CoverCars - Car Reviews | News | Pictures

SEVENTH HEAVEN

A line up of exotic super cars will make any enthusiast salivate like a fasting Chris Moyles, however when it comes down to the bare bones of driving it’s easy to see how the more modestly priced Caterham 7 secures its ranking in our 2007 top ten.

Some say that the festive season is all about giving and being humble; that’s why we’re requesting that Caterham give us a blast in their new Caterham 7 Roadsport. It has a very humble starting price of just £15,995 and can only be described as a little piece of heaven. Of course there is a school of thought that one must retain their willpower and suppress their desires. However if we were only put upon this planet to wear the weight of guilt then we’d have less to be thankful for. Surely it is just as sinful to waste life’s plentiful pleasures?

If it makes them feel better, we’ll opt for the most basic ‘series 3’ version which is a little more cramped than the Touring spec model. Sadly we can’t sacrifice the 14” alloy wheels, 5-speed gearbox, heater, hood, full windscreen, weather equipment and a carpeted interior as these already come as standard. We do promise to remember back to what it was like to drive a clapped out Peugeot 205 with plenty of rattles and a manual choke though, and there’ll be plenty of hail Mary’s should we go over the speed limit.

We will also drive it with as much patriotism as we can muster up given the fact that it’s British. Despite all the apathy these days we still have hope that we may one day actually cause an Italian football team to sweat, wake up to find that Ricky Gervais is the Prime Minister and blast through the patchwork finery of surrey with no police on our tail and the blissful sound of ‘Life on the Road’ by the Kinks. What should make us prouder still of our Britishness is that the Caterham 7 was made on a shoestring budget and marks a period of astonishing ingenuity. Since the turn of the century this countries’ exemplary Industrial Revolution, glorified Navy and our habit of stealing other people’s countries and calling them Colonies had made us ‘Great’ Britain. Not only were we great, we were rich and our lands were full of engineering boffins. Some of these boffins were so smart they even made their inventions a success without the support or financial backing of the so-called experts. Take Frank Whittle who was turned down by the Air Ministry when he first presented the Jet Engine and Sir Christopher Cockerell who conjured up his hovercraft idea with little more than thin air. Well alright; he did have an empty KiteKat cat food tin, a coffee tin, an industrial air blower and a pair of kitchen scales but that’s still a pretty basic list for an invention that turned out to be one of the most prized inventions of the 20th century.

Now you can see where we’re going with this. Yes, the Caterham too is a proud piece of British Heritage which unlike fashion trends, electronics and the conduct of young Royal’s, has stayed rock steady for fifty years. The current outline is as it was back then; it is also still as impractical, back breaking and nerve-wrackingly ruthless as it’s always been. Well there is a roof but I wouldn’t brave a blizzard in it unless you have a hot bath and a hot blooded woman waiting for you at the next stop. But with all its nakedly simple misgivings and its habit of drawing you in to its firey furnace of ‘can’t get enough,’ there is one place that you can quite harmlessly let rip and that’s the race circuit. Harness all of its 140bhp as you’re foot is quivering under the vibrations of 6100 revs per minute and paint the tarmac with artistic finesse, using those very well suspended Avon ZV3 tyres. New for 2007 is the 1600 Ford Sigma engine which replaces the Rover K-series block in both the 125 and 140bhp spec cars. The master of the track though is still powered by the British marque which is now no more. Rover’s 1800 VVC K-series engine serves up 160bhp at a top end 7000rpm and zips from zero to 60mph in 4.9 seconds.

Its lateral affliction of force as you whip from corner to corner as if toed by a wire is not as brutal as you may imagine, perhaps because you feel as caged in as on a theme park ride. In this scenario however you can’t just hold on for dear life, you are part of the machinery and you have to and find the delicate line between flying by the seat of your pants and actually getting your silvery angelic wings.

Verdict

FOR: Fantastically cheap, very British, classic styling and a social package to boot; there’s plenty of avid Caterham fans out there and if you get to know them well enough you won’t ever need a garage again.
AGAINST: The Touring version allows for more legroom and luggage but don’t expect BMW-like comfort.
CONCLUSION: If you want super-sonic performance and are young enough to skimp on creature comforts then is your bag. Weekends will be filled with tyre screeching action and when the weather’s fine enough you can find some pure English country roads and allow your ears to be perversified by the sound of speed.

Spec

ENGINE: 1600 Ford Sigma
POWER: 140 @ 6100
POWER TO WEIGHT: 290 bhp-per-tonne
TORQUE (lb/ft): TBC
0-60mph (sec): 5.1 secs
TOP SPEED: 122mph
TRANSMISSION: Close Ratio 5 Speed; 1st: 3.36:1, 2nd: 1.81:1, 3rd: 1.26:1, 4th: 1.00:1, 5th: 0.82:1, Final Drive: 3.92:1
SUSPENSION: roll bar, Rear: de Dion axle located by lower a-frame and upper radius arm
BRAKES: Twin circuit split front/rear with lowlevel warning system. Discs front and rear.
WHEELS: 6J x 14″ aluminium wheels
TYRES: 185/60R14 Avon ZV3 tyres
WEIGHT: 550kg
PRICE: From £17,495 (factory assembled)
RIVALS: Ariel Atom, Brooke Double R