Jalopnik 
Enter your username and password.
-
posts about #projectsplitwheel more → 
Project Splitwheel Wants You To Build The Next Caterham Sports Car
Detroit, 1:16 AM
Sat Dec 5
26 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
Editor-in-Chief:
Ray Wert | | AIM
Road Test Editor:
Wes Siler |
Weekend Editor:
Murilee Martin |
Associate Editor - Houston:
Associate Editor - Detroit:
Editor-at-Large:
Contributors:
John Krewson |
| posts about #projectsplitwheel more → |
Project Splitwheel Wants You To Build The Next Caterham Sports Car |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/05/08
i see what you did there Wes. nice... if only i could remember who that naming scheme originated with..
11/05/08
11/05/08
I don't think the world wants a better Se7en beyond the r500. What it wants is a cheaper one...just MHO.
Plenty of people have tried to reinvent the lightweight sports car, including Atom, Brooke, Radical, and the Light Car Company...among others (Brunton, WCM, Westfield, Birkin, Deman, etc.) so there plenty of choices...however, I remind everyone that they tried an alternate model in the past....the Caterham 21, which i loved but no one bought.
11/05/08
11/06/08
And the Classic, once you get it over here to the US, costs about $40k. For a car that is not much more than a weekender in most parts of the country (damn you Southern California!).
Costs aside, I think that their attempts to come up with the next best thing are laudable, but will prove to be futile. Everyone else who doesn't own the keys to Colin Chapman's design has been trying to top the Seven since 1957. And the fact that the r500 can still show cars twice and three times its cost the door is a good indicator that perhaps there's no point for Caterham to try and reinvent itself.
Does the world need another Elise? I see quite a few sitting unsold at my local Lotus dealer.
11/05/08
11/05/08
11/05/08
11/05/08
I love the whole concept, but Caterhams are way to expensive if you ask me. Locost projects have proven this fact. If one man can make it cheaper on a noncommercial basis, then Caterham or any other company should be able to make it even cheaper. Let's face it there hasn't been much invested into R&D of this design since it was first introduced.
On the other note. Next Caterham should be a MR configuration, have pushrod suspension and be called the Atom.
Oh wait!
p.s. Don't know how many of you are following dp1's progress but it seems it's going to have many siblings.
[dpcars.net]
[dpcars.net]
p.s. How do you insert a picture? Please help.
11/05/08
11/05/08
I wonder how much crap they will sift through before they decide most people are idiots (besides you guys of course) and just offer a se7en with a hardtop and a hatch, and call it a day.
11/05/08
11/05/08
Just wonderin'.
11/05/08
11/05/08
I thought the same exact thing.
11/05/08
11/05/08