TVR amarcord: when TVRCCNA visited Blackpool facility

In 2006 TVR Car Club of North America visited TVR Blackpool facility. As you can understand by these images, which were taken by President Marshall Moore, it was exciting. Members on tehir pilgrimage had the chance to visit all departments of the factory: chassis (a grouping of new chassis awaiting the fitting of ancillary components), a batch of new rear suspension uprights, body (you can see the body mold for TVR Tuscan Convertible), painting, engines and other discarded pieces in the backyard of the Blackpool factory .

In the last images some curiosities: two TVR Sagaris with Left Hand Drive under construction (the car probably would have gone to Italy), the last TVR Cerbera and the mighty TVR Cerbera Speed 12.

Images property: Marshall Moore, President of TVRCCNA

TVR Pic of the day: TVR Tuscan S MK1 with left hand drive

We like to cover TVR with left hand drive because they're obviously rarer than other cars. Here is a stunning TVR Tuscan S Mk1 in iridescent green with Dutch plate.

1:43 TVR Griffith 200: offer for TVR Griffith enthusiasts

Diecasm, producers of premium lines of scale model automobiles, is announcing a pre-production offer for the recently introduced 1:43 scale model of the Griffith Series 200. If you order your model prior to December 15, 2009 using the pre-purchase order code below, Diecasm will lock in the original price for you which was $164.95.

When the initial products were checked for the final run of the models, a few quality control issues needed to be addressed. The corrections in detail necessitated some changes in the production and also created an increase in cost. But true to the firm commitment to initial orders, Diecasm will hold the original price until December 15th, 2009.

According to Diecasm, "...The build cost went up which necessitated a price increase on the Founder’s Edition to $195; though the standard edition remains at $95."
In order to lock in your pre-production order price use the coupon order code of:

GREGISTRY2FE

Coupons are valid through 12/15/2009 and only apply to either of these DIECASM product codes:

http://www.diecasm.com/amgri200fe.html - Griffith 200 | Founder's Edition with Jack Griffith's Autograph
http://www.diecasm.com/samgri2fegy.html - Griffith 200 | Founder's Edition + The Griffith Years | Autographed

Pre-orders received after 12/15/2009 will be charged the new price.

Pic of the day: German TVR Sagaris with left hand drive

This image was taken in 2007 in Germany. Here is a stunning TVR Sagaris, a very rare model because it has the Left Hand Drive. Its city plate was partially erased but we can see the first letter: "M" for Munchen.

Do you have any image about a LHD Sagaris? Send it to us!

TVR T400R: the complete story - EPISODE 2

Season 2003
Two more cars on the track. Stanton and Race Sports Salisbury were back with a renewed attack, this time with a pair of brand new T400Rs – target Le Mans!


The opening task was to take one of the new DeWalt liveried cars to Sebring – and impress the ACO and finish the race. Despite suffering huge cockpit temperatures (a result of a misjudged decision to leave the car’s fixed windows in place on a very steamy day) the car had just one problem, a faulty battery at the very end of the race, and it finished a hugely impressive sixth in class.


Back in the British Championship The Rollcentre Racing's T400R was sold to an ex-Tuscan Challenge racer, Gareth Evans, and was now in the care of Burt Taylor’s Countdown Developments.


Eclipse Motor Sport's T400R had to start the season against two Mosler MT900Rs of Rollcentre and Balfe Motorsport. But in Mid-season it scored a famous win at Silverstone (along with Ben McLoughlin) to win the historic British Empire Trophy. That race also produced a result which is now unlikely ever to be matched, with the Peninsula and CDL cars following the Eclipse T400R home for a TVR clean sweep of the podium.


At Castle Combe all five cars then in existence started the race. The 1-2 was a clean sweep for the DeWalt pair, returning home after a disappointing Le Mans which saw one car eliminated early in the race and the second finally succumbing after a huge effort by Michael Caine. By now there was another significant T400R fact to note. Richard Stanton had piloted all five cars so far built in race action – starting out with the first chassis, sampling the Rollcentre car at Suzuka and completing the 2002 season aboard the Eclipse car, before coming back with his De Walt liveried pair.


