In the spirit of using the forum…
As most know, lotus activities are on the back burner for me this year as I’ve been building and now racing my Caterham Academy car.
It was our first race last weekend, so if you fancy 20mins with a cuppa feel free to have a watch.
I admit not the most thrilling race from my perspective, but I’ve mashed in the official BARC footage so you can see the movers up and down the field.
Regarding the vbox. Is that yours or provided to you by Caterham?
Can you ask to view others data / cam ?
You looked like you enjoyed that immensely!
Yes it’s incredibly tight. Brands Hatch Indy amplifies that somewhat because it’s only a ~57sec lap but yes a small mistake for any of us and it could be +10 places on the grid. I imagine throughout the season too that this gap will only close!
No not provided by Caterham but it is an option when you buy the car/kit. I bought mine independently.
They’re not mandatory, but having a front facing camera and a rear facing camera is - so this is a convenient (if not expensive!) way of achieving that. Then if you want to get any coaching, then a vbox of some description becomes almost mandatory because “passenger seat” coaching is very rare with Caterhams, an extra 70-90kg alters the car just too much, and you can’t communicate effectively anyway… so all coaching is done via data back in the pits, and most/all established coaches have a detailed back catalogue of reference laps to use which all happen to be in VBOX format.
Up until this year, VBOX was also the only data logger that was accepted in the regulations - but they actually changed that for the 2025 regs by saying you can use something else IF the chief scrutineer is happy it’s not doing anything too clever over the CANBUS. (Tyre pressure sensors are explicitly banned, for instance).
I can ask to see as much data as I want, but I think you need to be very good friends with the person you’re asking. The files exported by the VBOX include the overlaid video as used in my footage but also a .VBO file which has all the data from the session, throttle, brake, etc. Having access to that data from a faster driver would be very very useful over a weekend.
On balance, spending the best part of a week in a race paddock was incredible, and made life back at the computer desk the following week extremely difficult. I just want to be absorbed into Motorsport all of the time now, and I cannot wait to get to Thruxton. The race day nerves however were fairly intense, and I definitely did not enjoy that! Fortunately managed to switch it all off when it counted, and felt pretty serene sat at the grid waiting for the lights to go. The dominant emotion after the race was relief, getting a podium was the dreamiest of stretch goals for the season so to get that ticked off is incredible.
Problem now though, is that my ambitions have just moved forward a notch…
The reason I asked the data question was that in Clio cup racing you can request a competitors engine / box if you think they have an advantage.
Was curious if competitors could view your data to see where you were going fast.
The event sounds intense, and a slippy slope into motorsport for sure.
You did awesome mate - top job! 
I gotcha. The engines are all sealed with the Caterhams with proper scrutineering tags from factory so there’s little you could get away with.
After the race the top three were all weighed, rideheight checked and they took my intake off for a look at the throttle body so presumably checking for a known way to get an edge!
What an incredible experience and you did a fantastic job.
One more lap and you might have been able to get past 
Thanks for sharing it 
Do you have a coach/instructor? I used Ryan Hooker and he helped me in my Caterham.
Great to see! I had a tour of the Caterham factory last week as part of a SELOC group. It was interesting to hear more about the Academy format and what Caterham are doing to support grass roots motorsport.
They told us about not being able to instruct from the passenger seat due to the weight impact. One customer had apparently had his car set up to account for his dog on the passenger seat, as they always travelled together!
THanks for the report, keep it up!
I do yeah, funnily enough I was sat about 30feet from Ryan when I read your post!
I’m using Darren Burke, just had a day at thruxton with him. It’s moved my driving on significantly, the Caterham driving style is rather different to what I’m used to, but getting there
Tell more*
*unless it gives a competitive edge to anyone lurking who is competition!
I’m worried more about being unable to articulate things that I barely understand but I’ll give it a go!
The entry point to driving advice is usually “brake in a straight line, slow in, fast out and accelerate through the corner for stability”
Slowly over the years I’ve introduced bits of trail braking but the Lotus generally will turn in regardless. I almost always entered corners with a trace of throttle too to squat the rear and be on my way.
In the Caterham it just won’t turn if there’s the slightest breath of throttle. It either needs to be coasting or preferably on the brakes right up until the rotation point of the corner. Means braking way later than you’re programmed for and deep into the corner.
Once that’s down, the application of the throttle can either lead to:
So if you drive the car with the “basics” of slow in, fast out you’ll find it an understeery pig. If you overdrive it’ll be a drift car and the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle!
Learning to just be neutral on the pedals for a while has also been an adjustment. Most people, myself included run a negative rake to get the rears to grip as much as possible and sacrifice all front end grip (because you can manufacture front end grip with trail braking). This setup means that if you just lift off the gas it’ll naturally squat the rear a bit and straighten the car up. Particularly into paddock hill bend and through Graham hill this was crucial.
The temptation all through testing is to start accelerating as soon as you’re done braking, but once you learn to let the car balance itself a bit you open your window for getting back on the accelerator and make it much less knifeedge.
Or something like that.
Is this a tyre limitation or just a handling characteristic?
Bit of both I think.
I don’t think the technique changes too much right up the Caterham ladder, but the Academy car is particularly exposed to this trait due to no rear ARB and the world’s softest suspension.
With some freedom on spring rates, ARBs and of course tyres I’m sure it’s possible to dial much of it out.
Are there more rungs to the caterham academy?
Academy first
Then roadsports (r888r, rear ARB and brake bias)
270R (remap, wide track suspension, aeroscreen, some other bits)
310R (cams and another remap)
Academy you need to be a novice, no prior ARDS etc.
Roadsport you need to have done Academy or have been allowed in at Caterhams discretion. Typically having no more than a seasons experience of racing.
Both academy and roadsport you’re not allowed team support, but Caterham will support you inclusive of the entry.
270R you can have team support, so all gets a bit serious!
420R is the final step, but requires a brand new Duratec car. All the prior ones use the same base academy car with upgrades.
*All of this will soon be out of date, because this is the last year of the sigma engine!
There are other Caterham race series as well, some cheaper (I’m not saying better). I looked at all of them but concluded I don’t drive fast enough.
