Top Gear: Caterham R500 beats Veyron!

[mopho]

Originally Posted by choi0706

dweebs!!!!

Hey! I resemble that remark!

[Aedo]

Originally Posted by Darth G-F

I can't believe I had one and sold it... Now I want one again, go figure.

Me too and seeing this video just makes the desire stronger!

Originally Posted by jasper

I had my caterham out at Texas World Speedway, which is a high speed track, and it hits a wall at about 125mph (on the speedo) on the banked straight. Also the front end gets light and starts to move around a bit, which makes braking and turning for the next corner a little dicey. Granted, I have the superlight america, which only has about 200 hp, a regular gearbox, and none of the junior aero bits on the nosecone, but I suspect this car wouldn't behave much differently just a little faster. I'm not yet bored or crazy enough to think I need an additional 60 hp, but maybe someday. The sequential gearbox looks fun, and the car is pretty easy to slide around in.

My Wesfield - with ~120hp hit the aero wall at ~175km/h (110mph) but no lightness at the front (just no power to go any faster)

Originally Posted by mopho

I have found my speedo to be about 5mph optimistic. Do you have the 6 speed on yours? What about the a windscreen?

Driven with and without the windscreen - WOW does it make a difference!

[jasper]

Originally Posted by mopho

I have found my speedo to be about 5mph optimistic. Do you have the 6 speed on yours? What about the a windscreen?

Yeah, at this point, I have little need for any more power

I have the 13 inch wheels and I suspect the speedo is just an approximation of actual speed. I have the 5 speed and at the end of the straight I was describing I would be at redline in 4th at an indicated 125, I tried to shift to fifth but didn't have enough time to gather much more speed but with a longer straight i'm sure it could. The windscreen does make a remarkable difference, I've tried both, but without the windscreen you better have your helmet secure and watch out for flying rubber. Nothing quite like following a corvette with fat hoosiers kicking big chunks of rubber at your face.

[thegit]

I think that if the tester had bothered to do a disciplined (Not for TV) lap, he could have taken at least one more scalp even under those conditions.

The tester knew that lightweight and soft compound tyres in the cold make for little mechanical grip so I reckon the test was for fun.

As far as tyres and weather conditions go, it was a fair test.

A Seven will never rule on TOP Gear....There is a bias against it.
TV Execs and Prepubescent young boys need a foolishly expensive and exotic looking Battle axe to drool over, and not a shiv.

I don't have a Caterham but I won't sell my seven excepting if a nice Cat was within grasp.

m

[Bavarian Motorist]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

I want one. I will have one.

The R500, or just a Cat? No Toniq?

[mopho]

Originally Posted by jasper

I have the 13 inch wheels and I suspect the speedo is just an approximation of actual speed. I have the 5 speed and at the end of the straight I was describing I would be at redline in 4th at an indicated 125, I tried to shift to fifth but didn't have enough time to gather much more speed but with a longer straight i'm sure it could. The windscreen does make a remarkable difference, I've tried both, but without the windscreen you better have your helmet secure and watch out for flying rubber. Nothing quite like following a corvette with fat hoosiers kicking big chunks of rubber at your face.

I think the 6-speed would make a pretty big difference too, the ratios are so close, the car just pulls through all the gears

[mopho]

Originally Posted by thegit

I think that if the tester had bothered to do a disciplined (Not for TV) lap, he could have taken at least one more scalp even under those conditions.

The tester knew that lightweight and soft compound tyres in the cold make for little mechanical grip so I reckon the test was for fun.

As far as tyres and weather conditions go, it was a fair test.

A Seven will never rule on TOP Gear....There is a bias against it.
TV Execs and Prepubescent young boys need a foolishly expensive and exotic looking Battle axe to drool over, and not a shiv.

I don't have a Caterham but I won't sell my seven excepting if a nice Cat was within grasp.

m

Top Gear tests are not worth much given that they never test in the same conditions and that some cars get tested in the wet, but the video I posted in my original post shows a Cat doing 1:17.4 on better tires with better conditions

[mopho]

Rumor has it that there may be a rematch this Sunday to see if the Caterham can go any faster.

Ansar Ali, the owner of Caterham posted on the UK forum:

What can I say? At last we get the chance to show on prime time TV what a Caterham Seven is all about – fun, excitement, pure adrenalin, value and being different in a conformist world! How proud I am of our association with this phenomenon. We know the R500 is fast and can set the fastest lap time (already my engineering gurus have locked themselves behind a closed door!) but don’t forget that it also has outstanding road manners. Yes, of course I would have loved more coverage; the fact that it is British and an icon, its heritage, it is so much cheaper compared to the 4 cars above it in the Power Lap league, etc, but I am reassured by the grin on Hampster’s face as he drove the yellow R500, the fact that Francine has purchased a Caterham for herself and that the studio applause was audibly decibels above the norm when the lap time was disclosed. Thank you for your support and I am just glad you enjoyed the coverage – it made my Sunday.

Also, note that in the video, the drivers side mirror is knocked over in some shots and not in others, proof of what I've said before that the footage of the TG laps are pieced together.


.

[scannon]

Originally Posted by mopho

The car supposedly gets front end lift at speeds over 100mph, I've never had my car going faster than that, so can't confirm

I've seen a hair over 130 mph on my Caterham SV. Ran out of track with about 900 rpm left to go in 5th. The front end was solid and steady at that speed. It has the CSR chin spoiler and whiskers on the nose and 301 HP at the rear wheels. The speedo is stock Caterham using a Hall effect sensor on the LF wheel hub and calibrated with GPS at 90 mph.

I am working on a set of Brooklands screens and I'm sure it will go a bit faster with them than the flat windscreen. I think there is 140 mph in it given the right conditions.

Skip

[DNA]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

I want one. I will have one.

Now that's the spirit.

[mopho]

The CSR spoilers (and front fenders) are supposed to help quite bit.

There is a Caterham in the UK with 300hp that has been 159mph (with a quaife sequential 6-speed)


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And as you know, there is a guy on the 7's forum with an WMC Ultralite S2K (7 like replica) with nearly 400hp that supposedly did 176mph in his, but he has all kinds of wings all over it to keep it on the ground and the body style is slightly different

[mopho]

Originally Posted by DNA

Now that's the spirit.

He says that about a lot of cars