Malaysian-owned Caterham F1 have confirmed plans to move their operational base from Norfolk to a new location in Leafield later this year.
Malaysian-owned outfit to switch base to Oxfordshire
Malaysian-owned Caterham F1 have confirmed plans to move their operational base to a new location in Leafield later this year.
Caterham, formerly known as Lotus, will switch to the Oxfordshire venue in August, leaving behind their factory in Hingham, Norfolk, that has been home since the end of 2009 after the team was granted entry into Formula One.
Explaining the switch to Leafield - which has previously housed the Arrows and Super Aguri teams - team principal Tony Fernandes said: "The factory in Hingham has served us extremely well.
"It has given us the perfect platform to establish both the F1 team and our GP2 team (Caterham Racing) in the first stages of our development.
Future goals
"However, as both teams grew, and in the planning process we went through when acquiring Caterham Cars, it became clear we needed to house the car company in the same facility as our racing operations to give us the best chance to meet our future goals on and off track.
"We began looking for a site that could be adapted to suit the future needs of our racing and road car operations and Leafield quickly became the obvious choice."
Fernandes is looking to build a "bespoke development and production facility" for Caterham Cars at Leafield, whilst Caterham Composites and Caterham Technology and Innovation will move permanently into the base at Hingham.
"While it will obviously be sad if the F1 and GP2 teams move on from Hingham, we are not saying goodbye to Norfolk," Fernandes added.
"This will be the next chapter in the development of both our motor racing teams and road car company and gives us the best chance to keep progressing on track and, in future, on the road with Caterham Cars."
