To our Japanese friends, do you want to drive a sports car so unique that none of the cars from Japan can offer? Then you’re in luck as Caterham has just released the limited edition Caterham 250R Kamui Kobayashi Edition Seven, exclusively for the Japanese market. This was made possible thanks to the input from Japanese Formula One driver, Kamui Koyabashi.
Based from Caterham 250R, this car is powered by a basic 125bhp Ford Sigma engine, mated to a six-speed gearbox and has a limited-slip differential included. The car does 0-100km/h in 5.9 seconds with a top speed of 195km/h. There are carbon fibre finishings on the front wing and back wing protectors, with Caterham green lacquer that mimics Koyabashi’s green Caterham F1 car. The number 10 is Koyabashi’s number on his F1 car, so that same number appears on this car’s nose, complemented with 13-inch diamond cut black wheels and polished chrome exhaust system.
However, you have to be a selfish driver to drive one, as just like Koyabashi’s F1 car, this car seats only the driver. An aluminum tonneau covers over the passenger seat area, and a single-sided rollover hoop fixed at the driver’s rear. The driver gets to enjoy more carbon fiber on the dashboard and seats, green gear knob, and a 4-point Takata harness. Kobayashi’s fans should be delighted with Kamui’s logo at the headrest and his signature on the dashboard.
Unfortunately, despite Japan being Caterham’s second biggest export market, they are making only 10 cars for Japan, to reflect Koyabashi’s race car number, and it is for sale at USD58,866. By looking at the images here, we think the Japanese fans are wishing Koyabashi had chosen the number 99 for his race car instead of 10.
