Pete's Caterham Story

Hello folks. 

My name is Pete and I've been dreaming of owning a Caterham for about 16 or so years now, and that dream has finally come to fruition. 

I started looking with a view to buying a few months ago and had a very specific spec in mind. I wanted a fully painted, sigma engined car (old Roadsport 140 or the newer 270), with a full cage, bucket seats, battery master switch, quick release steering wheel and full weather equipment.

This would likely mean I was looking for an ex (or current) race car, which I was quite content with, as I may like to race the car in the future. My budget dictated that the car I was looking for may well have to be a little rough around the edges, but to my mind, i'd rather have some tidying up to do, than to not get a car at all.

I was religiously checking Caterham specialist For Sale pages; the official Caterham dealers, GP Sevens, Sevens & Classics, PT Sports Cars etc. There were often cars that fit the spec list, but not the budget, or cars that fit the budget, but not the spec list.

I made enquiries about several different cars but nothing really ticked all the boxes, until I saw a new advert with Gravely & Paine Sevens for a car which looked ideal.

A grey & orange, 2010 Roadsport 140 with full cage, bucket seats and carbon aeroscreen. I called the showroom and spoke to Damian who answered all my questions. The car did not come with a windscreen, sidescreens or a hood, but he had a used screen, some doors and a hood he could include for a reasonable price. 

He took a couple of videos of the car for me and I agreed to buy it the same day. The team at GP Sevens are now sorting a service and MOT and installing the windscreen for me and i'll be collecting the car in a couple of weeks.

Now onto the fun bit, earlier this year I took a new job that sees me working frequently near Munich in Germany. I'll be flying from Munich to Gatwick to collect the car, and immediately driving to Folkestone to get on the Eurotunnel and drive the car all the way to Bavaria.

I'll be stopping off for the night half way along the route, which just happens to be the Nürburgring. Unfortunately, i'll be arriving long after the track has closed for the evening, and leaving the next morning before the TF session starts the next evening, so no laps this time.

I will be taking it to the Nürburgring as soon as I can, and I already have a track day booked in October in case I can't get there before.

I'm really looking forward to engaging on the forum and documenting my collection journey and my planned trips to the Bavarian and Austrian alps over the summer!