Thursday 2nd July 2015

Caterham 270R: PH Fleet

Ex-Caterham employee Ben really did catch the bug - there's a new sports car on the PH Fleet!

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Everyone has a childhood dream; whether you want to be a pirate, go into space or sing on a talent show, there's always something. Most people grow up and realise that what they fantasized about won't come true and move on. Luckily for me, my dream was to build a Caterham Seven, spurred on by hours of playing with Lego and an obsession with cars. That and the fact my grandfather owned a Ford dealership, plus my own father was taking me to motorsport events before I could walk. Kind of inevitable really...

Just like Maranello. In Crawley

Here I am some two decades later with a real man-sized Lego set in front of me, a new Caterham Seven 270R. The first production 270R in the world no less, which is pretty exciting. Turns out dropping all those pennies in the piggy bank pays off!

I would like to think my PH credentials were decent with the Clio Trophy, although admittedly that was more of an impulse purchase than a long-awaited dream. Surely building and owning a lightweight British sports car is showing real commitment to the cause? I'm fortunate enough to have already built an MK Indy R, one of the many Seven-a-like kit cars on the market. While many may turn their noses up at such a car, it was the first rung on the ladder to Caterham ownership for me and I admire anyone who does the same.

The build begins!

Back to the Seven. The hardest part of buying one is speccing the damn thing. In fact, the most difficult part is not choosing the engine or trying to set a budget, it's working out what colour to paint it. After all, the choices are infinite. I settled for BMW Valencia Orange as I've adored the 1 Series M Coupe's signature colour since launch.

Having had the privilege to work at Caterham before moving to PH, I was also the very first person to spec a 270R while working on the 2015 model range. Naturally I ticked pretty much every box I could afford. After driving every model in the range during my time at Caterham, I decided that the Supersport (or now 270) was the best car for me. Not solely based on budget, but also on the balance of performance and everyday usability. Don't get me wrong, the higher performance models are breathtaking but they just don't feel exploitable on the road and are much more suited to track. You feel like an absolute hero in the 270R as you can wring its neck while still feeling in control and not be at the risk of losing your licence. I was lucky enough to be loaned the 270R press car for our Silverstone Sunday Service just prior to delivery to whet my appetite of what was to come.

Ben's already had a brief taste - more to follow

The build experience to me is just as exciting as the drive. It's extremely rewarding (and perhaps quite terrifying) to drive a car that you've built with your own hands. Once you've painstakingly spent countless hours building the car, you can't just go out and drive it unfortunately. You're at the mercy of the DSA and DVLA to get the car through a road-worthiness IVA test, and then registered to embrace the public roads. Both of which can take many weeks, and by far the most stressful part of the build process. Us Brits do love to form an orderly queue and then complain about waiting, don't we? Check back soon for my build experience, and to see if I can get the Seven on the road in time for some summer driving.

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FACT SHEET
Car: 2015 Caterham Seven 270R
Run by: Ben Lowden
On fleet since: April 2015
Mileage: 0 (to be addressed shortly)
List price new: TBC
Last month at a glance: Spec decisions done, time to build the Seven!

[Butters]

This is exactly what I plan to do and with the same model.

With a long term ownership view and road cars not hitting the raw factor that I crave there cannot be a better option out there with all things considered to include residuals, running costs etc. The reward from building, engagement and involvement when driving and overall joy of owning I don't think will be beaten.

Having recently started a family and dreams of certain Sports Car ownership firmly fading with the prices going through the roof, I think we should all be buying Caterhams. To indulge in the purity of analog driving, control and motion as we continue through a digital age... to one of hybrid/electric power.

I will be following this with much interest Ben. Thank you for sharing. :-)

James.

Edited by Butters on Thursday 2nd July 13:31

[Terror Factor]

Cool, I've been thinking about Caterhams and the likes too, recently. For the performance I have in mind, something like that would probably be the wiser and more fun choice.
Initial outlay is quite high though, definitely for a real caterham.

Slightly off topic question: Which other seven-clones are comparable performance-wise (both in a straight line and in the corners) to the high end caterhams (R500, R600), but without the cost?

[jason61c]

Nothing quite like the fun of building a kit-car. Enjoy.

[moustache]

I'd love to build one of these. For me, there is something about the basic 160. Love the steel wheels, non existent creature comforts and basic spec.

