Got a really nice Christmas gift!

[sdcat]

I finally got to see my new Caterham at Caterham USA yesterday while out in Colorado for the holidays. John and Ben were there to show it to me. Great guys. It's in the final stages of preparation, and if all goes well I should have it out in California in a month or two.

I fell in love with it - great "gulf" color scheme, and lots of nice superlight goodies. And, being a superlight, quite a lot of things not on it (which I have little use for in So Cal). The composite seats have no padding on the bottom, so we'll see how that goes, but otherwise it fits very nicely. I'm fairly thin (except during the holidays!), and it is a snug fit for me. The pedal box design is entirely different from what I've seen before. It seems nice, with a short clutch travel, and great alignment of the brake and throttle for down shifts. We have a lot of snow on the ground, so of course I didn't get to drive it.

It's loud, but not as loud at low rpm's as I would have guessed. Quieter than the cruisers in my neighborhood, so I shouldn't be excessively bothersome to the neighbors. The duratec setup is very clean looking, as is the stack dash. It looks pretty refined, but still with the classic Caterham look. I took some pictures, but they didn't turn out very good. I'll work on that when I get it home.

Justin

[Mondo]

Man, can't imagine the anticipation your feeling:cool:

[slomove]

What? No pictures?

[moosetestbestanden]

The composite seats have no padding on the bottom, so we'll see how that goes,

You'll like them just fine. They're actually more comfortable than the standard seat imo. Hold better too.

[mopho]

What's different about the pedal box?

[sdcat]

It is a completely different design. I didn't look beneath the cover. But, as you can see, the cover is much more shallow. The pedals have a shorter travel.

Justin

[moosetestbestanden]

Hmmm, I wonder where the master cylinders are now.

It looks like Pipercross has started printing their name on the air filter right side up, finally.

Did you get a heater too? It looks like it from the plumbing, but if so the core's been moved too.

[sdcat]

Good question - the master cylinders must be tucked inside somewhere, but I can't imagine where! That whole space where the pedal box cover and master cylinders usually are is open. It doesn't have a heater. I think the extra plumbing is just for the expansion tank.

[GWise]

Perhaps they're floor mounted pedals and that's why they felt different? That's going to make bleeding the clutch/brake fun if so.

[mopho]

Interesting, because here is a rhd R500 and it appears to be no different





Too bad they painted the engine compartment, you'll be carrying around all that extra weight :p

(wish mine was painted like that, looks great)


.

[Dave Nichols]

Congrats Justin. Can't wait to see some photos.

Just got back from buzzing around Ashland. There was no one on the road. What a rush!

--Dave