The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister

Caterham did something other than the Seven?
Yep.
This is the Caterham 21, the only other car Caterham ever made.
It was pretty much a more comfortable, everyday-use Seven.

When did that happen?
Between 1994 and 1999.

The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister

Caterham did something other than the Seven?
Yep.
This is the Caterham 21, the only other car Caterham ever made.
It was pretty much a more comfortable, everyday-use Seven.

When did that happen?
Between 1994 and 1999.

Was it meant to replace the Seven?
No.
The production was already meant to be limited to 200 cars a year.

So, 200 cars a year, for 5 years, that makes for…
Yup.
48 cars.

What? Why?

Remote video URL

Why was it called 21?
Caterham started making Sevens in 1973. This car was born in 1994. Take a look at the years…

Yep, it was presented as a celebration of Caterham’s 21 years. But since the goal was to build a car similar to the Lotus 11, the name might have something to do with that too.

Did all of them have that crazy silver look?
No, that was just the aluminum prototype. The production version was made out of fiberglass, and looked like this:

The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister
The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister

Hold up… Why do those taillights look familiar?
Erm…

Yup. They're the same.
Yup. They're the same.

Oh, and it doesn’t stop there, either.

The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister

Enough with the body, was the interior comfortable?
More than the Seven, of course (in the end, that was its goal): It had more creature comforts, such as proper doors, actual glass windows (which as a trade-off didn’t roll down), a dashboard that actually looks like there was some design work behind it, and a soft-top worth its name. Though comfort was still one of its weaker points.

Why so? Isn’t the car a lot wider? Where did all the additional width go?
Well…

Yes, this is for real. You could have a football match on those sills.
Yes, this is for real. You could have a football match on those sills.

Engine-wise?
Aside from a couple of Vauxhall 2.0 and 2.4 RST V8s exceptions, they were fitted with the almost stereotypical Rover K-series (yes, the same you found in the Elise. And in the Atom. And in the Freelander), either as a 1.6 or as a 1.8. Two featured a “Very High-Performance Derivative” (VHPD) specification.

Oh, yeah, and it had one of those cool forward-opening bonnets, which is always a plus.
Oh, yeah, and it had one of those cool forward-opening bonnets, which is…

Any specs?
Plenty.

1.6
0-60: 6.4s
Top Speed: 118mph
Max Power: 115 bhp @ 6000rpm
Max Torque: 107 lbft @ 3000rpm
Specific Output: 72bhp/litre
Power to weight: 177bhp/tonne

1.6SS
0-60: 5.8s
Top Speed: 131mph
Max Power: 138 bhp @ 6000rpm
Max Torque: 115 lbft @ 3000rpm
Specific Output: 87bhp/litre
Power to weight: 213bhp/tonne

1.8VVC
0 - 60 : 5.5s
Top speed : 130mph
Max Power : 151bhp at 7000rpm
Max Torque : 128lb ft at 4500rpm
Specific Output : 84bhp/litre
Power to weight : 232bhp/ton

1.8 VHPD
0 - 60 : 4.5s
Top speed : 135mph
Max Power : 190bhp at 7500rpm
Max Torque : 150lb ft at 5750rpm
Specific Output : 105bhp/litre
Power to weight : 292bhp/ton

How was the sound?
Better than a Viper’s. At least, according to Mike Rutherford from this Men and Motors segment from 1998. If you want to spare yourself some ear-piercing music, skip to 2:06 for the bold claim and some chatting with Jez Coates (Caterham’s technical director) about how they managed that.

Remote video URL

How did that power get to the wheels?
As standard, it had the Ford Type 9 transmission, the one you’d find in a MKIII Capri or a Sierra, though a Caterham-made six-speed gearbox was offered as an option. It also had a limited-slip differential,of course.

So, how was it like to drive?
Probably better than the Seven: the chassis was 50% stiffer and the suspensions were tweaked for a better ride. And while it was bigger and heavier than the Seven it was based on, we’re still talking about less than 4 meters and 700kgs (or 1500 pounds, if you’re fond of using the wrong measurements).

So it’s a good racecar?
Very. So much that most of them were GT versions, devoted to racing from 1999 to 2001, though some are still racing to this day, like the GPS Racing team raced the Belcar 24h and won its class (beating a bunch of Lotus Elises too).

