Caterham and Kamui Kobayashi have teamed up to deliver a special edition of the Seven model which will reach only the Japanese market. According to Caterham, only ten cars will be built and all of them are based on the Seven 250 R variant.
Under the hood, the special version uses the same Ford Sigma four-cylinder 1.6 liter unit rated at 125 horsepower. The engine resources will be managed by a six speed manual gearbox and by a limited-slip differential. Under these conditions, the Caterham Seven Kamui Kobayashi will sprint from stand still to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds, while the top speed is clocked at 196 km/h.
Kamui drove a Caterham Seven for the first time earlier this year at Silverstone circuit, speaking about the special edition, he said: “For me, the Caterham Seven is a pure car; when you drive a Seven it feels like you are driving, not like the car is driving you. In my Caterham F1 car, I have electronics that control everything but to drive the Seven is to truly understand the car and to truly understand the enjoyment of driving.I hope my styling of the Seven adds something special to a car that is already awesome to drive.”
On the outside, the Caterham Seven Kamui Kobayashi is featuring a high-gloss black paint with matte black stripes and green lacquer on the carbon fiber front and rear wings. The special version also features an aluminum tonneau and 13 inch alloy wheels.
Inside the cockpit, the Caterham Seven Kamui Kobayashi comes with green lacquer, sport seats and a green Takata four-point harness. The limited-run Caterham Seven Kamui Kobayashi special edition is available starting today in Japan from ¥6,000,000.
David Ridley, Chief Commercial Officer for Caterham Cars commented: “Japan is our second-largest export market and our Japanese Caterham community are huge fans of Kobayashi; I’m delighted to be able to offer our fans in Japan this exclusive model which will, one day, no doubt become a collector’s item. Kamui had great fun customising the design and has even test-driven the first prototype to give his seal of approval.”
