British & bonkers The Caterham 620S

By Maarten Hoffmann, Senior Motoring Editor

As the Caterham was named after the town in which they built it and they have now moved to Crawley, there were no happy faces at the factory when l suggested they change the name to the ‘Crawley’. I therefore will not be doing that again.

Caterham delivered me the 620S and that is only one small step away from the total bonkers and extreme hardcore model, the 620R. For once, l was pleased they didn’t offer me the fastest model as the S really is quite fast enough even for one such as l who seems to have little fear and has been accused of having a death wish; l don’t, l just like to drive very fast cars as fast as they will go. ‘Drive it like you stole it’ goes the mantra and who am l to disobey?

Motorsport legend Colin Chapman, who wanted to allow petrolheads to be able to build their own car and then thrash it round a track, launched the history. His mantra was ‘simplify, and then add lightness’. Years later, Caterham acquired the rights to the eponymous ‘Seven’ from Chapman in 1973. To this day, they still adhere to Chapman’s original philosophy, as all their models are based on that famous early car and can be purchased as a kit car for home build or sold complete. Caterham models don’t so much shout ‘fun’, as grab you by the lapels and scream in your face.

❛❛ The 620S weighs in at 610kg and is powered by a 2.0-litre, 310bhp supercharged engine which gives the same power-to-weight ratio at the Bugatti Veyron! ❜❜

Patrick McGoohan with his Lotus 7 in the cult TV show, The Prisoner

PLATINUM

This is an old-fashioned driver’s car. No aids, no high tech gadgets, just the engine, wheels, seat and nullifi ed life insurance. It is an absolute joy to go back to those days although they have added heated seats! Costing £1,000, the new heated carbon fi bre buckets may be expensive but they are damn good. So good in fact that Caterham now holds the record for the Hottest Seat Heaters in the World.

The 620S weighs in at 610kg and is powered by a 2.0-litre, 310bhp supercharged engine which gives the same power-to-weight ratio at the Bugatti Veyron! The difference is that your bum is inches from the tarmac and you have zero driving aids – it all comes down to how talented a driver you are and how close to death you like to be.

That said, the drive is exhilarating to say the least and you feel totally in touch with the car. When it steps out of line (and it will) it is incredibly easy to pull it back into line. It is manageable and exciting and will wheel spin in any gear and at any speed. In the rain, l have one piece of advice – leave it in the garage and take the bus!

Once you slither into the bucket seat bear in mind you need to be quite slim. I have a 32in waist and once in, it was so snug that l felt slightly squeezed but perfectly held in place. You can now, however, spec it with a slightly wider body for those that have eaten too many pies. Then there is the faff with the four-point racing harness seats belts that really are a bugger to get on, but once you manage that task, you are locked in place, effectively lying down, and in that supreme position to drive a proper car. Think F1 and you will not be too far away.

The sequential gearbox can be heavy and clunky round town but get it onto the B-roads is was designed to attack, and it comes alive, is fl uid and perfectly geared to defeat anything you put in front of it. One slight twitch of the hand and you are round a corner - whether you intended to or not, so concentration is the key if you want to drive it as you should. The acceleration is astounding and feels twice as fast as it is, although with a 0-60 time of 3.4 seconds, it is plenty fast enough. The problem here is trying to get the tyres to stick to the tarmac so that you can hit that time as it wheel spins all over the place if you are not careful but with the right pedal balance, it fl ies up the road like a scolded cat on acid – and at least you have a hot bum!

The way to drive the Caterham is stripped down, roof and doors off, heater on. The one thing you will ABSOLUTELY not be able to do is stop laughing and shrieking like a deranged baboon. Honestly, this thing just makes you belly laugh every time you accelerate and is one of the last pure driving experiences left on planet earth.

❛❛ Caterham models don’t so much shout ‘fun’, as grab you by the lapels and scream in your face ❜❜ TECH STUFF

MODEL TESTED: Caterham 620S ENGINE: 2.0-litre supercharged POWER: 310bhp SPEED: 0-62 3.4 secs TOP: 145mph ECONOMY: 24mpg PRICE FROM: £50,390

I have form with Caterham as joined Richard Skerritt along with ten others for a track day at Palmer Sport in 2015. Of the eight races, l proudly won the Superlight class in a Caterham.