Sad day for the company though as the man who put up Caterham Cars, Graham Nearn, passed away at 76.

Nearn, started selling Caterhams back in 1959, launching Caterham Cars then manufactured by Lotus. Caterham eventually took over production, buying the rights from Lotus in 1973.

Caterhams are an important part of the British motor industry though like all the other names, have all sold out. British Leyland collapsed and other names like Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, and Land Rover all owned by non-British people.

Sure, it’s not as big as those names but Caterhams have proven to be quite the track day cars for those looking for some relatively cheap speed and enjoyable kit cars to build for greasemonkey petrolheads.

Top Gear fans would remember that Caterham R500 shaming the million-quid Bugatti Veyron around the track.

Perhaps you’ve looked at a car and said, “Damn, that’s ugly. I can design something that looks way better!” Well, this is your chance to design your own sports car. Caterham, the Surrey-based automaker, will put the designs for its next sports car prototype in the public’s hands. Internet users will be able to vote on design elements, from exterior styling to hardware specifications, at the website splitwheel.com.

Project Splitwheel is actually a “virtual car company.” The online project is intended to create the first Internet-community-designed performance car. But with the involvement of Caterham, the dominant design will be turned into reality. It will be the first car design project in the world which will be entirely made online, and with the input of potentially tens of thousands of car enthusiasts all over the world.

The website also provides a forum for members and enthusiasts, where they can discuss about and debate on the elements and design features before they vote. It is clearly stated on the site that the goal is not ultimate performance, but there should be a high degree of it. It would be really interesting to see the results of this experiment.

Then again, after making a hash out of it, you can always say, “I am such a child!”

Source: Autocar

Just like the Aston Martin One-77, the Caterham Levante – the new V8-powered lightweight car had just sold out. Dubbed as the most powerful Caterham ever, the RS Levante sold all eight of its own that are to come from limited production. And production hasn’t even commenced at that.

The Levante is set to be one of the quickest cars ever produced. It is powered by a 500 bhp supercharged 2.4L V8. That’s already supercar-spec and when you consider that the car will only weigh 520kg kerb weight, that gives the car nearly a 1000 bhp per ton.

Caterham speculates that the car will be capable of sprinting from 0 to 60 in sub-3 seconds and can go to a limited top speed of 150 mph. The car’s equipped with traction control and even a launch function. I just shiver thinking about how quick this lightweight would get off the line.

I want to see this car tested by Clarkson as I expect this car to be the real face-melter.

Source: Autocar

Remember when The Stig raced the three stooges in Top Gear using a DIY Caterham? Too bad The Stig got flagged for a ticket. Anyway, this doesn’t have anything to do with that save for Caterham. Yesterday, Caterham announced the launch of the Seven Superlight R500 which promises more of everything – power, agility and an optional launch control for those days out in a track.

And when they mean these performance boosts, they don’t seem to hold back. The 2.0L Ford Duratec engine dishes out 263 horses pulling the 500kg-light Seven Superlight. 0-60? In just a staggering, face melting, 2.88 seconds. Now lets see Jeremy Clarkson give it the beans and watch his face get deformed all for the heck of it.

The car can be purchased now for a price £36,995 – that’s about $72876