Caterham Seven 50th anniversary

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pebb
  • 43 comments
  • 3,090 views
Status
Not open for further replies.
Pebb

Pebb

Messages
16,737
England
Southampton, UK
Messages
Pebb--
Messages
Pebb
I can't believe no one has posted this up yet.

Source: AutoExpress

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Caterham will offer its 2007 model year Seven with two new engines.

After 15 years' service, the Rover-made K Series unit has been replaced by Ford's 1.6-litre Sigma.

This naturally aspirated four-cylinder comes with either 125bhp or 140bhp. The lesser unit - available only in the £15,995 Roadsport - propels the two-seater from 0-60mph in 5.9 seconds. At £1,000 more, the 140bhp variant cuts the time to five seconds.

The £19,995 Superlight, which covers 0-60mph in 4.7 seconds, comes with the high-performance unit as standard. Customers who want their Caterham built at the factory have to pay £2,500 more.
 
Thats awesome. Happy 50th to those at Caterham!

...Too bad we don't get the kick-ass models from the UK here in the US...
 
:odd: Haven't we had Ford powered Caterhams in the Us for years now? I thought you could get one with the 170 hp mill from the late SVT Focus.
 
You could pick up the Caterham with the SVT's mill not too long ago, but I belive we are limited to the ST's 160 BHP engine these days. Not that its bad, but it isn't nearly as impressive.
 
But 160 hp in a package that weighs about 500(?) lbs. less than an Elise is still insane...in a very good way, of course.:sly:
 
Well certainly so. Any ammount of power such as that in a car that light would make it seem quite quick (not that it isn't allready). The problem is, the current ST's engine (I belive it is the same as the one found in the Mazda 3s) just isn't quite as smooth, eager to rev, etc. Granted it isn't a Volkswagen 2.0L 8V (ha ha), but I think in a sportscar, I'd want the full-potential of an engine that was developed for racing.

...Now what would be interesting would be if Caterham would be ballsy enough to introduce the Mazdaspeed 3's 2.3L DI Turbo complete with nearly 270 BHP. Now THAT would make for a wild ride...
 
Well, I'm thinking the Caterham is a track car, so it should have a powerplant built for racing/track use instead of any old thing. The car is so insanely light that with basically any amount of power, it will be very quick.
 
How long was the original Beetle sold for? (it pertains to the topic, I swear)
 
skip0110
:odd: Haven't we had Ford powered Caterhams in the Us for years now? I thought you could get one with the 170 hp mill from the late SVT Focus.
Click to expand...
The Cosworth powered one is one of the good Seven's.
 
TVR&Ferrari_Fan
And don't forget it sounds great too.
Click to expand...

Oh yes!:)

I'd just like to mention that the very rare McLaren F1 which can command a price near 50 times more than the Caterham Seven CSR will only get to 60Mph in 3.2s and will not handle as good. There is a video on the internet of a Superlight R300 (speed limiter turned off) driving around the Nurburgring at a frightening pace. It makes short work of any sports car to supercar it meets along the way. I' sorry I don't have the time to find it for you as I'm at work at the moment. If you do find it and watch it try to imagine the potential of a CSR which reaches 60Mph 1.6s quicker.:crazy:
 
Id be inclined to stick VW 1.4 TSI lump in it, rechip it and have a nice 200hp with a light motor.

Great to see caterham is still going strong.
 
But isn't the Sigma engine already offered in the Westfields for quite a while? They're both 7-clones, but cheaper. The "Sport 2000S", with a Ford Duratec 2l providing 250HP, also accellerates the top model to 60MPH in 3.3 seconds...

But still good to see Caterham doing well. My dream car's a 7, whether Caterham or another company.
 
I'm still shock this news was not posted before me, because the Seven is one of the great British motoring and engineering icons. But I hope someday Caterham may over a Straight Six model and V6 model sometime.
 
BTW, the site hasn't been updated yet. I check it regularily...

And TVR&FF - I reckon any engine with more power than the current ones will be a bit too much - it'll become dangerous.
 
Gingiba
BTW, the site hasn't been updated yet. I check it regularily...

And TVR&FF - I reckon any engine with more power than the current ones will be a bit too much - it'll become dangerous.
Click to expand...
They could just fit bigger brakes and tyres.
 
TVR&Ferrari_Fan
They could just fit bigger brakes and tyres.
Click to expand...

The brakes that already come with those cars (at least with Westfields) are already very powerfull for such a car. I simply mean that this much power, on such a light car, for the road, might be simply a bit too much...
 
TVR&Ferrari_Fan
I'm still shock this news was not posted before me, because the Seven is one of the great British motoring and engineering icons. But I hope someday Caterham may over a Straight Six model and V6 model sometime.
Click to expand...

Six cylinders, pah bunch of girls.

I give you the Westfield sEight, up to 400bhp worth of V8 madness in a Westfield.

http://www.seight.com/specs.html

Seriously six and eight cylinder engines tend to upset the balance of cars this light (as the are front engined) and as such have never gained that much popularity.

Regards

Scaff
 
YSSMAN
Thats awesome. Happy 50th to those at Caterham!

