Shaun_E

Gill is laughing uncontrollably at that. 😬

Lots of good stuff - thanks. Brake fluid is off the shelf DOT 5.1 and the first thing I will do is replace it as it's been in the car for about 18 months. I've never been really happy with the brakes so I guess I am looking to change something rather than just refresh what is already there. I don't think I want to change the master cylinder (other than from a quality point of view) as I like some travel in the pedal and a progressive set-up. I don't want to increase the leg effort required either. Gill drives the car as well so this is important. I haven't got the time to fit a proper dual master cylinder set-up but understand this is the ultimate solution. I guess replacing or rebuilding the master cylinder might be one step and then choosing a front and rear pad combination that will get close to a decent balance (slightly front biased to be safe). Keep the ideas coming

Roger - yes both nipples bled. 😶‍🌫️ Kev - others have also suggested that the standard master cylinder can be the cause of the problem and that the AP unit is better made. Of course Caterham are out of stock of the AP master cylinder - anyone know if it's an off the shelf part or a Caterham special?

At Blyton this weekend I wasn't happy with the braking on my car. The brake pedal had longer travel than normal but it didn't "pump up" with repeated presses (so not pad knock off). It was "slightly spongy" but not everso. The car stopped OK but there wasn't much feel - it was hard to know when a lock up was imminent. I have Caterham AP big brakes, the standard master cylinder (never been a problem before), Pagid RS14 pads on the front and Pagid RS4-2 pads on the rear. I have flexible hoses on the rear calipers. The rear pads are pretty shot now so need replacing and I suspect the fronts have seen better days. So the questions are: 1. Any thoughts on the cause of the long, slightly spongy pedal? 2. Should I change the master cylinder to the AP item? What difference does it make to feel, travel, etc.? 3. What is the best combination of currently available pads front and rear? Is there a new leader? I never got on with Pagid RS15 fronts as they just glazed over with road use. My main use is sprint and hillclimb with some road use and the occasional track day/test day. I will be replacing the fluid with a good quality standard DOT4 fluid. I don't think there is any need for racing fluid but happy to be convinced otherwise. Off now to read all the other threads on this subject

No video of my speech 😬 but Still time to find in the new bit which we I hadn't driven before and I'm still bottling it through Port Froid as well but not too bad a lap.

Simon - it was indeed my first. Can I have some special brake pads please? My brakes were awful. Will post some video tomorrow.

There are no specified dimensions for a screen so your fabricated version is fine. Technically a road going car should be able to pass an MOT so mirrors are required (2 mirrors one of which is the drivers side). Having said that, no one is going to stop you competing without them and I know a number of long standing competitors who don't have them fitted

I never liked the ear defender type headsets as they don't work well with glasses (lots of wind noise) and they get hot and sweaty in the summer. I have the Microcom in ear headset with custom moulded ear bud. They work very well both in use and in noise reduction although on longer journeys I find the hard plastic piece can get a bit uncomfortable. They can also be used under a helmet but again the plastic bit is a bit uncomfortable for me. Other people don't seem to have the same comfort problem.

One of our competitors got pulled up on this by a scrutineer towards the end of last season but that is the first time it's happened since I've been sprinting. Technically, if your head/body could come into contact with the cage then padding should be used. The rule does not specify the type of padding, merely that it must be non-flammable. There is a further recommendation: Link to Blue book here Sections 1.3.6 and 1.6.6 Edited by - Shaun_E on 15 Apr 2014 09:01:10

Are Alex and Joy in class 4? They were in 5 last year!

How many laps at a time? For sprint/hillclimb it's either Kumho V70 in super soft (K10/11) or soft (K20/21) compound or Avon ZZR in soft (A24) compound. The paddock is split on which is best More than 2 or 3 laps and these will have gone off though and you'll want a harder compound. Medium (K60) in the Kumho, medium (A60 I think) in the Avon but these take a couple of laps to get working. I'm in the Kumho camp with a 260bhp Caterham doing sprints and hillclimbs.

I put a large black X using black gaffer tape to make it absolutely clear the numbers are covered. If you are putting the numbers onto bare paint then make sure you wax it well beforehand - you don't want to take the paint off at the end of the season!

I've added that to my on-line bolt list: http://1drv.ms/1fdggGt I'll add this document to the technical pages in the new website when we go live.

That was us on our way to/from Curborough for a test day.

Hi Chris, Joy and Alex Hoyle had problems getting CR28s under their wings so on that basis I'd say they are quite a bit taller.

Good point - I had forgotten there weren't any contact details. Might be worth a trawl on the Westfield Boardroom as there was a bulk buy on there some time ago.

For wings, it might be worth contacting this business: http://www.mickmadecomposites.co.uk/index.htm as he made some wings for Westfields which look almost identical to my RiF fronts. He doesn't list them on the site but may be persuaded to make some more. You could also try this lot: http://www.carboncactus.co.uk/. The stuff of theirs I've seen was pretty good and they are keen to expand the range. They've done a nose cone. If they develop some wide front wings I might be interested

I removed the pump at the weekend and there was nothing obvious wrong with it - all connections seemed well attached, the filter looked OK, etc. I didn't notice a rush of air on opening the filler cap (and no valve anyway, just a breather tube). I reassembled everything and now it runs perfectly . Always the way! The only foreign object I found was the tip of a biro which was lost in the tank when said biro was used to open the sprung flap when filling with fuel. I suppose it is remotely possible that was shorting out the pump connections but seems unlikely. So I'm no closer to understanding the cause but for now the problem seems to have gone. I think I will order a spare fuel pump in case that was the culprit. Thanks for all the suggestions.

MFRU replaced but problem still there. No melted bits. Tank and pump out and nothing obviously wrong with the pump. I drained the tank using the pump and it didn't stop once ☹️ No loose connections. I think a new pump is the next step.

It is an expensive chunk of metal . I did wonder about using the standard clevis but wasn't sure it would definitely fit. Be sure to fit a clutch stop as the slave cylinder doesn't like being over extended. I made one out of studding and flange nuts I had lying around but Caterham sell one as well.

I bought this: Clutch Clevis which screws onto the master cylinder thread and attaches to the pedal with the clevis pin. Mine wasn't perfect and I had to space it with a washer but it works OK. I'd be interested to see if anyone did it differently.

More stuff to check is good. Thanks.

I've replaced all my fuses with resettable ones. Useful for some circuits such as fuel pump and ECU. The nice thing is that it's easy to see which one has tripped rather than pulling various fuses and checking them. TBH it's a bit of a luxury and probably not really necessary but it has made life easy a couple of times.

Some good ideas here - thanks. I'll drain the tank then remove and check the pump.

Hi Rob - I'll try that. Thanks.