Caterham 310 Encore
Discussion
I was lucky. Very lucky!
I won a competition held by the lovely people at Bridge Classic Cars to win a brand new, Caterham 310 Encore.
I'd wanted a Caterham for years after driving one at a Silverstone back in 2007 or so. Considering through this year I'd sold my mx-5 Nd, swapped into an NC which I'd just also moved on and also sold my much loved 1978 1275gt due to a house move looming and what felt like an anti-mid-life crisis which was all very muddled up. (It's good to talk I found out) I wasn't sure when I'd end up in something fun, for me again!
Not one to usually entertain the car competitions as the odds are rubbish, the prize is never quite what you'd want and...does anyone really win them??(Sure there's a thread around here on the topic?) I saw the BCC adverts for the 310 Encore, and in the blue with the wide track, 620r nose come, various carbon touches and harnesses it was so close to the perfect spec car. So I entered..not just once but after mulling the chances of winning with my single entry whilst out with the dog one morning I went crazy and bought a couple more. So 3 tickets, 4000 max entries. Got to be in it to win it right?
The evening before the draw I told my wife, I'd win a Caterham in the morning. I believed it, she wasn't convinced. Is this manifesting?
Come 9am the next day, I'd started work was getting into my morning when the phone rang. 'Hi it's Molly from Bridge Classic Cars...' why are they calling to tell me I didn't win?...'you've just won our brand new Caterham 310 Encore'
What
The
F**k
Talk about surreal.
There's an embarrassing video on YouTube when they rang me out there..
To be continued.
I won a competition held by the lovely people at Bridge Classic Cars to win a brand new, Caterham 310 Encore.
I'd wanted a Caterham for years after driving one at a Silverstone back in 2007 or so. Considering through this year I'd sold my mx-5 Nd, swapped into an NC which I'd just also moved on and also sold my much loved 1978 1275gt due to a house move looming and what felt like an anti-mid-life crisis which was all very muddled up. (It's good to talk I found out) I wasn't sure when I'd end up in something fun, for me again!
Not one to usually entertain the car competitions as the odds are rubbish, the prize is never quite what you'd want and...does anyone really win them??(Sure there's a thread around here on the topic?) I saw the BCC adverts for the 310 Encore, and in the blue with the wide track, 620r nose come, various carbon touches and harnesses it was so close to the perfect spec car. So I entered..not just once but after mulling the chances of winning with my single entry whilst out with the dog one morning I went crazy and bought a couple more. So 3 tickets, 4000 max entries. Got to be in it to win it right?
The evening before the draw I told my wife, I'd win a Caterham in the morning. I believed it, she wasn't convinced. Is this manifesting?
Come 9am the next day, I'd started work was getting into my morning when the phone rang. 'Hi it's Molly from Bridge Classic Cars...' why are they calling to tell me I didn't win?...'you've just won our brand new Caterham 310 Encore'
What
The
F**k
Talk about surreal.
There's an embarrassing video on YouTube when they rang me out there..
To be continued.
Congratulations OP on the win. I had entered too but with just the one ticket though.
I thought might as well even though I put a deposit down on the morning of the launch. I ve been wanting a seven for at least 25 years and equally excited to say my blue s5 encore is in the paint shop being built and making good progress.
I aim to use on track in the future but will certainly enjoy it until that happens.
Have booked on the annual service and hope to do many events with the owners club in the future.
Look forward to your updates in due course.
P2
Edited; doesn’t like my smilies
I thought might as well even though I put a deposit down on the morning of the launch. I ve been wanting a seven for at least 25 years and equally excited to say my blue s5 encore is in the paint shop being built and making good progress.
I aim to use on track in the future but will certainly enjoy it until that happens.
Have booked on the annual service and hope to do many events with the owners club in the future.
Look forward to your updates in due course.
P2
Edited; doesn’t like my smilies
Amazing…congratulations, you mist be very happy indeed.
With spec’ing the car at caterham can you go all out and tick every box ( EG carbon wings, heated carbon seats, upgraded brakes, etc), or are you limited to just the free basics?
Either way enjoy the experience and keep us posted!
With spec’ing the car at caterham can you go all out and tick every box ( EG carbon wings, heated carbon seats, upgraded brakes, etc), or are you limited to just the free basics?
Either way enjoy the experience and keep us posted!
To continue..
Part of the prize was to visit the Caterham factory, have a tour, be immersed in the brand and get a bit giddy about the prospect of having a car in build.
I headed down on Thursday with my wife and my best friend who wangled the day off work as well and to say we were treated like royalty would be an understatement! The team from Bridge Classic Cars were, as you can imagine really happy that an enthusiast won the car and the various members of staff from Caterham (Ali from Marketing, Simon and Alex from Motorsport, Rob from Sales and also met Bob L the CEO) were great throughout the tour and the day.
