Caterham R600!

[PetrolTed]

Haven't read the Autocar article yet, but they same something about not being allowed to reveal the true power yet.

Anyone got the scoop on this?

[Alex]

Autocar guesses 250bhp. The motor is a K-Series bored out to 1998cc. According to the article, torque is biggest improvement on R500.

[dino ferrana]

35 lb/ft up on the R500!

Chris Harris says he has driven R500s a lot and the torque is just ludicrous. He mentioned something about it being possible to provoke wheelspin in fourth on a dry abrasive surface!

Overall the review was very positive.

[RichardD]

Alex said:

Autocar guesses 250bhp. The motor is a K-Series bored out to 1998cc. According to the article, torque is biggest improvement on R500.

I'll look forward to an appearance at this years Autocar 0-100-0 and hopefully a new world record then!

[dino ferrana]

0-60 estimated at 3.2 seconds (just over a two second improvement). I imagine with the torque increase 0-100 could be significantly better.

New world record beckons I believe!

[MikeE]

the concensus on Blatchat is there's no way that torque figure can be right, speculation is that 170lbf is much more likely.

I'd be interested to see what sort of warrantee they give this engine. I recieved 2.0K details from Judd last year and I'm sure it said no warrantee, not SVA complient and a price of circa £12K for the engine.

Of more interest is the Ford Duratech engine, you can get a 250bhp crated engine for around £5K (or a 2.3L 280bhp for around £7K) and the concensus is this will be a lot more robust that the K series (doesn't need such high revs to achieve the same power).

[rubystone]

Mike - I can get a 220bhp Duratec crated engine for under £2k with type 9 bellhousing, injection, starter and alternator - but people keep telling me that the ancilliary elements bring that total up to in excess of £5k...but no one has been able to give me an itemised cost of the extras I'll need....oh and that 220bhp is deliver from the standard injection set up -no need for expensive TBs.

[dougie_wh]

I went round Bedford Autodrome with a chap called Peter Unwin, very kindly showed me what his crazily fast R500 can do, nothing was a match for it. 100k 360 Ferrari, GT3 911's, you name it and i'll beat it! It also has attached a hige rear wing which Pete has said has made a huge differance. Anyone seen the car? He's been to quite a few track days. I'd say from experience the R500 is plenty quick enough as it is!!