Driven: Caterham R300 supercharged
PistonHeads shakes down Caterham's supercharged Seven development mule at the 'ring
New boss Graham Mcdonald (right) looks on
Like that Colin Chapman's Seven is still, to this day, one of the most important sports cars ever built. As the years roll by, newer and more exotic motors and gearboxes have been squeezed into the straightforward Seven chassis. And when you consider how much fun a simple 125hp Fiesta motor can be just imagine upgrading that motor to a 175hp 2.0-litre Duratec. That's an R300 which is pretty bloody lively by any stretch.
Then bolt a supercharger and another 85hp on to that.
Now with added supercharger, gulp!
The results are simply spectacular. Acceleration of this R500-badged test mule is absolutely absurd, as many supercar drivers from this weekend's Nurburgring tourist sessions will attest. On paper the car should enjoy exactly the same performance as when it had the naturally aspirated 263hp motor.
But the reality is that the performance is even better. For a start, the power delivery is more linear, with more torque provided in an easier to control fashion. While the purist may lament the loss of the soulful, higher-revving motor, it's really a needlessly melodramatic twinge.
Silenced by the noise of this blown Duratec bouncing off the guardrails with the kind of ferocity that only comes from forced induction. It's the sharpness, the crackle, that gives it away.
It used to be an R500 but it's not any more
And, to be honest, the way the power chimed in on the R500 made it a bit of an oversteery monster near the limit. But with this car the gas pedal can be depressed so perfectly in line with the desired amount of drive that oversteer and neutrality are just a couple of millimetres apart, yet they still feel comfortably separated.
Wheelies. In a car.
Out on the 'ring, blitzing through the Sunday traffic like a shark amongst whales, the supercharged R300 only wants for a couple of improvements, a longer final drive one of them. This car tops out at only 130mph, a speed which can be reached in some really silly places with this much power in a 506kg car. For you 'ring anoraks, what about the jump before Flugplatz? Rev limiter in top. Pflanzgarten One? The same.
It's a right handful, but all in a good way
My orders from Caterham are to pull no punches, and give the car a merry pasting around the Nordschleife. The addition of the intercooler above the radiator looks a little odd, but the Stack digital display is set to report the water and oil temperature prominently, and both never budge.
That's despite it being one of the warmest days of the year with temperatures in the mid-to-high 20s around the track. I keep pushing for three circuits, and I'm rewarded with some of my most entertaining laps to date. Then the day job gets in the way, and I have to return to the office and hand it over to my boss for another dozen or so laps with no problems. Not that there should be, the car having been pushed hard around roads and racetracks all over Europe so far.
No overheating problems, even when ragged
CATERHAM R300 SUPERLIGHT SUPERCHARGED (PROTOTYPE)
Engine: 1,998cc 4-cylinder CPT supercharged
Power: 260hp (est.)
Torque: N/A
0-62mph: 3 sec (est.)
Top speed: 129mph (restricted by gearing)
Weight: 515kg (est.)
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
Price: N/A
Track shots by Jorg Jakowski of ring-bilder.de.
That thing sounds like it has too much power for the average driver to exploit and enjoy and you'd be constantly wondering when it was going to get bored of your driving and decides to kill you to break up the boredom.
Lots more mid-range torque would make for a better road car too. And although a bike engined V8 is nice, if you can get that sort of power from an I4, it makes for a simpler and cheaper car - something the Se7en makers need to keep in mind.
Win win..!! Nice one Caterham.
Better to have gears spread to take advantage of the blower AND enough legs to exploit a reasonable top speed dictated by CdA and available power. 140+mph in a Se7en is a good thing (personal experience).
130mph top speed means anything post 100 will be buzzy. If it's 150bhp then those times you do get a chance to stretch it's legs it will be a much nicer road experience.
We do all stick to 70mph m'lud but a car geared higher is nicer on the road than a track car setup.
Looks like an awesome car!
When you start to gear them up they become very inefficient and produce colossal heat compared to twin screw or centrifugal blowers. Hence the term Heaton.
Can't be that bad to be used by VW in the multi-award winning TSI.
It's ued by lots - it's cheap and improves performance over n/a. But it's not the last word in superchargers, not even the latest 4 lobed rotor version.
The Ford GT used a twin screw Whipple blower. When Ford launched the Shleby GT500 it used pretty much the same engine, but for cost cutting purposes used a cast iron block and a Heaton. End result was less power, less torque for a given boost level and less tunable.
It was still good and still impressive, and I do like Roots blowers, they are iconic. But dynamically a twin screw or centrifugal blower is superior.
That's man maths!
As the article says - 175bhp engine + 60bhp supercharger = 235bhp. So the duratec will still require full bespoke (presumably) steel internals AND a supercharger to make 300bhp.
How much will that cost? How much are people prepared to spend on a Caterham?
That's man maths!
As the article says - 175bhp engine + 60bhp supercharger = 235bhp. So the duratec will still require full bespoke (presumably) steel internals AND a supercharger to make 300bhp.
How much will that cost? How much are people prepared to spend on a Caterham?
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff