Caterham's building its first "new" car in years, and like the Caterham Seven, it's all about joy-per-dollar. The Lola SP/300.R is a $100K prototype racer that'll blast to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and hit 170 mph. We'll take three.
The Caterham Lola SP/300.R looks like a Seven crossed with a Can-Am racer, which is no surprise given the body was designed by Lola. Also like the Seven, the SP/300.R sports a 300 hp supercharged Ford Duratec four-cylinder engine, but in this case the car only weighs 1,300 pounds giving it an even more superior power-to-weight ratio.
The suspension's a full race setup with front/rear dual wishbones with pushrod dampers, adjustable height, and custom wheels. It's a setup similar to what the Lola Formula 3 cars use, but wrapped in a sleek and downforce-creating body.
If you really want to play race car driver, the engine's mated to an LSD and Hewland semi-automatic transmission with paddle shifters. And race car driver is the only way you can play because the car's not street legal but designed for a one-make championship probably to launch next year.
Live the life of Allan McNish, but at Costco prices.