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Caterham Seven 275R: From Zero To Heart Attack
CATERHAM SEVEN 275R
FROM ZERO TO HEART ATTACK
Words by Alessandro Marrone
Photos by Richard Montagner
A Caterham gives you the true sense of speed and questions your beliefs. You notice it when throwing yourself into a corner, you pray to get out of it alive. Then you understand you were not even close to the limit and at that point it becomes a drug you can’t stay away from.
Today is very hot, the sun is high in the sky with its impassive attitude and every patch of shadow is like an oasis in the desert. The hot asphalt glues the tires and turns the curves into a kind of track, on which the Caterham can draw lines of any kind, without the slightest effort. It’s me, I still have to first understand how to drive a Seven, compromise with its anorexic body and that constant feeling of making you feel poised on the blade of a razor that can cut you at any moment. The fact of being sitting close to the ground is the umpteenth compromise that you have to accept to embrace the glory of maximum driving involvement on a car equipped with a steering wheel and four wheels. That’s it. The Caterham is not stuff for faint of heart, the hard clutch or the damn stiff suspension are just a couple of examples, let alone if I intend to be intimidated by one of the hottest days of August. I will think about the possible sunstroke later, now I’m too busy to keep the small English bullet on the road, something that when the asphalt becomes disconnected, you better not take it for granted, especially when you’re sitting so close to the ground.
Forget all the fantasies about the Austrian countryside, forget the fresh air of villages dominated by mountains and immaculate meadows, do it for at least a moment or at least if you decide not to stop in the most classic Alpine location, but heading north-east towards Linz, where Caterham welcomed me for the test of the 275R, a more than valid step for those who are ready for their first contact with the British manufacturer. You know very well what it is, but if you have just awakened from a deep sleep, Caterham is a small British manufacturer that has detected the project Seven from Lotus, however keeping it faithful to the “less is more” ultimate mantra, where in this case in addition to engine, gearbox, suspension and brakes, there is really little else. This translates into an overall mass that remains, kilo more kilo less, around 500kg and with a whole range of possibilities to make your Seven a little but devastating rocket, capable to spank Porsche and Ferrari on track and kick you along the way home, taking advantage of the fact that it is perfectly usable on everyday roads.
In a world a bit ‘weird we would drive a Seven to go from home to the office, but our back thanks the existence of sedans, wagons and any other type of car that does not force you to unspeakable acrobatics for getting on board. That said, I’m just jumping at the wheel of the 275R, as said probably the best one in terms of power/weight ratio available in the Caterham price list, more powerful and reactive than the entry level 160 and less nervous and demanding of the 310, 360 or the exaggerated 420 and 620, where depending on the country there is a further differentiation, just as in the case of the old continent (UK excluded) where mostly you’d find the 275 or the 485. Time to figure out in my mind what really means a similar power/weight relationship and I find myself literally glued to the little but all in all comfortable leather seats. The adjustments are not their strong points, but while cornering they hold you tight, especially thanks to the 4-point belts that once connected allow to move your legs and arms for one purpose only: drive.
The Caterham Seven is a car that does not show one bit the 50 years of its original design. It’s just updated and made contemporary thanks to aesthetic interventions that do not distort the appearance and that keep alive the spark that gives you the courage to throw yourself headlong into a twisty road. The car in my hands is not a standard 275R, but has a whole series of upgrades that make it even purer, a 6-speed manual transmission (instead of 5), ventilated disc brakes, 13-inch Apollo wheels and 10 extra horses, just because the basic 135 seemed a few. I’m joking of course, but I properly realize this only after a few kilometers spent taking measurements, where I learn not to anticipate too much the corners and above all to trust a grip apparently unknown to any other car that costs at least over € 150,000. In addition to me and the photographer by my side there is a 1.6-liter Ford Sigma engine, a 4-cylinder coupled to a manual transmission and rear-wheel drive, of course, what did you expect? On the right side the exhaust pipe spits out a hoarse voice, barely covered by the air that overhangs the small passenger compartment in which only the bare essentials are placed. I’m talking about the small Momo steering wheel, a central tunnel covered in soft leather, the very short gear lever and a carbon fiber dashboard through which to control what you need to achieve heart attack speed in the most insane way possible.
