2017 CATERHAM

This is a 2017 620R. Two owners from new, both OCD. Nine years of ‘upgraditis’ is evident throughout. This is not a lightly modified example. It has been developed with intent, working with the right people, with every change made because it made the car work better. Form follows function...

The headline is 363bhp (vs factory 310bhp), and this is not a peak-figure boast: Troy at Northampton Motorsport carried out bespoke driveability tuning so the supercharged Duratec is tractable and progressive, with road manners to match. The car weighs 595kg, consequently it is ‘very willing’ when asked!

Underneath the power figure is the part that took the money and the time. Cooling and fuelling have been reworked by Premier Power and Northampton Motorsport, with black powder-coated Radtec radiators and an aluminium header tank. The transmission tunnel sidewalls are insulated (Oxted) and the pedal access cover is gold heat-wrapped. None of this is visible from ten feet away. All of it is why the car is still working properly late in a hot session when others are backing off.

The Sadev sequential gearbox runs a bespoke oil-to-water heat exchanger with an easy-access fill port. This is worth dwelling on. The gearbox is one of the most expensive components in the car, heat is what kills sequential boxes, and a rebuild is not a small bill. Rather than accept that as the cost of using the car properly, I had a solution made for it, working with Stewart at Premier Power. I have not seen another 620R with one. This involved a lengthy R&D project, including some parts from New Zealand!

The bell housing is non-standard too, and it is the sort of change only an owner who has thought about it would make. The factory item protrudes below the engine sump, which makes it the lowest point of the car. This one is flush with the sump. Fitting it is also why the lightened flywheel is there, and that materially adds to the driving experience in terms of engine character, with heel and toe engine spin being much faster.

Suspension is CORE Tractive adjustable throughout, installed by Simon at Meteor Motorsport (who still uses pictures of the car in his marketing), and it can be adjusted ‘on the fly’ whilst driving via a control panel, should conditions warrant it. Adjustment is across four variables — roll, pitch, front and rear stiffness — with five levels for each, and five presets memorised, which can themselves be adjusted. The original Caterham items are included in the sale should a buyer want to return it.

A word on the wheels, because they are easy to not appreciate, and expensive to replicate. These are MBs — Mike Barnby’s wheels — running magnesium centres with aluminium split rims. If you know Sevens, you already know what that means. If you don’t, the short version is this: rotational unsprung weight matters more on a car this light than almost anything else you can change, and these are as far as it is sensible to go. Data points to support this: against the OEM Apollo alloys (which, to be clear, are good wheels), they are 12 per cent lighter at the front and 13 per cent lighter at the rear — 1.4kg and 1.8kg per corner respectively. The only lighter option is a full-magnesium Formula 3 wheel, which saves a little more again but is markedly more fragile and, for a car that gets used, the wrong trade. These were crack tested when I acquired them. Tyres are Avon ZZR to standard 620 sizing — 185/55 R13 on 6″ front, 215/55 R13 on 8″ rear.

Then there are the other details, because details matter to me: black anodised bonnet catches, carbon fibre headlight bowls, a dual oil and water temperature gauge, both rear-exit and side-exit exhausts, Fourdot plates front and rear — both removable, with a custom front mounting.

The twin VBox HD system deserves more than a line in a spec list. Racelogic’s VBOX is the professional standard for track data logging — GPS-synchronised video with data overlay, lap and sector timing, and speed traces you can read corner by corner. It is what teams and manufacturers use to find time, not what people bolt on to film themselves. If you want to get quicker rather than just get footage, this is the tool that does it.

It was specified and installed by the car’s first owner, an RAF engineer, and the standard of the work reflects that: the GPS antenna is properly plumbed in rather than stuck to the scuttle, and the loom is routed and secured as you would expect from someone who does this for a living. You inherit it fitted, wired and working.

It has recently been serviced and MOT’d, including all fluids and the supercharger traction fluid. It is ready to go.

Be clear about what this is

This car runs an SLR cage with the correct FIA padding and a carbon aeroscreen. There is no windscreen, and therefore no doors and no roof.

That is a deliberate choice, and it narrows the audience. What it does not do — and I would rather correct this assumption myself than have someone else make it for me — is rule out distance. I have toured Europe in this car, roofless, and it remains one of the best things I have done in anything, on any road. You could get cold. You could get wet. You arrive looking like you have been through something, because you have. It was wicked.

