Best Roadtrip Ever! | Petrolhead Tour Spain 2021 ft. Caterham 420R
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- Опубліковано 27 сер 2024
- Just attending a Petrolhead Tour in any vehicle is special enough, but when your car is broken and your friend lends you his Caterham 420R - well that's just a dream come true. One that i had to try and capture some footage of and despite two cameras breaking during the week i managed to get enough together for this film. There were many, many memorable drives I wasn't able to film but this at least provides a glimpse of some of the journey around Spain on this tour.
For those wishing i'd said a little more about the car, i'll take the opportunity now to make some observations of this incredible vehicle:
i) Wet Weather Performance - i was stunned how capable the vehicle was in the wet and the level of grip it was able to generate. On first glance at the tyres i assumed they weren't designed with wet weather driving in mind but i couldn't have been more wrong. Day two of the tour brought rain of varying intensities from light drizzle to full downpour yet the car continued to keep very good pace throughout. I needn't have been worried - i later found out the Avon ZZS tyres were specifically commissioned to be a wet weather tyre for the racing caterhams, which explains a lot! On this topic, it's wise to take a foldable rain coat but keeping speeds above 40mph the cabin stays remarkably dry which negates the need to put the roof up. If you can avoid being stationery or driving slowly through town, then continuing to drive without stopping to put the roof on is definitely viable.
ii) Fuel Tank - yes the fuel tank is small at 36 litres (only 32 litres usable), so taking two five litre jerry cans in the boot doesn't eat up too much luggage space but is a very good idea to avoid being stranded. I only had to use one of the jerry cans once, but was very grateful a number of times that i didn't have to stress when the fuel got low knowing i had some in reserve.
iii) Luggage - I can't imagine anyone would embark on this sort of trip with a passenger so making full use of the passenger footwell to place a large gym bag was very useful. Then having a rucksack containing everything you may need to reach whilst driving (phone chargers, water, sunscreen, radios, baseball cap, passport, high-vis) and having that on the passenger seat is ideal.
iv) Sunglasses - one of the few dramas i had was driving through the interior of Spain on a really hot day i managed to burn my eyes from the bright sun. My sunglasses were just not up to the task - so i'd definitely recommend taking a very good, dark pair of sunglasses.
v) On the topic of the heat, the car demands regular fuel stops and at the same time stocking up on cold drinks from petrol stations is a very good way to keep heat stroke at bay.
vi) Windscreen - take a jumbo sized kitchen roll and decent glass cleaner. At every stop, cleaning the windscreen will be required such is the volume of bugs that are accumulated. Petrol stations often have large rolls of paper towel also and using that is advisable too.
vii) Car control - I was a little apprehensive about the risk of loose surfaces in something so light. In the end i needn't have worried. For one thing your ability to scan and identify issues on the surface of the road ahead is enhanced by your view out of the car. For another you can start to hear gravel hitting the bottom of the car just as soon as you do go over gravel or similar. If you should run into trouble the order in which you can use the controls to get out of trouble is nearly always throttle first (come gently off throttle, apply a trailing throttle, or apply full throttle), steering (open up the steering or apply full lock), gearbox to drop down a gear or dip the clutch - and only when those options have been exhausted or nothing but an emergency stop will do then use the brakes. To be fair that applies to all cars, but in most vehicles the temptation to just mash the brakes to get out of trouble may not be the best answer but you can often get away with it. In the caterham it's most likely to turn a bad situation into a really bad one.
viii) Physical demands - I did prepare in the month leading up to the tour with some mobility exercises and during the tour i was doing regular stretches in the morning, at lunch stops and in the evening. Certainly i would recommend doing the same. At no point did i suffer any serious aches or pains and climbing in the car each day was just another feeling of excitement for the day ahead. And of course don't forget the narrow shoes for the pedals! On a cruise the left hand foot can rest happily underneath the clutch pedal. At any time you find yourself stationary just a wiggle of the ankle helps keep those from seizing up.
ix) Lastly would i recommend it? Definitely a bucket list activity that i would recommend to anyone considering it. I hadn't driven a caterham for over ten years but they are so instinctive to drive and give so much reward back - i wouldn't have wanted to have been in anything else for this tour!
