tommallett

The point of a Caterham is to give the driver a raw experience, the extreme R500 does that better than any other Caterham I have ever driven.

I have always been a little disappointed with lower powered Caterhams, they do not have enough power to exploit the chassis fully, or overcome it if you are that way inclined. To my mind they also lack the appeal of a similarly powered Elise.

However, the more potent the engine becomes the more my smile widens when it comes to Caterhams. My favorite memory is of an R500 in 2008. I had a day thrashing around some country lanes in Leicestershire with a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 and a couple of other tasty pieces of machinery in tow and then the time came to head back home.

When you think about Caterhams open wheels, no roof and possibly a roll-cage spring to mind and on this basis I like it to be as hard-core as possible. The R500 has 230 bhp and a kerb weight of 480kg giving it 500bhp/tone, hence the R500 moniker. This is a power level that suites the open wheeled, roll caged exterior in my mind.

Anyway, I was following a guy called Steve, who is pretty handy behind the wheel, through the rain with huge plumes of spray coming off the rear tyres of the Lambo and I realized it was the Caterham that I wanted to be in, it felt alive in a way that I can remember no other car feeling. I had to be so careful getting on the throttle as a slip would send the car into a spin in no time, as I threaded the car through the lanes I would see the suspension working and the wheels reacting as I turned into slides.

The Caterham R500 was terrifying to drive in the rain but it works with you as long as you’re not too ham-fisted. This is the car, above all others that I feel truly alive when I get out of, soaked to the core but smiling nonetheless.

Photo by: sweens308
License: Attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives