Simon Nearn has taken over Caterham Cars, the company his father built, and is faced with the onerous task of securing its future. He sets out to build a new vehicle that will rival their only current product; Colin Chapman's iconic Super Seven sports car which was designed in the fifties and Caterham Cars has been building it since 1973.

He goes into partnership with Adrian Reynard in the hope that Adrian's hugely successful hi-tech racing company can help design another motoring icon that may eventually replace the Seven. They set themselves a target of having the new car ready to reveal to the public within six months. But the project falls badly behind schedule and the further they go with it, the more difficult it seems to get.

Eventually the first drawings of how the new car might look are revealed, but there doesn't seem to be any agreement on exactly what it is they are all trying to do.

The project seems to have stalled when its fate is dramatically decided. Reynard Motorsport goes out of business and the partnership collapses. As it does, Simon reveals another new car. It's a triumph for evolution over revolution, yet another version of the Caterham Seven. At the end the question remains: Does Caterham actually need to build a new car? Will evolution be enough?

Content last updated: 25/03/2003

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