Engineers built a car 450ft in the air on Brighton's i360 in just six hours

Caterham Cars engineers building the new Seven 170 on the i360
Photos by Brighton Pictures — Caterham Cars engineers building the new Seven 170 on the i360 Photos by Brighton Pictures

A team from car manufacturer Caterham Cars celebrated the launch of its lightest ever production car – the Seven 170 – by building it in just six hours inside the British Airways i360 pod.

It was the first time the Seven 170 had been unveiled to the British public, the first time a car had ever been built in one of Britain’s tallest visitor attractions and actually the first time a car had been inside the pod at all. In addition, from ground level it was the highest known height a car had ever been built.

"This will certainly go down as one of the most interesting and memorable places we’ve ever built a car," said Caterham Cars CEO, Graham Macdonald.

Caterham engineers building the new Seven 170 on the i360
Photos by Brighton Pictures — Caterham engineers building the new Seven 170 on the i360 Photos by Brighton Pictures

The build, which was completed inside six hours but would usually take one person 100 hours to finish, was supported by Avon Tyres and Halfords Advanced, and represented

Visitors were able to watch the car build take place, using Halfords Advanced hand tools, in the glass viewing platform while taking in the 360-degree views of the south coast and the English Channel.

Standing at 531ft, British Airways i360 is taller than the London Eye, Big Ben and Tower Bridge. The tower and pod of the i360 weighs over 1,200 tonnes – which equates to 2,727 Caterham Seven 170s or 200 elephants.

Caterham Cars CEO, Graham Macdonald, added: “We set the engineers a daunting challenge building the car at such a height, but we had faith they’d complete it – and they did. We hope the public who came down to watch the build enjoyed their first sighting of our lightest ever production car – the Seven 170.”

Halfords Workshop Buyer Emma Bailey said: “As the official tool suppliers of the Caterham Racing series, we are delighted to be supporting this brilliant event. We supply Halfords Advanced tools to all Caterham Race Technicians across five manufacturer-backed championships, meaning hundreds of drivers benefit from our tools that all come with a lifetime guarantee.”

For more information about the Seven 170, visit: http://caterhamcars.com/seven-170