1998 Caterham Ecoboost Track Car

1998 Caterham Ecoboost Track Car – £26,999

54,000 miles | MOT until August

It’s with great reluctance that I’m putting my formidable Caterham up for sale.

This classic imperial-chassis Caterham started life as a scholarship car with a Vauxhall 8-valve engine. I’ve owned it for 15 years, and in that time, it’s undergone a full transformation, now running a Gemzoe Ecoboost conversion producing 300bhp — and just as crucially, equal torque. Weighing just 545kg, that gives it an astonishing 550bhp per tonne — more than a Ferrari 488 Pista and close to double the torque of a Caterham 620R.

There’s over £26,000 in upgrades, all fully documented in a comprehensive history file.

Engine & Drivetrain:

Ecoboost engine with similar mileage to the car — fully stripped, sonic cleaned, and rebuilt

Type 9 gearbox with Quaife heavy-duty gear sets (long 5th gear for motorway cruising)

Upgraded clutch

Atlas diff with Tran-X plated LSD

Rear disc and caliper conversion

SCS Delta ECU with launch control and adjustable traction control

Hybrid turbo

Chassis & Features:

Chassis cleaned and painted during rebuild

New fuel tank fitted

Full cage

Flat-floor setup (a bigger performance gain on track than doubling the power)

Nylon shifter

Momo steering wheel

Carbon dashboard

Bucket seats

Included:

Full doors

Half doors

Half hood

Full windscreen

Aero screen (functional but not the best)

The engineering by Dave Gemzoe is second to none — the attention to detail and engine bay craftsmanship is nothing short of a work of art.

On the road and track: This is not a Caterham for beginners. The performance is genuinely ridiculous — it’s absolutely not a car for the faint-hearted or first-time 7 buyers. That said, I’ve personally toured all of Wales, Yorkshire, the Dales, Northumberland, and even France and Scotland with my 8-year-old strapped in beside me. It can behave itself when asked — but you’re always one squirt of throttle away from absolute madness.

The honest bits: This isn’t a show car — it’s a driving tool. It’s photogenic, sure, but it wears its age honestly:

Typical chassis skin oxidisation at the lower points (common for cars of this age)

Front wings really want replacing

Rear wings have stone chips and stress marks

Cage has typical stone rash

Nose cone never got repainted — I ended up liking the black!

No test drives due to the aggressive clutch and power — but I’m happy to take serious buyers out for a proper demo.

£26,999