Car 54 took to the circuit for a final test session at Cadwell Park on 4 April. The plan was to use the open pitlane day to run a fairly comprehensive mechanical, set up and race fitness programme. This was scheduled to be the last run out before the first race weekend at Silverstone over Easter. Typically for Cadwell the day started off fairly wet but dried steadily throughout the day until the sun and wind had evaporated all the moisture and the lap times started to tumble.

Having completed two sessions of race distance, all appeared to be going well. That was until the session after lunch when, turning into the blind crest of The Mountain, Car 54 came over the brow airborne and ploughed straight into the back of a stationary Lotus Elise sitting in the middle of track…

The shock of any 50mph impact is bad enough, but I now know it is a lot worse when you never even saw it coming. The marshalls did not even have time to deploy cautionary yellow flags, but notwithstanding this, quite what the driver of the Elise thought he was doing stopping in such a dangerously stupid place is beyond me. Even at half the speed I was doing, I would have stood no chance. The impact caused by his thoughtless driving (or should that be parking?) totally destroyed the front of the car. Car 54 returned to the pits on the back of a flatbed lorry; its front wheels pointing in opposite directions and radiator coolant leaving a greasy puddle across the track…

The telemetry indicated that I had decelerated from 50 to 0mph in a fraction of a second and endured a long-g reading off the chart. Despite this, my HANS protection system prevented any serious neck injury to me thankfully and it was pure luck that I didn’t break any wrists or thumbs. My only injury was some stiffness for a few days afterwards and this is surely testament to the strength of the crash box at the front of the car.

The damage to the chassis is still being assessed by Arch Engineering, but it will require, in all likelihood, a long front, new cooling system, nose, wishbones and possibly steering rack. Having had a car so beautifully prepared and set up by Broadsport Racing, this was a massive blow.

As a result of this, frankly incredible, crash, Car 54 failed to take the grid over Easter weekend at Silverstone; costing me valuable championship points. The first two races at a desperately damp Silverstone were both won by Mike Steadman. The weekend saw the largest Caterham race grid ever assembled at over 40 cars and ScuderiaTT’s Martin Harris, the only STT driver in action over Easter, finishing a commendable P36 and P32. His first time out in a car in A-spec, Martin improved continuously over the course of the weekend in treacherous conditions and was rightly pleased with his performance. “I suppose I looked at the weekend as a bit of a testing session - new car, new engine, so in a way I feel like it’s “Stage 1″ accomplished.”

Hopefully, the chassis will be fixed in time for the next round at Oulton Park when my championship challenge can begin in earnest, if a little belatedly…

After a long winter layoff, ScuderiaTT’s Car 54 finally returned to the track last week for its post-rebuild shakedown at Rockingham.

Professionally rebuilt, upgraded and set up by Broadsport Racing, the car is now complete save for its engine rebuild.  Built to comply with the regulations for the Drivers Republic Caterham Roadsport Championship, stiffer race springs and dampers have been fitted together with wider track front wishbones and a quicker ratio steering rack.  The electronics and data logging equipment on the car were also refitted together with a general tidy up to remove systems made redundant by the regulation changes.

Despite all the bolts have been pre-torqued, it was important to ensure that nothing worked itself loose or leaked on the first few runs and so the morning was taken fairly easy.  Post run inspections showed what a good job BSR did on the car and mechanically it was running perfectly.  The afternoon sessions was taken a bit more aggressively, therefore, as I got used to the very different feel of the car.

The new springs and steering have made the car very pointy, with a tendency to oversteer when in its stiffer settings, although it was still very controllable and nicely progressive.  The slight turn in roll evident in the car in the B-spec car has been completely eliminated and the car now handles much better at speed.
It would have been nice to have some wet weather in the afternoon to see how the car handled wet tarmac, but all in all the day went very well.

There may be time for one more exploratory session before testing begins for the first two rounds at Silverstone next month.  We’ll see.

Meanwhile, ScuderiaTT’s drivers were once again confirmed with the BRSCC as Phil Haworth (54), Paul Lund (3) and Martin Harris (99).

Simon Lambert, Caterham Director of Motorsport, has made this exciting announcement regarding coverage of this year’s Roadsport Championship on Motors TV:

“I am delighted to announce a new partnership with THE motorsport TV channel; Motors TV.

This year, Motors TV will host Caterham racing exclusively with approximately 5hrs of original programming spread over half-hour and one-hour programmes during the course of the year; along with regular repeats of each addition (typically five times!).  With so much air-time, we are able to provide coverage of both Roadsports (A & B) and Superlights (R300 & R400); whilst the Academy will also get a look in at their Anglesey debut race.  The championship deciders for all Roadsports and Superlights at Snetterton will complete the TV year, with perhaps even highlights of the night race.

In addition to the increased coverage, Caterham racing will have a regular time slot on a Saturday afternoon for the first airing.  At the time of ‘going to press’ this is planned to be 2pm, although this could change slightly.

Caterham will also be working with Motors TV during the course of the year with the viewer competitions promoted on TV and on the Motors TV website etc.

The coverage for this year is being produced by the specialists at Hay Fisher, who know Caterham racing inside out.  Motors TV (Sky 413) reaches nearly 10 million homes in the UK and Ireland, plus a further 6 million around Europe and is becoming increasingly recognised as the home of general motor racing on television.”