Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Login
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • Motorsport
    • Lakeside DTC Timed Laps
    • LAKESIDE DTC RESULTS
  • Magazine
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Galleries
  • Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Archives
cat-uk-banner

A Caterham Day at Silverstone

By Jason McGarry.

The first Saturday of October I was fortunate enough to be able to do a track day with Book a Track at Silverstone. Driving a well setup Caterham race car on a F1 track had been on my radar for some time. I arrived at the Silverstone around 7am. It was cool and very foggy. Book a Track was able to secure space in Pit Bays 1 and 2 – used by teams during the British F1 race.  

We were sharing the track with a Porsche driving experience day so the usual artillery of 911, GT3’s and Caymans were out in force. There were also Aston Martins and Ferraris using the track at the same time. Being at Silverstone with this sort of company just added to the wow factor!

We were using the Academy’s Caterhams that were in the S3 and SV chassis so the engines were around the 140hp with the 6 speed gearbox. After the normal briefing session and waving all your legal rights away it was time to hit the track. I was there for the full day and shared the car with two other guys who also owned Caterhams, but had never been on a race track.

On track days, Silverstone only allow people on to the track with an instructor sitting in the passenger seat, so it was time for my first session. Driving out of the pit lane and up the hill onto the track for the first time was an experience that I will never forget. My heart was pumping and sweat seemed to be pouring out of my body. Adrenalin was high. The track was beautifully smooth and wide, but this was deceptive, as the corners that seemed to be quite wide were in fact very tight, especially as you came onto main straight. This run was to be my only run in the dry for the day – a shame as I hoped the English weather would be nice to me.  

From 10am to 4pm the rain set in and at one point the track was closed due to the volume of water. Although it would have been good to have a dry day on the track, if you were ever going to be instructed how to drive in wet this was the moment. The instructors were very patient with us all and showed us how to pick the lines that would provide the most grip and taught us how to squeeze the power – avoiding spins.

The Aston Martins, Porsches and Ferraris were going a lot quicker than us, however we were driving these Caterhams with none of the modern aids those cars have.

I would recommend anyone that loves the thrill of driving a Caterham or Lotus to give it a go. They run many different types of driving experiences including drifting days, which I hope to do in May. You can also hire a 620R for track days, as long as you book it well in advance.

ICC Round 9 – Motorkhana Where to for Lotus in 2017?

Related Posts

mp-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Morgan Park Sprints R4

duratec-banner

Articles, Homepage, Technical

Duratec Elise – better late than never

gold-rush-banner

Events, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Racing

Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022

Random images

sam-on-track-behind Daryl, Steve and Adam dtc-3 IMG-0999 Class 3 Winner, Daniel Class 2 Winner, Adam _MG_4510 as Smart Object-1 img_1098_2 Patricks-26R-Elan-replica Vyvyan-on-the-straight Paul giving it a belt 4-Fourth-member-of-Team-2-Paul Garry 07 MGP2194 McL_28 121_2139_IMG lw01ka1 IMG_7125 MaryAnne-Samantha-Scott_gw 172_THC22_2022-2 DSC_0397 20210912_092811 Lindsay-Norris Cris-Johansen-with-a-smile-that-says-it-all-by-Emma-Morley Patrick-Mewing-Elan-26R-A-Stevens Happy Spectators Phil Hart 2012 Lotus Elise - 1 Leigh Lotus-12-View-3 elises-2 20161106_145748 Dicks Slicks NSX_pic1 Jon Tinkering Rob The Uphams Steve Mike-and-Maggie- 0063 IMG_3640 IMG_5070 IMG_7394 image_089 IMG_8485 IMG_6746 Mar-main-92 main-16 Last-260-Cup-produced-by-Lotus P1010433 IMG_0332_1 IMG_0305_1 Fish_out_of_water IMGP2258 IMG_0034 DSC_5283 Ferrari_s_covering_the_lines image_172 IMG_7485 119_1977_IMG IMG_3720 MG_3840 IMG_7879 Lunch_Table_1 Carina_Clive_Maree_Mal_Daryl_Shane_Russell_Jenny P1060228 IMG_8057 Club_Lotus_Dec_08_027 IMG_8077 IMG_8139 IMG_3031 P8310121 IMG_3936 P1050428 Award-Outright-Greg-Bray Shanes-Seven IMG-4084 Elevens unnamed tony-in-discussion IMG-3985 MG_3934 IMG_3892 Drivers Briefing Wiring-loon the-blingster IMG_1425 main-20 Parked at Qld Transport Museum 1 esprit-3 Justin-SamMike_GW S1-Elise Garry undulating Cafe main-34 Clive following Martin MG_3924 Gloria, John and Penny Jag The Cool Cars

Recent Articles

  • Morgan Park Sprints R4
  • Kev’s Big Day Out
  • Duratec Elise – better late than never
  • Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022
  • Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022
  • Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane
  • Leyburn 2022
  • August 2022 DTC

Latest Gallery Images

20220220_093834 20220220_093818 20220220_093827 20220220_093743 20220220_093812 20220220_093730

Search articles by category

Archived articles

Lotus Club Queensland
© Lotus Club Queensland   |   Site by Black Eye Studios