Croc

You are correct. The document attached by Jonathan above was originally typed by me to document the flat floor set up of my 2010 CSR at time of original build with it weighted for a (fat) driver (aka me!). Different CSRs will exhibit slightly different results on final set up if they have a different weight driver. There is an later version of that document with corrected tyre offset and the various different wheel dimensions I have used on my CSR since new. https://usa7s.net/ips/files/file/252-caterham-csr-suspension-set-up-specs/

I went on a journey with my attempts for decent audio on a track day. Have a read here: https://usa7s.net/ips/articles.html/track-days/getting-good-audio-on-your-se7en-for-a-track-day-video-r27/

Beachman Racing is a US Caterham dealer and have a fledgling Caterham race series they organize in the Pacific Northwest region. I know Bruce Beachman from an old CSR project and was in Redmond, Washington (the US state not DC) two weeks back for a BMW CSL race engine rebuild plus a separate Holden restoration project I have going on. They were a few miles away from Beachman Racing so it was easy to drop by to say hello. Bruce had the bit on his bench and we chatted about it. I told him to post it to USA7s when he had it for sale and available on his website - which happened overnight. Full disclosure - I have no financial interest in Beachman Racing or this part. I have the Team Leos part on my CSR as it was the only option available when I replaced my cracked mount early last year (a big thank you to @SamC for alerting me very early). Just posting here as its nice to have another vendor in the market supporting Caterham CSRs as I do feel we are neglected by Caterham in their support of CSRs. There have been a number of US CSRs where this part has failed. I am aware of 8 which is significant when you consider Caterham sold somewhere between 35 and 38 CSRs in the USA market to date. I'm not an engineer or a specialist in metal material quality either. But I do know from the government lab analysis of my broken Caterham-supplied shock mount that choice of metal is critical for avoiding fatigue related failures on parts like this.

It looks like another option for replacement CSR lower suspension brackets became available. http://www.beachmanracing.com/csr-lower-damper-bracket The installation instructions are very helpful. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54a5bfa5e4b00fb49e124354/t/664960c6758ce06353175e1d/1716084936856/BR+Caterham+CSR+Damper+Bracket+Install+Instructions-V1.1.pdf

Gareth - I am glad to hear of your lucky escape. It was after my chat with @SamC that I checked my USA-based 2010 CSR this year. One side, a cast metal (looks like iron) part was cracked. The other side, in aluminium, was not cracked and was in good condition. The cracked part had evidence of corrosion being the cause. Both have were replaced this month with the steel replacement from Team Leos. Given my CSR is almost exclusively a track car these days, the consequences of a failure on track are frightening. Why I had two different metal parts - one on each side led me to do some investigation. Its fuzzy but there was a CSR production line changeover point from the cast metal part to an aluminium part around 2010-2013. All CSRs after 2015 in the USA (that I am aware of - about 6) consistently have the aluminium part. My 2019 CSR build has the aluminium parts. Since my experience, a USA Caterham dealer has since detected two cracked rear damper mounts in a 2006 CSR. The failure point on the older cars seems to be only happening on the older style cast metal part - but I would assume all are potentially suspect given we don't really know. I echo Gareth - check your CSR rear suspension mounts as a matter of urgency.

Thanks Jonathan - your email outreach worked.

Hi Jonathan - As an owner of two CSRs I would be interested in any CSR documentation you have please. I also have a online technical library of Caterham information (including CSRs) that a bunch of us have been collecting that we posted for free access to all. Seven Technical Downloads I would be happy to put into the online technical library to make it more accessible to owners.

A couple of articles on point for this topic, jointly done by a few C&L7C members based in USA and UK. How to Mount an Action Camera to your Se7en and Getting Good Audio on your Se7en for a Track Day Video

I would echo Tazio and say don't do it. I had the Reverie version on my car. I found out after I purchased I was going to be the first to install one of their diffusers on a Caterham. Reverie had not ever test fitted it to a car - they just made it for what they thought would work. Had to fabricate brackets. Had to cut out pieces and insert some reinforcement panels in aluminium to allow suspension deflection (I have a CSR which made it more challenging). Real pain. But I made it work as the photos below from 12 years ago show. For road driving you would not notice anything. On track there was a difference but not desirable. At one of my local circuits there is a hump on the back straight where my Caterham gets all wheels airborne at around 125mph. With the diffuser installed, I could get the front end higher of the ground which made it awfully exciting coming back to tarmac as it would get very squirrely given it would land unevenly. I ended up putting the Caterham into a university wind tunnel and we found the diffuser was having a mild downforce effect but it was more messing up the front end for front/rear chassis balance. It also became a collector of all rubber, rocks, trash, etc thrown up by the front wheels. I eventually took it off after four years. I think if I had a race set up with a lower ride height, the answer would have been somewhat different. I wanted to use my Caterham for both road and track and so ran a regular road ride height. The diffuser was then not close enough to the ground in track usage to make the effects of its installation positive. Aerodynamics is complicated.

Another option - photo of a friend's Caterham in Ferrari yellow - it was a custom paint colour at the time.

Ex-mine now but it was Caterham yellow at time of build in 2005. Think it is the same yellow as David in post #33 above.

For all round road driving the Avon ZZS are excellent - I think they were an upgrade from the CR500. Quite good in the wet and snow. The Avon ZZR are much grippier on a track in the dry but the moment a hint of water appears on the road surface then you need to worry as they lose grip very quickly and have no hope in standing water. I found there was a Yokohama tyre I could fit to the CSR wheels but discarded that option very quickly as it changed the gearing too much and was 40% heavier than the Avons.

Yes I am in NYC and yes Caterham agreed to sell a CSR to me after some dealer persuasion. Yes - I have a sheet like that but it is slightly different which I will assume comes from UK to US market differences. The Multimatic dampers were not an option but were just fitted for the Superlight. I remember asking the dealer at the time what the difference was and being told it was "probably only a marketing wan%"! I did select aerofoil wishbones - $1200 in 2010. Don't recall what I paid this go around for that upgrade?

I have a document from when I first got my CSR Superlight that described the differences between the regular CSR and Superlight. Superlight dropped the windscreen and heater, added carbon wings, trackday rollbar, carbon aeroscreen and carbon Tillett seats. Came standard with LSD and special Multimatic dampers that were supposedly an upgrade over the standard (Bilstein?) dampers. I seem to recall a black trim package was also added as standard. But then you could "spoil" it by adding windscreen, heater, regular S-type seats, etc. The CSR chassis remains on the order list for certain non-UK markets. It is a homologated car for European and Australian markets as a 485. Australian cars got ADR approval on the back of the European cars. Its always been available in the USA but not shown publicly anywhere - you have to know it is there to order or be told by your US dealer who will go the extra yards with the factory to order one. I believe they only sell it now in the USA as a CSR200 as the Cosworth Duratec for the CSR260 is no longer offered. I think my new chassis is technically a CSR200 but I will have "slightly" more power since I went silly. I get the impression that they have problems meeting the production volumes needed if the UK market is included so easiest to limit the markets it is made available for.