriver II]

pesmo said:

How tall are you TC ? Most folks up to about 6'3" and 110kg can be accomodated in a standard seven. Its just down to the seat position the size of the steering wheel (an inch less makes a real difference ) and where you position your knees. I am nearly the above size and don't have too many problems but positioning was vital when we made our own foam seat. If you take a standard car and whip the seat out and jump in you will be surprised just how much room there is. You could then make a foam seat around that position

Also did the cars have lowered floorpans? did the tillet seats sit on runners? was it a round steering wheel (D-shaped gives more room)...and were the pedals postioned in their fully forward postion?

all this helps, as the S3 can be tailored to suit you and if its a girth issue, then you have an excuse to buy a set of kevlar tillets as they are thinner than the GRP black ones and actually give more width.

6'1 100kg driver here!.. in a standard chassis with above made mods

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Thanks LRDriver, i hope to go back up to Caterham cars and try the seats again this time move them around a bit and generally have a go at fitting in. Its a shame they are 3 hrs from me here but i will make a weeekend of it soon.
I must say that the idea of the CSR 260 is very exciting but i think a superlight might be the way to go if im not racing in the academy.
Thanks again.