Caterham 7 is on BBC 4 at 19:00 on Tuesday 25th March.
Documentary following the fortunes of Simon Nearn as he takes over the company founded by his father. Caterham Cars builds the fastest accelerating
production sports car in the world, but is the 45-year-old design in danger of being overtaken by the fast-changing motor industry? What is needed to
secure the firm's future?
What the hell is BBC4,i'm only just getting used to CH4 let alone colour
Whats wrong with that guys eyes, my son was mesmerised, after a very long silence he said "I hope he doesn't drive on dual carriageways!"
He could be a reporter, the roving eye type.
yours, Pete.
Just caught 2nd half! See what was meant about the eyes!! It also illustrated the problems in dealing with a product which has iconic/folk status (not
to mention historical & cultural links). If you stop making the icon, you probably lose a large & supportive customer base.
On the other hand - how many "imitators" of this icon are there? 30+ worldwide? Must be doing something right.
Interesting that they admitted that they were losing their market share. They said it was due to the greater customer choice, but neglected to
mention that it could be due to the fact that their cars are considerably more expensive than West fields, Dax, MK, ST, and so on.
People have seen that they can have as much (or even more) car for their money elsewhere.
I got the distinct impression that the son disliked sevens pretty strongly!
DJ
What do you expect from a chap who drive an (takes deep breath..) automatic
It may me automatic but you DO still have to be there
Whats all this dislike for caterhams??
I know for sure that they are far supperior to any other seven inspired car on the market. Not only in performance and handling but in build quality.
Have you looked closely at a new caterham, all the ali body is perfectly made, nice ali scuttle and no joins visible. (its all tig welded and rubbed
down) They pay a great deal of attention to detail in the way they use more bespoke parts such as uprights, their own 6-speed box, dry sump and
roller barrel throttle bodies.
As far as cost goes you pay for what you get and caterham owners get a hell of a lot.
Im not trying to down grade locosts and the like but im sure if we all had the money we would have caterhams rather than locosts.
Just remember that they are the original and without that car there would be no such thing as a locost!
I don't think we would all have Caterhams at all.
I know for a fact that I for one am building a car from scratch because I want to build a car from scratch, not buy a kit.
I'm pretty certain lots of others will feel the same.
I saw the program and was amused that a whole hours was spent on the discussion and proposals of a new car and it didnt even get past a couple of hand
drawings.
It smacked to me of someone inheriting a business that had no idea at all.
At one moment they agreed on a front engined design saying it was the most flexible, only to say a minute later they were going for a rear engined
design as it was more flexible. My 14 year old said 'dont they mean mid engined' (cos its not past the rear axle line). Pehaps if Matthew
had been in a meeting he coulda given them more of a clue.
It was a whole hour about nothing, apart from the shots of cateringvans.
atb
steve
I agree with the hairy one.
I wouldn't have one, it';s nothing to do with the cost - I made my car.
Looked at in one way you could say that without the Lotus seven there would be no Locost, but maybe Caterham were just the first of the
imitators?
Cheers
Chris
quote:
Originally posted by carnut
Im not trying to down grade locosts and the like but im sure if we all had the money we would have caterhams rather than locosts.
Just remember that they are the original and without that car there would be no such thing as a locost!
Programme:
The fact that the boss (eyed one) wanted to "supercede" the 7 showed how little he knew about his core market - it IS the 7.
Even his committee were saying the Caterham brand wasn't trusted to produce anything else (ie Caterham's raison-d'etre was the 7)
Anyway, with their budget, don't you get a feeling that anything they produce will just look like a below average kit car?
As Steve says, quote:
It smacked to me of someone inheriting a business that had no idea at all.
Sad really.
Regarding whether I'd buy a Caterham, I can't even fit in one, anyway. It's about 6 inches shorther than a Stuart Taylor chassis.
I am spending around £2.5k on my locost, and can just about justify it (to myself anyway).
£20k is so out of the question!! Things may be a bargain or bloody good value, but you still have to have the cash.
I'd happily wave at/blat with any 7-esque car, be it a Caterham, Westy, Robin Hood or even wooden locusts.
Other people can keep the snobbery, I say.
Well there was another cateringvan. the 21
http://freespace.virgin.net/andrew.edney/21/2001/
fin
Dont suppose any one recorded this program on caterham as i would very much like to see it.
Id be very happy if someone would lend me a video or even happier if they have it in digital format and could e-mail it to me.
It was an hour-long program - that would be a hell of an MPG file!