The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister
The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister

Oh, and then there was the GTO, an R500-engined version. Some specs? 230 hp from a 1.8l, 0-100 in 3,8 seconds, and all in 1994.

The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister

And, as if it wasn’t mad enough already, it later received the Levante’s V8 (supercharged to 500 hp!).

Wow, I want one now! Too bad it’s a rarity, prices must be sky-high…
Do you really think so? Well, you’re about to be pleasantly surprised: those Caterhams you saw above are actually up for sale, and with prices that rival used Sevens, too!

The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister
The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister

If you do buy one, the Caterham 21 has an official owner’s club (weird, I know) at caterham21.com, which contains a lot of useful and interesting information about them.

What do you think about this forgotten Elise rival? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you did please leave an upvote and consider following me. If you feel like giving me a couple tips on how to improve, please do, it’s very appreciated.

Don’t forget to tag whoever you think might enjoy this blogpost! As always, I appreciate being tagged on any post you feel deserves my attention (and obviously anything Caterham!)

See ya in the next blogpost,
BACTM out.

The Caterham 21: A #blogpost On The Seven's Forgotten Sister

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Comments

Caro

Time for Flux (Kompensator) to have a new favourite car.

02/18/2017 - 17:41 |
16 | 2
Bring a Caterham To MARS

In reply to by Caro

Time for me to have an editors’ pick.
Right, Matt Robinson?
Please?

02/18/2017 - 17:45 |
2 | 0
[Flux]

In reply to by Caro

GTOOOOOOOO!

02/18/2017 - 18:33 |
2 | 0
hummerinator (Suzuki samurai, lada niva & iveco daily lover)

Never heard of this, looks like a inflated lotus!!

02/18/2017 - 17:44 |
0 | 0

The Elise was actually a very close competitor to this one, which in the end faired better

02/18/2017 - 17:46 |
0 | 0
Dat Incredible Chadkake

never heard of this one before

02/18/2017 - 18:08 |
2 | 0

I bet!

02/18/2017 - 18:09 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

What are your thoughts on the aeroseven?

02/18/2017 - 18:18 |
0 | 0
Bring a Caterham To MARS

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I dig it quite, and like the futuristic design, but I don’t know if I’m prepared to see it replace the Seven…
Perhaps time won’t be as kind with it.

02/18/2017 - 18:54 |
0 | 0
Itsuki

I’ve actually seen one parked on the street once in my city. My friends didn’t understand why I was foaming at the mouth when I saw it

02/18/2017 - 20:12 |
2 | 0
Bring a Caterham To MARS

In reply to by Itsuki

02/18/2017 - 20:17 |
4 | 0
Syafiq_zr

So this is the answer of the guess the car you had earlier?

02/18/2017 - 22:38 |
0 | 0
Bring a Caterham To MARS

In reply to by Syafiq_zr

Exactly.
I was browsing Caterham’s website and found this for sale, I had a look at the engine size and reading 1.6 instantly reminded me of the Miata (because it’s quite possibly the car I actually started caring about engine size with) so I thought If I only mentioned certain specs everyone would’ve thought I was talking about a Miata, and that’s how the idea sparked.
Then I decided there were far too many things to say about this to sum them up in a normal post, so blogpost it was.

02/18/2017 - 23:09 |
0 | 0
Darude Her Right In The Sandstorm™

The Caterham 7×3

02/19/2017 - 00:23 |
2 | 0

As shown in the cover

02/19/2017 - 00:29 |
0 | 0
Raregliscor1

P1eased0nteatme more obscure sportscar, what if you did a bloggity blog on that thing i showed you that you fell in love with?

02/19/2017 - 00:46 |
2 | 2

I forgot what it was lel

02/19/2017 - 01:05 |
0 | 0

It’s 1am don’t task me with remembering thigns

02/19/2017 - 01:05 |
0 | 0

wait nvm i unretardified

02/19/2017 - 01:13 |
0 | 0
Cody's Car Conundrum

Once again another cool and forgotten car…. such a shame.

Thanks for bringing this car to light dude!

02/19/2017 - 01:23 |
0 | 0

Thanks to you for the support!

02/19/2017 - 10:17 |
0 | 0