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Based in England, Caterham has made a name for itself for building the Seven, a lightweight two-seater sports car that was designed by Lotus founder Colin Chapman and who sold the rights of the car to Caterham in 1973.
Team Lotus chiefs Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin said in a statement that the company plans to expand Caterham’s profile and product family while also continuing the development of the Seven.
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The prototype model features the debut of Caterham's new supercharged version of the Ford 2.0-liter Duratec power plant, expected to produce around 300bhp. A Hewland-sourced paddle-shift sequential gearbox transfers power to the rear wheels.
Caterham said that the prototype weighs under 600kg [1,322 lbs] translating into 500bhp-per-tonne, and is capable of completing the 0-60mph [96 km/h] sprint in around 2.5 seconds, while reaching a top speed of around 170mph [273 km/h].
The SP/300R is built on a bespoke chassis designed by Lola. The basic chassis is an aluminium tub with a longitudinally mid-mounted engine, coupled to a stress-bearing rear transaxle. A forward splitter and large rear wing reduce lift, while a flat underbody maximizes ground effect benefits.
The prototype's bodywork also features an F1-style raised nose section and sectioned panels, which are said to help reduce repair costs, ease maintenance and more importantly, allow single-handed removal of body panels track-side.
The front and rear suspension are dual wishbones with pushrod dampers and adjustable ride height, with the design of the rear axle derived from that used at the rear end of the Lola Formula 3 and World Junior cars. The car rides on bespoke racing tires fitted to 13-inch race rims.
Prices for the Caterham-Lola SP/300.R will start at £60,000 [~US$94,300 or €72,200], excluding local taxes.
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Inside, you'll find black leather with red stitching to complement the exterior. While black and red usually looks good and needs no reason to exist on a car, Caterham says that in this car, it's meant to symbolize "the roulette wheels found in Casino Square".
Power for Caterham's latest seats-on-wheels open fun machine is the basic 1.6 liter Ford Sigma inline-4 with 125 horsepower and 120 lb-ft of torque; the engine's mated to a 5-speed transmission.
Caterham says the mill can push the 500 kg (or 550 kg, if going by the website) car to 112mph (181km/h) and produces "a power-to-weight ratio of 227bhp per tonne", allowing it to complete the zero to 60mph (96km/h) sprint in 5.9 seconds.
The car also supposedly comes with a weather kit that makes it "thoroughly enjoyable in any conditions"; if it's raining, why don't we just take the Rolls instead?
Price of entry into the world of James Bond, F1, and wealth beyond your wildest dreams is £20,995. However, there's a bonus if you know you simply have to have one RIGHT NOW: the first 20 buyers can take another £1,000 off that price.
By Phil Alex
We know a few Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin -you get the picture- owners that would disagree, but whatever.
The Sunseeker Predator 108 Special Edition seen here with the Caterham made its world debut at this week's London International Boat Show 2010 (LIBS) that's open until the 17th of January.
Notably, it is the largest craft ever to be displayed inside the ExCel centre, in London's Docklands.
According to Sunseeker, the Predator 108 Special Edition is capable of speeds up to 34 knots with prices starting from around £7.1 million or at today's exchange rates, US$11.3 million / €7.9 million.
An increased demand for its Seven sports car has prompted Caterham to rise 2009 production levels by around ten percent to about 420 units. The British firm said that it will recruit additional workforce to the production side of the business to help cope with the increased pressure as the company's order book is already full until mid-October. The maker of the classic two-seater that has remained unchanged over the years said that growth from UK, mainland Europe and other markets has exceeded expectations in 2009."Our international sales drive is delivering the results thanks not only to favorable exchange rates but more importantly the quality of business partners we have established in markets including France, Italy, Japan and Germany," said Ansar Ali, Caterham Cars managing director.
Eight cars might not sound a lot, but at a cost of £115,000+ each, which is the equivalent of around $200,500 or €148,000 with the current exchange rates, it is somewhat surprising that that Caterham managed to sell all RS Levante supercars in a relatively short period of time. The most powerful production Caterham ever which is being hand-built by Hertfordshire-based RS Performance in association with Caterham Cars, packs a 500+bhp 2.4-liter supercharged V8 engine, housed in a modified version of the lightweight Caterham SV chassis. -Continued Weighing in at just 520kg or 1,146 pounds, the RS Levante boasts a power to weight ratio close to 1000bhp-per-tonne, or nearly double that of the Bugatti Veyron... So it's not surprising that the Brits announce a 0-60 mph (96 km/h) sprint time of under 3,0 seconds -even though the top speed is limited to 150mph or 241 km/h.
