Car Moon

It’s funny how things turn out sometimes. In 1973, Caterham, which was founded in the 1960s as a Lotus dealer, acquired the rights to build the Seven from Lotus. Now, Team Lotus has purchased Caterham Cars through a holding company, part owned by Malaysian Tony Fernandes. Read more »

With the development of the new Caterham-Lola SP/300 R now complete, the British carmaker is ready to give potential owners their first taste of the prototype-racing car on the tarmac. The dates on which racing drivers and trackday enthusiasts alike can get behind the steering wheel of Caterham’s 300bhp, 180mph (289 km/h) sports prototype are:

-Saturday, August 27 at Donington Park
-Wednesday, September 7 at Donington Park
-Thursday, September 15 at Snetterton
-Wednesday, September 21 at Donington Park

The owners of Formula One Team Lotus announced today the acquisition of lightweight sportscar manufacturer Caterham, for an undisclosed sum from the shareholder consortium led by Corven Ventures.

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.

The Autosport International Show in Birmingham, UK, welcomed the world premiere of Caterham's first ever sports prototype racing car, the Caterham-Lola SP/300R. Created in partnership with legendary British racing and engineering brand Lola, the SP/300R is currently in the final stages of development and will be ready for a one-make championship in 2012, with the company planning to build up to 25 examples per year. Caterham said that a road-legal version of the sports car is also being considered.

The Caterham Superlight R500 took the world by surprise in 2008 with its 263 hp 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four-pot and sub-3.0 seconds 0-60mph sprint time. The same year it was launched, Top Gear’s racing driver, The Stig, drove it around the show’s test track completing a lap in just 1 minute and 17.9 seconds. That's the seventh fastest official lap time ever recorded on the show, putting to shame “heavyweights” like the Bugatti Veyron.

But everything comes to an end, and today, Caterham announced that the special model is making its final journey next week before being retired from active service.

Caterham is ready to release another "entry-level" special edition Seven in order to celebrate the amazing city-state that is Monaco. Called the "Roadsport 125 Monaco", this Seven gets a unique paint scheme representing the Monegasque flag to highlight its aluminum body; also, "Monaco" is pasted down the side if people can't make the connection.

Caterham has joined forces with British-owned fashion company, Lambretta Clothing, to produce a special edition version of its Seven sportscar. The visual overhaul includes a unique body paint, decals and livery that would make Austin Powers feel pretty groovy baby...

The same theme continues inside with a matching color scheme spanning the leather seats, dash, carpets and boot. Hand-stitched seat piping, embossed Lambretta motifs and a Moto-Lita steering wheel round off the interior upgrades.

So, what does Sunseeker International's new Predator 108 Special Edition luxury yacht have in common with the lightweight Caterham Seven sports car? Well, for most, nothing much other than they wouldn't mind owning the keys to both. But for the luxury super yacht builder, the storage of the Caterham Seven in the garage area at the stern of the Predator is "the ultimate expression of the millionaire lifestyle".

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.

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

The never ending saga of small firms popping up from nowhere continues with the Aspid that will make its world debut at the British International Motor Show in late July. The Aspid (Spanish name for the snake that killed Cleopatra) has been developed by the automotive engineering consultancy IFR Automotive that was founded by automotive engineer Ignacio Fernández Rodriquez who has worked in the past for Prodrive and the Mitsubishi World Rally Championship team.

IFR Automotive supports that the Aspid is the only car in the world to meet both FIA safety requirements and European homologation standards. Initial prototypes feature a 2.0-litre engine; either naturally aspirated to deliver 270Hp or supercharged to 400Hp with power delivered in both cases to the rear wheels via a 6-speed manual gearbox and limited-slip differential. -Continued