Caterham Seven 360S - Unleashing the Almost Forgotten Memory of Joy

WAYMOE's Charlie Brigden recently spent a weekend in a Caterham Seven 360S and, in doing so, might have triggered some otherwise forgotten childlike expressions of joy... along with memories of an altercation with a radiator and a trip to A&E.

In pursuit of Joy

I have fond childhood memories of pulling my little brother around the living room with a belt strapped to a washing basket, and whilst it may have eventually ended with a trip to A&E, in the moments before my brother's chat with the radiator, his face radiated a childlike joy that is an unfortunately rare sight in adult life. As adults, outside of finding an interesting Hot Wheels car in a supermarket, when we should be looking for a specific brand of lettuce, we're rarely gifted with moments that reward such joy.

Meanwhile, on the Fosse Way...

Listening to the gentle thunder and clicking of the exhaust (sitting about five inches from my right arm), I pull away from a now-empty T-junction. My eyes catch the brown sign at the side of the verge: FOSSE WAY. "Oh shit, the Fosse!" I yelp, whilst immediately applying a large dollop of foot to the throttle pedal. The enthusiastic launch sees the Caterham Seven 360S I'm driving dart forward and up the rev range, and I continue the sprint dramatically, hammering the limiter with every gear change.

Watching the front wheels dodge and shimmy across the cambers and cracks of the road, I look left and notice that my brother's passenger-seat-hollering is now just about loud enough to hear over the racket beside my right arm. There it is, that joyful look; it's like we're back in the living room, imminently at risk of colliding a wash basket with a radiator again. I've discovered I tense my facial muscles a lot whilst driving this car, resulting in frequent requirements to slow down and reorganise my moustache and reshape my eyebrows.

Has this been the key all along? This Caterham is essentially just a plastic tub, hauled by an otherwise fairly unexciting two-litre Ford lump, and yet it's triggering emotions I'd otherwise forgotten. I must sound like a right idiot. Look, it's been the best part of two decades since I've struggled to sleep on Christmas Eve, yet when Caterham told me I could come and borrow a 360S for a weekend, I had to listen to some ASMR and light some funky candles to get to sleep. Who would've guessed that the idea of driving a car with a 180hp Ford engine would have me tossing and turning like Kanye West's publicist? The thing is, I've never before come across such an astronomically engaging vehicle, and because the 360S goes to absolutely no effort to hide its single intention (this being a machine for hauling ass with a massive grin on your face), I knew what I was in for long before I even had the funny coloured key in my hand.

It's a bit silly, and that's okay.

The 360S doesn't bother with proper doors because doors aren't on the 'Hauling ass' checklist. And I'm not exaggerating when I say I've been tensing my face. Rewatching footage of me driving revealed a horrifying grimace of concentration. Imagine a man bench pressing twice his weight, whilst also trying to remember what day of the week he had promised to visit his nan - and you've got the vision pretty spot on.

Hammering the Caterham down a driving road is absolute bliss. It's flow-state for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The two-litre engine hauls you up towards the rev limiter with a unique sense of purpose rarely felt in other cars. The way it builds speed is so direct and engaging that the sense of acceleration escapes you. It sounds counterintuitive, but you're not thrown back in your seat or slapped in the face with a hunk of speed; instead, you inhabit the speed itself. It's an alien experience. Alien, that's a great way of putting it. It's completely otherworldly, or prehistoric, if we're keeping the metaphors on earth. But it's also surprisingly very forgiving. At no point in the 750 miles I spent with the Caterham did it ever do a single thing I didn't ask it to. And on the odd occasion when the backend stepped a little further than I wanted, it was so easy to predict that I really started to trust the car; you very much feel like you're on the same page. No matter how furious the driving can get, it always has a hand on your shoulder.

Maybe that's all down to the S designation, which I reckon stands for 'Sensible'. Compared to its R counterpart, the S comes with slightly softer suspension, standard three-point seatbelts, and a less intrusive rollcage, among other things. Outside of some heavy lifting' track work', this would be the one to have. Although I do find myself pondering the slightly more powerful 420S, which I imagine is the truly perfect amount of power for this ABS and Traction Control-less velociraptor of a car. Any more power would be batshit, and yet that exists too—there is a 620R version, one of which sat in the corner of the Caterham factory, taunting me throughout my tour of the factory. Finished in Lamborghini pink, it's quite the brute.

It's a love affair

My weekend with the 360S was less of a fun weekend and more of a love affair. It is by far the fastest I've ever fallen head over heels in love with a car. The prehistoric petrolheads at Caterham certainly know how to make a top-of-the-pile sports car. Even the absolute battering Audi's RS3 gave me a few weeks ago doesn't compare to the unparalleled joy of darting around in the significantly less powerful 360S. Yes, the boot is next to useless; no, it doesn't have proper doors and driving it in a thunderstorm requires levels of concentration akin to attempting brain surgery at the back of a school bus. Probably. The other novelty is fuel consumption; at times, it feels like you're having to stop for fuel every 15 minutes. It's not quite that extreme, but you get the point. All of these niggles and negatives disappear, however, the second you see the front wheels bounce up and down independently of the car, and the second you hear the exhaust system open up under full throttle. Everything else just vanishes, and you're just bombing down the road with a massive grin on your face.

It's not exactly practical, and that's okay, too.

What the 360S lacks in every standard feature you'd expect in a car, it makes up for with its ability to supply unfiltered driving engagement on tap. And it does that over and over and over again, with absolutely no questions or hesitations. Visiting the Caterham factory and seeing the millions of spec options these things can have, had me daydreaming of my perfect Caterham spec in a way I've never thought about a new car before. That's the one thing I still can't get over: this is a NEW CAR that's ULEZ-compliant, it's passed an MOT, and it's passed safety and noise tests. It's unbelievable that things as unique as this can still be bought new. We're SO lucky a company like Caterham still exists in our day and age, and nut-job beasts like this 360S are still things we can walk into a showroom and buy. It's an absolute joy to think about.

Go and drive one

If you're ever lucky enough to have a go in a Caterham, I beg you to jump at the opportunity; you'll never forget it. And, if you are ever lucky enough to afford a new one, I'd go for the 420S (but that's because I'm a bit wrong in the head). But honestly, anything Caterham are putting their name on is worth your money. And if you end up disagreeing with me, I'll happily take it off your hands.

words by Charlie Brigden
photography by WAYMOE & Caterham Cars LTD