Caterham Cars have built a reputation for manufacturing high performance affordable vehicles in both assembled and kit form. The first vehicle, the Seven, built by English design engineer and inventor Colin Chapman in 1957 and adopted by Caterham in 1967 became their flagship Motorsport car and pathed the way for Caterham’s portfolio of Motorsport options. The line-up of eight models range in power from 125bhp to 310bhp, each car weighing just over 500kg. Exclusively built within the UK from start to finish, each vehicle promises a light weight but powerful drive that is quintessentially British.
CAI have been supplying Caterham Cars for decades, accommodating the various changes in styles and facelifts over the years by providing systems ranging from conventionally driven floodlit designs to more modern CAN based backlit technologies.
One of the earliest projects in the early 90’s was the design and manufacture of the gauges for the Caterham 7; a super-lightweight sports car based on the Series 3 Lotus Seven. It was re-developed to the point that no part was the same as on the original Lotus. Though the layout of the Caterham Seven dashboard does vary, all commonly feature the CAI designed instruments including speedometer, tachometer, oil, temperature and fuel gauge and reflect the car’s ‘British’ identity.
CAI have also designed and manufactured gauges for Caterham’s subsequent models, including the Super Seven 600, Super Seven 2000, Seven 420 cup right through to their most recent limited-edition 20-car exclusive Seven CSR Twenty featuring a 210bhp 2.0 litre Ford Duratec engine with refined chassis, capable of speeds from 0-60 mph in just 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 136 mph. The gauges all feature black dials with white print, black bezels and red pointers. The instrument set consists of an 80mm speedometer with Caterham logo, 80mm tachometer featuring the Caterham CSR ‘R Seven’ logo, and 52m fuel level, water temperature and oil pressure gauges.
CAI are proud of the long standing relationship with Caterham Cars and look forward to the next generation in the Caterham portfolio.
For more information on our motorsport range of gauges see our Smiths Motorsport Range or contact us directly.