Finnish line

REPORT 4 660cc, 3cyl turbo petrol, RWD, 80bhp, 79lb ft 57.6mpg, 114g/km CO2 0–62mph in 6.5secs, 100mph 490kg £ £19,375 Total mileage 4077 Driver Rowan Horncastle Why it’s here Can The Mighty Caterham prove that less is more?

n Finland, it takes a minimum of two years to obtain a full driving licence. But before learners can rip off their L-plates and explore the world on four wheels, they’re subjected to skidpan sessions to understand car control. Here, we have to reverse around a corner.

But since running our Mighty Caterham, I’ve found it a perfect learner tool for the basics of car control. With no ABS, no TC, no ESP and no glovebox to file your excuses, you have to work things out for yourself.

Stomp on the brakes: they’ll lock up. Throw it into a corner too fast: it’ll understeer. Turn in and mash the throttle: it’ll oversteer. But wanting to know its limits, and to better understand car control like those skilful Scandies, I signed myself up for one of Caterham’s Silverstone Experiences.

These are driving days that come in two flavours: eight hours of drifting tuition if you like things smoky and sideways (£249), or, if you’re more inclined to things being fast and tidy, a full day on the circuit (£495).

I went for the sideways option – as that’s how our grip-deficient Caterham has a severe tendency to head in the wet.

At my disposal was Scott Mansell (above right), Caterham’s business development manager and professional driver, and a modified 140bhp Caterham Supersports.

With a jacked-up rear ride height, lack of any front anti-roll bars, plus sticky tyres shoved on the front and hard, cheap tyres put on the rear, it’s set up for sideways. This, plus the fact it has nearly twice the power of the 160, meant it was a complete doddle to get the back out.

IWithin an hour, I was flinging the car into transition drifts and penduluming through a drift course feeling like a drift god. That was until I hopped back into the 160. With live rear axle suspension, no limitedslip diff and only 80bhp, the 160 isn’t quite the drift king. Yes, it’s playful on the road, but for a full-bore Formula D-style drift, it doesn’t have the minerals to stay sideways.

That didn’t stop me trying. If you bung it into a corner, lift off and then mash the throttle, the rear end will go with quite dramatic effect as the body flops over the suspension and the sidewalls flex until you think the tyre will peel itself off the rim.

But as a tool to learn the basics of car control, I still don’t think there’s anything as pure and well suited for the job. Now we just need to get BSM to put a few on the fleet.