[BenLowden]

Butters said:

This is exactly what I plan to do and with the same model.

With a long term ownership view and road cars not hitting the raw factor that I crave there cannot be a better option out there with all things considered to include residuals, running costs etc. The reward from building, engagement and involvement when driving and overall joy of owning I don't think will be beaten.

Having recently started a family and dreams of certain Sports Car ownership firmly fading with the prices going through the roof, I think we should all be buying Caterhams. To indulge in the purity of analog driving, control and motion as we continue through a digital age... to one of hybrid/electric power.

I will be following this with much interest Ben. Thank you for sharing. :-)

James.

Thanks James! I totally agree with you, there's nothing that comes close in terms of bang for buck and the residuals and running costs make it a no-brainer. Look forward to hopefully hearing about your build in the not to distant future!

Terror Factor said:

Slightly off topic question: Which other seven-clones are comparable performance-wise (both in a straight line and in the corners) to the high end caterhams (R500, R600), but without the cost?

I've been there with my MK Indy R, which I fitted with a GSXR1000 engine. Performance was pretty good, but bikes engines are antisocial to drive and I couldn't see myself going down any other route than the real deal again with a Caterham. You pay more for the privilege, but then you have the residual values that others don't offer.

moustache said:

I'd love to build one of these. For me, there is something about the basic 160. Love the steel wheels, non existent creature comforts and basic spec.

Do it! The 160 is hilariously good fun to drive and is very rewarding when worked hard. Check back soon for my opinion on the build experience, although I can already thoroughly recommend that you have the enjoyment of building it yourself.

[El Guapo]

As someone who enjoys build threads, I hope you intend to document the entire process in painstaking detail.

[ItsJustARide]

I built a 1700 SuperSprint waaayyy back in 1994. My first car in fact.

I owned it for 11 years and 35,000 miles. Only sold it when I emigrated to Canada and couldn't take it with me.

Nothing quite like a Caterham.

It's on the list of things to get once I move away from downtown Vancouver to somewhere with some decent driving roads.

[Gorbyrev]

Bucket list stuff Ben. Do let us in on all the details, as has already been said, build threads are wonderful. Great colour choice too.

[jason61c]

Also these go together quicker than most other kit cars so you can be out in it in a few weeks!

[T0MMY]

Terror Factor said:

Cool, I've been thinking about Caterhams and the likes too, recently. For the performance I have in mind, something like that would probably be the wiser and more fun choice.
Initial outlay is quite high though, definitely for a real caterham.

Slightly off topic question: Which other seven-clones are comparable performance-wise (both in a straight line and in the corners) to the high end caterhams (R500, R600), but without the cost?

Loads of other options out there that are similar in terms of laptimes. Decent handlers include Westfield, MNR, Fisher/Sylva, MK etc. etc. Most bike engined cars with a standard R1 or Fireblade engine will give you 300-350bhp/tonne and a proper very close ratio sequential box. Hayabusa or ZX12 engine might give you 400+bhp/tonne, far more with turbo conversions etc.

If you want a car engine then obviously you'd need something with about 250bhp to match an R500, assuming a typical half tonne 7-style car. Doable but a bit more than the typical Zetec or Red Top engines will make easily I think.

I spent under £4000 on my kitcar (non-runner!) so you can get the Caterham experience much cheaper. I bought it for the handling but it's surprising what it can keep up with in a straight line. Had a few friendly run ins to test it

Edited by T0MMY on Thursday 2nd July 22:07

[scz4]

With my 40th closing in (well 4 years), this is on my bucket list too since owning a few 7 replicas a few years back.

Look forward to reading more on the build - bookmarked!!

[T0MMY]

BenLowden said:

I've been there with my MK Indy R, which I fitted with a GSXR1000 engine. Performance was pretty good, but bikes engines are antisocial to drive and I couldn't see myself going down any other route than the real deal again with a Caterham. You pay more for the privilege, but then you have the residual values that others don't offer.

Let's not start a BEC vs CEC thread as that goes on forever but personally I think a BEC is more of an "experience" than a typical CEC due to the stratospheric rev limit, noise and sequential box. Obviously a very high spec CEC like an R600 or Atom is a different matter but having been in a Zetec engined car with similar (low) power to my BEC there was no comparison in terms of how manic and purposeful it felt. On the downside, BECs are exhausting and always feel fragile though so it's a question of what you want it for.

