The 2022 Caterham Seven 420 Cup is a riot on the track

Although Lotus is launching its final gas-powered car in the form of the new Emira, the British sports-car maker’s first model, the Seven, is still going strong after Lotus founder Colin Chapman sold the car’s manufacturing rights to Caterham in 1973. Now 49 years later, in heavily evolved form, the Caterham Seven continues to offer an experience that is pretty much that of a four-wheeled motorcycle.

While sales in the United States have dwindled to only about 30 cars a year—against a total production of around 650—Caterham’s U.S. fans are enthusiastic enough for the company to export its new 420 Cup model, which we got to experience on the 2.9-mile track at Snetterton in Norfolk, England. It is an appropriate setting as Lotus’s current Hethel HQ is just 15 miles away, but also because the 420 Cup is intended primarily for track use, despite being street legal in Europe. As with previous tests of a Caterham, we can confirm that they are great fun as long as the weather is warm and dry, but categorically not when it turns cold or wet.

The 420 Cup has more in common with the brand’s race cars than its road-going counterparts. It uses a dry-sump 2.0-liter Ford Duratec four-cylinder, which revs to 7600 rpm without complaint as it churns out 210 horsepower and 150 pound-feet of torque. That relatively modest state of tune is intended to strengthen the engine’s longevity and reduce running costs. Power is sent through a standard six-speed sequential transmission made by SADEV, which is operated by a substantial push-pull lever in the center of the cockpit rather than steering-wheel-mounted paddles. It also retains a clutch pedal, though this is mostly only used for starting, downshifting, and slow-speed maneuvering. Power reaches the rear wheels via a mechanical limited-slip differential, and the 420 Cup sits on Bilstein dampers that can be adjusted through 10 steps of stiffness by easy-to-locate click rings. Rolling stock consists of 13-inch track-biased Avon ZZR tires.

Full story at Car and Driver: https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a40090318/2022-caterham-seven-420-cup-drive/