I Hope GT4 Doesnt Forget TVR

[Scaff]

The TVR Cerbera Speed 12 also spawned a GT class race version as stated on the post card.

 

[code_kev]

the cerbera is one insane car

 

[Dave A]

There was 3 different variations of the origial Speed 12, the very first was called the 7/12 for 7 liter V12. Then it was renamed the Speed 12, the 7/12 but it only had 660Bhp (I use only when comparing it to the other two).The car was then renamed the Speed 12 and it was tuned to around 800Bhp. The second Speed 12 had a wing on the back like the one in GT2 and 800+ Bhp, the most recent one the Cerbera Speed 12 has more than 960Bhp, t he 800Bhp figure was taken when TVR were tesing the car on a dyno, it reached a certain Rpm and it's torque snapped one of the holding straps, it had a few thousand Rpm's left but it reading at that point was 800Bhp, TVR decided not to test it again.

Peter Wheeler did drive a Cerbera Speed 12 home once and that was what made him not put it into production, he said it was undrivable on public roads, it was ok on a test track for a FR car with that much power and no ABS or TCS but not on bumpy roads. Only 5 Cerbera Speed 12's were built one has been chopped up and is in a museum alongside another fully built one, two others are resting in TVR's garages and one was sold to a private buyer for £155,000 in red.

 

[Scaff]

You will still see a few TVR Cerbera Speed 12 GT class cars racing, but the road car is no more.

The comments above about Peter Wheeler himself scraping the road car are correct, I read the same article. To put Peter Wheelers driving skills in focus, he still competes in the Tuscan challange, I've seen him race and he's damn good.

 

[Yazza]

Dont you think the original looks so much more aggressive, the blue and white paint looks great on the gt version. I have to say though, the bubly look on the cerbera speed12 doesnt do it for me, just too circular, not enough angles. This car definately needed to be tested a bit more, its just sad when potentially great cars arent put to the test.

 

[Famine]

Oddly, I prefer the second one... It looks more.. ready. Less like a styling exercise, more like a car.

Wheeler said that the car is "fundamentally undriveable on the public road" - "800hp" (although the tale says it broke a 1000hp rated dynomometer) and a little over 1 metric tonne, with front-engine, rear-wheel drive and, of course, no Traction Control and I think I agree.

I'm told that Keith from The Prodigy actually has one... And he's a blinkin' nutter...

 

[Majin SSJ Eric]

Boy, you British guys are sure loyal to your home-brewed supercar company. My main problem with TVR is that they all look so utterly ridiculous. I think 3 out of the 5 ugliest cars I've ever seen are TVR's. I understand that they are fast, exotic supercars, but to say they are the best has to also take into account looks. And TVR's are U*G*L*Y!!!! I'd definitely go with a McLaren F1 as my favorite all-time supercar (or maybe an F40 or a GT1..........or even the new Ford GT40 )

 

[T5-R]

/rings up insurance company

'hello, this is ripoff insurance, how may I help you?'

'I'd like to insure a car please!'

'What make & model is it sir?'

'A TVR Speed 12'

'.....And how old are you sir?'

'19'

/line goes dead

 

[Famine]

But they don't lie about their purpose, do they?

Look at either Speed 12... They just say "Get the hell out of my way, you slug" to your rear-view mirror. Or more possibly "How fast, officer?"

Okay, so the Tasmin and 350i (CloneHead's posted car) aren't pretty, but mid-1980's = wedge. Take the Triumph TR7 and the Fiat X/19 for a start and work right up to the Countach.

The new Ford isn't called a GT40 by the way. Just "Ford GT". Just an FYI...

My top 2 cars are the Ford RS200 and the Ferrari F40, but most TVRs of the last 10 years get into the next few places on the list.

