Caterham Superlight R #111
Discussion
I've owned three Caterhams previously - Superlight R #21 in 2000 and 2001, Superlight R500 #73 in 2002 and Superlight R500 #3 in about 2006. I've been without a fun car since having children in 2010, but I started looking around for something a couple of months ago. I originally wanted an Exige Sport 350 but didn't want to spend nearly £50k on a fun car. I then went to Caterham's open day in the Spring, and decided I wanted another Caterham. I fancied an SV bodied 620S, but again couldn't force myself to spend £50k on a toy.
Then this car was advertised on Pistonheads and the deal was agreed the next day: https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
It is a 2002 Caterham Superlight R. it is one of the last ones, and has the mechanic spec of the R400 that came in the follow year - it has Titan roller barrel throttle bodies, and an MBE ECU. Unlike an R400, it has standard dials rather than a Stack dash. Originally 200bhp, this one has 212bhp due to remapping and accurate cam timing.
It came with an aeroscreen and half doors, plus windscreen with doors and hood, plus a half hood and tonneau. At some point in the past the seats were replaced with leather Caterham GT seats which were only sold for a couple of years and were very expensive. They are comfortable but I would prefer carbon/kevlar Tillet seats as fitted to the R500.
I picked it up a week later and drove it home. I found out it had a few problems - the pedal adjustment was terrible (I struggled to lift my foot off the accelerator without my knee jamming against the bulkhead), it had a high-rev misfire, the brakes were terrible and it didn't idle well when hot. I fiddled for a couple of weeks but couldn't sort out the misfire, so booked it into PT Sports Cars in Maidenhead.
PT gave it a good check over and largely gave it a clean bill of health. It was still an expensive visit - new master cylinder (the AP racing one that Caterham supply), some radiator hoses, plugs/leads/distributor cap, balance throttle bodies, replace aux belt, replace engine rubbers, etc, etc. I got it back a week later and it's now running really well.
I'm the fourth owner on the car. it was originally blue, but was re-skinned and changed to Mercedes silver in around 2010. In 2012/13, the engine and gearbox were both refreshed. it's had an enormous amount of money spent on it over the years, and has only averaged 1000 miles a year since 2007.
Here are some photos taken earlier today:
I've not done much to it so far. The wheels had a really good clean - they are quite fragile and expensive so I like to keep them spotless inside and out. Originally it had a large red 'R' on the back:
So I replaced this with the standard black 'R' and a smaller number plate. The rear of the car is very clean as it doesn't have a fog light or reversing light - the fog light is built into the number plate light:
It also had a nasty plastic gear knob, which was replaced with an aluminium Caterham knob.
I'm going to do some track days, and will look out for a Minno Max trailer. Please wave if you see me around in the Berkshire/Surrey/Hampshire area.
Then this car was advertised on Pistonheads and the deal was agreed the next day: https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...
It is a 2002 Caterham Superlight R. it is one of the last ones, and has the mechanic spec of the R400 that came in the follow year - it has Titan roller barrel throttle bodies, and an MBE ECU. Unlike an R400, it has standard dials rather than a Stack dash. Originally 200bhp, this one has 212bhp due to remapping and accurate cam timing.
It came with an aeroscreen and half doors, plus windscreen with doors and hood, plus a half hood and tonneau. At some point in the past the seats were replaced with leather Caterham GT seats which were only sold for a couple of years and were very expensive. They are comfortable but I would prefer carbon/kevlar Tillet seats as fitted to the R500.
I picked it up a week later and drove it home. I found out it had a few problems - the pedal adjustment was terrible (I struggled to lift my foot off the accelerator without my knee jamming against the bulkhead), it had a high-rev misfire, the brakes were terrible and it didn't idle well when hot. I fiddled for a couple of weeks but couldn't sort out the misfire, so booked it into PT Sports Cars in Maidenhead.
PT gave it a good check over and largely gave it a clean bill of health. It was still an expensive visit - new master cylinder (the AP racing one that Caterham supply), some radiator hoses, plugs/leads/distributor cap, balance throttle bodies, replace aux belt, replace engine rubbers, etc, etc. I got it back a week later and it's now running really well.
I'm the fourth owner on the car. it was originally blue, but was re-skinned and changed to Mercedes silver in around 2010. In 2012/13, the engine and gearbox were both refreshed. it's had an enormous amount of money spent on it over the years, and has only averaged 1000 miles a year since 2007.
Here are some photos taken earlier today:
I've not done much to it so far. The wheels had a really good clean - they are quite fragile and expensive so I like to keep them spotless inside and out. Originally it had a large red 'R' on the back:
So I replaced this with the standard black 'R' and a smaller number plate. The rear of the car is very clean as it doesn't have a fog light or reversing light - the fog light is built into the number plate light:
It also had a nasty plastic gear knob, which was replaced with an aluminium Caterham knob.
I'm going to do some track days, and will look out for a Minno Max trailer. Please wave if you see me around in the Berkshire/Surrey/Hampshire area.
Looks lovely.
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