British specialist automaker Caterham, stewards of the legendary Lotus Seven ultra-minimalist sports car, have announced a wholesale switch to Ford powerplants from the Rover K-Series engines that have been the mainstay of the marque for the last 15 years.
With MG Rover’s closing, the clock was ticking to find a new power source before the current K-Series supply ran out, and What Car? reports that Caterham looked at 18 manufacturers before settling on Ford’s 1.6-liter engine as it’s K-Series replacement.
The company’s top-line models, the CSR and the newest edition of the R400 (pictured), are already offered with Ford-Cosworth 2.3-liter and 2.0-liter powerplants, respectively, the latter propelling the superlight R400 from 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds.
[Source: What Car?]