Caterham is on a roll lately – with a lot of future plans set for the next couple of years. They’ve recently released some renderings of their up and coming sports car, which was a surprise as they’ve come up with an all new, unorthodox design. At the same time, couple of days ago – Caterham explains that they intend to expand their line-up with a small crossover and a city car by 2016. It seems that theres new money in the company and the little track-day toy manufacturer is about to go BIG!
Don’t despair however, as they’ve not flown all the way up to cloud 9 and lost their heads. With the introduction of the new 620R, rest assured that the company will still remain as we know it – the manufacturers of a damn good track-day toy! Like the R500 Superlight, the 620R will run Ford’s 2.0-litre Duratec but this iteration is set to transfer 311bhp and 219lb ft to the tarmac. Thats almost 50 horses more than the R500, which was terrifyingly fast to begin with already.
The 620 stands for 620hp per tonne and if you shift fast enough, it’ll sprint from zerotohundred in 2.8 seconds. Thats quicker than a lot of quick Supercars. Gone of the days when sub-4seconds would make of a fast car. Little wonder as Audi RS wagons are running 3.7 seconds on the same sprint.
The base packs a lightweight gunmetal chassis, and the frontal fascia has an added airscoop which will aid in the air-flow and the race-derived cooling system. At the same time, the 620R is fitted with new uprated coilovers up front to cope with the massive power. The interior remains classic Caterham – with fitted carbon-fibre racing seats and Q/R race-spec steering wheel blended with the classic dash layout from old Caterhams.
For £50,000 – the new Caterham 620R will indeed raise the hair at the back of your neck, and if used profusely, might even break your neck with that power its packing. Caterham will be showcasing the car at Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend along with the teams F1 driver who will be driving it up the hill at Goodwood. So Caterham, move ahead with time but please don’t replace the 7s?
