Tuesday 17th May 2016

Track ready Caterhams: Spotted

High on driving fast Caterhams we've been hitting the classifieds to ponder the options!

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After our weekend at Anglesey with a pair of Caterham 620s you won't be surprised to hear many on the PH team have got a bit dreamy about the idea of owning a fast Seven. Or reminiscing about past loves. Muscling the R around the track was a joy, leaving all who drove it pumped with adrenaline. Relatively speaking the S is the more civilised of the two with the heated seats, conventional gearbox and - gasp - a windscreen but performance not far off the unhinged R. Neither is for the faint of heart or wallet though.

There's no such thing as a cheap Caterham but there are modest savings to be found in the classifieds. This 11-month-old 620R with very little mileage and plenty of options is painted in Porsche's Carrara white and offers a little saving off the list price. But £50,000 remains a lot for a track toy.

Delving a little deeper into the back catalogue uncovered this R500 Superlight for £32K; still a 500hp per tonne lunatic but this one with a slightly more all-round manual transmission and a 'weather' kit to make it vaguely sensible as a road car too. With resale values holding up, you can smugly go about your driving knowing that your track ready Caterham isn't depreciating as much as you first thought. The advert states 'there won't be too many road legal cars going by' and with a claimed 0-60 of 2.8 seconds you will be on your way very quickly.

Then again, if you want a variation on this theme stay tuned - we've been out in a rival product and will be bringing you a full review very shortly...

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Caterham R500 Superlight
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 267@8,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 177@7,200rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
First registered: 2012
Recorded mileage: 6,800
Price new: £36,995
Yours for: £31,995

See the original advert here

[dunc_sx]

Chuckled at the "Track ready Caterham" title

[craig2003]

That looks very like my one coming next week, perfect for the summer

[SpudLink]

craig2003 said:

That looks very like my one coming next week, perfect for the summer

Ohh, nice.

Let's hope it's a long dry summer.

[400superamerica]

That is not a proper R500 is it?

[craig2003]

It's a 620R

[400superamerica]

craig2003 said:

It's a 620R

Yes, yours is a 620R, but the car in spotted is not a R500

[mike150]

The car in question in this article was an imperial kit that was built as an R400 Duratec originally, then had it's engine upgraded, then its second owner fitted the dry sump and then the third owner looks like he tracked it and never looked after it as it appears to be pretty rusty now!

I knew the car when it was with it's first owner and I should have bought it then, I missed it when it went to it's second owner and I wouldn't want it now.

[craig2003]

400superamerica said:

Yes, yours is a 620R, but the car in spotted is not a R500

It's the first other one with white and a black nose cone I have seen

[suffolk009]

The car in the article needs to have it's front cycle wing supports changed for the shorter, closer fit version.

Slightly bizzarely these modified cars never seem to fetch anything like the money of factory originals. There's a Raceline Zetec 200bhp, and a load of other sensible mods, on a well loved Q plate car for under £10k in the classified. It's virtually the cheapest 7 for sale on here. Factor in a bag for fresh paint and it could be a cheap and fast car.

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

Edited by suffolk009 on Thursday 19th May 07:49

[dave2007bc]

Do all options have to have the Caterham badge?

My home-grown Locost has 300bhp and was built by a guy in his shed. It also cost a lot less than £10k to put together and upsets most things on the track with a poer-weight of 450bhp ton.

(Build thread in readers cars for anyone interested http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=141...

There are plenty of very fast 7-atyle cars that are as fast/faster than the examples above and a lot better value for money (IMO).