The Caterham Seven, then. It’s great fun, they say. It’s got go-kart handling, they say.
Obviously, the Autocar team don’t say that because it’s a terrible cliché, and those should be avoided, as our style guide suggests, like the plague. But I’m sure that you’ve heard it before.
Certainly, we have. So, here we are, on a cold but mostly dry November morning, at Rye House circuit in Hoddesdon, to see how much truth there is in the cliché. After all, there’s truth in some clichés. Plagues are best avoided.
Anyhoo, Rye House is a kart circuit. That’s okay. It’s a good one. My local one. If a Caterham really does have go-kart handling, it’s going to have to show it on a kart’s home turf.
The car in question is a Seven Supersport, a couple up from the bottom of the Caterham range. For the past year it’s been Nic Cackett’s long-term test car; this was its swansong before leaving us for good.
Lower down the scale, the kart is in Autocar’s custody, too, of a fashion. It’s mine. It’s an ex-hire kart (I think), twin-Honda-engined, making about 10bhp on a good day rather than the 140bhp of the Seven.
We’re going to swap and see how much my weekend wheels handle like his and how much his are like mine.
I’ve driven this Seven a lot, but nowhere as small and narrow as Rye House. But, by gum, if there’s one thing I can tell you, it’s that the Seven doesn’t dwarf the place.
It sits daintily in the pit lane – the Seven is only 20cm wider than my kart’s back axle – and it doesn’t overburden the circuit. You wouldn’t want to race 20 other Sevens around here, but on its own there’s room to pick a line and exploit the handling.
On the two straights, you can pull third gear. The braking is strong and you feel the weight transfer under slowing and on turn-in for every corner, which all want second gear. That’s great because on 175-section tyres and with a limited-slip diff, the Seven, turned in on the brakes, is inclined to step into oversteer very easily, which second has the power to exploit. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that every corner bar one kink can be taken sideways.
The Seven is also pretty fast. On the day, it lapped Rye in 42.1sec, while my kart managed just 45.8sec. Much of that is down to the power advantage, but there’s no question it corners with panache. Is it truly karty, though? Nic C takes up the story.
Can a Caterham be a kart?
It’s fine for Prior. My ‘kart’ was an easy prospect for this test. He only needed to turn up, ease his snake hips into his Autocar dungarees, and then slice and dice half a dozen sideways laps of a natty circuit he knows very well.
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Caterham vs Kart
That said put a Caterham and a kart on a fast bumpy road (as opposed to kart) circuit and the advantage shifts somewhat. Paul's challenge would make interesting reading and I'd love to see it. A 42bhp kart is pretty midrange (as gearbox karts go - the fastest have more than double that), but then so is a Supersport Caterham, so it's a fair challenge - if both are on slicks.
Go on - you know you want to!
A challenge for Autocar....
For cadets you're talking about £1,200 for a good used package, Juniors £1,500, Senior direct drive £2,000, and KZ2 £3,500. That'll get you racing at a good level for club MSA racing, or have the best stuff for non-MSA.
Matt's prokart is still good fun, but a kart needs a bit more poke and grip before it becomes seriously good fun.
Are you up for it guys? Or how about a day's practice followed by a non-MSA race (pay for what you break!).
Darren Moss wrote: It’s got
"Can the Mini's go-kart handling justify its price tag?" - From the description of Autocar's twin-test between two of the ugliest cars currently in production: the M135i and Paceman JCW.