Caterham Sevens

Caterham Sevens, by Chris Rees. MRP, £29.95.

This is by no means the first documenting of the history of the Caterham Seven, that purely sporting car for enthusiasts to enjoy. But Chris Rees grew up with this very desirable little fun-car, as he outlines in a two-page preface to his book, repeated at the book’s end. As if we didn’t believe him!

Here is the full story of birth and re-birth, the complex development of the many variants, and how it achieved fame on the race circuits. The accent goes right up to the Caterham 21 and even looks into the future. So this is very complete coverage with good pictures and colour plates, performance data, biographies of Seven personalities with mug-shots, and tabulated production history, in 208 pages, with over 300 pictures. I can safely say, the lot. Apart from teaching me all about the car, I learned that Rees is a pop musician and song-writer. He got Dr Jonathan Palmer to do the Foreword — “real raw driving fun the nearest thing to a single-seater on the road” — and Graham Nearn, Caterham’s Chairman, to contribute the Preface. Good! W B