Caterham Cars is a manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars and is a direct evolution of the Series III Lotus Seven designed by Colin Chapman and originally launched in 1973.

Caterham had been a major Lotus 7 dealer during the 1960's and its founder, Graham Nearn, purchased the rights to continue manufacture of the 7 design after Lotus announced its intention to discontinue the model.

The Lotus/Caterham 7 is widely regarded by car enthusiasts and the media as one of the most precise handling sports cars ever, with 2007 marking the 50th year of continuous production.

As with its Lotus 7 predecessor, Caterhams are constructed of aluminium sheet attached to a tubular steel chassis, and all are front engined with rear-wheel drive and two seats.

Their extremely high performance is achieved through being lightweight and well balanced rather than from particularly powerful engines although in recent years, they have become quite formidable when mated to highly tuned powerplants....