Simon Cowell has shown his ‘roofless streak’ by swapping his chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce for a £30,000 topless sports car.
The multi-millionaire music mogul has bought a Caterham Seven, a road-legal track car sold without a roof, air-con, electric windows or even carpet.
It is a far cry from the £300,000 Rolls-Royce or £850,000 Bugatti Veyron which the Britain’s Got Talent judge is normally seen in.
Cowell, 53, test-drove the Caterham Superlight 400 last week and instantly fell in love with the sports car, ordering one on the spot.
He described the pint-sized motor, which is based on the iconic Lotus Seven, as “unbelievable” and “one of the best cars in the world”.
The businessman, worth in excess of £200 million, will have paid around £32,000 for his new toy, which is built in Surrey.
Caterham’s Seven models are based on engineering icon Colin Chapman’s famous mantra of “simplify then add lightness”.
As a result the car goes without any luxuries. It lacks air conditioning, electric windows, glove box, traction control, anti-lock brakes or even a radio.
Customers can pay extra for some of these options although with Caterhams it is all about the driving experience, with owners loving the cars for their handling rather than their luxuries.
The Caterham has been fitted with a 2-litre Ford-derived engine which develops a mere 210bhp.
But because it weighs just 515kg, it will rocket from 0-60mph in just 3.8 seconds before topping out at 140mph.
Once the car has been built, Caterham will be shipping it out to the USA for Cowell to enjoy in sunny Los Angeles.
The sports car firm is refusing to discuss Simon Cowell’s purchase due to client confidentiality agreements.
But he will be one of only small number of people in the US with one of the sports cars, as Caterham don’t even have a distributor across the Atlantic.
David Ridley, sales and marketing manager for Caterham, said: “We can’t comment on any of our private customers but the Caterham Seven has long been revered for its intuitive handling and high power-to-weight ratio.
“It is the perfect combination of accessible driving enjoyment and would be a thrilling addition to anyone’s car collection.”
