[Video] The most extreme Caterham ever | GRR
The name Caterham probably conjures up images of the manufacturer’s stripped back kit cars, like the 420R or Super Seven 1600. Chances are, this wouldn’t spring to mind… But exist it does, born of a partnership with Lola Cars back in the late noughties.
Named the Caterham SP/300R, the open-cockpit prototype features a chassis based on the aluminium monocoque of the Lola B08/90 Sports 2000 prototype and with a mechanically-identical rear end to the Lola B05/30 F3, including the suspension pickups, uprights and damper layout.
Weighing just 545kg, it is powered by an in-house built 2.0-litre Ford Duratec engine, which features a Rotrex supercharger and puts out 300PS (221kW) and 290Nm (215lb ft) of torque. That engine is linked to a Hewland semi-automatic FTR six-speed gearbox, optimised for maximum rpm in top gear at the end of Spa-Francorchamps’s Kemmel Straight. And thanks to this video we can watch the model in all its glory during a track day at Circuit Paul Ricard in 2019.
Take five and enjoy the dark green Racing Team Avenir machine, from beautiful close-ups in the garage to furious fly-bys on the fast, flowing track. Listen to its sonorous hum and admire the coolest Caterham the manufacturer ever built.
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