2001 Saxo VTS track toy

[simonsaunders]

Quick Caterham shot:



It was a 1.6 Superlight (Evo did a big Caterham shootout from across the years and the Superlight and the mad JPE were their favourites - I was very pleased when that mag came out a month after I picked this up). The Superlight had a tuned 1.6 K-series and mine was optimised by DVA to get it 'just so'. 140ish BHP, 500kg, carbon nose, wings, dash, 6-speed, LSD, etc. The Superlight pre-dates the R300 / R400 / R500, but set the mould for those. In that sense , you would call mine an R280... But the reality is that the R300s never made their quoted BHP unless they were set-up by someone over than Caterham, so I had fun beating them over a lap!

Adequate straight line performance, but over a lap it was phenomenal - sky high cornering speeds, very late braking and you really had to master the braking / cornering to get the lap times. Couldn't be lazy! I didn't have to sell it when I moved house, but was just too busy to use it and the £15k looked tempting. Cost me naff all in running costs and depreciation over 2 years. Glad in owned one, but if I went that route again I'd either go budget and build my own Westfield or look at Radicals, Atoms and the like. A lot of Caterham guys just go for faster Caterhams... But there is more to life IMO. Especially as I'm not a Caterham fan-boy, it was just the best track toy I could afford at the time. I was also single and could do 7-8 track days a year back then! Love to have the time to do that now!

[simonsaunders]

So this arrived yesterday:



Condition was a little under what I was expecting, most notably broken tabs on the indicator unit. Evaluated options and bonded into place. At some future date, changing an indicator bulb might be a 5 minute job, rather than a 2 minute job. Meh.

Fitted it here, with new trim clips as the old ones were very brittle.



This weekend will see me getting my hands dirty. :thumb:

[simonsaunders]

The running list...

Parts ordered for:
Oil change
Brake fluid change

Completed & status:
Take a look at the front discs. Done. They are like new
Remove spare wheel and carrier from under the car. Done - sort of. Unless the car is on ramps, or you cut it, you can't get the carrier off. Spare removed and hanger safely secured.
Give the tyres a proper once over. Done. Rear passenger is legal, but might not be after Goodwood! Rest all lovely.
Source and fit new wing mirror
Refit door trim
Source and fit new arch trim
Buy some new clips for the arch trim

To do:
Find radio code
Probably fit new front brake pads
Clean it
Adjust door mech
Sort out a means for mounting a camera
Drill some ventilation holes behind the plate. Hoping that Goodwood will be HOT!
Look at electric window switch

[D4MJT]

Originally Posted by simonsaunders

The running list...

Parts ordered for:
Oil change
Brake fluid change

Completed & status:
Take a look at the front discs. Done. They are like new
Remove spare wheel and carrier from under the car. Done - sort of. Unless the car is on ramps, or you cut it, you can't get the carrier off. Spare removed and hanger safely secured.
Give the tyres a proper once over. Done. Rear passenger is legal, but might not be after Goodwood! Rest all lovely.
Source and fit new wing mirror
Refit door trim
Source and fit new arch trim
Buy some new clips for the arch trim

To do:
Find radio code
Probably fit new front brake pads
Clean it
Adjust door mech
Sort out a means for mounting a camera
Drill some ventilation holes behind the plate. Hoping that Goodwood will be HOT!
Look at electric window switch

Looks good!

Caterham looks like a laugh

2 points, the rear wheel carrier will come off, there's a nut on the right hanger thingy that doesn't look like it does much but when you undo it, you can remove a sort of insert plate and it's a doddle to get the wheel cage out.

Ventilation holes are a good idea, but prepare to be frustrated. The bumper is pretty heavy duty plastic behind it so deep holesaws are a good call. You can widemouth the bottom "slatted" area for a bit more airflow. All in all you should be good though, standard VTS cooling is ok.