Caterham

December 29th, 2007 by Shenron

Caterham has been building light sport vehicles since the seventies, however it was not always a manufacturer. Caterham started as a dealership of cars in the early 50s and continued to sell them during the 60s. Unfortunately the Lotus discontinued the much beloved Lotus 7 racing car, which was designed to require minimal effort to keep in tune, and machined very efficiently – the car was one of the mainstays of the company and looked as if it would fall to the dustbins of the automotive industry’s long history of designs that are no longer made… however Caterham bought the rights to the vehicle, along with the name. At first they began production of the Series 4 updated to the Lotus 7 line at Caterham, however sales started out poor and feedback was that people liked the series 3 better – so that is what they did and have been doing ever since. This year marks the car’s fiftieth year of being produced – and it is still relatively the same as it was fifty years ago making it one of the longest lived unchanged car models in the world.

Currently they have advanced the Model 7, but still sell the original model seven itself also in kit form. Currently the differing models they offer are all variants of the Model 7 lotus, but with differing features. The Classic is considered as the original of the series and is still produce, followed by the Roadsport which is an update on the suspension systems and linkages along with anti-roll bars and a larger engine. After this is the CSR which is their newest, and has a brand new chassis with independent suspension in the rear along with better drag reduction built into the design along with a much more powerful engine. The other two models are the SV and the Superlight, with the SV being close to the Roadsport but with a longer and wider frame, giving more room and wider wheel stances – the Super light is a track only version that has many parts replaced by carbon fiber and has its own sub line based on engine power.