Petersfield gathering

[cuzza]

Was anyone else from here at the Club Lotus gathering at Petersfield yesterday?

It was a top day out capped by getting a ride in a Cosworth Caterham

[Elanbloke]

Yep, mine was the M100 S2 in BRG, what a good turn out - excellent way to spend a Sunday lunch time! I saw the Caterham go off for a couple of runs - seemed to be changing gear very rapidly (and screaching the tyres every time) - was he changing early or did it really need taller gearing? Sticky tyres by the looks of it aswell! Which was your car then ?

[cuzza]

I agree, an excellent day out - mine was the silver Elise S1 parked in the back corner near the road.

That Caterham was awesome - the guys driving it was really nice bloke too. The chirruping sound was the dump valve (I think) apparently it recycles the exhaust gas to keep the turbo on boost and prevent it kicking in hard and giving a nasty surprise mid bend which IMHO is a very good idea.

He had a very worn set of super softs on and they stuck like glue until really provoked on the roundabout It was running a standard Sierra gearbox so I think he was changing up early which is rather alarming considering how fast it was!

[Elanbloke]

Amazing I've never mistaken a dump valve for screeching tyres before but now you mention it, it makes sense (I guess I didn't expect a Caterham to be turbo charged). Actually I now know what they are because most of us put them on our Elans (but that's to make the turbo last longer). If I was him I would have to re-cycle into the turbo inlet or put a little silencer on it - it definitely attracts unnecessary attention - I did hear the odd groan! I couldn't believe the gravel thrown up by those tyres just poodling through the car park! Even if I could keep up I wouldn't want to follow him down a country lane - definite stone chip territory (and I've got enough of those already).