Once we'd done the tour and after some lunch I was shown the Blue Encore that Caterham will be keeping as part of their fleet, and I already thought I would choose the blue and this just confirmed my thoughts! I tried it for size, this one being an SV with lowered floors and the leather seats which felt good, being 6"3' and somewhere close to 14st I was a bit worried about squeezing in one but this was relatively spacious! The advice was, if you can fit in an S3 then go for that, after then trying out an S3 for size and witnessing a rather awkward silence from everyone looking on, the choice was made for a large chassis with lowered floors!
The Encore as it comes has a great spec, Bridge Classic Cars had ticked a couple of option boxes also and I took the opportunity to add some more options! (it soon became a bit more than £60 worth of tickets!!). The final list of options I went for are as follows:
'Blue Monday' Paint
Large Chassis
Lowered Floor
Carbon with heated padding Seats
Track Day Roll Bar
LSD
Battery Disconnect
Removable steering wheel
I also requested plaque #24
I had in my mind I would go for the carbon seats but my wife's input to the spec was having the heated variant! No bad thing though! My bill for the car is a little more than I sold my last MX5 for so by man maths its still basically free? But the car i'll end up with is something I never imagined being able to own!
Now the wait begins.. it should be a spring delivery which will certainly give me something to look forward to!
I do intend to get it on track, and do the road trips i'd always promised myself- i'm thinking either joining a club or using the community here on PH to be part of some trips.
I think, given the amount of footage that was taken throughout the day there will be a YT video from Bridge Classic Cars, they intend to make the most of the process and journey from a marketing perspective. For now, they've put some photos on their website here
https://bridgeclassiccars.co.uk/another-trip-to-ca...
This smile didn't disappear all day!
Very similar to what i'll be receiving
Sign off from the wife!
Part of the prize was to visit the Caterham factory, have a tour, be immersed in the brand and get a bit giddy about the prospect of having a car in build.
I headed down on Thursday with my wife and my best friend who wangled the day off work as well and to say we were treated like royalty would be an understatement! The team from Bridge Classic Cars were, as you can imagine really happy that an enthusiast won the car and the various members of staff from Caterham (Ali from Marketing, Simon and Alex from Motorsport, Rob from Sales and also met Bob L the CEO) were great throughout the tour and the day.
Once we'd done the tour and after some lunch I was shown the Blue Encore that Caterham will be keeping as part of their fleet, and I already thought I would choose the blue and this just confirmed my thoughts! I tried it for size, this one being an SV with lowered floors and the leather seats which felt good, being 6"3' and somewhere close to 14st I was a bit worried about squeezing in one but this was relatively spacious! The advice was, if you can fit in an S3 then go for that, after then trying out an S3 for size and witnessing a rather awkward silence from everyone looking on, the choice was made for a large chassis with lowered floors!
The Encore as it comes has a great spec, Bridge Classic Cars had ticked a couple of option boxes also and I took the opportunity to add some more options! (it soon became a bit more than £60 worth of tickets!!). The final list of options I went for are as follows:
'Blue Monday' Paint
Large Chassis
Lowered Floor
Carbon with heated padding Seats
Track Day Roll Bar
LSD
Battery Disconnect
Removable steering wheel
I also requested plaque #24
I had in my mind I would go for the carbon seats but my wife's input to the spec was having the heated variant! No bad thing though! My bill for the car is a little more than I sold my last MX5 for so by man maths its still basically free? But the car i'll end up with is something I never imagined being able to own!
Now the wait begins.. it should be a spring delivery which will certainly give me something to look forward to!
I do intend to get it on track, and do the road trips i'd always promised myself- i'm thinking either joining a club or using the community here on PH to be part of some trips.
I think, given the amount of footage that was taken throughout the day there will be a YT video from Bridge Classic Cars, they intend to make the most of the process and journey from a marketing perspective. For now, they've put some photos on their website here
https://bridgeclassiccars.co.uk/another-trip-to-ca...
This smile didn't disappear all day!
Very similar to what i'll be receiving
Sign off from the wife!
Player2 said:
Congratulations OP on the win. I had entered too but with just the one ticket though.
I thought might as well even though I put a deposit down on the morning of the launch. I ve been wanting a seven for at least 25 years and equally excited to say my blue s5 encore is in the paint shop being built and making good progress.
I aim to use on track in the future but will certainly enjoy it until that happens.
Have booked on the annual service and hope to do many events with the owners club in the future.
Look forward to your updates in due course.