Back to the race action: the Eclipse T400R won at Oulton Park. The final round of the 2003 championship was at Brands Hatch and there were three cars still in with the chance of a championship win. The Eclipse TVR was the outsider: both Moslers would have to fall by the wayside if the Blackpool rocket was to score a famous win. But the the DeWalt cars were back, now passed from Richard Stanton to Bob Berridge, and it was Berridge who played the first decisive role. Lap two, Turn One, Paddock Hill Bend and there was decisive contact. When the dust settled it was game over for the Balfe Mosler.


Eclipse meanwhile was flying high and looked set to make life exceedingly difficult for the Rollcentre Mosler but a Marcos Mantis chose the wrong gap to go for and the subsequent tap sent the T400R into the barriers.

2003 Season: the results
British GT Championship
Eclipse – 2 wins, 1 second place and 4 third places
De Walt Racing Race Sports – 1 win, 1 second place and 2 third places
Peninsula – 1 second place
CDL 1 third place

Sebring 12 hours
Dewalt 6th in class

Le Mans 24 Hours
De Walt 2 x DNF

Season 2004
Eclipse’s car scored a win at Oulton Park and a second time in a Britcar GT Open race at Donington Park.


There was however a new chapter: RSR Racing took to the track a pair of brand new, copper-painted T400Rs funded by Lawrence Tomlinson and pedaled by the team owner and the evergreen Nigel Greensall. The DeWalt cars were now in the hands of Gareth Evans, under the banner of Chamberlain Synergy Racing. The cars appeared at Sebring once again in a beautiful purple livery and in a new ‘wide-track’ guise. Both arrived to the finish and some time after, in June, the scored a very interesting result at Le Mans 24 Hours: 8th and 9th in their class.


At Donington Park for another FIA GT round one car each from the Chamberlain Synergy and RSR squads were at the show. The TVRs also made their presence felt in the LMES with both the purple cars and the (now once again yellow and black) Racesports car both scoring good finishes. There was the potential for more however, but an Audi R8 destroyed one of the purple cars at the Bus Stop at Spa.

2004 season: the results
British GT Championship Eclipse – 1 win, 2 third places
RSR – 2 second places

Sebring 12 Hours
Chamberlain Synergy - 12th and 16th in class

Le Mans 24 Hours
Chamberlain Synergy - 8th and 9th in class

Donington Park FIA GT
RSR 6th in class
Synergy 11th in class

LMES Best results
6th – Chamberlain Synergy
7th - Racesports

2005: the last season
Lawrence Tomlinson had bought the two purple cars and these, plus his two ex RSR cars, would form the rolling stock for the ‘new for 2005’ Team LNT – all in narrow track guise. The newly purple and orange liveried TVRs would perform a joint British GT and LMES season.


It started with a two car entry for Sebring which sadly saw a catalogue of misfortune ruin the team’s opening weekend. In the British Championship the cars were super quick, but the Scuderia Ecosse Ferraris were just a wee bit quicker and it was with a sense of frustration that the team withdrew from the series mid season, after falling foul of the notoriously tough (especially for cars with a side exhaust outlet) noise restrictions at Castle Combe. LMES was good for them with an impressive and historic 1-2 finish in the opening 1000km race of the European season at Spa Francorchamps. They followed this up with a podium finish in the GT2 class at the Tourist Trophy meeting of the FIA GT Championship at Silverstone.


Meanwhile though came the lowest low – a quite unfathomable decision not to invite either of the Team LNT cars to join the entry for the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The Peninsula TVR squad meanwhile was pressing on, in the very first of the T400R chassis, with a full LMES season of its own and it was the Peninsula / racesports name that came out when the ACO opened the golden envelope containing the entry list for the 24 Hours. Despite a troubled race the Hartshorne / Stanton / Piers Johnson trio finished the race and only failed to post a classified finish by just a couple of laps. In the LMES, they raced steadily and efficiently and posted a pair of sixth places plus a pair of sevenths.

2005 season: the results. British GT Championship Team LNT 2 second places, 1 third place. Sebring 12 Hours: Team LNT 9th and 10th in class (Unclassifed). Spa 1000kms: Team LNT – First and second. Le Mans 24 hours: Race Sports 7th in class (Unclassified). Silverstone FIA GT: LNT Third in class. LMES: Race Sports 2 sixth places, 2 seventh places

Where are the now the TVR T400rs?
Rollcentre: is still with Bert Taylor.
Eclipse Motorsport: is still with the team.
Ex-DeWalt, ex-Chamberlain Synergy, ex Bob Berridge / Gareth Evans: now reside with Team LNT, alongside the ex RSR pair.
Chassis no.1: remains in the ownership of John Hartshorne.

