European First Drive: 2005 Caterham CSR

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European First Drive: 2005 Caterham CSR

260 horsepower, lighter than lightweight, and it's got a ticket to America for 2006: Here comes the latest Lotus-like blast from Britain
By Nick Kurczewski Email


Date posted: 12-05-2005

Few cars make a Lotus Elise look luxurious, or a Ferrari Enzo look slow. Even fewer manage to do both at the same time. The Caterham CSR is the exception, the new king of supercar-slaying performance for a sports car with a sub-six-figure price tag. It's set to go on sale in the U.S. early in 2006, but we didn't want to wait that long to drive this 260-horsepower, 1,265-pound rocket of a road car.

Before the storm
Here's a hint to aspiring auto journalists: If you ever find yourself in England set to test a seductive sports car when, suddenly, the bleak November sky turns sunny, then get in the car, you fool! My tour of Caterham's assembly plant in Dartford ? roughly 20 miles east of central London ? was ill-timed to correspond with the best of that day's weather.

However, my meanderings amongst rows of bug-eyed Caterhams in various states of assembly, repair or tests for Britain's SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) legislation gave a glimpse into what my PR guide, Gareth Dean, refers to as "a classless car company." Obviously, he is not lumping Caterhams in with leopard prints, fanny packs and AMC Pacers.

Ever since Colin Chapman sold the rights to manufacture the Lotus Seven to Caterham back in 1973, the spartan roadster has found its way into the garages of oil barons, bankers, racers and working stiffs who have saved for years to own the closest thing to a motorcycle with four wheels.

At the helm
Sliding behind the wheel of a CSR isn't the embarrassment it could have been had the top been raised. As it is, the notoriously useless and unsightly mass of vinyl and metal snaps was tossed into the shallow trunk, designating "luggage room" to be whatever can be jammed behind the seatbacks, or fit into your pockets. Room for groceries is the least of my worries as the rain and wind continue to gather.

Did I mention the car's 0-60-mph time of 3.1 seconds? All right then, a twist of the key and the 2.3-liter Cosworth four blasts into life, settling into a lovely brap-brap-brap noise at idle. My ear-to-ear grin is momentarily diminished as I realize my Lilliputian-size 8 1/2 Timberlands are too wide for the closely spaced brake and gas pedal.

Proper driving shoes are essential gear, despite the CSR sharing the dimensions ? though not the chassis ? of the XL-friendly Caterham SV model, that was created to accept bigger feet and wider backsides. The solution: drive sans my right shoe.

Riding shotgun, Gareth warns me that the clutch is abrupt. I'm ready for it, the progression is firm, smooth, and when I eventually press my stocking-clad foot down on the gas?my god! The Caterham CSR scorches away with straight-line speed to humble any Lamborghini or Ferrari. A McLaren F1 might keep up, barely. Sounds ridiculous? Frankly, it is!

Even allowing for a fudge factor of non-perfect launch and the expected soggy English landscape that greeted me during my test-drive, the CSR is a maniacally fast and incredibly addictive machine. Imagine sitting in the front row of a rollercoaster, and being able to steer. On the wet, greasy roads surrounding the factory, the front 195/45R15 Avon tires hunt for grip and the 10-inch-wide rear 255/40R15s break into wheelspin up to 4th gear.

Brakes are 10.1-inch discs all round, vented with four-piston calipers up front and solid with a single-piston caliper in the rear. They feel fantastic despite requiring the driver to actually use some honest leg muscle to get the best out of them.

Flicking through the six-speed manual gearbox is a delight ? the shifts millimeters apart, the feel solid and mechanical. Caterham is rightly proud of this box, vaguely based on a Ford unit but with casing and ratios unique to the CSR.

More good news is that the CSR comes with a raft of suspension tweaks and interior modifications that allow the prodigious power to be better controlled and appreciated, without the hay-wagon ride and backyard-built interior that many ? myself included ? might have expected.

