How Caterham’s success is rooted in continual evolution

Of all the considerable collection of cars you can find in club motorsport, one of the most prolific must be the humble Caterham. Thousands of drivers have enjoyed close contests in Sevens over the years but, just because it’s a proven concept, that doesn’t mean evolution is off the table.

The man tasked with guiding Caterham’s suite of five UK factory-run championships into a new era is Alex Read, himself a club racer. He has spent the past few years reinvigorating Caterham’s driving experience offering, but now has big shoes to fill as he takes over the motorsport operation from the long-serving Simon Lambert, who has become British Automobile Racing Club sporting director.

“Simon told everyone that he thought I should take on that part of his role so then the pressure was on,” laughs Read, who spent six months working alongside his predecessor.

Just because Read is new in the role, he does not feel the need to make sweeping changes right away. “To come in and try to change everything would be naive and foolish,” he acknowledges. Yet there are some little tweaks he is making, and the first of these is introducing a drivers’ forum.

“When I started this role, I had all of these drivers giving me bits of feedback,” Read explains. “A lot of it was great, some of it was wild, but I realised that a lot of this warrants a genuine thought-out response.

“But it was unmanageable, the amount of feedback we were getting, so we’ve created a drivers’ forum where there will be a representative from each of our championships and they’ll have regular sit-downs or Teams meetings with the motorsport team. By going through a championship representative, you’re getting a slightly better-rounded view of the entire grid, not just one person who can shout the loudest.” Volunteers were sought and then drivers voted on who should represent them in these meetings.

Among the feedback Read received was a perception that poor driving standards pervaded in some of the series – and he has been keen to tackle that. “Caterham motorsport is some of the closest, most competitive motorsport – by its nature, it can lead to more incidents than perhaps you would get in a series which is more spaced out,” he says.

Read asked for driver feedback, and reckons that a lot of it requires a proper, considered response

Photo by: Calli Faraway Photography / Caterham Motorsport

“However, I think there were some justified concerns, so we’ve appointed two driving standards improvement coaches. They’re there to guide the driver through the judicial process, help them understand the clerk’s decision and, most of all, they’re there for the education of the drivers so we don’t have a situation where you’ve got drivers walking away thinking, ‘Oh, I wasn’t at fault, somebody else did this.’ They’re there to sit down with them and help them work out what could have been done to avoid that contact.”

Alongside these new initiatives across the Caterham ladder, there has also been specific attention towards the 310R championship, which particularly struggled in 2025. It averaged just 14 cars, a 30% reduction from the previous season. “Part of the reason we think for that is because there wasn’t much separating 270R from 310R anymore and the upgrade was relatively costly,” reckons Read.

One of the ways this has been addressed is the introduction of a new tyre as part of Caterham’s return to Nova (the company born out of the collapse of long-time partner Avon) rather than using Toyo rubber.

“We will end up running a crazy amount of championships because we will be running all the Sigma cars, all the Horse cars on separate grids and it will be exciting” Alex Read

“The all-new ZZR compound is a bit of a halfway house between a List 1A/1B/1C tyre and a slick tyre,” adds Read. “It’s seen a massive lap time improvement, so this is now the fastest 310R year there’s ever been. At Snetterton we are seeing lap times that are three to four seconds faster than the pole time from last year.” That change, allied to an appearance on the British Touring Car support bill at Brands Hatch, has boosted interest for this season.

There has been a more fundamental change in the entry-level Caterham Academy, with a new car unleashed. “It’s taken a huge change in terms of power unit, drivetrain, gearbox, diff – it’s a new car,” Read explains. “The chassis and suspension have stayed consistent, but a lot of things have changed. Again, we’re seeing an improvement over the previous car – not just in terms of lap time but in driveability and how it translates through to products in our line-up.

“The biggest difference there is the differential; being able to start with a form of limited-slip differential, though it’s a low preload, gets rid of that strange step on our ladder of going from an open differential to a limited-slip. We’ve got a bit more torque and a bit more power from the 1.3-litre Horse Technologies power unit we’re using. That kept us busier on gearshifts and we’re now at a six-speed rather than a five-speed.”

Early indications suggest the fresh product is proving a hit and the revised engine will gradually be implemented across the Caterham ladder – but the old Sigma-engined machines will not be instantly banished. “We will end up running a crazy amount of championships because we will be running all the Sigma cars, all the Horse cars on separate grids and it will be exciting,” smiles Read.

Alongside UK growth, Read has ambitions to create a global specification of car with the aim of introducing a world championship or finals event as the manufacturer expands into new markets, with increased production capabilities. While that is a goal for further down the road, for now the focus is making sure those Caterhams become even more prolific in the UK club racing scene.

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the June 2026 issue and subscribe today. 

The Caterham 310R category has had particular attention for 2026

Photo by: Steve Jones