Caterham goes on economy run

Extreme motor-maker picks up fuel economy challenge

By PH Staff / Friday, 8 July 2005 / Loading comments

The legendary Seven

Caterham, the epitome of open-wheeled, open-top petrol-fuelled extremism, plans to enter the Shell Fuel Economy Challenge -- the first road-legal four-wheel car to enter the annual fuel efficiency competition in recent years.

Working with with Cranfield University, the entrant, called 'Caterham 2R' (record-breaker and research), is based on a standard Seven. The programme has backing from Motorsport Development UK under its EEMS (Energy Efficient Motorsport) initiative that has enabled some limited modifications to be made to the donor vehicle.

Caterham's project leader Dr. Steve Cousins said: "This project is an experiment to investigate how a light-weight car can participate in the Eco-marathon without major technical amendments. As far as we know, no previous entries have been driven to the event before, but the Caterham 2R will certainly be arriving at Rockingham on its own four wheels. We hope to learn a great deal about the potential for increased fuel efficiency in road legal cars that we can put to valuable use in the future."

The project has been running since April at Cranfield University as a joint effort between its International Ecotechnology Research Centre, its Centre for Lightweight Composites, and its Motorsport Unit. A masters engineering student Floriane Decq, whose thesis is on the design of the rear suspension box, will be driving the car at Rockingham. At this stage relatively minor modifications have been made to the car, including fitting lightweight seating, changes to the bodywork to improve aerodynamic efficiency and the use of low rolling resistance tyres.

EEMS project leader Dr Steve Bunkhall said: "The Shell Eco-marathon is a wonderful event for the pursuit of fuel efficiency. Supporting the Caterham 2R programme demonstrates our commitment to promoting efficiency in motorsport. What appealed to us was that a Caterham road car renowned for high performance on road and track might also demonstrate impressive credentials in fuel efficiency while remaining road legal."

The Shell Eco-marathon is the UK's most prominent fuel efficiency competition. It features cars designed and built specifically for the event, and the current world record of 11,195mpg was set by Japanese team, Fancy Carol in 2004. Entrants will attempt to complete a series of runs at Rockingham, maintaining an average speed of at least 15mph for 10 miles.

The Caterham 2R is powered by a standard K-series 1.6-litre engine, modified only to incorporate the fuel measurement flask required for the competition. The 115bhp engine propels the road-going Caterham Seven to 60mph in 6.2 seconds and to a top speed of 122mph.