Once acclimated to the car's performance, I take a few moments between rain showers to admire the CSR's handsome tubular dashboard. Some Caterham purists were aghast to see that the flat, featureless Seven dash was gone when the CSR was unveiled. The new dash has (modest) storage space, an armrest, and even proper stalks for wipers and turn signals to replace the cheapo dash-mounted switches in other Sevens. The flat dash is still an option ? and, remarkably, one that 30 percent of CSR buyers opt for.

Fast car, slow and steady improvements
Caterham chucked the regular Seven's De Dion rear suspension into the garbage to give the CSR fully independent double wishbones. New F1-style inboard dampers live up front, where suspension refinements sharpen the steering and reduce aerodynamic drag. Believe it or not, the CSR was tested in a wind tunnel, a place which Caterham's technical director, Jez Coates, admits no one would expect to find the coffinlike profile of the Seven.

During testing, it was discovered that the car had 100 pounds of front-end lift at 100 mph. The dilemma was eliminating the lift, without messing up the traditional look of the car ? Porsche 911 stylists can relate to this quandary. Reprofiled front wings that sit closer to the tires reduced 35 pounds of lift. A chin spoiler, air ducting for the front radiator exiting out the top of the nose cone, and tiny, nearly invisible winglets clawed back about 7-10 pounds each. The net result: lift of 38 pounds at 100 mph. Not perfect, but Coates says that any more tinkering requires changing the basic shape too much for Caterham's loyal clientele.

The result of this fine fettling is that the CSR squats ever so slightly when you give it gas and, like the Road Runner taunting Wile E. Coyote, shoots into the horizon with disheartening speed for anyone attempting to challenge it. That independent rear offers a ride that won't damage your kidneys as it absorbs bumps and road imperfections with surprising ease.

The chassis was developed with Multimatic, a Canadian firm that helped to develop the Shelby Series 1, Ford GT, and its own Daytona Prototype racecar. Jez Coates explains that torsional stiffness in the CSR was doubled, and 38 different variations of front damper valving were tried. "And as for the rear," says Coates, "we signed off on No. 89."

This level of analysis will become the norm for Caterham's future products, now that the company has a fresh injection of cash via a management buy-in earlier this year from the Nearn family, who carefully guided the company for over three decades.

Ansar Ali, former general manager of Lotus, is Caterham's new managing director. "Caterham is full of heritage, and a lot of opportunity," says Ali. Though, as Caterham's engineers are loathe to change the Seven's outline, he admits that the company needs to be focused and make steady gains in new or existing markets while appealing to its core clients.

In two to three years, Ali would be happy with production of 600 cars a year ? up only 100-150 units from current levels. The new Formula One circuit in Bahrain has ordered 10 cars for its racing school, Japan routinely imports 100 Caterhams a year, and the CSR itself allows the company to market a 200-plus-hp model in Continental Europe for the first time.

As for the U.S. market, sales of roughly 50 cars per year will be the norm. The good news is that you can count the 260-hp CSR ? there is also a 200-hp model that will not be sold in the States ? among them.

Caterham USA is taking orders for the CSR, priced at about $65,000 in kit form, with delivery expected in spring 2006. Should you choose to have the car built by one of the 10 Caterham dealers Stateside, add another $3,000 to $4,000 to the price.

Not perfect, and all the better for it
The CSR has got to be the performance bargain of the car world, despite any flaws when it comes to civility. As previously mentioned, the roof and flimsy side doors are useless. Luggage space is nearly nonexistent, and you better be OK with the fact that anything short of a Razor scooter will tower over you on the road. But what is all this harping about creature comforts? This is a Caterham Seven after all, the fastest to ever leave the factory and maybe the quickest accelerating car on the planet. That counts more than cupholders any day.

[JYODER240]

I want one of these for autocrossing.

[Raza]

Can someone say "ideal daily driver"?

:D