If I was willing to invest the cash needed to buy a top end Caterham I'd probably rather have that than a BEC but if you want a sub-£10k car where your options are BECs or modestly tuned CECs I'd go bike engined myself. I don't think you can get a better ratio of cost to all round performance unless you're talking track only single seaters.

Edited by T0MMY on Thursday 2nd July 22:20

[Tractor lad]

What are these like when the roads are rather patchy?
They are something I'd love to try but that super low stance must get a little busy on the rubbish roads we often face.
Any LSD too?

My M135i is brilliant 99% of the time but I did manage to find a road that upset it recently (very tight bends, bumpy; the only time I've needed an LSD and better throttle response).

[harryowl]

Terror Factor said:

Slightly off topic question: Which other seven-clones are comparable performance-wise (both in a straight line and in the corners) to the high end caterhams (R500, R600), but without the cost?

This

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/w...

620bhp... I imagine that is slightly scary!

[T0MMY]

Tractor lad said:

What are these like when the roads are rather patchy?
They are something I'd love to try but that super low stance must get a little busy on the rubbish roads we often face.
Any LSD too?

My M135i is brilliant 99% of the time but I did manage to find a road that upset it recently (very tight bends, bumpy; the only time I've needed an LSD and better throttle response).

That would very much depend on what suspension you had and how you had it set up. My MNR is on the stiff side and is quite neutral which feels fantastic on a smooth road but can be a bit hairy over bumps. It's quite progressive with deliberate power oversteer but if you lose the back purely due to carrying a lot of speed midcorner or under braking it lets go very fast, especially in the wet, but it's also easy enough to catch. At low speed on bumpy roads I tend to get understeer which is more frustrating.

Edited by T0MMY on Thursday 2nd July 22:47

[Terror Factor]

harryowl said:

This

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/w...

620bhp... I imagine that is slightly scary!

Holy crap! Not sure how the engine stays in one piece though!

I'd prefer a car engined 7, for (lack of) maintenance/reliability. I'd imagine a high revving bike engined model, with their sequential gearbox would be more fun though!

[Tractor lad]

T0MMY said:

That would very much depend on what suspension you had and how you had it set up. My MNR is on the stiff side and is quite neutral which feels fantastic on a smooth road but can be a bit hairy over bumps. It's quite progressive with deliberate power oversteer but if you lose the back purely due to carrying a lot of speed midcorner or under braking it lets go very fast, especially in the wet, but it's also easy enough to catch. At low speed on bumpy roads I tend to get understeer which is more frustrating.

Edited by T0MMY on Thursday 2nd July 22:47

Thanks for that; food for thought.

[T0MMY]

Wasn't there a thread about cars that had too much power? I think 620bhp in a 7 would definitely qualify, surely you could rarely use all the power without just spinning the back wheels?

Not sure I like the idea of a turbo on a 7 anyway, I think a small revvy n/a is more in keeping! I always thought the old Civic Vti's 1.6 would make a great kitcar engine or possibly the 1.8 vvti that was a bit asthmatic in the Celica and Corrola.

[JamesHayward]

T0MMY said:

I always thought the old Civic Vti's 1.6 would make a great kitcar engine

I might be wrong but I do believe the reason they are no commonly used in RWD configurations is that they spin the wrong way. Therefore no gearbox fits them. S2000's are quite common though, mate of mine has a throttle bodied F20C in his locost and that goes like stink.

[T0MMY]

JamesHayward said:

I might be wrong but I do believe the reason they are no commonly used in RWD configurations is that they spin the wrong way. Therefore no gearbox fits them. S2000's are quite common though, mate of mine has a throttle bodied F20C in his locost and that goes like stink.

Ah ok, wondered why I'd never seen one as they seem a great choice. I never owned a Vti but had a go in one and thought the engine was fantastic; not that powerful but so responsive and willing to rev. An S2000 engine would be superb too but probably out of my price range. The 2.0 Zetec Tiger I went in was hugely disappointing compared to my MNR but maybe that engine was in a similar level of tune to the one in my Dad's Mondeo! That just hated being revved, almost to the point of being dieselesque. I think kitcars need a real screamer of an engine which is why bike engines are a good choice at the budget end of the market.