So, the 620R is rather quick then...

[Beefmeister]

I was lucky enough to have this over the weekend:



Caterham's press 620R. 311bhp, 550kg (ok, 640kg with me on board), 6spd sequential box with flat upshifts, twin plate racing clutch, cut slicks.

Sweet holy mother of God it's quick. Like, utterly destroys anything I've driven before, type of quick.

I measured 0-60 in 2.9s and 0-100 in 6.6s on my iPhone App, which gives an idea of how mental it is even with the inaccuracy.

I've got deep purple bruises from squeezing in and out of the seat, but couldn't stop grinning the whole time - the performance at any time, any gear, any speed was just addictive.

Wow.

If anyone has any questions about it, feel free to ask, I've just about come down off the high now and can process my thoughts again...

[scubadude]

Kudos- is it even remotely usable on the road? Can you do anything but tickle the throttle, I'd imagine that any kind of "decent" throttle application in any gear produces totally illegal results? :-)

[Beefmeister]

It absolutely is usable, if you're careful as it's very easy to get to licence losing speeds very easily.

The typical Caterham attributes are still there, just with extra crazy speed...

[mike150]

How do you feel it compares with the R500?
Are you thinking of buying?
How did you get it for a weekend??????

I would buy one but its North of 50k..............that poses a problem!

I can afford an R500d now but is the 620r really much better?

[Beefmeister]

mike150 said:

How do you feel it compares with the R500?
Are you thinking of buying?
How did you get it for a weekend??????

I would buy one but its North of 50k..............that poses a problem!

I can afford an R500d now but is the 620r really much better?

I do car reviews for a few websites, so it was a 'journo thing'. I've not driven an R500 sadly, but have driven an R300 and although similar in characteristics, it's abother level.

I've done a few hundred miles in a CSR260 as well and that's far less focused and more usable.

The main difference is the gearbox. The sequential box is just wonderful, foot to the floor, yanking back on the lever (surprisingly hard actually) , flat shifting just makes for instant gearshifts, it's addictive.

[Token Jock]

Thanks for the write up

In the last couple of weeks i bought an R500 Duratec, even with a meagre 260 odd bhp it is pretty mental so I can only imagine what the 620R must be like with another 50bhp and more torque

Virtually all the reports I've read say the 620R is awesome but at a cost north of £50k with paint and a few other bits and pieces it is no small chunk of change and a big gap between it and the R400.

Bet you are still wondering where all cars disappeared to when you overtook them

[mike150]

My interest is because I have an R400 with only 210bhp and I want more!

You can never have too much power.

[Beefmeister]

The first time I floored it, banging through the gears from 30-100 I nearly shat myself.

It was an absolute pig to drive slowly though, really bitey clutch and a juddery diff made traffic awful. Like the 3 miles of stop-start traffic I had at Dartford 20mins after picking it up!

[GreigM]

Does it blip the throttle on the downshifts? I am still considering one for track days, and more imprtant than flat upshifting with a sequential is blipping on the downshifts.

[jontysafe]

Chap who lives near me has a lovely looking green one, he pulled alongside me at local filling station the other day and I was itching for a go in it.

I know I don`t have a Caterham but it`s poor relative Westfield but I would love to have a dice between the two. I have more power but I wouldn`t mind betting the Caterham is quicker. Mine should be good for about 460 ish BHP.

[Beefmeister]

GreigM said:

Does it blip the throttle on the downshifts? I am still considering one for track days, and more imprtant than flat upshifting with a sequential is blipping on the downshifts.

If you can heel and toe, yes!

Though with the tightly spaced pedals it's pretty easy.

[k20erham]

manual shifting is brutal at best both ways, Geartronics is seamless both ways, and SWR say they can tell when the box is a manual shifted, I never fitted my gearlever when I fitted the sadev/Geartronics.

[ExpatKiwi]

Cheers for the write up. I'm literally days from getting my supercharged 7 (not Caterham) and living on all footage/write-ups of the 620r to tide me over. Any video ? Or would that be too incriminating ? :-)

[k20erham]

Hi Rowan what supercharger did you go for in the end?, the Rotrex tend to make the K20's even more peakier but very driveable,are you all mapped and running? What boost control/ ecu? Intercooled or charge cooled What box and final drive did you go for? And how much heat management have you done?

[ExpatKiwi]

Heya- yeah all up and running. JDM K20, C30-94, water to air IC, LINK ECU, dry sumped. Did 327ps at the hubs (dynapac) at 10psi, 7600rpm. Toyota W55 box. 3.9:1 rear end. If anything it was running too cold so may have to dial down the water pump duty cycle (ecu controlled). We used a trick triple core rad for water x2 the same the V8 Supercar boys use in Oz, no heat issues there. Haven't put an inlet temp probe on the inlet tract yet, something to sort for the first track day.

I haven't yet driven it properly waiting for all the paperwork to be done. However the drive that I did get......

[k20erham]

Fingers crossed for your first outing

[Pdelamare]

A 620 R with twice the power sounds like it would be interesting.

[mickrick]

Indeed... any progress reports on your project?

[Beefmeister]

ExpatKiwi said:

Cheers for the write up. I'm literally days from getting my supercharged 7 (not Caterham) and living on all footage/write-ups of the 620r to tide me over. Any video ? Or would that be too incriminating ? :-)

Yeah, I did some GoPro footage of the 0-100 runs I did, but need to do some editing to make sure it's 'evidence safe' if you get me!

[Pdelamare]

mickrick said:

Indeed... any progress reports on your project?

I was there yesterday checking things out. It should be running by the weekend. The nose,wings and arches are just being mat blacked and should be on by Wednesday, and the motor fired up shortly after.