Preparation

Before choosing the exact Caterham model that I wanted, I rented a Roadsport 175 SV for the day from Mark On Europe in Swindon. I went there rather than direct to Caterham because I wanted to drive 300 miles or so on nice country lanes - and I know Wiltshire / Somerset / Dorset rather better than south London! Anyway, the guys at Mark On Europe were very friendly and helpful, and I had a fantastic day out in their 175 SV. It was a beautiful spring day in late April: sunshine, speed, and the wind in what little hair I have left. Seven heaven.

The week after my test drive, I went up to Caterham to talk about engine options and have a good look at all the different colours etc. There were a lot of cars in the garage at the time, all different shapes and sizes, so it was easy to compare the different options. I sat in a couple of the non-SV cars, they were too cramped for my liking. I chose the 2.0 litre Ford Duratec engine which I had used the previous week, it is plenty powerful enough to get me into trouble...

The final question was colour scheme. I was quite tempted by the "traditional" Prisoner colours (green and yellow), but that almost seems too common these days... I saw a picture on the Caterham website of the Gulf Oil scheme in light blue & orange, which I thought looked really cool, but there was a car in these colours at the Caterham garage when I visited and unfortunately I didn't think it looked quite so good in the flesh. So I chose the metallic Viper Blue instead, with a silver noseband & stripe.

So the car went on order in May 2010, and I was quoted a delivery date of December. That was fine, it gave me several months to clear out my garage and make all the preparations. A couple of things I would recommend for anyone contemplating a Caterham build:

1) Garage flooring: A nice, clean, even floor in the garage makes the build a whole lot easier. I chose to put down some 5mm vinyl tiles, these are a little pricey but are simple to lay, very comfortable to kneel on for long periods, and easy to roll the car, trolley jack, and engine hoist on. Dark colours are recommended, because over time they can get stained by black tyre rubber. http://www.paftektiles.co.uk/

2) Mobile axle stands - I've found these very useful. You can easily move the car around to access any part, they are very stable, and you don't need to worry about accidentally knocking the car off the stand.
Check out http://www.cjautos.site90.net/mobax.html

Here is my garage before any work commences:

On the Caterham website you can download the Assembly Guide, this is quite useful because it lists the tools and lubricants you will need and you can get these in advance of the kit arriving. They also have a "first fill pack" available on the website spares page, containing all the different oils and anti-freeze etc. I ordered one of these to be delivered with the kit. I didn't need too many special tools - Just a humungous torque wrench and 41mm socket for the hubs, and a few other small items.

Then the waiting began...