2004 Caterham Superlight R500 Evolution

Breaks 0-100-0 Record

A British built sportscar has smashed the production car world record for sprinting to 100mph and back again, leaving Ferraris and Porsches trailing in its wake along a 2-mile runway at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground, Leicestershire.

The lightweight Caterham Seven R500 evolution, set a new world record time of 10.73 seconds during Autocar Magazine's annual 0-100mph-0 test.

The two-seater Seven raced to 60mph from a standing start in 3.21secs, having hit the 30mph mark in just 1.45secs. With 100mph reached in an incredible 6.92secs, the Caterham stopped a mere 3.6secs later.

The Surrey built model out paced cars worth 10 times its £42,000 price tag with the £425,000 Ferrari Enzo securing a time of 10.98 seconds. Even the quickest of all the big road bikes, a Suzuki GSX-R1000, which hits 100mph in 5.03secs, could only complete the Autocar test in 10.89secs.

Autocar Editor, Steve Sutcliffe said: "You'd think we'd have been in this game long enough not to be surprised when we break a world record which seemed unbreakable when we set it last year. But if our annual 0-100-0 speed-fest proves one thing, it's the sheer pace of automotive development."

Having lost its 0-100-0mph record to the American Mosler MT900S, a road going version of a GT race car, last November, (previous holders of the title include the £500,000 McLaren F1 road car) Caterham smashed its 2003 time by almost half a second, and its 2002 record of 11.44 secs by seven tenths of a second.

Launched earlier this month, as the ultimate performance driver's car, the R500 evolution is the flagship Caterham Seven model.

Simon Nearn, managing director of Caterham Cars said: "By testing a car's acceleration and braking, the 0-100-0 test is THE true indicator of a car's all round performance capability. This record also proves that we have built a car which can respond to a driver's reactions quicker and more safely than anything else on the road."

The Autocar Magazine road test team put 47 cars through their paces ranging from a Renault Megane RS, Honda Civic Type R, Ruf Porsche Turbo, BMW CSL, Aston Martin DB9, all the way to the Ferrari Enzo, Mercedes McLaren SLR and Porsche Carrera GT.

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