Source: Dailysportscar

TVR T400 R: the complete story - EPISODE 1

Following the success of the Tuscan Challenge and encouraged from teams and pilots, TVR decided to jump to the high tops of international motorism with a car that would have been ready and competitive for a long and very difficult race such as the Le Mans 24 Hours: the TVR T400R.
In the period between 2001 and 2004 seven units were built with the British GT Championship as the launch pad for the project and the Le Mans 24 Hours as a prime objective.

Season 2001
Race Sports Salisbury (De Walt sponsored) headed by Richard Stanton was the first team which joyned the car to the debut in races taking a class win at Castle Combe (Stanton and Steve Hyde). Rollcentre Racing team purchased the second Tuscan R replacing the much loved and admired Cerbera Speed 6, which had marked Martin Short’s team’s debut in GT racing.


Season 2001: the results
British GT Championship
- Barclays DeWalt – 1 win, 2 second places, 2 third places and 1 pole position
- Rollcentre Racing – 2 wins, 1 second place, 3 pole positions


Season 2002
At the beginning of 2002 Blackpool factory delivered directly on the track the third car in public at the British GT Championship Media Day: a TVR T400R for Eclipse Motor sport. But at that very same event in Silverstone it had just lost a significant sponsor. The solution was obvious – a new Orange Car and a new Orange website. It was a match made in heaven and the car raced for almost the entire season with all-over dailysportscar branding.


It won at Knockhill but was disqualified for a technical infringement. The best of the (then) trio though was still the Rollcentre Racing car: four wins and three second places were to take the Short / Pullan pair to the brink of the title at the last round at Donington Park, before mechanical woes brought an emotional end to a quite stunning season.


In the same period the Rollcentre Racing car took in the T400R’s first ever international race start with a popular (with Japanese fans) and successful run in the Suzuka 1000kms, producing a class podium. Meanwhile, John Hartshorne and Piers Johnson became the owners of the first chassis (of Race Sports Salisbury) and raced it with Peninsula TVR banners. They took a couple of early fourth places in class (image below).



Season 2002: the results
British GT Championship
- Rollcentre Racing: 4 wins, 3 second places, 1 third place, 2 pole positions
- Eclipse Motor Sport: 1 win (but dsq), 1 third place
- Race Sports Salisabury: 3 third places

Suzuka 1000kms
- Rollcentre Racing: second in class

To be continued to EPISODE 2

TVR Project 7/12, TVR Cerbera Speed 12, TVR Speed 12 - EPISODE 4

In EPISODE 3 we reported the TVR Cerbera Speed 12, a new project which was created from the pristine TVR Speed12. In the same time the race version of the car was developed (supposedly two cars were built) TVR created only one car strictly road legal.

According to sources, the car came to life with grey paint and W312 BFV plate.





Some time after the W312 BFV TVR Cerbera Speed 12 road version received a new plate: W312 BHG. The body was repainted red.




Nowadays the TVR Cerbera Speed12 has been updated again with a new plate: W112 BHG. The paint remained the same. In the back an enormous wing was added. TVR Unofficial Blog already reviewed the car HERE. This very special TVR, the only one in existance is currently on display at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu and stands between at Ferrari F40 and Ford GT40.

TVR Project 7/12, TVR Cerbera Speed 12, TVR Speed 12 - EPISODE 3

In EPISODE 2 the TVR Speed 12 with GT1 standards made its first apperances with white paint (maybe the same unit painted violet).
GT regulations caused the TVR Speed 12 to be scrapped. However, a new GT2 racer was concocted using the same engine, but few other parts. The basic design was of a Cerbera, only lower, wider, and with more aggressive styling. It was known as the TVR Cerbera Speed 12.


From now, according to sources, the were two paths: the road version and the race version.

TVR Cerbera Speed12: the race version
Unfortunately, it's impossible to say if the car pictured above became a race car or if it was used for the road legal version. Pictures below show probably the first car built and still without stickers:



Another image shows a Cerbera Speed 12 maybe without paint: looking at the bodyshell it seems it's nude carbon fiber. We don't know if this is the blue car pictured above or it's a second car which was built in the meanwhile.


