Hi, I'm Scott Helme, and in 2024, I'll be racing in the Caterham Academy! I've been interested in cars for as long as I can remember, from tinkering and upgrading them through to track days and now, racing.
As we get closer to the 2024 season I'll update this site with more information, so stop by to check on my progress.
This is my 2024 Caterham Academy Car! Before I could get used to the car, there were a couple of changes that I needed to make.
The first thing was to make a new seat, custom moulded to my body. I'm a little too tall (and a little too wide!) to fit into the factory bucket seat, so this was a requirement for me.
The second thing was to get some new shoes. With any standard trainer, my feet would always press at least two pedals, making the car impossible to drive! These racing shoes fix that.
Whilst not required, I got the car wrapped black so it looked 'finished' when I was driving it around. It's starting to come together!
After driving the car properly for the first time on track, and doing ~20 minute stints to simulate a race, my feet got hot. Very hot! I had to apply gold reflective heat tape to the pedal box to manage the temperature of my toes!
As we get close to the start of the season, the sticker packs were sent out to us, and it's starting to look like a race car!
Here are the track days and test days that I'm putting in to get myself ready for the 2024 season!
After putting 100+ road miles on the car and doing its first oil and filter change, I hit the track at Oulton Park. This was the first time I'd driven the car properly, and I was a little apprehensive, so I took it easy!
My next track day came at Croft, a circuit that will appear on the Caterham Academy calendar. I'm a long way off the pace of the cars in the Academy last year, but I got faster throughout the day and kept it out of the gravel.
My first track day with other Caterham Academy drivers from the 2024 season came at Donington Park. It was a great day, with some close calls, but now I know I need to keep pushing, I need to improve!
Next up was a test day at Knockhill wih a lot of other Caterhams, including several from the Academy. It was a damp and slow start to the day, but after a few sessions I found a little pace.
To visit another track on the Academy Calendar, I went for a track day at Cadwell Park with several other Academy drivers. Again, it started slow and damp, but I managed to find more pace throughout the day.
Caterham organised an exclusive track day for us at Castle Combe circuit where we were out on track with other Academy divers! It was a great day and I really found some good pace by the end of it.
This is the current status of the 2024 season and my position in the Championship. Catch up with me on social media for more pictures and videos!
The first event of the season is the Curborough Sprint. It's a lower pressure event to get started with no other cars on the track, you race individually against the clock, the fastest time wins.
I had a reasonable start to the day in practice and then got quicker through my timed runs, but a poor last lap saw me beaten to the top spot on the podium by 0.02 seconds!
Here's the video of my fastest lap, which was my penultimate lap, and links to the timing sheets for the day. The videos for all of my other laps are in the description on the YouTube video.
Practice Laps - 64ft Times
Practice Laps - Lap Times
Timed Laps - 64ft Times
Timed Laps - Lap Times
Current Championship Position: 2nd 🥈
Championship Standings
Our first proper race, surrounded by other cars! Croft was an excellent circuit with some good weather for testing and racing.
I did well in qualifying, landing myself P2 (video), but slipped down to P3 in the race for another podium finish!
I did well in qualifying, landing myself P2 (video), but slipped down to P3 in the race for another podium finish!
Qualifying Results
Race Grid
Race Results
Current Championship Position: ~2nd 🥈
Championship Standings
Racing at the iconic Silverstone Grand Prix circuit! What an excellent circuit, despite the shocking weather!
Sadly, my qualifying (video) followed the weather and was rather poor in P9, and the race even worse, coming in P10...
Qualifying Results
Race Grid
Race Results
Race Live Stream
Race Book PDF
Current Championship Position: ~4th 4️⃣
Championship Standings
The British Summer is really showing us a bad time with the entire race weekend a rather damp affair! Still though, we pushed on through testing, qualifying, and racing!
