Caterham is not an all day drive car but it is probably one of the nicest racing cars made in England. Next year the guys at Carterham will present the new Caterham R500. We can hear you think ‘again another version of the 7-series’. Somewhere we can understand that point of view but when we tell you that the engineers shaved off another 9 kg (20 lbs) to bring the total weight to just 506 kg (1,115 lbs) we don’t have to tell you that amazing figures will follow!
Under the hood of the R 500 is a seriously modified 2.0 litre Ford Duratec engine. The normally aspirated, four-cylinder unit delivers an amazing 263 bhp and 177 Nm of torque. Power is transmitted to the rear wheels by either a standard 6-speed gearbox or the optional Caterham Motorsport engineered sequential transmission. The flagship Caterham is capable of sprinting itself from standstill to 62 mph (100 kmh) in only 2.88 seconds and topping of at 150 mph (240 kmh).
Apart from the modified powertrain, the 2009 R500 now comes with keyless ignition start and a redesigned digital dash featuring flush fitted switchgear. The R500 is yours for about £ 40,000 ($ 73,000 – € 46,000).
[via Carscoop]
Saw several Caterham’s this weekend at the Nordschleife. They are probably one of the coolest cars in a low price class to do several laps on the ring… can’t wait to see this one doing laps!
I have to agree with Steven here. The combination of low weight and enough power is perfect for a (dry) track!
What i can’t understand is why is it that they still use Ford engines? Is Caterham owned by Ford?
@daantje: The original Lotus 7 used a Ford sidevalve engine, so it’s fitting that Caterham, who have the rights to produce the 7, keeps that tradition alive although they use a Rover K-series engine on some models.