Outspoken Poet's Blog

Caterham: A Legacy Preserved

(this is not a typical post for this blog,but this is not a typical blog as well. I am a man with varied interests.Sometimes to varied)

Caterham is one of those automotive companies blessed with a truly interesting history. After the founder of Lotus, Colin Chapman, decided to seize the production of his legendary Lotus 7, one of his trading associates – Graham Nearn, living and working south of London, in the village of Caterham, bought the rights and the plans for production of this automobile. He began manufacturing his own car and named it after his home village.

But Nearn wasn’t the only one offering 7’s. His main rival was Westfield Cars – a company positioned in Kingsford. In the 80’s they copied Nearn’s decision to implement an aluminium chassis in the classical 7. Nearn sued Westfield and won. He went even further by regularly inviting Westfield owners to trials, so as to convince them in the superiority of his product.

Currently, the company manufactures 500 cars per year, with an intended quota of 600 for 2009 but the financial crisis hindered those plans. Half of the production is sold in the UK, 80 pieces are sold in France and Japan, 40 in Germany and the USA and so on.

In 2005 the company went through a production shock with the demise of Rover, as they were Caterham’s engine supplier. After 91 engines from various manufacturers were tested, the company leaders chose two Ford engines – a 1.6 L. 150 hp, Ford Sigma engine and a 2.3 L., 200 (260 with a charger) engine. Recalibrating production to those new engines cost the company 150,000 Pounds, and it was questioned weather it would have been better for the company to develop it’s own engine. The company officials simply stated that they preferred not to follow TVR’s faith. The village of Caterham remains a vital part of the Company, were the HQ is seated. The cars are now manufactured in Dartford, and are no longer 100% handmade with processes such as welding assigned to machines. A Caterham can be bought road ready or as a do-it-yourself kit.

The latest model introduced by the company (shown below) is the Caterham X330, a monster with 330 hp powering a 900 kg chassis, making the car a leader in terms of power-weight ratio. That means the X330's equivalent power-to-weight ratio puts it ahead of the Bugatti Veyron (521bhp per tonne) and the McLaren F1 (559bhp). Two more specifications are available at the moment, using the 1.6 ford engine at 125 and 150 hp respectively and the 2.3 L engine. In 2007 Caterham celebrated it’s 50^th anniversary.

(c) Outspoken Poet