The Aug. 7 article on the Advocate front page about the Caterham sports car irritated me because of the arrogant tone of the interviewed owner.
Terry Johns was very dismissive when he discussed North American automobiles, which he described as a product “bought by the pound” in the eyes of English car enthusiasts.
He also wanted to warn his fellow Caterham owners about poor Canadian drivers before an organized road trip through the mountains.
The Caterham is essentially a street legal go-kart engineered for maximum performance on a track and Johns should expect it would do well against heavier North American vehicles in any performance category.
It would likely fall down in every other category, including durability, reliability and every basic creature comfort found in any North American vehicle.
His other conclusion about poor Canadian drivers would have to be weighed against British driver stats and I suspect there would be very little difference between the two.
I would suggest that newcomer Johns should use a little more diplomacy in his assessment of the Canadian automotive scene and its drivers if he has any hope of making friends in the car guy community.
Jim Sutherland
Red Deer