I lost a slightly faster lap in qualifying (video) to traffic, so my fastest lap put me P4 on the grid for the race. I had a great start and managed to get up to P2 off the line, followed by Craig in P1 sadly crashing out in Turn 1. That gifted me P1 and I held it for only 2 more corners before David took the position on the exit of Park. After that, he was much faster and I didn't want to risk everything trying to chase down P1, so switched to defending and holding P2 instead. After a few position swaps, I finally crossed the line in P2, surviving the tough conditions!
Qualifying Results
Race Grid
Race Results
Race Live Stream
Race Book PDF
Current Championship Position: 4th 4️⃣
Championship Standings
Wow, what a weekend! I can't believe I landed my first race win! 🥇🏆🍾
It certainly wasn't a straightforward weekend, and as a doubleheader, it couldn't have been more eventful.
I did well in qualifying (video)on the Saturday morning, landing myself P4 for the first race, but it wasn't meant to be. I had a shocking start, dropping a few places by turn 1, and then, went for a move into Clarks that simply wasn't on, and I also didn't back out of. Disaster... I spun into the gravel and watched the whole pack fly past me, dropping me to P19 when I rejoined the track. I did what I could, started taking names and climbing back up the order to finish P7.
The problem with this weekend was that the results for the first race were used to set the grid for the second race, so I was going to pay for my mistake again! I had yet another bad start and lost places by turn 1, so my dreams of a podium seemed like just that, a dream. After punching in some good laps, and a couple of other drivers being involved in incidents, I found myself P4 chasing down Will and suddenly, I had a small hope at a podium. Ultimately, I was helped by the Safety Car and then, after clinching P3, the race leader and P2 were involved in an incident and found themselves in the gravel on the exit of Clarks! I had to finish the last lap and keep it on the tarmac after picking up the pieces to put myself on the top spot of the podium!
Qualifying Results
Race 1 Grid
Race 1 Live Stream
Race 1 Results
Race 2 Grid
Race 2 Live Stream
Race 2 Results
Race Book PDF
Current Championship Position: 2nd 🥈
Championship Standings
What a great weekend at the superb Brands Hatch! The test days were *hot*, but thankfully, it was a little overcast for the race day, and we had some slightly cooler temperatures.
I didn't have the best qualifying (video), placing myself P7 after a driver ahead took their grid place penalty for the race. I think I pushed a little too hard too soon and overheated the tyres, but I was definitely off my testing pace of 56.2 second laps!
The race itself was fantastic, with some extremely close racing! I did lose a place after being overtaken during the safety car, ultimately finishing P6 after losing P5 over the line by a couple of hundredths of a second to Nick!
Qualifying Results
Race Grid
Race Results
Race Live Stream
Race Book PDF
Current Championship Position: 2nd 🥈
Championship Standings
It's so sad to end the season, but what a fantastic weeekend we had! The weather was awful and we had some mega wet racing action!
My qualifying was reasonable given the awful conditions, (video), and I took a major trip through the gravel on the exit of Old Hairpin in avoiding action, yikes! That was almost the end of my qualifying, but I ended up P3 on the grid!
The race was dry and I just could not find and hold my pace, dropping to P5 in the end, but it was enough to provisionally secure me P2 in the championship!
Qualifying Results
Race Grid
Race Results
Race Live Stream
Race Book PDF
Final Championship Position: 2nd 🥈 (provisional)
The Autumn Trophy isn't a championship event, but it's a great way to celebrate the end of the seasons with a mixed-grid of Green and White group.
I qualified P7, which is reasonable given the conditions and there were a lot of faster drivers out there (video)!
The race was wetter than anyone could have imagined and after the expected turn 1 carnage, I had a very eventful race with some mild bits of contact and some very close calls! I was happy to take P5 after gaining a few places and bring the car back in (almost) one piece.
Qualifying Results
Race Grid
Race Results
Race Live Stream
Race Book PDF
Here are the various ways you can get in touch with me and follow my progress.