I've always been impressed with the Lotus/Caterham design and overall capability. Their power-to-weight ratio is monumental and they're faster than they look (and they look pretty fast). However, I've been warned away from them due to safety issues, as much due to how people drive around them as inherent touchiness. The driver in the photo above (taken on the 405 Freeway in West LA around 1 PM on a Saturday afternoon) indicates that he'd rather be safe than sorry; wearing a helmet while driving a car with a rollcage might actually work to his advantage someday. Then again, the design has been in production since 1957, and it it were really dangerous, wouldn't a Ralph Nader-type have already had it banned? And what's up with the blue tape on the rear fender? Is he coming from the track? Is the car spitting out solid exhaust? did he just get tired of the green/yellow paint scheme and want to punch it up with some blue?
The Triumph Stag has always struck me as a bit of an odd duck, but this car seen in Venice, CA on Christmas Eve was quite nicely done (I would like it noted also that I've never complained in public about this car and others in the Bsh Leyland family):
It did indeed seat four, and the occupants looked as if they were having a lot of fun in the car. The restoration quality was excellent, and I can only wonder what this newly-purchased car was worth on the lot.
From this angle you can see some allusions to 60s and early 70s Ferrari design (but you've gotta squint before totally convincing yourself of that sort of design lineage).
Speaking of lineage, here's a Triumph TR4A parked in front of my 1965 Volvo 1800S. The Triumph is also from about the same time, and the first couple of years of the Volvo were manufactured in England by Jenson. Unfortunately, quality control wasn't "Job #1" (more likely "Job #463" from what I've read) and this presaged the whole reputation for awful construction that British Leyland basked in during the 1970s and 80s (maybe longer, but by that time I was so beyond being interested in the cars they were making that I didn't even keep up with who they'd reorganized as). A couple of nice looking cars, with semi-matching paint schemes and plenty of chrome to keep polished. Or not.
That was me in the Caterham. I was doing a shakedown run before a track event.
The only reason for the helmet is that I was too lazy to put on a windscreen and I didn't want to get roadkill thrown in my face by the car in front of me.
Posted by: Magnus | 17 May 2011 at 04:55 PM
Ah. The blue tape.
It is there while (lazily) looking for a stone-chip solution that does not involve bolting a stupid stainless steel plate onto the wing.
My procrastination on this subject has already paid of handsomely since I ripped the entire wing of at the track event when hitting a cone.
Posted by: Magnus | 17 May 2011 at 05:03 PM
Sorry to hear about the track day incident, but I always figured that it's always worth hoping that the blue tape would hold the wing on...the Caterham looks like a very fun (and adrenaline-inducing) ride.
Posted by: Dan Fredman PR | 18 May 2011 at 12:09 AM
Ahh, British cars. Some of the most beautiful cars in the world are made in England. That Lotus/Caterham reminds me of the Ariel Atom, only bigger in size. The driver must have taken the inspiration to wear a helmet from Top Gear's Stig, haha. Jeremy Clarkson would be proud.
Posted by: Jacob Rodman | 01 June 2011 at 06:27 AM