Our next unknown car is a bit of a beast. Here’s introducing the originally Lotus, later Caterham Seven.
We should start the story of the Seven with a legendary figure in automotive history: the late Colin Chapman. An aeronautical engineer by training and a civil engineer by profession, he founded the Lotus Cars company in 1952, and ran it with several private enthusiasts in his spare time.
In 1957 he designed a car that embodied the Lotus philosophy: performance through low weight and simplicity. The resultant Lotus Seven was sold as a full car or in a cheaper kit form, and incorporated advanced innovations like good aerodynamic efficiency and a monocoque shell. It was immensely popular, with over 2,500 units sold in the first year alone, and became a relatively affordable way for people to get involved in club racing.
As the car evolved it became faster: the Ford engines used first produced a mere 50bhp in 1957, but by the end of its production in 1972 a Cosworth-fettled twin-cam four cyclinder pushing 115bhp in stock form resided in the engine bay. The Seven still kept its featherweight qualities, and this made for awesome acceleration and handling.
The Seven has been reproduced in many forms, under many names, but none more beserk than Caterham. In 1972 Caterham cars acquired the rights to reproduce the Lotus Seven, and has never looked back since. More than 50 years on, the Seven still miraculously enjoys a healthy reception from racing enthusiasts, and has regularly been touted as one of the greatest sports cars of the 20th century.
Caterham offers many variations of the Seven: from mild, to adequate, to completely rude. They are deranged alter egos of the original Seven that offer raw, unparalleled performance and satisfaction. However, as the cars below demonstrate, their rewards are not easily earned, for they take no prisoners, and require a seasoned and disciplined driver that can handle the tricks up their sleeves.
The R500 weighs a teensy 550kg, but is powered by a fire-breathing, Ford-derived Duratec tuned to a manic 263bhp. That gives the R500 a power-to-weight ratio higher than that of the Bugatti Veyron. In the hands of the Stig, it absolutely obliterated the Veyron’s lap time on the Top Gear test track and was subsequently (and very deservedly) named the Top Gear Car of the Year 2008.
But perhaps the most mental of them all, though, is this: the Levante. The figures would scare the bravest of men: 550kg, a supercharged 2.4L V8 producing 550bhp, to give the Levante 1000bhp per tonne. Whoever gets in to one of these requires either cajones of steel, or severe mental inhibition. And insurance, for that matter.
The Seven is and will always be one of the greatest sports cars ever known to us. Sadly, restrictions here meant that we never really became acquainted with the rabid machine that it really was. So it earns a well-deserved place here, on our unknown sports car list. 
That pretty much sums up the Lotus and later Caterham Seven, and as it gets lighter and faster with every new incarnation, a famous quote by the late Colin Chapman comes to mind:
“Simplify, then add Lightness.”
- Brendan
