Tuesday 26th February 2008

Caterham Announces Official Performance Arm

Caterham teams up with RS Performance to offer official V8 Sevens

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Caterham cars has announced a new official performance arm to offer bespoke V8-engined Sevens.

The company has joined forces with RS Performance to offer an ‘everything is possible’ service to Caterham customers who want truly unique cars.

RS Performance is an exclusive, niche engineering house that has spent 16 years developing the 40-valve, 2.4 litre RS-V8 motor.

It reliably delivers 400bhp in normally aspirated mode, or over 500bhp as a supercharged variant, whilst weighing only 90kg in full running gear.

Matched to the featherweight Seven chassis the V8 delivers a power-to-weight ratio of over 1000bhp per tonne – more than double of a Bugatti Veyron.

The RS Performance badge will sit alongside the established, and soon to be expanded, Ford powered Caterham Seven range.

Caterham said in a statement: ‘This unique partnership will be open to customers looking for the ultimate in exclusivity, and carry a price tag to reflect the tailoring, detail and hand-built craftsmanship that will go into every RS-badged Caterham.’

The first Seven to rollout of RS Performance’s Hertfordshire doors, and which only seven more of this type will be available, is the supercharged ‘Levante’.

With a 12 week waiting time and costing over £115,000, the car boasts a modern interpretation of the Seven’s classic looks, but has a sophisticated electronics package including traction and launch control to help get the power to the floor.

Weight reduction runs throughout the car, from the carbon fibre interior finished with Kevlar seats down to the hosing used on the cooling systems.

Ansar Ali, Caterham Cars managing director, added: ‘Caterham and Russell Savory have a long history, and this seemed a natural progression of that relationship and shared engineering philosophy.’

[z_chromozone]

£115,000


You could buy an old F3, transporter, and a nice everyday car for that.

Are people really going to drive these things on the road, or just the track.

Z

If I had money to burn I would still buy one.