Your ultimate road spec caterham?

[Mario149]

Can be past or present just curious! I'm after an R500/620R as it'll almost purely be for track work, but I was chatting with my mate the other day and apparently some people (who must have a lot of garage space ) have a track caterham and a dedicated road one as well. If you could do (or have done) the same, what spec was/is/would be your road one?

[downsman]

A basic Road sport 125 makes a superb fun road car. Reasonable economy, for a decent range. Comfortable enough to carry the wife, quick enough for overtaking, but it is possible to use a lot of the performance without risking your license too much

[StEVEN7]

Without doubt the 145 Sigma Supersport for the road. I've driven many of the variants and the SS is something else the
Noise it produces with the Peashooter is quite something. I owned mine for 3 and half years and loved every minute of it
Because it had track dampers it was Kart like stiff and I could keep up with more powerful 7's in superlight spec that couldn't shake it off!!....have a look at Grants YouTube video.....I'm looking for my next car now but the cars I've driven so far don't come near the fun of the SS I'm actually thinking of getting another one... Reliable and cheap to run tioo.

[StEVEN7]

Without doubt the 145 Sigma Supersport for the road. I've driven many of the variants and the SS is something else the
Noise it produces with the Peashooter is quite something. I owned mine for 3 and half years and loved every minute of it
Because it had track dampers it was Kart like stiff and I could keep up with more powerful 7's in superlight spec that couldn't shake it off!!....have a look at Grants YouTube video.....I'm looking for my next car now but the cars I've driven so far don't come near the fun of the SS I'm actually thinking of getting another one... Reliable and cheap to run tioo.

[coppice]

Mine of course; R400D with RBTBs , and creature comforts like leather , heater and half hood. 6 speed means touring is at higher revs than a 5 speed but playing tunes on a 6 speed through Wester Ross and Sutherland makes up for that. 40k miles and we are a happy item.

Drove a 125 Sigma last year and it was delightful and very chuckable; but I would miss the sledgehammer go of the R400.

Most charismatic Seven I have driven was my first - a 1.4K SS which sounded like a 70s F2 car . But I dare say a crossflow or twin cam on bloody great Webers is the best of all for character .

[K800 RUM]

Why did you sell your supersport Steven?

Now had my 125 sigma for 8 years & still love it. For Blats & Euro trips it has been superb.

[framerateuk]

Love my Sigma 140.

Leather seats, heater, LSD, 6 speed with windscreen and half hood is a very good road/track spec.

I've thought about upgrading but I honestly don't think I'd have as much fun on the road with a faster car - though it would be nice for trackdays!

[Mario149]

From my very limited knowledge of caterhams,in my head a sigma at 150bhp+ would be a lovely thing, not too much power but still getting close / past the magic 100bhp/tonne so presumably a nice revvy engine you have to work to get the performance.

Apologies if it's a daft question, but can you sensibly get sigmas with 150/160bhp?

[Grubbster]

For the road I'd go for a revvy K series, probably 1.6 supersport 133bhp, 6 speed box, adjustable dampers (probably Nitrons) and CR500's. Quite different from both the car I sill have and the Sigma car I raced!

[mharris]

Mario149 said:

Apologies if it's a daft question, but can you sensibly get sigmas with 150/160bhp?

Mario, yes you can get the sigma with 150bhp. I have one.
They come on throttle bodies and is the highest state of tune Caterham offered the sigma with. Unfortunately, they're not available new any more but can be picked up second hand.
At almost 300bhp/ton it has plenty of go. Dont forget the sigma engine is lighter as well with all the benefits that brings, acceleration, braking, handling, etc..

Fitted with the narrower 6 inch rear tyres, it is in my opinion the setup that provides the most fun with plenty of sideways playfulness. A Caterham has so much natural grip that it can sometimes be difficult to make them feel alive at sensible road speeds. The further up the range you go (and therefore the wider the tyres fitted) the more this becomes a problem.

If you want to start looking at aftermarket tuning companies for the sigma then they can currently be taken up to 200bhp naturally aspirated. Not aware of anyone doing forced induction at the moment.

Edited by mharris on Friday 25th September 16:21

[Grubbster]

The official Caterham route for modifying Sigmas has not got very far but you can get them to 200bhp if your pockets are deep enough.

[rubystone]

R300 Duratec. Perfect power and spec for road and track.

[JeffC]

I am maybe a little odd on this one but best road car for me was my R500D I never got sick of the surge of power every time I drove it ,but it was too quick for trackdays , the best track car by far was the R400d but I found it to slow on the road .

[Sbend]

Depends on the road, doesn't it? Where I live there are lots of twisty, dippy roads with not much traffic, but you're liable to come round a blind corner and find a tractor doing 20mph and taking up all of the available space, so how fast is sensible?

[nigelpugh7]

Well I am hoping that my new Superlight Twenty order will be good enough!

I have gone in the opposite direction with this Caterham compared to my previous models, and it only has 133 bhp compared to my last R500 which had 260 odd!

Strangely I am really looking forwards to the simplify and add lightness philosophy and I hope it will the most fun Caterham yet!

[kenny.R400]

That Kobayashi car still looks the boll0cks!!

[nigelpugh7]

kenny.R400 said:

That Kobayashi car still looks the boll0cks!!

Agreed Kenny, always loved that green effect carbon.

And I also really like the takata green 4 point harness too!

Potential upgrades for my car I wonder?

[kenny.R400]

nigelpugh7 said:

Agreed Kenny, always loved that green effect carbon.

And I also really like the takata green 4 point harness too!

Potential upgrades for my car I wonder?

No Nigel, leave it natural carbon and ali........I've had 3 in that scheme now and they do look trick. Keeping them shiny is also not as bad as what you may think.

Harness's yes. without doubt. I've had green belts twice and love them.

[rubystone]

JeffC said:

I am maybe a little odd on this one but best road car for me was my R500D I never got sick of the surge of power every time I drove it ,but it was too quick for trackdays , the best track car by far was the R400d but I found it to slow on the road .

Not sure I understand how the car was too quick for a track day but not for the road?

[JeffC]

rubystone said:

JeffC said:

I am maybe a little odd on this one but best road car for me was my R500D I never got sick of the surge of power every time I drove it ,but it was too quick for trackdays , the best track car by far was the R400d but I found it to slow on the road .

Not sure I understand how the car was too quick for a track day but not for the road?

on the road I didnt do a lot of miles in my 7"s so when I did I wanted the Buzz of the speed and the R500 never failed to put a smile on my face.

R500 driven hard on a trackday can at times be very frustrating as you rarely get in a clear lap as you catch other cars pretty quickly , on track I actually find slower cars are more fun R300/400 for me are ideal, After selling my last Caterham over a year ago I bought an old-skool Honda Crx and surprisingly have more fun in this car than pretty much all my 7"s over the last 13 years as I have to drive the wheels off it and when I do it still surprises me the cars that it will beat !