Tuesday 2nd February 2010

Getting To Know Your Caterham Seven...

Riggers shares a few tips as our Seven makes it to the PH car park

---

'So that's where I get in, is it?...'

Always travel with your headlights on, don't let the fuel gauge run into the red, and pop the hood over a household radiator before you put it on in cold weather. Just some of the first pieces of advice that you'll hear when you go to pick up your brand-new Caterham Seven.

As you may have guessed from that introduction, my Caterham Seven Academy car is finally snugly ensconced in the PH office car park. Although the 'official' handover happened at the PistonHeads show a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't been able to take the car out on the road, as it's been awaiting registration. (P15 COM has yet to become the official plate for it).

Mind your fingers...

But late last week we had word that the car was ready, so we hopped into the PH Jag XFR and crawled around the M25 to Caterham's sales office in, er, Caterham to pick it up.

That's where the strange advice started. You see, a Caterham isn't quite like a normal car - there are quirks and tricks to its operation that need to be explained to a new owner before they whizz off in their pride and joy. This is not the sort of car the salesman can simply hand you the keys to and wave you off.

So Caterham marketing chap James Drake spent a good 45 minutes showing myself and Chris around the car, and giving us the official introduction to Seven ownership.

'The round things steers the car'

Running with dipped-beam headlights is really an obvious point when you think about it - such a small car, especially painted in black, is pretty easy to miss in murky winter driving conditions. Equally a car with a 30-litre fuel tank is never going to be generous when it comes to the bottom end of the fuel gauge, but the hood on the domestic radiator is an altogether more intriguing piece of advice.

Turns out that the vinyl, in cold weather, is loosened up considerably when you warm it, so it saves pinched fingers and swearing when you popper it on to the car. The hood also tightens up beautifully as it cools down, minimising that 'pram' look you can get on roofed Sevens.

Best foot forward...

Apart from that, some of the weirder points of the handover are the advice to leave the bonnet on the floor rather than to stand it up on end which is the more obvious option (chances are you'll knock it over), and how to 'fit' the door into the roof lining to minimise the entry of water during wet weather. (How many other cars require you to understand that point?)

Most peculiar, however, was the quick tutorial on how to get in with the roof up (surprisingly tricky with the door aperture reduced by three inches courtesy of our Academy car's full roll cage). Seems the technique for a chap of my less-than-agile frame is to put your left foot in, then sort of indecorously dive head first into the car, before finally squeezing the right leg in through the door. After they'd picked themselves up off the floor and managed to stop laughing, James and Chris politely suggested I might need to practise that bit somewhere quiet.

Still, all these things are part of the fun of Caterham ownership. Next up is a run up to Demon Tweeks in Wrexham to get some of my racing clobber, a 400-mile round trip. Should be fun!

[Mars]

Fabulous. It's been years since my first Caterham so it's nice to be reminded of that "new" experience.

Enjoy.

[frosted]

What is it about Caterhams that only appeal to fat balding men ?

I live half a mile from one of their showrooms ( or it could be the factory ) in Caterham Surrey and I have never wanted to venture inside .

I walk past it every morning and afternoon , always see fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Edited by frosted on Tuesday 2nd February 11:00

[fergus]

frosted said:

I walk past it every morning and afternoon, always see fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Envy is a dangerous thing....

As opposed to Lexus drivers, in their beige slacks?

Edited by fergus on Tuesday 2nd February 11:18

[Luke.]

frosted said:

What is it about Caterhams that only appeal to fat balding men ?

I live half a mile from one of their showrooms ( or it could be the factory ) in Caterham Surrey and I have never wanted to venture inside .

I walk past it every morning and afternoon , always see fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Edited by frosted on Tuesday 2nd February 11:00

This is a strange site for you to be on really, given your complete lack of interest in one of the world's most involving cars.

[swanny71]

frosted said:

What is it about Caterhams that only appeal to fat balding men ?

I live half a mile from one of their showrooms ( or it could be the factory ) in Caterham Surrey and I have never wanted to venture inside .

I walk past it every morning and afternoon , always see fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Edited by frosted on Tuesday 2nd February 11:00

[matt frost]

Luke. said:

frosted said:

What is it about Caterhams that only appeal to fat balding men ?

I live half a mile from one of their showrooms ( or it could be the factory ) in Caterham Surrey and I have never wanted to venture inside .

I walk past it every morning and afternoon , always see fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Edited by frosted on Tuesday 2nd February 11:00

This is a strange site for you to be on really, given your complete lack of interest in one of the world's most involving cars.