What a trip.. Really shows what the 420 can do.
What a generous friend, you drove that like you stole it! and you overtook so many cars including a few that I recognised. Having watched the whole of Rick the spud, Joe and clips from Junky this video is a welcome extra.
How have I not commented on this video before! Amazing driving mate, and thank you so much for having me along for the ride! 😎👌
What you said about the lack of spirited driving POV videos is exactly what I've been thinking for a long time. Glad you try to fill that gap... Thanks from a soon to be caterham owner!
Fantastic vid & great driving. Miss my 420, what a beast 👍
Great driving. I have an S3 and after watching this I really want to try a 420! Keep having fun.
Perfect video! I would love to take a Caterham on such trip, just subscribed.
Great video look forward to more road trips in the 7
Loved that chappy
Looks like a quality tour run!
Fair play 👍
Xellent, i gave this a like b4 i fully watched the Vid. Gr8 editing.
Great video! That indicator sound will never leave me! 😂
A perfect car and fantastic driving skills.
I'm from Portugal, and I recently saw your video going down Serra da Estrela on the 420R.
You need to have the balls in place to go down that speed.
ps. a small correction, the video says (...Tour Spain 2021...) but from the 12" minute video´s is precisely the ascent to the amazing road to Serra da Estrela - Portugal
Yes, that's correct re. Portugal. The tour group stayed for two nights in the Fort hotel you can see in the Joe Achilles video which is just inside Spanish territory. Portugal is then an optional day for those who want to tackle the mountain (though everyone did choose to).
Thanks for watching and commenting on the video, really appreciate that.
love your trip! enjoyed it a lot. can you publish the route ? I live in Spain and would like to drive around just to have some fun in my Smart Roadster... smaller and less powerful car, still fun to drive...
Great video, would have loved some comments on any problems with the 7, did you have backup support as noticed no spare wheel/tyre? You certainly gave it a workout!😅 must be a great mate to let you ring its kneck like that!👍🇦🇺🇬🇧😎🏁
Max, thanks so much for your praise for the video. Tyres are the biggest consideration on these tours, so big thumbs up 👍 the question. When I take my M135i away I have spare wheels and tyres in the back seat! Many tour days spent at the roadside with flat tyres have thought me that was the way forward. Actually with the Caterham it was far down my list of concerns - I was confident they would last (they were quite worn by the end in fact!) But also chance of a puncture on the thirteen inch tyres, I was confident of all the cars I'd probably be ok. Car weighs sooo little and profile of tyres quite generous - another reason the Caterham makes for a great tour car. Yes if a tyre had gone, it would have been game over but eyeing up some of the supercars on the tour that's the same for any of us and I feel the Caterham would have been more resilient than any other. The Caterham displayed no problems at all, when I took it back for full service they charged me just £600 (consumables apart) to get it back to perfect. Can't think of another car you could do the same with! Please subscribe to see my 2022 adventures 🙂
You should learn how to heel and toe. It'll make your down shifts a great deal smoother and put less strain on the engine.
I would agree with that - when I watch the video back it's definitely something I noticea lot. I was heel and toeing from the age of 17 with my first car, a racing mini and continued to do so for many years after driving manual hot hatches. Although I now have solely automatic cars I continue to heel and toe if for example pushing on in a hire car. So why didn't I with the Caterham? Very simple reason there was just no space to do it in the footwell, I tried and it really didn't go well. Bearing in mind it was a car that was lent to me and I had zero time to practice the technique. I took the narrowest footwear I could find but they still weren't narrow enough for the task. I'll be picking up my own caterham later in the year and rest assured the very first thing I intend to do is work on the technique of successful heel + toe in the extremely narrow footwell of the caterham! Plus wearing proper narrow driving shoes ✅
@@ricksteers Good stuff. Make sure when you buy a car you get a technician to move the pedals while you're in the car. If they take the pedal box off they can move the brake pedal left and right with a crow bar. You won't be able to literally heel and toe but you'll be able to rock your right foot over to blip the accelerator.
