The Elise is a pretty good track day car, but whenever I did a day I couldn't help but notice that Caterham (and other assorted) Sevens tend to be anywhere from a bit to a lot quicker. Are they having more fun than me? Only one way to tell...try one.

I also fancied trying another track, and glancing through the Circuit News diary I spotted Arrowstar's advert for Oulton Park, on a Saturday, and even better "Caterhams for hire". I called them...they seemed like good chaps, but I wasn't quite ready to part with the hard-earned until I'd seen them in action. Fortunately they had spaces for owner-drivers at a Castle Combe day before Oulton, so with not very much persuading my friend Matt decided to give his Mazda MX5 it's track christening and off we went to meet Arrowstar.

To cut a long story short, I liked them, and the deal was done for hire of a 50% share of a Caterham Roadsport 1600 at Oulton Park the following week, on the full (International) circuit. 50% share means one other person uses the same car on the day and you alternate the driving.

10 days later and I show up at Oulton with my head full of hopefully memorised bits of Circuit Guide for signing on. The day is open to both owner drivers and hire-drivers and the paddock contains a lot of Sevens, three Elises and some other assorted machinery including both GT2 and standard Porsche 911s. The briefing is pretty much routine by now - the day will be in 20 minute sessions for 2 groups, but we get a car pass so can go out in either. Then it's over to the cars and meet Terry, a long time track day enthusiast and Arrowstar regular with whom I'll be sharing "my" car for the day. We agree that Terry will take the car out first, and then we'll alternate sessions before lunch and see how it goes.

The track opens and off Terry goes...a very short 20 minutes later he's back, and it's my turn. He and the Arrowstar mechanics strap me in with the full harness and pausing only briefly to ponder the wisdom of jumping into a car I've never driven before and heading straight out onto a race circuit, I pull out of the pits.

I needn't have worried. The Caterham inspires confidence immediately and I can concentrate on learning the track. My homework seems to have paid off and after a couple of laps it's coming together.....
Out of the pits and keep right over brow until up to speed, then downhill, brake and sweep smoothly left through Cascades, avoiding the adverse camber on turn in. Full power up the hill, up to 4th gear then lift but don't brake though Island, back on the throttle and into the heavily banked Shell Oils hairpin. This is really canted over so brake, drop to 3rd and tuck the car into the long apex, hold it there for a moment then power out, being a little careful as the camber flattens out over a gentle brow. Back up to 4th then brake again into the first chicane, then try an straighten the exit as much as possible to get good exit speed over Hill Top and then down again into the second chicane at Knickerbrook. Arrive very fast, loose lots of speed, trail brake in, and not to tight to the kerbs on the exit so you can keep the power on all the way up and over Clay Hill. As soon as the car settles on the other side, turn towards the left hand edge of the circuit, then just a light touch on the brakes and a smooth turn in to Druids. This is a great corner - a fast right hander with a blind turn in, false first apex and change of camber on exit - and you need to carry lots of speed through for the run down to Lodge; brake hard change down, turn very late or the camber will catch you out and you'll spin on the exit (as one Elise driver found out later on in the day), then up the short hill and onto the pit straight, keep left into Old Hall, another fast right hander, then watch out for joining traffic and it's over the brow again, much faster this time and round again.

Each 20 minutes allowed eight or nine flying laps, and I used the gaps when Terry was driving to re-read the guide, chat to other drivers and take a few pictures. Doing the morning in short stints was good as it meant I could keep varying my lines and approaches and see if I could find what worked best rather than settling into a routine. There was plenty of variety on track too - the Sevens present went from roadgoing Westfield SE to full race Caterham Superlight R so you I had plenty of cars to judge myself against.

Although the Lotus and the Caterham both use the Rover K series engine, the Seven's 1600 has a much "hotter" camshaft profile, giving little below 4000rpm but lots to 7000, whereas the 1800 in the Elise pulls from 3000rpm but runs out of steam just over 6000. This meant me getting used to using a lot more revs, so I tried 2nd gear for the hairpins and 3rd for Old Hall just to see. It certainly felt faster, with the back of the car squirming under acceleration but checking apex and exit speeds was inconclusive. Now where do I get a datalogger?

The track was closed for an hour for lunch, during which time the Arrowstar mechanics fettled and refueled the cars...it's an easy life being a hire-driver! After lunch Terry & I decided to do double sessions. We're not quite the same size and adjusting belts and seat padding was taking valuable driving time. So, on to the track for 40 minutes of really enjoyable driving...Druids was really starting to come together now, and I was really pleased with the amount of speed I could carry through, which translates into closing speed on less confident drivers. Fortunately driving standards were excellent and people moved over as soon as was convenient so as not to break my rhythm. I hope I managed to do likewise as the GT2 and Superlights came through. These both have way superior power (in the case of the GT2 an extra 300bhp or so!) but even my lowly Roadsport hung on in there in the bends and with the rear axle right behind my back it was easy to tell when the tyres begun to break loose. It feels a lot like a larger version of the 100cc race karts I occasionally drive. Damn nearly flat out through Island now as well, just "breathing" the throttle on turn in. Maybe it would go through flat but I wasn't quite daft enough to try it; and the run from Old Hall over the brow into Cascades was getting better by the lap.

I went for a screen clean before my second 2x20 minute sessions which meant joining the track behind a long queue of cars, followed by catching and passing most of them one by one. Very satisfying, and very good for the concentration. However, unknown to me the marshalls had extended my second 20 minutes into 30 so I had done 50 minutes on track and my brain was starting to fade, evidenced by (i) missing the Knickerbrook chicane after being distracted by a marshall crossing the track and (ii) my right foot starting to hurt when braking, so I decided to call it a day when I came in and let Terry finish up.

Overall I was very satisfied - my end of day pace was around 2:10 (unofficial timing of course), or just slightly faster than the ordinary 911 and well up with comparable Sevens. Also interesting to note that I finally caught and passed a modified Elise - it had the LAD 160bhp conversion plus Lotus Sport suspension - and that the standard Elises seemed very slow. Based on this day I highly recommend the Caterham experience with Arrowstar, and I can see myself repeating it....maybe in a Superlight next time. I wonder what the Elise will feel like when I get back in it?