Caterham Seven receives Ford power on 50th birthday

With the bitter end of production of the MG/Rover K-series engine, there was a gaping vacancy left under the hood of the run-of-the-mill Caterham Seven in the UK. Starting in 2007, it's getting a new engine for its 50th birthday. The new powerplant will be Ford's Sigma engine, displacing 1.6-liter in this application. Ford uses this motor in a variety of compact vehicles, such as the Fiesta and Focus, but Caterham's engines will be tuned to produce 120 bhp or 140 bhp. The Roadsport 120 will be fitted with the 120 bhp engine. With the Seven's weight just over 1200 lbs, the 120 bhp engine will allow the car to run 0-60 in 5.9 seconds. The Roadsport 140 will shave almost a full second off the 0-60 at an estimated 5.0 seconds. For the die-hard Seven buyers, the Superlight 140 is lightened 50kg or 110 lbs, which allows it to do 0-60 in about 4.7 seconds with the same engine. The relatively flat torque curve of the Ford Sigma gives just a little bit more performance than the previous K-series motor.

All models will begin production in November, with deliveries to begin at the start of 2007. There will be a more an even more powerful motor available in the second quarter of 2007, so our UK readers will have something to look out for.

[Source: World Car Fans]