Farewell to a legend: Driving the last Ford Sigma-engined Caterham

Crucially, the Encore snaffles some of the best features from the R-Pack cars, which offer even greater sharpness to the handling without harming everyday usability, as much as any Seven is a daily driving proposition. Sports suspension, a limited slip diff and lightened flywheel are part of the standard specification.

Even with ‘just’ 152bhp the sub-600kg Encore is rapid, easily capable of 0-60mph in under 5 seconds which, if we’re honest, is more than quick enough for any public road. Yet it’s the way the Seven delivers the performance, the car responding instantly and proportionality to every throttle input, the side exit exhaust barking, crackling and popping away inches from your right ear.  

To make the most of the performance you’ll have to make busy with the wristly-quick, mechanically tight Mazda-sourced five-speed manual, zapping it around the gate just for the fun of it and executing perfectly timed heel-and-toe down shifts - braapp-braapp - despite the cramped pedal box.

On typical British B-roads there is simply nothing like a Seven, its dinky dimensions giving you time and space as it zaps fast and flat through the corners. Sitting inches from the ground and with your bum directly over the de Dion rear axle, you feel every movement and attitude shift, the sport suspension sacrificing some of the standard car's suppleness for enhanced control over larger bumps.

Again, it’s the lack of mass that really shines through, the Seven responding almost intuitively to  your every command with an immediacy no amount of clever chassis tech can mimic in heavier machines. The quick and razor-sharp steering writhes and wriggles with feedback, while there’s just enough effortless twist from the engine to allow subtle, throttle-assisted trajectory changes.

Yet what really makes the Seven a joy is that you don't have to be driving like Fangio when he's late for his dinner. Simply pootling about is a pleasure, taking in the sights, sounds and smells while watching the front wheels bob up and down in rhythm with the road. You also revel in the act of actually driving a car that responds faithfully to your every input - you drive smoothly and the Encore responds in kind; get clumsy and it'll behave accordingly.

Then there's the reaction it gets. We're suppossed to be living in the anti-car world, but drive a Seven and you'd never know. I can't think of any high performance car that's so warmly received wherever it goes. Pedestrians point and smile, while in traffic drivers will wind down their window to engage you in animated conversation. Hell, even cyclists give you a nod and the occassional 'nice car, mate'. 

Basically, if you don’t finish every drive elated, energised and feeling better about the world then your vitals need to be checked for signs of life.

Of course the typical Caterham concerns persist. Erecting the Heath Robinson hood is not the work of a moment, while only the seriously committed will use a Seven to tackle daily duties. And at £39,995 for the S3 in kit form, it’s not cheap - although given that most ‘driver’s cars’ these days tend to be seven-figure supercars and restomods, most of which trail the Seven for visceral driver interaction, you could argue it represents cracking value.

The real catch is that numbers are limited, and at the time of writing only a handful of examples remain available. Moreover, there’s no current plan to fill the hole in the line-up left by the Sigma (a turbocharged 1.3-litre from Horse Powertrains will be used in the Academy racers, but it’s still undecided whether it will become a road car option). It’s a shame, because for many of us this 1.6-litre machine represents the ripe, peachy sweet spot of the Seven line-up.

Still, there’s no reason to be mawkish because the skinny-tyred and Kei car-powered 170 is still going strong, as are the fast and furious Duratec versions, so you’ve still got plenty of ways to experience the Caterham magic. In the meantime, let’s hear it one last time for the Sigma - you will be missed.