Academy: DPR Caterham Academy Setup

Caterham Academy: DPR Academy Setup

The highly competitive nature of Caterham one-make racing requires both the driver and car to be 100%. We set up cars to be capable of racing at the front of the grid. DPR set ups have an unrivalled history of championship wins including drivers within the Caterham Academy.

Race-winning baselines

Obtaining an optimised race set up is one of the most important requirements to improving race performance. To some extent the choice of service provider will not matter for routine servicing such as oil changes but that is definitely not the case for race critical items. Our set up process utilises highly accurate equipment with an approach that has been developed over 10 years of successful racing in the Official Caterham Motorsport championship.

Our approach has evolved with changes in the cars and tyres together with feedback from drivers and our team coach, Darren Burke. As part of our set up process we pay particular attention to car weight and will add or remove ballast to achieve an optimum result and we provide a summary of car weights and fuel levels at race start and finish as relevant to the specific entry in the Caterham championship

Extreme accuracy from the DPR race engineered flat floor

We extend a welcome to all prospective customers to come and visit us in our Redhill workshop as this is the best approach to understand the quality of work that will be obtained.

As a first step the car geometry will be assessed using our Hunter laser alignment system to measure toe and camber but also include key chassis elements such as caster, wheel set backs and rear axle angles. In addition to the standard set-up measurements of front toe and camber, we also measure and adjust caster, rear toe and rear camber. Our proposed changes will then be discussed with you to get your involvement in the adjustment process. Once the adjustments are finalised we explain the approach taken for ride height, corner weighting and the optimum fuel level for race use. As part of our setup process, all critical nuts are checked to ensure they have been torqued correctly after which they are marked to allow a visual check for any movement.

DPR Motorsport’s purpose-built Flat Floor

Accuracy of a flat floor is all-important; mere positioning of corner weight scales within the floor is not enough. Our dedicated flat floor has the corner weight scales located within a levelling platform specific to the Caterham wheel base. This enables the scale tops to be 100% level across all dimensions. As a result our equipment ensures measurements are accurate to 0.5 kg., 0.1 degree and 0.1 mm.

Note: Critical settings can change with on-track use. We recommend that front ride height is checked prior to race use. Use of the circuit scales should always be made to check weight before qualifying or racing.

DPR fixed price Academy race focused set-up and race-readiness service checks

We offer the following set up options to the Caterham Academy. Our Academy race-readiness check can be performed at the same time:

‘Ball-park’ setup - For cars under 1,000 track miles. A quick setup to get the car ready for track rather than road use.
Full Academy race-focused setup - For Academy cars over 1,000 track miles. A comprehensive race setup which includes calculating any required ballast together with the optimum fuel load to start the race.
Setup check only - This is available once a full setup has been carried out and is charged as a set price. Any adjustments will be charged just on a time worked basis.

DPR Simulator - Free taster session for upgrade customers

We have developed a unique Caterham simulator that forms part of our driver development programme relevant to drivers throughout the Caterham motorsport ladder. Anyone who has upgrade work carried out by us has the option for a free taster session.