by Sebastien Katch

July 2nd, Thursday night, the phone rings in our apartment in Munich, Germany. It's my father and he has terrible news for me: A back with an acute case of sciatic hernia. There is a great chance he and my mother won't be able to visit us anymore since he is nailed to his bed.

By Friday, his condition had slightly improved, and against his doctor recommendations, my parents decided to travel to Germany nevertheless. Dad would have to do with a lot of drugs and certainly a wheelchair.

My parents landed safely in Munich on Sunday morning July 4th. We spend the first couple of days wheeling my father around testing the wheelchair, mum trotting happily behind us, visiting the old town. It's clearly one of the nicest in Europe. We enjoyed its many lush beer gardens, restaurants, shops, its unique Bavarian food, and of course … the Soccer World Cup.

Although we had fun, I remained tensed and anxious. I wondered how my dad, in light of his physical condition, would be able to really enjoy the surprise I had secretly planned for him… A whole day of driving through the Alps in a CATERHAM CSR 200.

Tuesday morning, I decide to go along with the plan and try our luck. We leave Munich in the early hours ( wheelchair in the trunk), and drive 120 km west to the small city of Kempten-am-Allgäu, not far from the Swiss border at more than 230 km/h in our rented diesel BMW 1 series. The drive was fun and we were there in a heart beat.

We reach the village and "CITY CARS KEMPTEN", a very neat, immaculate and high-end custom tuning shop, which also buys, sells, and rents specialty cars. We are greeted by the owners Mr. and Mrs. Gunther and Rita Schleyer. www.city-cars-kempten.de , car lovers taking great pride in their cars and business.

And there she was, the Beast! a CATERHAM CSR 200, jet black, no-chromes, her sleek shiny body waiting for us in front of the showroom. Our jaws fall to the ground, clearly this was the most beautiful and aggressive looking Caterham we'd ever seen. The CSR is the latest addition to the Caterham family and there are a few technical features worth mentioning. First, the entire suspension has been redesigned: front shocks and springs reside now inside the body and the rear train abandons the DeDion suspension for a full rear independent suspension. Second, the tubular frame, which now extends through and around the driving compartment, has been significantly redesigned to increase torsional stiffness by 25%. Third, the front fenders and nose cone have been redesigned to decrease front aerodynamic lift by 50%, proven to be very important for this car at high speeds. The car is equipped with the 200 HP, 165 Lbs/ft, 2.3 L Cosworth engine married to a very short 6 speed gearbox (a 1:1 final drive ratio for the 6th speed!). The car is wearing 15" wheels with specially designed AVON tires. Weighting only 570kg, the result is 0-100km/h in 3.7 seconds and more than 1.0g in lateral acceleration. Acceleration, braking and handling are comparable to that of a Formula 3.

After a short visit of the garage, some paperwork, and a convincing test drive with Mr. Schleyer, we are free to go. My father manages to get into the passenger seat (the same way he fits himself into his Morgan) and fastens his 4 points seatbelt. We both leave the wheelchair behind with no regrets.

Oil temperature? ...check.
Oil pressure? ... check.
There she goes…

Here comes the Autobahn entrance, direction Fussen and the Alps. From 1st to 6th gear shifting at 7,200 RPM, UNREAL! We are glued to our seats by the roaring engine sound that fills the air, and the cabin wind turbulence so strong without side windows. We bring the car up to 210 km/h, fighting the Beast's significant under steer at these high speeds. A few minutes later we leave the highway, enter the Alps and the most scenic and fun roads of Europe.

"So, how do you feel?" I ask my father.
"Never better" he answers.
Incredibly, the pain in his back was gone. I could not believe it. We stop and swap places.

He takes the wheel and off we go. We cross the picturesque town of Fussen and drive on the S198 country road to the village of Elmen, where we turn left into a 15% grade twisty mountain road towards Imst, the heart of the Austrian Tyrol. Mountain peaks culminate at more than 2,800 meters around us, the scenery is phenomenal. We stop for lunch near the top of the mountain pass and have Tyrolean knödels (potato dumplings), homemade sausages, some bacon sauerkraut and of course, a Bavarian weiss beer. By then my father is completely cured.
We again swap seats and continue our journey. The car is a divine pleasure and a challenge to drive on the mountain and country roads. We experience many voluntary (and involuntary) side drafts and controlled skids. It is crucial to constantly balance steering, breaking, and acceleration. This car is a real racing Beast. We love it.

Our trip brings us back into Bavaria through the villages of Garmisch (Winter Olympics 1972) and Oberammergau. We also have the chance to drive through the sinuous "Romantisch Strasse" road back towards Kempten. Overtaking other cars in the CSR on these country roads is another experience in itself: simply breathtaking.

It is 6h30 PM and we are back at CITY-CARS-KEMPTEN. We are sun burnt, dehydrated, half dead, but ecstatic. Amusingly, we completed 299 kilometers out-of-the 300 base kilometers allowed in the rental agreement. I guess we really got our bang for our buck.

My father got out of the car, standing and walking by himself, smiling. No chair, or walking stick needed. The Caterham cured him. "So?" he asked, "What's next?"… "World Cup Soccer game at 8h30 PM in Munich!" I said. "Let's go, we can't be late". And so, we zoomed back to Munich in our BMW 1 series.

It was a day with my dad that I will remember for the rest of my life.

With all my love,
Sebastien

©VEA