There are cars that chase the future, then there are those that take a final bow. Caterham’s new Seven 310 Encore falls squarely in the latter camp, not with nostalgia, but with defiance. It’s not trying to reinvent anything. It’s reminding us what we’re about to lose.
With only 25 examples being built, the 310 Encore isn’t a reinvention. It’s a farewell. More specifically, a tribute to the 1.6-litre Ford Sigma engine that has powered Caterham’s soul for nearly two decades. In an age where electrification and automation dominate the narrative, Caterham’s final Sigma-powered model is a love letter to the analogue experience. And fittingly, it doesn’t whisper goodbye, it sings it.
The Encore is fast, yes. It’ll take you from 0 to 60mph in just under five seconds, scream past 7,000rpm, and corner like a wasp on espresso. But you don’t need the spec sheet to feel it. You just need a ribbon of road, maybe a misty morning in North Wales or a sun-soaked circuit at Donington Park. This is a car you don’t just drive, you wear it.
The performance has roots in Caterham’s racing DNA. Borrowing components from the 310R Championship car, the Encore is lighter, sharper, and louder than it needs to be. There’s a lightened flywheel, stiffer suspension, beefier brakes. The kind of enhancements that don’t just improve lap times, they animate the car. The Encore is theatre. It’s kinetic art. It’s the sort of car that encourages detours on the way to anywhere.
But here’s where it gets interesting. The Encore, true to its name, has flair. Each of the 25 cars wears one of six limited-run colour schemes named after pop and rock anthems. There’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Back in Black,” and “Orange Crush”, choices that suggest the team at Caterham have been digging through old record collections while wrenching bolts. And it works. The result is a car that doesn’t just perform, it plays.
This isn’t faux retro or overdone nostalgia. It’s sincerity painted in six shades of sentiment. And for a car so closely associated with driving purity, it’s a rare moment of visual exuberance. The rest of the styling? Classic Caterham, carbon wings, black pack trim, aero nose, 13-inch wheels, race-ready Toyo tyres. Nothing excessive, just tools for the task. If you know, you know.
Inside, it’s all business. Leather seats stitched in grey, carbon fibre dashboard, Encore-branded dials, gearshift light, four-point harness. There’s a MOMO steering wheel you can pull off and hang on your wall if you’re that sort. And, tucked between the seats, a numbered plaque, your reminder that this car isn’t just rare, it’s finite.
What Caterham has done here is not launch a new model. They’ve staged a send-off. A final drive through the mountain pass before the engine goes quiet. In a world increasingly engineered for comfort, silence, and safety, the Encore is a rebellion. It’s uncomfortable, loud, vulnerable, and utterly alive.
The Caterham Seven 310 Encore won’t be for everyone. But for the right 25 people, it’ll be everything.
