want to buy R500 ( just sold gt3 ) anyone know these cars?

[blackmk1]

looking for a R500, found two for sale, would appreciate any general feedback or specific knowledge of these two for sale

thanks a lot

www.pistonheads.com/sales/83387.htm


black R500 for sale
www.lawtonbrook.co.uk

[Peter T]

The black one seems to have been used for touring. The seats are wrong they should be Carbon/Kevlar Tillets not leather and as for a sound system What??????
The other one has been used for track work, so might have had a hard life.
What do you want to do with the car, track??? or road.
Black on a car this fast is not a good idea, other road users will not see you clearly.
I have a Mango R500.

[blackmk1]

70% road, 30% track, did few track days in gt3, could really get the track 911 thing, too tricky, did a recent day at bedford in a caterham , loved it, more fun, intimate and easier to control ( not a R500 though! ) have you seen the yellow one around ?

[blackmk1]

70% road, 30% track, did few track days in gt3, could really get the track 911 thing, too tricky, did a recent day at bedford in a caterham , loved it, more fun, intimate and easier to control ( not a R500 though! ) have you seen the yellow one around ?

[jimmyslr]

The black one does look a few grand over priced. The yellow one rather closer the mark, but there has been good R500 volume over the last few months so you don't have to grab one of these. They have been as low as £20,000, from memory, for what look like decent cars.

I would not worry about the track use they might have seen; it is quite likely that a track user will cherish and service/maintain their car somewhat more fastidiously than a tourer. Clearly there's a difference between half a dozen track days a year and a race car, not that many have ever seen race action as there wasn't a real series for them.

Edited by jimmyslr on Saturday 15th July 22:01

[Mad7ner]

Another vote for the mango one

A Caterham with a sound system in it, whats going on there??????????

[jaker]

Aiii!! ICE is da best fing to bling on a Caterham... next up is da underfloor neons and da LED washers. & Dont forget da dub two spinners bro.

[rubystone]

My R500 is worlds away from any other Caterham I have ever owned and driven (with the excption of the RST-V8, that is...).... and that includes an R400/SLR. The power delivery is immense above 6,000 RPM and comes in with a bang. The car is very light and twitchy and needs to be "felt" into bends, even more so than an early 911, which I see that you own.

I'd strongly recommend that you buy a Superlight, learn to drive it and then in a year, move up to an R500 or even an R400. I followed this route from 964RS to Supersport etc etc and now own an R500.

As for those two cars. The black one is as much as £4k too expensive, the yellow one looks a better bet, especially if it's had a refresh.

[LRdriver II]

ICE yea..

The purple SL down at Woodcotes I looked at last week was specced with da blingin ICE. Two large 10" speakers cut and fitted into the back panel behind the seats, two tweeters on top of the scuttle and a large bangin BASSSSS box filling half the boot. I suspect the only resaon a Stack dash was fitted was two ensure space for the head unit infront of the passenger side. Another odd touring car me thinks..also specced without cav tank or anything.

BASSSSSSSSSS how lo can you go!

[racecardoctor]

the yellow one is on the money and I'd second the thoughts of others regarding the refresh and it perhaps being maintained properly. The black one is a real mongrel, I find it quite upsetting that someone has stuck a heater, weather gear and a radio in it - ridiculous

the only R500s I know that raced were in the now defunct JCC (and I don't recognise it from there), and also SEMSEC.

Bare in mind that they are fragile engines, need regular rebuilds and cost a fortune when they go pop ( voice of experience!) . Theres quite a few R400s about that will be pretty much as quick on track - infact I've often seen decent drivers pedal superlights around faster than less able in the R500. Having driven all varieties of caterham, on track days I ultimately find it more satisfying driving the lower powered cars, you have to really drive them. The R500 will just blitz up to the next person along on the track, you have to wait, and then off you go, it disturbs the rhythm somewhat.

Also bear in mind the R500 engine puts stress on the gearbox and differential and you'll find that less is definately more...

[POORCARDEALER]

racecardoctor said:

the yellow one is on the money and I'd second the thoughts of others regarding the refresh and it perhaps being maintained properly. The black one is a real mongrel, I find it quite upsetting that someone has stuck a heater, weather gear and a radio in it - ridiculous

the only R500s I know that raced were in the now defunct JCC (and I don't recognise it from there), and also SEMSEC.

Bare in mind that they are fragile engines, need regular rebuilds and cost a fortune when they go pop ( voice of experience!) . Theres quite a few R400s about that will be pretty much as quick on track - infact I've often seen decent drivers pedal superlights around faster than less able in the R500. Having driven all varieties of caterham, on track days I ultimately find it more satisfying driving the lower powered cars, you have to really drive them. The R500 will just blitz up to the next person along on the track, you have to wait, and then off you go, it disturbs the rhythm somewhat.

Also bear in mind the R500 engine puts stress on the gearbox and differential and you'll find that less is definately more...

Simple enough to remove a radio/heater and weather gear off..............looking at the spec I would say its unlikley to have been thrashed to death...........there were only 85 R500s built, they are a piece of automotive history for very little money thyat will still slay almost everything

[jackal]

if you went out tomorrow to buy a mobile phone for yourself...... ask yourself, would you choose one of these:


www.motorola.com/mot/image/7/7474_MotImage.jpg

[rubystone]

jackal said:

if you went out tomorrow to buy a mobile phone for yourself...... ask yourself, would you choose one of these:


www.motorola.com/mot/image/7/7474_MotImage.jpg

that Motorola's worth a surprisingly amount of money - it's a collector's item Rich - and very enterprising of you to recognise that this is a contributory factor behind the purchase of an R500

[rubystone]

racecardoctor said:

Bare in mind that they are fragile engines, need regular rebuilds and cost a fortune when they go pop ( voice of experience!)

It's worth pointing out that the major rebuild I had on my SLR and the one I had on my R500 cost exactly the same amount of money - and I needed a new head for the R500.

[POORCARDEALER]

Dont tell anyone but I used to have a Motorola like that, in fact I used to have one that had a car battery size battery with a curly wire going to the handset.........

[Bafty_Crastard]

Nice car here.....................

[url]www.pistonheads.com/sales/89140.htm[/url]

The R300 NUT'errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[canam]

blackmk1,
Apologies in advance here if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs. I'm looking around for my first Seven at the moment and have found quite a few which weren't exactly what they claimed to be. If you take a look on the Lotus 7 Club website (you don't need to be a member to browse) here
[url]http://7faq.com/owbase/ow.asp?Chassis[/url] it explains how to decipher exactly what model you're looking at.

[Bafty_Crastard]

canam said:

I'm looking around for my first Seven at the moment and have found quite a few which weren't exactly what they claimed to be

And there loads on there also


The R300 NUT'errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Edited by Bafty_Crastard on Sunday 23 July 21:21

Edited by Bafty_Crastard on Sunday 23 July 21:23

[1st_petrolhead]

This may help - www.petrolhead.me.uk/r500.htm

[Dangerous_Bryan]

Another very good one here slightly more "nutty" that your standard R500 but very well looked after.