David
P.S. I was interested to see that it was an "Open University Production for the BBC" - I guess that it will re-appear in one of the OU
Management Studies courses.
quote:
Originally posted by Findlay234
Well there was another cateringvan. the 21
http://freespace.virgin.net/andrew.edney/21/2001/
fin
Yup, the 21 is a fair old mutt, looks like a demented Mazda MX5. Lets face it Caterham is a pretty weird company because it's not really a car
company, more a car manufacturer. The Seven is the only thing that people know them for, and they didn't design it, so they've got no design
history. Maybe they'd be rather more healthy if they hadn't gone way off the scale on price and pretty much abandoned kit cars. Recessions
are always going to hit companies like Caterham hard, because there's no justification for them except as being extremely expensive toys and
they're the first thing that people are going to stop spending on when times get hard.
I wouldn't say that we owe very much to caterham, just because they bought the rights doesn't mean they're furthering the cause.
Cateham would have to do something pretty special to beat the Elise.
Kingr
Unfortunately I never saw the Caterham program.
However as I see it, the Caterham 7 is sold as a Toy for the well heeled. It is basically a track day car for those without the knowhow, time or
inclination to make their own.
The fact that most on this board are able to build our own at much less cost(?) should not detract from the fact that the Caterham does have a market
to sell to.
In my opinion a logical development would be a track day car styled on the (ever so popular at the moment) GT cars, much like everyone else is
doing.
Would be a nice reversal seeing Caterham copying Westfield!
Terry
How long till we see the Caterham Radical then? Or even weirder, the locoradical or locoxtr2?
Kingr
quote:
Originally posted by carnut
Dont suppose any one recorded this program on caterham as i would very much like to see it.
Id be very happy if someone would lend me a video or even happier if they have it in digital format and could e-mail it to me.
) 
Far clat I think. Even the amount that my fellow builder and I will
have spent on our Locost is fairly steep for some but we will have a higher spec car that the cheaper Caterhams. Whether it is the same quality is
entirely up to us in the amount of time we choose to spend on it versus the "want it finished" factor. Which ever way you look at it most
seven style cars are fun cars and if Caterham don't seriously reduce prices then they won't survive. If you had a decent amount of cash to
buy a seven with and someone gave you the choice between a Caterham at £20k and say a fully spec'd MK which was say £10k wouldn't you buy
the MK and spend the other £10k on other things? I know I would. quote:
Originally posted by carnut
Dont suppose any one recorded this program on caterham as i would very much like to see it.
Id be very happy if someone would lend me a video or even happier if they have it in digital format and could e-mail it to me.
quote:
Originally posted by stephen_gusterson
I did. its got a program after it about the bouncing bomb. soon as I have seen that in a day or so ya can borrow it.
mail me your addy and i will get it off to you.
cheers
steve
whadya mean...
Im the slim looking stud in those movies!
atb
steve
Anyone still needing to see this it's at:
http://www.unibrain.org/motorsports/caterham/BBC4Documentary.htm
I just watched it, and basically IMO
Over priced product = loss of market share
A few more comments about this program...all IMO of course.
For what appeared to be very professional companies, I was shocked at the lack of progress between meetings.....racing car manufacturers are legendary
for turning stuff out quickly...it was almost as if they didn't want the job...
The choice of Reynard as a partner was baffling..the Caterham engineering guy (who came across very well IMO) spotted it too......Reynard were a good
high-tech racing car company, but had absolutely no idea about volume production down to price.......any good racing car designer could have come up
with some mind-blowing high tech solutions.....a sellable, producable product is what was needed.
Why look to replace the seven?...very puzzling...they admitted it was a growing market...just market share was being lost....surely it is easier to
win that back, than to try and replace your own icon.....IMO, they just have to get pricing back inline with common sense...can't be that hard,
the others do it...
What they need (IMO) is a very basic lower priced starter model...the heritage without the price...
Alan B
For those who missed it, it is being repeated this Thursday 24th April at 12:30 on the learning Zone, titled "Survival of the fastest"
You can't say that Alan, you'll have that Considerably pretending to "be" you!
i know
Cheers
Chris
Wasn't me. Wasn't rude enough or funny enough
Plus I happen to know the correct Wilde quote is "looking at the stars" not "to the stars"... Lady Windermere's Fan I
believe.
Was you
And the quote was a cut and paste, so you maybe right, but you still have too much time on your hands
Cheers
Chris
Nah, not my style.