Caterham presents the exclusive and limited-run Seven HWM Edition

HWM stands for Hersham and Walton Motors, a company founded in 1938 in the United Kingdom with a long and prosperous tradition in motorsport, both building and racing cars, and, when it comes to road cars, it has the honour of being the oldest dealership in the world for Aston Martin. In this regard, since 2023 HWM has extended its ties with another English brand, Caterham.

When it comes to competition, HWM has other honours, such as being the first British team to win a Grand Prix in the post-war era, but its history in motorsport was firmly established in 1951 when, with its HWM-Alta, it achieved seven victories, seven second places and ten third places in international events, with distinguished drivers at the wheel such as a young Stirling Moss or the ill-fated Lance Macklin, who lost his life in the fatal accident at Le Mans in 1955.

Now, through Caterham and its partnership with HWM, a tribute will be paid to its motoring heritage and to the successful HWM-Alta with a limited edition called Seven HWM Edition, of which only 19 units will be built for a select group of customers in the United Kingdom. All these units feature special details that will make them collector’s pieces, all for the modest price of 57.990 pounds sterling.

Looking at the exterior details, the Caterham Seven HWM Edition comes with a body painted in HWM green, as used on the 1951 HWM-Alta, and it will not be the only reference it borrows, as other elements such as the custom grille with starter hole, the suspension arms, the anti-roll bar and the headlight brackets are painted in Retro Grey, in addition to side vents inspired by the HWM-Alta. All of this is complemented by an HWM-Caterham badge on the nose and on the chrome fuel cap, with other elements such as the Union Jack also present.

Inside, the SuperSprint dashboard is made of hand-turned aluminium, and it includes Smiths chrome gauges, as well as a master cut-off switch and a Moto-Lita steering wheel in solid wood with a quick-release system. The transmission tunnel is the same colour as the exterior, and on it sit the gear lever and handbrake in chrome finish, not forgetting the interior panels painted in black with silver rivets. The interior is completed with competition seats with Retroham 4-point harnesses upholstered in a combination of leather or fabric, featuring the HWM logo on the headrest, plus a plate with the unit number located on the passenger side.

The Caterham Seven HWM Edition is based on the Seven 420, so under its bonnet it houses the naturally aspirated 2.0-litre four-cylinder Duratec engine, which delivers 210 CV at 7,600 rpm together with 203 Nm of torque, paired with a five-speed manual gearbox. Thanks to its ridiculously low weight, it achieves a power-to-weight ratio of 375 CV per tonne, allowing it to accelerate to 96 km/h in just 3.8 seconds and reach a top speed of 219 km/h.