Again comparing heights, here`s a Caterham 7 parked next to a Hummer. The Caterham is only waist high as you can see. A colleague at work owns one and is also part of the Saturday brigade (that would be us overtimers). He drove up on Saturday in his car and I got a chance to sit in one of these. Now the Caterham is literally a bathtub on wheels and as such, even with a 1.8 litre engine goes like the demon. Space inside is well, restricted shall we say. For the driver to get in, he has to physically unhook the steering wheel, pull it off, get in and put the steering back on. To save on weight, Caterhams as standard dont come with luxuries such as roofs or doors. I dont know if hardtops are available but my friend has exactly the same canvas roof and doors. There`s no stereo in it either.. but seeing as you sit just behind the engine anyway its hard to hear anything except maybe a jumbo jet if it decides to do a fly-by at say 20 feet. The fact that the exhaust sits outside the car just below the passenger "door" means you hear the car all the more.. Oh and the acceleration... even though we didnt get a chance to go full blast, we were easily outrunning those pesky motorcycle riders. And I have to say this is by far the quickest I`ve ever hit 60 in a car.
So kids, moral of the story is, next time you see a caterham driving by, flag it down and BEG the owner to give you a quick ride around the block... you will not regret it!
On July 10 2005
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