Behind the wheel there is a speedometer and a tachometer, with additional LED indicator that helps when you turn off your common sense and you can’t for any reason in the world take your eyes off the road in front of you. Next, oil indicator, water temperature and fuel gauge, but I doubt you’ll look at ‘em while speeding. The roads around Munzbach seem to be designed especially for Caterhams, with a fairly rough asphalt to allow the small Avon tires to bite and take advantage of the high temperatures in their favor. Now, after a few kilometers of driving, I feel I can sink more decisively on the throttle and exploit a greater range of engine revs and it is here that I realize how much the Seven 275R is capable of. It is a car to drive with strong manners, you have to be rough in your movements, just like when the widening of the rear reminds you that there is not even electronics helping you out there. No electronics means no external control, it’s only you and the proof that 500 horses are not always the answer for going fast, let alone having fun. I put down and lighten the heavy clutch as it should be, this is the ideal way to bring a heart attack to those next to you, with the road that is seen from a lower perspective than usual and without any kind of barrier between your face and the rows of trees on the sides. The engine almost seems to emit a hissing sound and every minimal mechanical friction is perceived right to your spine. The steering wheel must be kept tight as if it were the only barrier between you and a shameful end (in fact it is so), but once you start getting the feel, the Seven does not fear narrow and tortuous roads just like longer and faster straights, which give way to keep down the gas pedal, at least as long as you have the liver to do that.
Although the Caterham is more a car for driving involvement, rather than pure performance, the numbers of the 275R are equally impressive, with a 0-100 kph of just 4.9 seconds and a top speed that is close to 200 per hour, but here it really takes a lot of hair on the stomach. The one I’m testing also features a lowered floor, although efforts to make the driver seating position comfortable end exactly where the fun begins and that means immediately. There is a lever to activate the indicators and you will ask your passenger to deactivate it as soon as possible, given the deafening noise it emits, but these are details, small nuances of a much larger image that can be appreciated even when loosen your seatbelts you’ll probably have to book a session with the osteopath coming down from the small cockpit. Moving a few meters the car and you will earn a standing ovation from environmentalists, since we preferred to put in neutral and push, rather than restart the sitting procedure from scratch. The doors are removable in a second, but in this way you give up the rearview mirrors and a small but comfortable shelter from pebbles that evade the front fenders. There is no glove compartment, you have to look behind your back and stow everything under the conveniently folded roof, in the luggage compartment that surprisingly can accommodate at least a couple of backpacks.
The Caterham is a demanding car, especially if you want to exploit it at least at 60% on what it is able to offer, but in return it gives you a completely different view of everything on four wheels that money can buy. You can touch the ground with your hand without moving from the driver’s seat, you can slip into corners like a crazy missile, all with low running costs thanks to the minimum weight with which the brakes have to oppose. And then the engine is still a 1.6-liter Ford, but above everything without electronics, which is not a little, especially for those who love to get their hands dirty in the garage. A 275 comes home with you with at least € 31,000, but if you get carried away and check the “R Pack” then it requires € 6,000. A specimen like the one of my test comes to cost a little less than 50 thousand Euros, which is by no means little money for a toy, despite being so exceptional, visceral and unique. What is certain is that if you have the opportunity to try one, a world that you did not believe could exist will open and you will be assailed by the feeling of having to learn everything from scratch, which in fact is so at least in part. You just need a fast car for driving fast, to go fast with a Seven you must be able to pull the trigger and face the consequences. You do not have to fear to see the bumper of a truck a few inches from your nose or dust a barrier with that tail that loves to go sideways and allow yourself to be pulled away by the narrow muzzle between the two partially-covered front wheels. You have to get your hands on it, you’ll not be able to master it in an afternoon, but once you get close to it you’ll get richer (in experiences) than before. At that point you will miss it, you will accept the back pains and you will want to come back on board, not necessarily between the curbs, ‘cause you can also enjoy that part of the journey that does not relegate the Caterham to be a racing track instrument, but the best way to feel happy behind a steering wheel.
CATERHAM SEVEN 275R
Layout – front-engined, rear wheel drive
Engine – in-line 4 cylinder 1.596cc
Transmission – 6-speed manual gearbox
Power – 145 hp @ 6.900 rpm
160 Nm @ 5.200 rpm
Weight – 525 kg
Acceleration – 4,9 sec.
Top Speed – 201 kph
Price – from € 31.095 (€ 47.645 as tested)
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