Probably a short time after these images, the car with blue paint received its race numbers ans stickers:


Image below show something more: at least two units of the TVR Cerbera Speed 12 were built. There is a white car and the car with number 27 but painted black.

Following images show n.27 with violet paint. It raced in British GT Championship in 2002:





To be continued on EPISODE 4 for the TVR Cerbera Speed 12 Road Version.

TVR Project 7/12, TVR Cerbera Speed 12, TVR Speed 12 - EPISODE 2

In EPISODE 1 TVR started the TVR Project 7/12 with (according to experts) two mock-ups. The first violet car had many parts made with woods. The second violet mok-up received a further development with many mechanical parts but still without engine (see the last image of TVR Project 7/12, TVR Cerbera Speed 12, TVR Speed 12 - EPISODE 1).

The first working car: the TVR Cerbera Speed 12 or TVR Cerbera Racer
The violet car with airscoop on the roof became this:


This is the first TVR Cerbera Speed12 (or TVR Cerbera Racer), a race car which was ready for GT1 regulations. The car appeared also on Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson:


An unlucky destiny
Problems during its development, changing GT1 class regulations and the eventual decision that it was simply incapable of being used as a road car ended the idea, forcing TVR executives to abandon its development.
The original installation of the V12 engine caused some engineering challenges. The exhausts were routed down the middle of the car along the transmission tunnel, again as seen with the road cars. This, coupled with the transmission tunnel being a load-bearing part of the structure created two problems. Firstly it forced the driver's seat closer to the side of the car due to the size of the tunnel. This isn't desirable in a race car when side impacts are likely. Secondly the immense amount of heat generated by the exhausts made the cabin unbearably hot in race conditions.
The vehicle's engine was a 7.7 Litre 48-valve V12 with dry sump lubrication and constructed of steel not aluminium or cast-iron that poduced 800-HP and 650 LB·FT @ 5750 rpm and that yeilded a top speed of 245 miles per hour. The car weighed in at 2,205 LBS and the transmission was a 6-speed Hollinger manual gearbox. The car's body was carbon fibre over a tubular steel chassis.


To be continued to EPISODE 3

TVR Project 7/12, TVR Cerbera Speed 12, TVR Speed 12 - EPISODE 1

TVR Project 7/12... TVR Speed12... TVR Cerbera speed12. The subject is quite complicated. TVR developed its project for a big race TVR with several modifications which actually generated some different "vehicles": mock-ups, race versions, street versions. Here is a brief portrait of all cars that were created.

TVR Project 7/12: the concept and the first mock-up
During '90s TVR decided to build the fastest road car in the world and to start a race-program for English GT Championship. The first result of these studies was a mok up which was introduced in 1995 and progressively it was updated until 2000.
The car should have competed with the likes of the Porsche 911 GT1, McLaren F1 GTR, Lister Storm and lots of other competitors. TVR used modified Rover engines for quite a long time but at that time Peter Wheeler decided to design or comission engines for themselves.
Engine: The heart of the 7/12 would have been a 660 bhp V12-engine, an incredible 830 Nm maximum torque. Al Melling was charged with the project of this mighty unit. Its main features were aluminium alloy block and heads, and a single overhead cam per bankwith two valves per cylinder. The entire engine weighed only 160 kg.
Chassis: the 7/12 is based on an all-new spaceframe backbone chassis, which hintsat the Cerbera GT race car. It would include a full FIA roll cage, whichwill stiffen the body. The look was dictated by the GT racing rules. It also had to be road-legal, which meant that all the rigorous tests (like crash) had to be passed and a few road-homolagated examples would have been built. But just as with the Porsche 911GT1 racing was the key.

Following images: early mock-up with wood internal parts.



Following images: the mock-up pictured above was completed for first official shows.


The TVR Project 7/12 was shown for the first time at the British Motor Show in October 1996 (picture below). The factory hoped to enter it in the 24 hours at LeMans 1997:


After the show the car went back to Blackpool for further developments. The first mockup of the TVR Project 7/12 was then laied aside in poor conditions in order to built the working cars:





TVR Project 7/12: a second mock-up
A second mock-up was completed with its own mechanical parts but still without engine.

Following image: on the left there is a later violet mockup (maybe the car pictured above, the "second" mockup) but on the right there is a third car: it has an airscoop on the roof and by its stickers and race numbers we can assume it were being prepared to join the racetrack.


To be continued to EPISODE 2