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Graham Nearn, founder of Caterham and saviour of the Lotus 7 legend, has passed away aged 76.
Nearn was founder of the Caterham car company, which grew of out of his Lotus dealership established back in 1959.
His lightweight road cars (always a rather loose term with Caterham) not only saved one of Britain’s most iconic engineering feats, but also humbled many a supposed supercar.
Saving the 7
When the three-day working week and labour issues rocked Britain during the early 1970s, Lotus was keen to finally axe the fabled 7 road car.
Nearn approached (some say pleaded with) Colin Chapman to allow him to keep assembling the car under Caterham's branding.
As Nearn was one of the most outstanding Lotus dealers of the time, Chapman agreed and gave his full blessing to the venture.
Even Lego Stig preferred a Caterham R500 to just about anything else.
Few could have imagined just how true Caterham would stay to its role as custodian of the Lotus 7 legend. Even fewer could have foreseen how successful the Caterham range would become in the fullness of time.
From 1973 to 2005 (when former Lotus manager Ansar Ali took over Caterham on behalf of a consortium) Nearn’s Lotus 7-based Caterhams frustrated racing authorities and embarrassed supercars with stunning efficiency.
The cars were so well sorted and engineered they were summarily banned from national sports car racing in Britain. This saw Nearn, always keen to capitalise on any PR angle, launch his "too fast to race" advertising campaign.
In 1986 Nearn would finally circumvent authorities and launch the one-make Caterham racing formula, which has grown to become a wild success, tallying around 800 active competitors currently.
Williams F1 drivers getting in some Caterham practice during 2006.
Doing it right
Whereas many other specialist low volume British sports car manufacturers have gone bust during the last two decades, Caterham continues to record strong sales.
It has been well served by fusing the fundamental correctness of the original Lotus 7 design with contemporary updates.
During the last decade Caterhams have regularly made the pilgrimage to Germany’s Nurburgring, where despite high-speed aerodynamic challenges, they set blistering lap times around the forbidding Eifel mountain circuit.
Graham son Robert piloted many of Caterham’s most triumphant Nurburgring outings.
Although Caterham’s success was directly linked to Nearn’s passion for cars and committed attitude to suppliers and engineering purity, he could at times be slightly forgetful.
Like going off to golf when then Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe was diarised to visit the Caterham factory one Wednesday afternoon for a tour in the late 1980s.
Despite this, Caterham still won a Queen’s award for exports in 1993…
Nearn will be immortalised as the man who saved the Lotus 7 from going into early retirement.
He also provided thousands of Caterham owners with ringing ears (ever driven a R500?) and aching forearms (after quelling numerous opposite lock scenarios at a track day).
Graham Nearn will be fondly remembered.
Nearn was founder of the Caterham car company, which grew of out of his Lotus dealership established back in 1959.
His lightweight road cars (always a rather loose term with Caterham) not only saved one of Britain’s most iconic engineering feats, but also humbled many a supposed supercar.
Saving the 7
When the three-day working week and labour issues rocked Britain during the early 1970s, Lotus was keen to finally axe the fabled 7 road car.
Nearn approached (some say pleaded with) Colin Chapman to allow him to keep assembling the car under Caterham's branding.
As Nearn was one of the most outstanding Lotus dealers of the time, Chapman agreed and gave his full blessing to the venture.
Even Lego Stig preferred a Caterham R500 to just about anything else.
Few could have imagined just how true Caterham would stay to its role as custodian of the Lotus 7 legend. Even fewer could have foreseen how successful the Caterham range would become in the fullness of time.
From 1973 to 2005 (when former Lotus manager Ansar Ali took over Caterham on behalf of a consortium) Nearn’s Lotus 7-based Caterhams frustrated racing authorities and embarrassed supercars with stunning efficiency.
The cars were so well sorted and engineered they were summarily banned from national sports car racing in Britain. This saw Nearn, always keen to capitalise on any PR angle, launch his "too fast to race" advertising campaign.
In 1986 Nearn would finally circumvent authorities and launch the one-make Caterham racing formula, which has grown to become a wild success, tallying around 800 active competitors currently.
Williams F1 drivers getting in some Caterham practice during 2006.
Doing it right
Whereas many other specialist low volume British sports car manufacturers have gone bust during the last two decades, Caterham continues to record strong sales.
It has been well served by fusing the fundamental correctness of the original Lotus 7 design with contemporary updates.
During the last decade Caterhams have regularly made the pilgrimage to Germany’s Nurburgring, where despite high-speed aerodynamic challenges, they set blistering lap times around the forbidding Eifel mountain circuit.
Graham son Robert piloted many of Caterham’s most triumphant Nurburgring outings.
Although Caterham’s success was directly linked to Nearn’s passion for cars and committed attitude to suppliers and engineering purity, he could at times be slightly forgetful.
Like going off to golf when then Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe was diarised to visit the Caterham factory one Wednesday afternoon for a tour in the late 1980s.
Despite this, Caterham still won a Queen’s award for exports in 1993…
Nearn will be immortalised as the man who saved the Lotus 7 from going into early retirement.
He also provided thousands of Caterham owners with ringing ears (ever driven a R500?) and aching forearms (after quelling numerous opposite lock scenarios at a track day).
Graham Nearn will be fondly remembered.
