Artist Envisions a New Take on the Lotus Caterham 7

Much in the same way as Morgan’s pre-Supersports models, the Lotus / Caterham 7 has remained relatively unchanged throughout its long life. A lightweight body with no fixed doors or roof, a flat windscreen, exposed front wheels and a four cylinder motor embody the Seven’s design and engineering philosophy.

Diseno-Art has drawn up a nice design study in the form of the “New 7”, a vehicle designed to expand and complement the existing range of 7-badged vehicles.

With larger proportions and more refinement than the archaic (yet still beautiful) lines of the current generation, the New 7 is designed to be uniquely tailored to each customer’s needs and offer a high level of customer service while still holding to the brand’s philosophy of lightweight, simple and fun.

The New 7 incorporates body parts that are easily removable for maintenance, a direct injection four-cylinder engine (with room for a variety of other types of engine at the client’s request), rear wheel drive and a manual transmission. It’s all very believable and not as farfetched as some of the design study’s we’ve featured on the site before.

You can check out our gallery below and leave a comment if you wish.

By Tristan Hankins

Source: Diseno-Art

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F1’s Team Lotus Acquires British Sportscar Maker Caterham

The owners of Formula One Team Lotus announced today the acquisition of lightweight sportscar manufacturer Caterham, for an undisclosed sum from the shareholder consortium led by Corven Ventures. Based in England, Caterham has made a name for itself for building the Seven, a lightweight two-seater sports car that was designed by Lotus founder Colin Chapman and who sold the rights of the car to Caterham in 1973.
Team Lotus chiefs Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin said in a statement that the company plans to expand Caterham’s profile and product family while also continuing the development of the Seven.
“Caterham Cars has remained wholly faithful to Colin Chapman’s philosophy of ‘less is more’, and the DNA of the original Seven can still be traced to the newest additions to Caterham’s product offering," said Tony Fernandes.
“It is already a successful business with sales across Europe, Japan, Australia and the Middle East, and under the guidance of the existing management team, we now have all the ingredients and the launch pad to further evolve that spirit and take Caterham to new exciting horizons with innovative products and greater global brand exposure.”
Team Lotus said that Caterham will be led by the company’s existing management team, headed up by Caterham Cars Managing Director, Ansar Ali.
In celebration of the new ownership, Caterham will build a limited run of Team Lotus Special Edition Sevens. The British firm will offer just 50 upgrade packages (split evenly for the UK and rest of the world) that can be applied on the range-topping 263bhp, 150mph Superlight R500.
Priced at £3,000, the package adds special livery in the traditional green and yellow colors of Lotus, along with some other goodies such as a plaque carrying the signatures of Team Lotus F1 drivers, Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalaine. Also included in the package will be an invitation to a special tour of the Team Lotus F1 factory in Hingham, Norfolk.
Caterham managing director, Ansar Ali, said: “Caterham Cars is starting an exciting and hugely important chapter, so it’s entirely fitting that we celebrate our opportunity to take Colin Chapman’s ‘less is more’ philosophy global, with this special car.”

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Want to Try out the New Caterham-Lola SP/300 R? Here’s How

With the development of the new Caterham-Lola SP/300 R now complete, the British carmaker is ready to give potential owners their first taste of the prototype-racing car on the tarmac. The dates on which racing drivers and trackday enthusiasts alike can get behind the steering wheel of Caterham’s 300bhp, 180mph (289 km/h) sports prototype are:

-Saturday, August 27 at Donington Park
-Wednesday, September 7 at Donington Park
-Thursday, September 15 at Snetterton
-Wednesday, September 21 at Donington Park

Caterham said that customers who have already placed an order for the SP/300 R will be given priority booking slots, “after which the extensive list of people who have registered an interest with Caterham will be offered one of the strictly limited drives”.

The SP/300 R was developed in partnership with British racing and engineering brand Lola, and it made its global debut at January’s Autosport International Show at Birmingham’s NEC. It is powered a Caterham-tuned, supercharged version of Ford’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder Duratec unit churning out 300-horses. The British automaker committed to build only 25 of the lightweight sports prototype racers a year, with 14 having already been snapped up.

“There has been a huge amount of interest in this car since we unveiled it at the start of the year,” said Caterham Motorsport Manager, Simon Lambert. “It will be fantastic to get it on track this summer and we can’t wait to see the look on people’s faces when they try it for the first time. We are confident it will be everything they expect and more.”

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