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It's fifty years since the Lotus 7 was born. It was sensational then, and under the watchful eye of Caterham, the classic British two-seater is better than ever.

 

Stuart Milne has loved them since he first clapped eyes on the teeny track day terror.

 

Colin Chapman is one of my all-time heroes. A car enthusiast, part-time racer and engineer extraordinaire; he was the embodiment of British talent and ingenuity.

 

He formed Lotus as a part-time business in 1952 while working at British Aluminium to build small numbers of his Mark 4 trial car racer.

 

Over the next few years he improved the Mark 4 through several generations, before he started to build the Lotus 7.

 

The car secured Lotus' future, but not even Chapman, who once said the 7 was "the sort of thing you could dash off in a weekend" could imagine it'll still be in production half a century later.

 

Of course these days the Lotus 7 is now the Caterham 7 after Graham Nearn bought the manufacturing rights from Chapman in 1973.

 

And under Nearn's stewardship, the 7 has evolved into a bone-fide supercar slayer.

 

More than fifty different versions of the 7 have been built under the Lotus and Caterham banner, powered by a variety of engines ranging from 1.3 plodders to 2-litre screamers – and even some incredible motorbike engines.

 

Of course, Caterham and Lotus before never built its own engines, preferring to buy and tweak powerplants from Ford, Vauxhall, Cosworth, Coventry Climax and Rover. And of course the Blackbird and FireBlade engines from the Honda superbikes.

 

The current CSR 260 – which is the most radical 7 to date – is capable of reaching 60mph in a barely-believable 3.1 seconds before hitting 155mph flat out.

 

That’s only half a second slower than the £800,000 Bugatti Veyron – the world's fastest car.

 

And the new X330 concept promises even more power; making an astonishing 600bhp per tonne.

 

But the 7 has always been more than just a straight line speedster. The secret to its incredible handling has always been down to its simplicity, lightweight and the ability to produce an uncompromising drivers' car.

 

The original 7 was featured a simple tubular steel chassis with lightweight body panels and a choice of basic Ford or MG engines, and a 'live' rear axle.

 

That means it's fixed, a lot like an old horse drawn cart.

 

Modern Caterhams are far more sophisticated, but still remarkably simple. In fact it's not uncommon for a Caterham race car to be badly crashed on the Saturday of a race meet and fully rebuilt and ready for action on the Sunday.

 

And because they're so simple; they're comparatively cheap. Caterhams start at about £6,000 – or the price of a new Ford Ka – rising to around £35,000 for a hot CSR.

 

If you fancy an original Lotus, you'll need at least £20,000 for a good one.

 

The beauty of a 7 is you don't need the fastest to have the most fun. Indeed side-by-side comparisons often reveal sacrificing a bit of performance reveals even more handling prowess.

 

Driving one is one of the finest motoring experiences available at any price. The cockpit is cramped, and there's not even a proper roof available.

 

It has doors, of course; but they're made from canvas.

 

But none of that matters, because the chassis is perfectly balanced and the steering wonderfully direct, it’s a cinch to make it dance from corner to corner.

 

As grin generators go, the 7 is truly the greatest car ever committed to tarmac.

 

L.A.T.W.O.T. Video of the Week

 

There's nothing quite as impressive as a hot lap of the 14 mile Nürburgring – especially when it's in a 450-odd bhp-per-tonne Caterham R500.

 

 

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