Caterham doesn’t need to build specific, rarefied versions of the Caterham Seven in order to homologate its racing cars, but if it did, the result would look like the Caterham Seven 420 Cup.
This unmistakable, caged and liveried new model is, in the words of its maker, “a machine built specifically for the race track” and as such takes its mechanical lead from the uncompromising Caterham 420R-based Caterham Seven Championship racer. It is, for all intents and purposes, a road-legal version of the slick-shod competition car, only with a little ‘luxury’ thrown in here and there and, usefully, a passenger seat. It’s also a concoction that Caterham employees have apparently been enjoying internally for a while, mostly at track days, where the package has been disguised as an existing Seven, to remain incognito.
As a brief aside, you might argue that those employees deserve some fun: Caterham’s order bank currently exceeds its 500-car annual production capacity – so much so that the showroom at Gatwick is being converted into a second production plant. (The first remains in Dartford.) Business is deservedly good, although tough decisions lie ahead. Caterham lost access to Ford’s 1.6-litre Sigma engine last year and the 2.0-litre Duratec powering the bulk of the range is guaranteed until 2025 but can’t go on forever. Finding suitable replacements isn’t an easy task, and the spectre of electrification – anathema for an outfit that worships at the altar of lightness – looms.