Off to Derbyshire...

Off to lovely Derbyshire this weekend. I'll be sure to take some photos this time, plus if I find any roads that don't have speed cameras and/or insane maniac bikers, I'll be sure to let you know...

Stuck on the drive...

If you’ve read the write-up of my big old roadtrip, you’ll have noted I broken down on the drive as soon as I got home. On one hand, I was pretty pleased it didn’t occur in a petrol station in mid-Wales, but on the other hand, my garage is down a short hill, so there’s no opportunity to bump start the car. To be honest, I was tired and just pleased to be home, so after replacing the 30 amp fuse for the ECU and fuel pump and blowing it a couple of times, I just left it for the day. It was time for a beer and a search of the internet for possible causes.

Some concerted searching later and the only similar symptoms I could find;

• Blowing ECU fuse on ignition (i.e. position III)
• Jump start with donor battery makes no difference – still fuse blow
• Will start on a bump start

all seemed to point towards the famous “K-Series Hot Start” problem. Logic also suggests that blowing a fuse means there’s a short, most likely on one of the earths. I did the diligent thing and checked all the wiring I could find, including the starter button and everything seemed OK. So, the hot start issue? Well, I still had the issue the next day, so not exactly hot, but still.

What is this hot start issue? The common routine is a hard or long run, followed by a short stop, such as a fuel fill (or to empty the car of a week’s worth of luggage) and the car refuses to start. Normally, a 20 minute wait or a bump start will get you rolling. The reason is the starter motor and starter solenoid are mounted very close to the exhaust manifold and get very hot. In my case, there was also the fuse-blowing issue and according to various forums, this occasionally occurred at the same time. However, the length of time to get things going again  - i.e. more than 20 minutes - made me suspicious of the electrical connections too.

After the Seven decided to behave again, which began as turning over but not holding idle and running quite rich, then turning over and holding idle, a couple of days later I drove to Mum and Dad’s only to have it die on their drive too. No hard or long run then, since they’re only five minutes away.

It was at this point I decided I’d have to have a look at the starter and solenoid. If nothing else, getting them off and giving them a bit of love couldn’t hurt, so following the Alcester Racing Sevens starter maintenance guide Dad and I set about removing the starter and solenoid and servicing them. My starter is held in place by three 8mm allen bolts. Two are easy to access. The third is a right bastard. Dad kindly donated an old 8mm allen key which I cut to a straight rod, then mounted into a socket set via an extender bar. Space is very tight and you access this from under the car so axle stands are a must. Personally, seeing as the car is so low that if it came off the stands it would hit you before the tyres hit the ground, I advocate a second set of hands to keep an eye on you.

Having completed the service, squirted some WD40 into the pinion end of the starter and tidied up the wiring it all went back together with only several irritating and time consuming hitches and rather pleasingly, started up just fine. Since then it’s started each time, but the only electrical change I made was a bit of extra insulating tape at a starter connection, so it’s difficult to say if I’ve fixed it, or it fixed itself. I think the bottom line is 2000 miles is likely to cause problems of some sort or another…

Favourite roads...

There is nothing quite like discovering, quite by chance, a beautiful driving road. To discover it empty, dry and with a cracking sunset in the making only makes it better. It was precisely in this manner that I found the B4407. I took a risk, turning off the A5 early instead of heading to what is known as the ‘Evo’ triangle in search of a mate and his Integra Type R. What a good decision. It was truly one of my most memorable drives, up there with my first solo drive after my test and the first time I drove to Le Mans, surrounded by exotica.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, North Wales is chock full of beautiful roads, plus beautiful mountain scenery and beautiful little towns. Which is why we go there quite a lot. So, with that in mind, the following numbers are worth looking for, in my opinion.

A4086, Llanberis to Capel Curig

A498, Beddgelert to the A4086

B4391, A470 to A4212

B4501, A4212 to A5

A543, Pentrefoelas to Llyn Bran

B4501, Cerrigydrudion to Llyn Bran

B5105, Cerrigydrudion to Ruthin

You can look here if you're curious. I didn't take any photos on the roadtrip through here. I probably should have, but I was busy driving...

Equally worth looking for are the Grove House B&B in Betws-y-Coed and Bistro Betws for a roof/epic breakfast and some food, should you want to pop up and see for yourself.

Roadtrip!

It’s become somewhat customary for me, having purchased a new car, to drive it to Aberdeen to see some friends who live there. I’ve always found embarking on a big roadtrip in a new car accelerates the learning curve somewhat. You quickly get to grips with the comfy seat position, the mirrors, fuel consumption and so on, plus it’s a bloody good excuse for a drive.

In this case it was 1100 miles just in getting from home to Aberdeen via Edinburgh, then back home via Betws-y-coed. Add to that a jaunt out to the Run Balmoral races to do a 5km for ConocoPhillips and all the driving I managed to do in North Wales and I put a shade under 2000 miles on the car in ten days. It was a bit of an epic.

