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ON SALE NOW!
The Caterham goes to...
Never ones to follow tradition, British sportscar manufacturer, Caterham is to auction a selection of its most celebrated, used Sevens. In order to make room for a flurry of part exchanges arriving in March, the company has chosen to take the somewhat unusual step of putting some of its more exotic pre-owned models under the hammer.
Just 12 unique examples will be sold during the weeklong auction. Highlights include the Superlight R500 that famously smashed the 0-160-0 kph world record in a time of 11.44 seconds (2002) and a special edition Autosport 50th Anniversary, 133 bhp Roadsport - one of only nine built. However, pride of place will go to the all-conquering Nürburgring Superlight R400 racecar from 2002. The ultra-reliable lightweight sportscar left a litany of Italian, Japanese and German supercar in its wake to not only win its class around the fearsome Nordschleife, but finish 11th overall from a list of 200 starters. So demonstrably quicker than its rivals was Caterham, that it was subsequently banned from defending the title - being deemed `too fast to race' by organisers.
Lining up alongside these performance legends is a wide selection of road and track Caterhams, plus one very special vehicle powered by gravity alone - the soapbox derby car that the firm entered into the famous 2003 Red Bull Soap Box Challenge!
Chevy chase
If there were ever a `blink and you'll miss it' contest, the new Tavera NY edition would win hands down. Why, you ask.) Because it looks and drives just like the normal Tavera. There has never really been any major shortcoming in the Tavera except the lack of sheer pace and third row windows, which were sealed and didn't open. While the former still remains due to obvious cost reasons, the company has taken customer feedback and put butterfly windows in the last row of seating. This should appeal to the taxi markets where the base, non-AC Tavera sells in good numbers.
The company claims to have added increased third row seating space, a result of extensive re-engineering of the chassis and floor pan. Other changes to the interior include a slightly shortened gear lever that should go a long way to improve driver ergonomics. The top end version of the car comes with the same plush beige coloured fabric interiors that the company featured on the Elite version of the car a few months ago. We were however a bit disappointed to see the quality falling - especially the yawning panel gaps on the model we drove. But this could be a one-off as the car was a demo vehicle.
How much? Rs 5.99 to 9.01 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi)
ASHISH MASIH
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