So no, it is not the obvious choice for a continental trip. But it is entirely possible for someone with the appetite for it and the sense to pack properly. If that reads as a warning, this is probably not your car. If it reads as an invitation, it very much is — and you will already know that replicating this specification would cost you well north of what I am asking, and likely take you a year of downtime to do it.

Specification

Engine & drivetrain

• 2.0 Ford Duratec, supercharged, dry sump

• 363bhp — bespoke driveability tuning by Northampton Motorsport (Troy); dyno printout in pictures

• 595kg

• Requisite cooling and fuelling modifications by Premier Power and Northampton Motorsport

• Radtec radiators, black powder coated (blue coolant)

• Aluminium coolant header tank

• Sadev six-speed sequential gearbox

• Bespoke Sadev gearbox oil-to-water heat exchanger with easy-access fill port (filling syringe included)

• Non-standard bell housing — does not protrude below the engine sump, unlike the factory item

• Lightened flywheel (required by the bell housing change); clutch replaced

• Rear exit and side exit exhausts (both supplied)

Chassis, suspension & brakes

• Series 3 chassis. S3, the original!

• CORE Tractive adjustable dampers, adjustable on the move (original Caterham suspension included in the sale)

• Aerofoil wide-track front wishbones

• De Dion rear axle

• Adjustable rear anti-roll bar

• Uprated brake master cylinder (as factory 620 specification)

• Ventilated front discs with quad-piston calipers

• Ferodo DS3000 pads front, DS2500 rear

Wheels & tyres

• MB Magnesium wheels (Mike Barnby) — magnesium centres, aluminium split rims; crack tested on acquisition

• 13 × 6″ front, 13 × 8″ rear. Avon ZZR — 185/55 R13 front, 215/55 R13 rear

Bodywork & exterior

• Porsche Birch Green — special order paint. Factory graphics stripes

• Black pack

• Carbon cyclewings, rear arches, nosecone whiskers and indicator pods

• Caterham carbon fibre mirrors on DPR mounts — a meaningful upgrade on the standard mountings

• Carbon fibre headlight bowls

• LED lighting front and rear

• Aero filler cap

• Black anodised bonnet catches

• Paint protection film to the front, sides and rear arch faces

• Fourdot number plates front and rear, both removable, custom front mounting bracket

\Cockpit & safety

• SLR roll cage, with correct FIA padding

• Twin rear high-level additional brake lights, again installed by the RAF engineer original owner

• Carbon aeroscreen

• Carbon Tillett seats

• Black Schroth six-point harnesses

• Lowered floors

• Carbon fibre dashboard

• Momo alcantara steering wheel on quick-release boss

• ACES change-up lights

• Dual oil and water temperature gauge, retaining the original dial, which reads both senders

• Battery master isolator switch

• Plumbed-in fire extinguisher

• Twin VBox HD cameras with plumbed-in GPS antenna, installed by the RAF engineer original owner

• 12V socket

• Oxted transmission tunnel sidewall heat insulation

• Pedal access cover — gold heat wrap

Note: no windscreen, doors, roof or heater — they are for the faint-hearted ;o)

History & paperwork

• 2017, S3

• Two owners from new

• Approximately 8,000 miles

• Maintained throughout by Caterham, Meteor Motorsport, Premier Power and, more recently, Northampton Motorsport

• Recently serviced — all fluids, including supercharger traction fluid

• MOT with 9 months remaining

• No outstanding finance

• Has been used on track — it is a 620R! Not recently, though: new dog (Rottweiler, in case you wondered!)

Included in the sale

• R600 AMO registration

• Original Caterham suspension

• Both exhaust systems (side and rear exit)

• Gearbox oil filling syringe

Available by separate negotiation

• Second set of MB Magnesium wheels shod with Avon ZZS

• Oxted boot bags

• Ratchet straps

• VP Racing fuel cans (x2)

• Caterham indoor cover and waterproof outdoor long-nose cover

• CTEK trickle charger, with in-line quick connector currently installed

Price and viewing

£54,995

The car is in Northampton and viewing is by invitation. Serious enquiries only, please. I am happy to spend as long as you like going through the car, inspection is welcomed, and all the invoices and the dyno sheet are on hand for anyone genuinely in the market for a proper Seven with all the bells and whistles.

It deserves to be driven. I would like it to go to someone who will.

(note on pictures, first 3 in bright sunshine, it pops! remainder in flatter light as is most helpful. The invoices is just a sample, there are more but it gives the correct impression. Carefully maintained by the right people)