This glorious past seemed to leave the present day team struggling to work out what bearing the weight of history had on their revolutionary design for the future.

Chapman’s car became a classic because of the simplicity of his vision: "keep it light and it will go fast, keep it cheap and people will buy it and I can make money from it." Today, the engineers no longer run the show. Car design has become highly marketing led.

"Lots of people have produced great sports cars but if people won’t buy them then you’re in trouble" - the line seemed to become a mantra for the entire Caterham team. Simple realism maybe, but you could almost hear Chapman’s ghost sniff at the fear of failure lurking behind it.

I would like to be able to reveal whether past or present prevails but I can’t. Business stories only ever truly end when the company goes bust. After spending three years watching them, I know this tale isn’t over.

It is Caterham Cars’ thirtieth birthday this year. It will be interesting to see what they are selling in another thirty years from now.

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