P2
Edited; doesn t like my smilies
We saw yours in build then I can only assume...! Great to already hear from another Encore 'owner' I imagine most of the 25 will be in Blue, although I saw a yellow one which in the flesh is deep and quite golden, a white one was also ready in kit form to go out to it's owner too.I thought might as well even though I put a deposit down on the morning of the launch. I ve been wanting a seven for at least 25 years and equally excited to say my blue s5 encore is in the paint shop being built and making good progress.
I aim to use on track in the future but will certainly enjoy it until that happens.
Have booked on the annual service and hope to do many events with the owners club in the future.
Look forward to your updates in due course.
P2
Edited; doesn t like my smilies
Maybe this is yours....?!
Awesome story!
Not sure where you're based but once you've got it absolutely take it to someone to setup. They're fun out the box but a proper setup to you makes a huge difference, especially in an S3 when you're slightly taller.
The Sigma is a cracking engine, it feels just right for the road. On bigger tracks you have a cup of tea on the straights but nevermind it's worth it.
I love thr colour! My current Supersport is metallic blue and it's great in the sun.
Old310R
Current Supersport
Having owned GT3s Boxster Spyders etc these are still the most fun you can have!
Not sure where you're based but once you've got it absolutely take it to someone to setup. They're fun out the box but a proper setup to you makes a huge difference, especially in an S3 when you're slightly taller.
The Sigma is a cracking engine, it feels just right for the road. On bigger tracks you have a cup of tea on the straights but nevermind it's worth it.
I love thr colour! My current Supersport is metallic blue and it's great in the sun.
Old310R
Current Supersport
Having owned GT3s Boxster Spyders etc these are still the most fun you can have!
Dirknights said:
It's somewhere between an S and an R I think, picking through the spec sheet, mine will probably be closer to an R.
The options soon add up don't they!
Yours will have some very nice brakes that weren't an option when I bought mine.The options soon add up don't they!
Enjoy delivery day - it's the best...
Once you've got it there will be some essentials you'll need that aren't part of the factory spec. Off the top of my head:
- Brake fluid reservoir "race cap" (to stop it leaking under heavy acceleration and cornering)
- Roll bar brake light (so other cars can see you)
- Half hood and shower cap (because the standard roof is just the worst)
- And two small circular stickers (one to cover the indicator buzzer and one to cover the main beam LED on the dash)
Some pics of my 310R:
Edited by Gulf7 on Saturday 18th October 12:40
Gulf7 said:
Once you've got it there will be some essentials you'll need that aren't part of the factory spec. Off the top of my head:
Thanks for the pointers, they had ticked the box for the roof but I said I'd rather not have it and use the £££ towards the other options. I'd planned to get a half hood and shower cap (maybe a Christmas present or two!) useful to learn about the other mods.- Brake fluid reservoir "race cap" (to stop it leaking under heavy acceleration and cornering)
- Roll bar brake light (so other cars can see you)
- Half hood and shower cap (because the standard roof is just the worst)
- And two small circular stickers (one to cover the indicator buzzer and one to cover the main beam LED on the dash)
Edited by Gulf7 on Saturday 18th October 12:40
Joehow said:
Not sure where you're based but once you've got it absolutely take it to someone to setup. They're fun out the box but a proper setup to you makes a huge difference, especially in an S3 when you're slightly taller.
The Sigma is a cracking engine, it feels just right for the road. On bigger tracks you have a cup of tea on the straights but nevermind it's worth it.
I'm based on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, plan is to get it set up for sure, as it's the SV with the 8inch rears they commented that it'll be considerably more stable than an S3 on 6s. I guess the beauty of a Caterham is I can get it dialled in to suit me and my use case. Where would you recommend?The Sigma is a cracking engine, it feels just right for the road. On bigger tracks you have a cup of tea on the straights but nevermind it's worth it.
Both yours look great, been following your recent thread. Good to hear repairs will be underway soon!
Fonzey said:
Ah fantastic, and very jealous.
As a Caterham outsider a year or two back I'd have never considered a Sigma car but having being "forced" into them via the Academy race series I've fallen for them and the Encore looks like a brilliant signoff.
It seems like the general consensus is they aren't a poor relation to the duratec cars at all. Will you be continuing up to another one of the championships with your academy car?As a Caterham outsider a year or two back I'd have never considered a Sigma car but having being "forced" into them via the Academy race series I've fallen for them and the Encore looks like a brilliant signoff.
Dirknights said:
It seems like the general consensus is they aren't a poor relation to the duratec cars at all. Will you be continuing up to another one of the championships with your academy car?
Yep I would have ignorantly bought a Duratec "cos faster" but there's definitely room for the sigma cars to stand on their own.Considering mine is still strangled by the best part of 1000rpm I'm properly smitten.
Yes my academy car is already undergoing Roadsport upgrades, no real engine/power changes for that I have to wait another year to gain some more revs!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff