Mantorp graduation

A big day today, I have done so many modifications since last track day before the winter.

In short I have

• Fitted 13" rims and modified the rear brake calipers to fit.
• Bought an used set of Radical 13" slicks, which are radials and totally different than the Avon cross-ply slicks I have tried before.
• Rebuilt the whole engine and added much more power.

In sweden we use the expression "April weather", because the weather can't be trusted at all this time of year. Some days are warm spring days, but suddely the snow come back when you least expected. This is what happened the day before. Lots of snow and below zero degrees temperature. I had to knock away ice from the trailer when loading, and my neighbour had to help me to push the Caterham because I couldn't get it out of the garage.

A few hours later when I got to the track the weather was complely different. +8 degrees, dry and sunny?!

First the good parts. I have so much power I now need to learn how to master. No other car (ok the turbo charged 350-400 hp Atom excluded) had any chance to keep up with me, but most of my driving was like an on/off switch, and my mind played tricks on me so all brake points were too early. I gained about two seconds on the main straight, but lost much of the gain because I braked way too soon! The higher top speed made the grass at end of the straights really intimidating!

The tires worked flawless. The asphalt was cold today but there was no overheating and good balance. My impression is that the tires are more forgiving than cross-plys, and not equally sensitive to camber/pressure and slip angle.

Best time today 1,26.1 but the car has for sure potential for sub 1,24 times!

Then the less good things.
My temporary catch tank was too temporary and spew oil all over the engine room. Yuck!

The rear calipers scraped on the inside of the new 13" rims. I have to do a damage check on this, more about this later.