Caterham Academy

Caterham Seven Academy Car
Overview
Manufacturer	Caterham

The Caterham Academy is a motor-racing championship exclusively open to novices, as their first foray into motorsport.

In 1995 the Caterham Scholarship, a novices-only speed events and racing series, was established in the UK, to introduce new drivers to motorsport. The series format was a mix of sprints, hillclimbs and circuit races.

The initial cars were live axle 1600cc Ford 'Kent' Crossflows with rear-exit exhausts. The spec included a Caterham lightened & balanced flywheel, uprated competition clutch cover and drive plate, Caterham distributor with Ignitor electronic ignition, two Weber twin choke 40 DCOE 151 (sidedraft) carburettors, main jets size 120, 30mm venturi, with K&N performance filters. The maximum power was 100 bhp at 6000 rpm. They ran on list 1A Michelin MXT tyres.

In 1998, the engine supplier changed to Vauxhall, with 1600 single overhead cam engines being used. They featured a ported & skimmed cylinder head, standard Vauxhall camshaft, flywheel and clutch cover plate, two Weber twin choke 40 DCOE 151 (sidedraft) carburettors, main jets size 115, with K&N performance filters. The maximum power was 101 ps at 5,500 rpm and a max torque of 107 lb ft at 3,600 rpm. The main visual difference between the Fords and the Vauxhalls was that the Vauxhalls had a side-exit exhaust, as opposed to the rear exit of the Fords.

The early Vauxhall cars used the same Spax dampers with manual adjusters as the Fords, with an option to adjustable spring platforms.

The 1999 and 2000 Vauxhall cars had linear coil springs over Bilstein (rather than Spax) dampers, again with the option of adjustable spring platforms, to optimise corner-weighting.

For the 2000 season, the Scholarship was rebranded the "Caterham Academy"

For the 2001 Academy, cars were supplied with the more modern Dedion chassis, and a Rover K series engine. An increasing number of cars were supplied with full rollover cages by this point, although it was not until 2003 that all Academy cars came with a full cage rather than a FIA-spec rollover bar and supporting strut in the passenger footwell.

Cars were supplied with the Caterham (Arch Motors) race chassis in 2001 and 2002. This is recognisable by a shorter passenger footwell (to accommodate the battery in the engine bay) and the handbrake under the dash on the passenger side. Cars from 2003 to 2006 were supplied with a centre (tunnel) handbrake.

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