All packed

So, first things first. How on earth does one pack a Caterham for such a trip? The boot is surprisingly spacious, so with some intelligent use of the passenger space (I was driving solo) I was able to get everything in that I needed for socialising, camping, hiking and running with ease. I have found that these Exped drybags are excellent. Being soft, they compress your clothes down, then push neatly into tight spaces. As they’re waterproof you can be sure your spare jeans will remain dry too! I know they’re robust as I took three, quite literally, around the world and they’re all still fine. One other thing I found very useful was to use my Camelbak water bladder, which I hung behind the drivers seat. This meant I had three litres of water with a feeder tube over my shoulder. Who needs a cup holder?

So, what’s it like to drive a long way on a motorway? In a word, noisy. No one would suggest that the Seven is designed with such motoring in mind, but I’ll have to do it now and then, so how to make it most comfortable? I did the northbound journey with the top down and the return trip with the hood up. Top down is by far the most preferable.

Why? The dominant noise with the top down is wind, which I can mitigate with a hat (also keeping my bonce warm) and my walkman headphones. Given the distance and solo nature, I downloaded a few audiobooks to listen to and having a set of headphones in really helps keep you sane when the revs don’t vary. I don’t see this as a safety issue as my ‘phones are not noise cancelling and I never put the volume up too far, so road noise was still an element, albeit secondary. Think of it as no different to having the radio on.

With the top up, wind noise is cut significantly, but you do get much more exhaust noise, again at level revs, which is actually quite uncomfortable. Its part noise (I have no idea how loud – I don’t have a swanky iPhone with a decibelometer app) but the bigger issue is the pressure variation the exhaust noise creates. It is actually quite painful after a few hours. Nine hours straight with no more than thirty minutes out of the car overall left me feeling like I’d been at a very loud gig. I’d go so far as to say it could be damaging if it was a regular jaunt, though anyone who regularly did 400 miles in a Seven would be certifiable.

Empty motorways - joy!

So, what’s it like being at the same height as an artic lorry tyre? Initially, intimidating. However, motorway or not, driving a car that has no ABS, poor visibility, is difficult to see, has noticeably less wet weather grip and with no traction control means you either think and plan your driving a lot more, or you will inevitably crash, or be crashed into. I’ve found myself hanging further back in general and behaving a lot more like a motorbike rider than a car driver. This is especially important on a motorway. Of course, setting your mirrors up correctly helps, so anything that disappears from your wing mirror should already be in your peripheral vision, but there’s nothing like keeping tabs on the traffic so you don’t get any nasty surprises. All that said and done, when changing lanes I’m getting back in the habit of doing a visual check with a turn of the head. It helps to reassure you you’ve not missed the lunatic haring up behind you and also signals to other drivers you might be about to make a move. Yes, you’re very briefly looking backwards, but if I’m a safe distance from the vehicles in front, this shouldn’t be an issue. For me, it only took a couple of hours to get into the swing of keeping well back, signalling, waiting until I was sure my indicator had been seen, then changing lanes. Orange blinking lights are not so visible on red cars…

A Roads. A better sort of road

One unexpected issue was joint ache and stiffness. You don’t appreciate how much room for manoeuvre you have in a normal car until that space is denied to you. I found my knees and ankles in particular suffered and I had to adopt various foot positions to try and avoid actual pain. I also suffered from a really sore right heel, so will have to look into getting some endurance racing boots, which will hopefully have a little more padding than my current shoes. My main focus was covering the ground, so I lived with it, but it’s not the best way to start a holiday.

So what have I learnt?

• Top down is the best.
• If it’s raining, you will get wet with the top down and need wipers on your glasses. Stop and put the roof up.
• Loosen the roof supports before trying to put the roof up or risk a sense of humour failure.
• If you have to use motorways, fine. At every other opportunity, plan ahead, start earlier and use A roads.

Coming soon to an (this) excellent Caterham blog…

Find out where, next time

• A cracking drive in the Cairngorms
• A cracking walk in Snowdonia
• A cracking drive in Snowdonia
• Thank f*ck it broke down on the driveway…the joy of electrical issues…

In true sensationalist style, I’ll name names (of roads) and everything!

I drive an F1 car...?

Interesting news that out of the furore of Group Lotus and Team Lotus comes Tony Fernandes and partners decision to purchase Caterham cars. I've not really had time to absorb the row, but my gut instinct is that Tony Fernandes is a decent bloke, plus a friend of mine works for the team and his decision to take a job with them underlines their credibility in my eyes. Anyway, have a gander at the cracking PR release in YouTube.

Also, if you're unsure how the whole Team/Group Lotus name thing works, have a look at this entirely respectable pre-season testing guide to enlighten yourself: SniffPetrol - the wrong pitbox of motoring

Bank Holiday Sunshine and all it brings...

I've been jolly quiet, largely because I've been away from my computer and desk for a couple of weeks. The reason being I've driven to Aberdeen via the borders and Edinburgh, then back home via North Wales, in an attempt to make the most of my annual holiday. Eleven days for the price of three? I thank you. I had great luck with the weather for the most part and also learnt lots about how to pack huge chunks of stuff into a small car and still be able to get in myself.

So, that's nearly 2000 miles in ten days, lots of petrol (which I've been geekily recording to work out mpg) and some of the most fantastic roads. I'll do a decent write up of each of the bits, but it was a cracker, marred only slightly by my ECU fuse blowing on the driveway as I got home, which means the car won't start. Bugger. Still. Better the driveway than the M6.