Caterham Cars has
made their dream come true by showing us the new AeroSeven Concept car. The British
brand looks to be going after the same market as the likes of Ariel Atom, KTM X-Bow and Caparo T1.
These are essentially track cars that can also be legally driven on the road.
Caterham promises it will have a production version of the
AeroSeven on sale in 2014, but no
word on which markets it will be available in. What makes the car special then?
First it’s bucking the turbo trend by using a naturally aspirated 2.0-litre Ford engine for its 177kW at 8500rpm. All power goes to the rear wheels of course, and the 0 – 100km/h run can be completed in “under 4 seconds”.
Second, the car uses a 6-speed
manual transmission, again going against the current grain of double-clutch automatic transmissions. AeroSeven
is the first Caterham to feature traction
control for those of us who aren’t as confident around bends and corners. This
is another way of attracting new buyers to the segment. Launch Control is one of the fun parts and is probably the main
reason for the “under 4 seconds” bit.
Third, the AeroSeven sits two people, which is quite different
for this segment. What is probably missing however, is a windscreen so driving
the thing will probably require some form of headgear like a helmet
or something.
Lastly and perhaps the coolest bits, are the Formula One-inspired steering wheel and
the Graphical Display Unit (GDU). The
GDU displays all sorts of useful info, such as speed, current gear, fuel and using an advanced real-time 3D rendered display.
The AeroSeven will be produced straight out of England at
the Caterham factory in Dartford, about
30km outside of London.
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