@@MikeKleinsteuber That's very good advice. The friend who I borrowed this from is a deal shorter than me and even with the seat right back the position the factory have out the pedal box in was setup for him, so again not ideal. When I specc'd my new car they said there's a fair bit further back they can push the pedals which will really assist me. Plus the pedal area widens the further back you go so that all sounds much more amenable to easily performed heel + toe downshifts. Oh and my car's coming with a sequential gearbox - so there will still be a bit of a learning curve involved in perfecting it! Maybe I'll do a video with a camera 📷 setup on the pedals once ive got it right!
@@ricksteers Been out for a run in my 420R early this morning - not as quick as this though! Have you gone for the 620R in the end, or optioned a 420R with the sequential box?
@@goodmove572 went for the 620R in the end ..
I liked much this model is my dream🥰
Nice
Love the color. Is that the "Viper Blue"?
@@MikeBradleyJ yep that's Viper blue 💙
Nice !
why no double- clutch ? why often to much revs ?
Had never driven the car before so footwear wasn't ideal just for driving it normally. Just no room in that footwell for double de-clutch. Too many revs - I would say a product of the not ideally spaced gear ratios, particularly when driving up hill + in the last ten minutes of the video had a passenger which made a serious dent to performance and needed every RPM available before changing up a gear ...
Have done a few PHTs and know Pete and Dan for about 15 years. Next car I think is a Caterham so this is great to see. Please tell me the BMW is for sale now... ;-)
Thanks for taking the time to comment on the video. The BMW I've still got unfinished business with, it's been building up to be a great tour companion and with so many upgrades installed I feel I owe it to do at least one more swansong tour with it. As for ordering a Caterham it's hard to get out of the system but I've got time in hand if I'm going to get one - lead time is twelve months so earliest delivery would be autumn 2022 and that would mean it sitting around for six months before spring of 2023. The chassis on the caterham is so good that towards the end of the tour and on high altitude mountain climbs (typical of PHT tours) there were a few areas where I wished it could have delivered just that bit more. At altitude with 25% less power that fed in (the last eight minutes of the video I can see it wanted a bit more power), also the five speed box started to be a less effective tool than the now discontinued six speed would have been and lastly it was so planted that I felt like I'd completed the car by the end - it never scared me or left me shaking by the roadside. I just wonder whether if I had one I'd do another tour and be left wanting that little bit more ... By the way, I road tested a 620R shortly after I came back and that is IMHO a step backwards from the 420R, lacks the drama and the excitement of driving it up to the redline - so that certainly doesn't solve the problem for me. I'm certain the 420R is the answer to best car 90% of the time but the 10% of the time it's not, those are the greatest roads on the planet - and I want something that delivers the ultimate driving thrill on the ultimate roads. Still trying to work out what that car is and no its not the BMW either!
Good stuff. The music was, however, an 'unnecessary' distraction.
Yep, would agree with that. I'd always prefer without but attempted to do something to try and keep a wider audience interested until the final eight minute segment which I made sure just had engine noise - wanted to at least have that section without music for the real purists. Glad you enjoyed (minus the music) though 👍
@@ricksteers last 8 minutes were hardcore, pure, raw, heavens....nice driving too. 10 out of 10 thx!!
@@linkbaden Thanks for noticing, been up that stretch of road so many times and thought I could / should have gone harder. But in the caterham it all came together nicely for the video. Maximum attack mode is so instinctive and addictive in the caterham. Such a great machine 💯
For where in Spain? I born in Spain Madrid
How often were you having to re fuel it?
It was able to go around 110 miles per tank, though in practice I was topping it up as soon as I could once it had only a quarter of a tank left - so around every 85 miles. Only had to use the Jerry cans once when I was caught out with no petrol station around.
15:42 to 15:49 - 7 seconds of pure recklessness. No visual on the opposite lane- Attention elsewhere. As a biker, I am enraged.
Also, you're constantly overdriving the car. You need to relax and let the car flow.
Other than that, nice experience.
Turn the music off.
The music sound is bullshit
well Tesla or any electric could never give the same trill... that's why truly hate the EV shit!
Why? It's the question of the purpose of a car. For my daily routine (about 30-40 Km) I'm driving an BMW i3s. To have fun I'll take my Caterham 485 (or a motorbike). So I am perfectly "dressed" for every situation ;-)