Caterham carries on racing

New ownership but no change in philosophy

Caterham's change of ownership won't affect its attitude to racing, according new MD Ansar Ali. In fact, the change in ownership "is set to strengthen the firm’s position as Britain’s leading manufacturer of racing sports cars."

Underlining the importance of its many racing customers and championships to the firm’s marketing strategy, Ali said: ‘Racing is the lifeblood of Caterham Cars and the company’s motorsport activities will continue to fuel its success in the coming years.

‘The management buy-in backed by Corven Ventures provides a winning combination of appropriate management experience and funding which will permit Caterham to exploit its track successes to a global audience.’

Caterham’s director of motorsport, Magnus Laird, added: ‘The Caterham 7 is the most-raced car in the world, with 17 championships in nine countries, and its future as the track car of choice for many hundreds of competitors around the globe remains assured.’

October’s launch of the all-new 260bhp Caterham CSR provided the impetus for the firm’s latest race series, the Cosworth Caterham Masters, which will feature six double-header meetings at Grand Prix circuits across Europe during 2005. It joins the successful Autosport Caterham Eurocup as a flagship of Caterham’s motorsport events calendar.

In the UK this season the Powertrain Caterham Challenge will combine for the first time the R400 and Roadsport A models on a single grid, with a top-level calendar featuring several British GT/F3 Championship-supporting dates.

The Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge – for drivers of the Roadsport Inter and Roadsport B models – has two nearly-full grids already this season, with the evo Caterham Academy again bringing in excess of 50 new drivers into the sport.