GRR Garage: Caterham 310S – dust

It’s a bigger issue when you’re in a Caterham, I can tell you that for free. The Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard was full of dust, that’s what happens to a country estate when you have one of the longest periods of dry weather on record and then park a load of cars on it.

When you're driving the windscreen is ample protection from flies and sundry other larger things, but dust swirls and dives into the cockpit making it its mission to attack from every direction, slamming its way into your eyes while you blink and cough through the countryside.

When stationary the poor little Caterham 310S becomes a magnet for the stuff, accumulating piles and piles of the dust until it resembled a car abandoned in the Sahara. Inside and out… It’s just the price you pay for open-topped motoring.

Fortunately the Caterham is pretty robust inside – the optional leather seats have been godsend this week, needing only a small cloth to dust down, meaning I haven’t had to bring a change of clothes every journey.

We even managed to test the little Seven’s off road prowess, sort of. I can now tell you that it navigated the fields of Goodwood with aplomb, not once struggling for grip in the less than ideal conditions.

The upside is that after a few days of barely driving anywhere while on site for the Festival, the drive home put a massive smile on my face immediately. You just don’t get that with most cars.

Find out more about Caterham