Caterham Motorsport describes itself as “the UK’s largest family of factory championships”, given it boasts no fewer than five factory racing series for its famous Caterham Seven, which cater for drivers of varying levels of experience from beginners to professionals. Each category can usually be counted upon to provide close and exciting racing too. And next month Caterham Motorsport will take all this to something like a logical conclusion as it is to host its first ever multi-class endurance race called ‘Caterham Motorsport Team Enduro’. It will take place on Silverstone’s National circuit as a curtain raiser and warm-up event for the 2019 motorsport season, on Saturday March 16.
Furthermore the race will have a unique format wherein drivers from across three of Caterham Motorsport’s racing series will mix as team-mates and compete as combined ‘Super Teams’ in their own cars in a multi-car relay lasting four hours. The Caterham categories being combined in the race are Roadsport–which is aimed at novices and is one rung up from Caterham’s introductory Academy category–mixed in with the more senior 270R and 310R categories, which feature incrementally more race-focused machinery such as in the cars’ suspension, windscreens, springs and dampers. Those in the 310R category also have a more powerful 152bhp engine. The race is open to all current and previous Caterham competitors, and has been created in conjunction with the British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC).
Measures have been put in place to ensure also that no ‘Super Team’ can get an advantage from loading their line-up with experienced or successful drivers, as each collective must meet a driver grading total determined by past championship positions. So for example frequent podium finishers will have to pair up with drivers more accustomed to the midfield or bringing up the rear. In addition each individual driver will have a maximum session time of 30 minutes as well as a minimum track time limit to ensure all drivers in the team can contribute to the race result. “While there are other multi-class race events out there this will be the first that sees different class cars come together to race in a relay style race,” said Caterham Motorsport’s chief motorsport and technical officer Simon Lambert. “It’s an exciting opportunity for our drivers to take part and warm-up ahead of another year of exciting racing while getting to know those taking part in other championships.”
The race will be supported by BRSCC saloon and sports cars races, which offers drivers an opportunity for a competitive pre-season shakedown across two 15 minute races. You can get further information and an entry form by emailing BRSCC via dominic@brscc.co.uk.
Images courtesy of Caterham
