Pull enough weight and non-essential items out of a car and it’s very likely you’ll end up with something akin to the Lotus 7. Introduced in 1957, the 7 is arguably the most basic sports car ever built. A skeleton of a car, this street-going race car makes the Mazda Miata look like a Mercedes-Benz S-class. Lotus built the 7 until 1973, when Caterham Cars purchased the rights and took over production.
In the intervening decades since Caterham started building the 7, the car has evolved. From the tube frame to the chassis to the engines, every component has been changed and re-engineered to the extent that the latest Caterhams only aesthetically resemble the original Lotus 7.
Two new Caterham 7s debut this weekend near Monterey, California. Created for the U.S. market, these two Caterhams will be sold by the marque’s new U.S. distributor, Superformance. Based in Irvine, California, Superformance builds replicas of the Shelby Cobra, the Shelby Daytona Coupe, the Ford GT40, and the 1962 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport. In the past, Superformance has provided Car and Driver with Cobra and Daytona Coupe test cars (and this GT40), and we’ve found them to be high-quality, faithful facsimiles of the real thing.
Power for the $45,400 Caterham 360 comes from a breathed-on Ford 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 180 horsepower and 143 lb-ft of torque. If $45K sounds like a lot of coin for a 180-hp car, keep in mind that the fully dressed 360 weighs less than 1200 pounds. We say fully dressed because, to keep the feds happy, Caterham delivers the assembled chassis to U.S. soil separately from the engine and five-speed manual transmission. The rolling chassis and the powertrain get hitched at the Superformance facility in California. So once Superformance does its thing, you get a fully functioning car.
The Caterham 360 comes well-equipped and ready for the track right out of the box. Bear in mind that well-equipped in the Caterham world means it comes with a lot of features created to reduce lap times. A limited-slip differential, 13-inch wheels with semislick Avon tires, a de Dion rear suspension, a wide-track front suspension with racing shocks, and a track-ready cooling package are all standard. Caterham also lists a windshield and a top as standard fare on the 360, which are just about the only concessions to comfort. For example, a heater is a $575 option. Another comfort option is the larger SV body ($3995) that has more room for taller drivers.
The Caterham 360 will reach a claimed 130 mph and run from zero to 60 in 4.8 seconds. If those numbers don’t get your attention, the Caterham 480 might be more your speed.
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Starting at $53,400, the 480 features a 237-hp version of the Ford 2.0-liter four-cylinder teamed with a six-speed manual transmission. Peak horsepower comes at a lofty 8500 rpm. Caterham claims that the 480 will achieve 60 mph in 3.4 seconds on its way to a Vmax of 140 mph. Like the 360, the 480 gets the wide version of the control-arm front suspension, but the 480 rides on Eibach springs and adjustable shocks. Vented front rotors pinched by four-piston calipers replace the 360’s solid rotors.
These two new Caterhams are on sale now; we’ll test these featherweights in the near future.
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