LOL well if what you say is true, it is nice to see fat balding men driving cars different to the stereotype such as your car history Mr Frosted.

[Vlad the Imp]

frosted said:

What is it about Caterhams that only appeal to fat balding men ?

I live half a mile from one of their showrooms ( or it could be the factory ) in Caterham Surrey and I have never wanted to venture inside .

I walk past it every morning and afternoon , always see fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Edited by frosted on Tuesday 2nd February 11:00

No sign of a cretin crunch causing a world shortage of idiots yet then. I live in hope!

[GingerWizard]

Riggers if only you where a stunning blond in that 4th photo...... I wish the young lady oppersite my house would buy one and use that entry method shes

Have fun fella!

[Chris-R]

frosted said:

...fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Edited by frosted on Tuesday 2nd February 11:00

To be fair, we've never seen Riggers dribble!

[frosted]

To be fair its just something that I keep noticing . Thats all

[Nerra]

frosted said:

To be fair its just something that I keep noticing . Thats all

You sound quite bored in retirement.

[allen l]

frosted said:

To be fair its just something that I keep noticing . Thats all

In that case, if you've ever seen a man with hair on his head, it must have been me.

[rqy99g]

frosted said:

What is it about Caterhams that only appeal to fat balding men ?

I live half a mile from one of their showrooms ( or it could be the factory ) in Caterham Surrey and I have never wanted to venture inside .

I walk past it every morning and afternoon , always see fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Edited by frosted on Tuesday 2nd February 11:00

If all that is true about being totally uninterested in Caterhams why have you been looking at a Caterham forum?

[soad]

Nice article and photos, i'm sure he'll get used to getting into car pretty quickly. Good luck racing it.

Edited by soad on Tuesday 2nd February 12:25

[jeremyc]

Glad you're getting to know it Riggers.

article said:

... the advice to leave the bonnet on the floor rather than to stand it up on end which is the more obvious option (chances are you'll knock it over).

I'll add that you should put it somewhere sheltered on the floor otherwise the wind will get under it and deposit the bonnet in a random orientation back on the ground several yards away.

[frosted]

rqy99g said:

frosted said:

What is it about Caterhams that only appeal to fat balding men ?

I live half a mile from one of their showrooms ( or it could be the factory ) in Caterham Surrey and I have never wanted to venture inside .

I walk past it every morning and afternoon , always see fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Edited by frosted on Tuesday 2nd February 11:00

If all that is true about being totally uninterested in Caterhams why have you been looking at a Caterham forum?

its an article on the front page

[iggletiggle]

frosted said:

rqy99g said:

frosted said:

What is it about Caterhams that only appeal to fat balding men ?

I live half a mile from one of their showrooms ( or it could be the factory ) in Caterham Surrey and I have never wanted to venture inside .

I walk past it every morning and afternoon , always see fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Edited by frosted on Tuesday 2nd February 11:00

If all that is true about being totally uninterested in Caterhams why have you been looking at a Caterham forum?

its an article on the front page

yet you continue to comment on a topic you have no interest in...

riggers - you must be excited i know i was the first time i got into one and took it for a blast.. these are something special.

[RallyRider]

If I'd known it was in there I'd have popped in as I too live in Caterham. Can't comment on any fat balding blokes being present in the showroom though as I only really look at the cars

Keep meaning to take my camera with me one day as there are a lot of nice colours there to shoot

[drewcole81]

frosted said:

What is it about Caterhams that only appeal to fat balding men ?

I live half a mile from one of their showrooms ( or it could be the factory ) in Caterham Surrey and I have never wanted to venture inside .

I walk past it every morning and afternoon , always see fat, balding men with a bit of dribble by the side of their mouth

Edited by frosted on Tuesday 2nd February 11:00

You d1ck....

[cbrannan]

wow, this brings back memories of when my son and I collected our Robin Hood from near Oulton Park in Cheshire and drove it 350 miles up to our home in NE Scotland. It rained all the way to Dundee, water poured in between the top of the screen and the hood, the door fasteners wouldn't hold above 40 mph, the indicators packed in after 3 miles, the speedo wasn't working, the number plate had been torn off on a speed hump 1/2 a mile from where we collected it. At Dundee the sun came out and turned the sopping wet inside of the car in to a sauna. When we finally got home we were greated by my wife who asked "where did you buy that thing from? Legoland?" The fun of owning a sevenesque car, it's never ending, but the fun of driving them rewards easily outways the discomforts.........