...Too bad we don't get the kick-ass models from the UK here in the US...
Click to expand...
I agree those would be a fun little machine to drive on a road track. Reasonably priced too. I guess we will just have to enjoy them in games instead. Real fun in Test Drive Unlimited.
 
The sEight comes with 200HP stock, though. Probably, a little tweaking would give 400HP...

I'd take the Westfield... Sport 2000(S) or sEight, I want one.
 
Okay. After looking it up I found that the Beetle was in production for 65 years, so it is not as close as I thought it was.
 
I think it goes Beetle, Mini, then Corvette in terms of what was produced the longest. The 911 would be up there too, same with the Mercedes SL.

---

I'd agree with Poverty here and say the 1.4L TSI is probably the best engine for the car.

Vee-Dub powa FTW!!!
 
Nope. I don't mean longest produced. I mean longest produced without major changes (like no substantial chassis changes, for example). So it would be Beetle, then Seven, than real Mini. After that it gets blurry with all of the cars that were produced for around 20-25 years (Esprit, Pantera, C3 Corvette, etc.).
 
The Sbarro/Ford GT40 is from 1965 'till present day. It's mainly a shell/kitcar, but if wanted, the customer can have an exact, identical with the factory-cars GT40, Sbarro has enough parts from Ford to built real GT40s, with a certificate of authentication and chassis number. All mechanical parts are interchangeable with a factory-GT40...
 
Yes Caterham models are more expensive than Westfield and on paper it appears that Westfield is offering more performance per £. But with all that extra power the Westfield sEight has over the Caterham Seven CSR it's still slower to 60Mph, 3.3s -3.1s. Caterham is also lighter, by over 200Kg, and since it's engineered by Cosworth I'm positive that it has superior suspension, power and torque delivery and build quality. Besides, I'd rather have the original Caterham engineered by Cosworth with a smaller, lighter engine than some Westfield copy with a monster, heavy V8. Of course it’s down to personal preference, but I prefer a lighter car to a bigger engine. At high speeds, over 125Mph, having a bigger engine may be beneficial, but these cars are not about high speed as much as they are about acceleration, braking and cornering.
 
Poverty
Id be inclined to stick VW 1.4 TSI lump in it, rechip it and have a nice 200hp with a light motor.
Click to expand...

Now that's a very interesting idea. I'd like to see how that would work. 1.4TSI is turbo boosted and supercharged right, TSI... Those engines will output around 180Bhp with slight modifications so it wouldn't be impossible to achieve over 200Bhp with some ECU tuning and some moderate modifications. This would also bring the overall weight down to around the 450Kg mark. It would probably have less emissions and use less fuel too.
 
Cobra_UK
Now that's a very interesting idea. I'd like to see how that would work. 1.4TSI is turbo boosted and supercharged right, TSI... Those engines will output around 180Bhp with slight modifications so it wouldn't be impossible to achieve over 200Bhp with some ECU tuning and some moderate modifications. This would also bring the overall weight down to around the 450Kg mark. It would probably have less emissions and use less fuel too.
Click to expand...

Only thing with the new vw engines is that they use drive by wire throttle, which could kinda suck in a car that needs an instant response that you'd get from a cable operated throttle body. Also engine weight isn't always dependant on displacement, iono that 1.4 having to handle forced induction may be pretty heavy still.
 
What's the torque like on that engine? Too much on a car as light as the Caterham would make it impossible to launch.
 
Cobra_UK
Yes Caterham models are more expensive than Westfield and on paper it appears that Westfield is offering more performance per £. But with all that extra power the Westfield sEight has over the Caterham Seven CSR it's still slower to 60Mph, 3.3s -3.1s. Caterham is also lighter, by over 200Kg, and since it's engineered by Cosworth I'm positive that it has superior suspension, power and torque delivery and build quality. Besides, I'd rather have the original Caterham engineered by Cosworth with a smaller, lighter engine than some Westfield copy with a monster, heavy V8. Of course it’s down to personal preference, but I prefer a lighter car to a bigger engine. At high speeds, over 125Mph, having a bigger engine may be beneficial, but these cars are not about high speed as much as they are about acceleration, braking and cornering.
Click to expand...

First, you are comparing the wrong models - the CSR and the Sport 2000S (which has more power [stock] than the sEight [200HP vs 250HP], and is a small 2-litre engine) are the "twins", 3.1 vs 3.3 seconds to 60MPH.

And about the weight: I'm holding the 2001 Autocar 0-100-0 results, with the Westfield Megabusa (Hayabusa-engine) against the Caterham Superlight "Blackbird" (Honda Blackbird-engined). Leaving the actual results away, they point out - even with some carbon-fiber parts, the Caterham was 20Kgs heavier. And that's while both are bike-engined, even though the Megabusa had a slightly larger engine (1100cc on the Blackbird, 1300cc on the Hayabusa). I assume that with similar car engines, they'll weigh about the same.
And if you want the results: The Megabusa, though with 10 more HP and 20 less Kg, managed to beat the Blackbird by 4 seconds, even though one of the front wheels almost locked.

But this is becoming a Caterham Vs. Westfield thread...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back