FRANKEL’S CATERHAM INSIGHT
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Andrew Frankel wanted to treat himself to a Caterham Seven – and it had to be like the one he destroyed as a blithe 20-year-old
PHOTOGRAPHY LUCLACEY
TESTER’S NOTE
Those Weber carbs look fab, but they’re not exactly efficient. Expect less than 25mpg – probably 10mpg worse than a modern injected Seven with the same power output. AF
It’s some time in 1986. Your correspondent is both 20 years old and an idiot. An idiot on a race track for only the second time in his life. Three things point to impending disaster: the track is Goodwood, then and now one of the least forgiving in the land; the car is a Caterham Super Sprint, over which his gauche and inexperienced limbs exercise at best approximate control; and, fatally, he has a bunch of mates watching from the pits.
So when he comes around to the chicane at the end of his very first lap, he decides to show them what he and his car can do. Which is to reverse into an earth bank at great speed, with terminal consequences for the car. And had it not been for the helmet that he had been forced to jam on his head before heading out, undoubtedly terminal for him, too.