With the winter weather over I have been itching to get DNF out of storage and enjoy some open topped motoring after being relegated to a diesel van over the winter.

So on a bright and fresh Easter Sunday I jump-started the slightly sorry looking Caterham back into life. It took a few turns of the starter motor to clear the condensation in the throttle body but once it had cleared its throat it was ticking over nicely. As I was popping the bonnet back on I noticed the exhaust was hanging off its rear hanger which had failed across the bolthole. It's times like this that it's useful having a professional welder for a Dad. I removed the offending bracket and he welded it up and ground it down flat again, probably even stronger than before.

The drive back home was a lot of fun. The lower gearing of the 13" wheels seemed to make the speedometer rather optimistic. Either that or we were travelling very quickly. I will do some rough comparisons to see how far out the speedo is and if I need to make adjustments.

I am now regretting not properly washing the car before it was put away from its last drive, a very wet day in the Peak District. Everything needed a polish and the small patches of surface oxidation have grown and will need treating in the near future.

To make the 7 more habitable for passengers I bought some black nylon netting to make a wind deflector as per more grown up sports cars such as the Porsche Boxster or Honda S2000. I have scoured the Internet for a professional solution but not found a satisfactory one. My initial efforts were partially successful and I'm still working on the prototype. I'm hoping my solution will be a simple cure to the problem of wind buffeting from behind the head restraints.

To protect DNF from the worst of the Manchester weather I bought a car cover from Halfords which, combined with leaving the roof on when parked, keeps the worst of the weather out and as the 'small' car cover covers the cockpit and the bonnet, water is kept away from the engine bay and the ancillaries too (plus it was on offer at half price!).

My impending marriage has had a very welcome bonus in the form of an everyday car, meaning I am able to use DNF as and when I want to rather than all the time, so listening for the daily weather forecast has become a habit and if the forecast is good I'll take the Caterham.

On May the 1st a few friends and I went to Anglesey for my last track day as a single man. I invited lots of my non-car friends along for 'hot' laps in the Caterham and to introduce them to track driving. In preparation I changed the engine oil and gave the rest of the car a once over. I moved the SPA mirrors from the sides of the windscreen back to the doors, as they were right in my eye line for seeing the apex of corners, particularly on the right.

I also took the opportunity to change the poor headlight lamps for the latest reflectors with up rated bulbs. What a difference! They make the previous lamps look like they were powered with candles.

On the morning of the track day, we set off from a wet and miserable Manchester hoping the weather would improve as Anglesey can be a pretty inhospitable place when the cold wind whips in from the sea. In an attempt to stay dry whilst driving in the rain with the roof off I made "good progress" through North Wales whilst my trusty support vehicle (kindly sponsored by my future in-laws) followed closely behind. This good progress would not have been so comfortable to maintain without the recent purchase of a pair of Shure EC2s earphones for my Apple iPod Nano. These sound insolating 'phones cut out all the wind noise without isolating you from other traffic or the car. As if by divine intervention the sun came out as we crossed the Menai Straight and stayed out all day.

As previously reported, I exchanged the original 14" wheels with Yokohama AO21Rs for two sets of 13" wheels, one set with A539s and the other with barely legal AO48s. On the road I had found the ride and handling had improved switching to the smaller diameter wheels but this was the first opportunity I'd had to try the 'semi-slick' AO48s.
The car was undoubtedly quicker than the last time we were there on the AO21Rs, admittedly a wet tyre, but the extra grip was at the expense of progressive on-the-limit handling. Running at 15psi cold (evened up to 20psi hot) the AO48s brought a significant weightiness to the steering once up to temperature and under load. It took me most of the morning to adjust my driving to the narrower envelope between adhesion and none. The car was still fairly benign with a very neutral feel through the corners and this did not preclude a spot of gooning about through Radar.

The previous days racing and a night of heavy rain had left the track polished and clear of rubber and the surface was distinctly lacking in grip for most of the morning. It takes a little bit of a lift off the throttle to encourage the car into oversteer but once there the quick steering and high revving nature of the engine allow progressive slides. The stickier tyres made the transition back to grip less progressive. I only had to brake twice a lap, once for the first corner (School) and once for the Hairpin, so brake fade was never an issue. I really loved the exit of Abbots (the second corner). The traction and the gearing were right in the sweet spot and the car shot up the hill to Radar overtaking all the heavier cars still trying to settle down from the uphill off-camber Abbots.

One thing the stickier tyres did highlight is that in high load corners the car is too low and the suspension too soft to prevent the exhaust touching the tarmac. As you can see from the picture it took a bit of a battering. I plan to resolve this next month as I have agreed to buy a set of adjustable spring platforms and Superlight dampers.

The beauty of open pit lane track days is that you can go out on track for as long and as often as you like. In most cars you could do some serious damage if you were to stay out for as long as you liked, the engine oil, brakes and tyres taking the brunt of the abuse spending more time on track than most races. The Caterham simply laps (!) it up though, the car lasting longer than most of my passengers could.

The only glitch I had occurred mid afternoon when the car refused to start. Caterhams can suffer from the starter motor overheating as it sits so close to the exhaust manifold. This can usually be resolved with a push start but not on this occasion. When the ignition was turned there was no noise from the fuel pump, which led me to think the factory fitted immobiliser was to blame. After scratching my head for a few minutes I borrowed the keys to fellow auto-journalist Clive Acaster's Lotus Elise and had a very pleasant session in the Toyota engined 111R, leaving DNF to cool down. It was a huge contrast to the 7, being civilised and delicate in its handling. A great place to be in and a very good road car although I wasn't as confident in (admittedly some else's pride and joy) the Elise with the Lift-Off-Oversteer devil sat on my shoulder.

Back in the pits I checked the fuses. The 20-amp fuse to the fuel pump had blown and popping in a replacement cured the starting problem. I then spent the last hour or so eking out a few more laps from the rapidly decreasing fuel load.

After a great day harassing everything on track (well maybe not the Radical) we had a pleasant cruise back to Manchester basking in the sunshine; it is days like this that the 7 was born for.

Photographs courtesy of Phil Abbott and Kellie McCloskey