 

[FC Barcelona]

Originally posted by Majin SSJ Eric
Boy, you British guys are sure loyal to your home-brewed supercar company. My main problem with TVR is that they all look so utterly ridiculous. I think 3 out of the 5 ugliest cars I've ever seen are TVR's. I understand that they are fast, exotic supercars, but to say they are the best has to also take into account looks. And TVR's are U*G*L*Y!!!! I'd definitely go with a McLaren F1 as my favorite all-time supercar (or maybe an F40 or a GT1..........or even the new Ford GT40 )

Looks are subjective.
Personally i love the way TVR's look. Their style is like none other on the road. It has such flowing curves with few interupting lines which makes it always stand out from the crowd.

 

[Dave A]

IMO TVR's are the most beutiful car on the planet, especially the T350C.

 

[Rue]

Originally posted by Famine
I'm not so sure about the 550/575 Maranello though... Saw one in the flesh on Saturday... Class. None of the raw, tacky, gaudy ugliness of the 360 on the road.


Strangely, the F40 also came with air conditioning, although the inside was mainly bare carbonfibre and Kevlar-reinforced panelling... Ferrari just never know whether they're coming or going, do they? Don't paint it, to save weight, but slap in a 200-300kg aircon unit...

But apparantly the temperatures that build up in the F40's cabin are too high not to have aircon, so I've heard. Were the windows fixed?

 

[Dave A]

I think the windows were fixed, they were like perspex, they wern't glass (the side windows not the windscreen).

 

[wee_man]

Sorry TVR over a Ferrai any day. Plus me being the patriotic basrstard that I am, they're one of the only few remaining original british car companies, which are stillf British!!

 

[Famine]

Yes - the windows were fixed. Mainly because there was nowhere for them to wind down to...

But I did see a few of them with sliding panels in the windows. Kind of useful if you drive on toll roads...

 

[BMW POWER]

i just hope they have my cerbera in the game
this is my second TVR and i love it, never once had any mechanical problems and the cabin does'nt stink of fibre glass as so many people make out. i would take a TVR over any ferrari any day (including an enzo)

 

[Famine]

Besides which - TVR = Sound.

I got stuck in a traffic jam on the M25. I didn't care because I was behind a TVR Chimaera. I turned my stereo and engine off and listened to it for the next 25 minutes.

Even at idle TVRs are the BEST sounding cars on Earth.

 

[BMW POWER]

yeh i've been pulled over twice by police because of the noise my car makes, they always think its a custom exhaust or something so they take a look round the back. after a few minutes they normally just let me on my way but it's a pain in the arse sometimes

 

[Famine]

You'd think traffic cops would know something about cars, wouldn't you? Putzes.

 

[BMW POWER]

our traffic police take the piss anyway to busy out catching motorists instead of real criminals. w*****s. could be getting a lotus esprit V8 soon, whats your opinion of them?

 

[Famine]

Mmmmm. Lotus....

Questionable reliability history - although TVR is supposedly the same (like Mercedes are supposedly unkillable...). But I like the Esprit a lot.

The design is like Concorde in some respects - it's knocking on for 30 years old, but it still looks ahead of it's time today...

 

[Dave A]

The Esprit is a great car, the only bad thing about it is it's gone out of production.

 

[BMW POWER]

thats what i thought, even though the cerbera handles well enough i've had a few *cough cough* "encounters" on the road and if it wasn't for the cars crazy speed then i would of lost round the twisty bits. to be fair even though the esprit is 30 years old like you said, theres not much that could keep with it round the bends and its straight line speed is still respectable.
0 - 60 in 4.4 sec, 175mph top end

 

[Majin SSJ Eric]

Originally posted by Famine
Besides which - TVR = Sound.

I got stuck in a traffic jam on the M25. I didn't care because I was behind a TVR Chimaera. I turned my stereo and engine off and listened to it for the next 25 minutes.

Even at idle TVRs are the BEST sounding cars on Earth.

I'm afraid the award for best sounding car on earth has to go to the Ferrari F355. That Ferrari V8 snarl is the sexiest sound in the history of automibles.

 

[Dave A]

No sorry, best sounding car in the world is a TVR Tuscan S, I've heard an F355 engine revving high but the TVR V6 when is a beauty.

 

[kinigitt]

no TVRs in north america is a shame. But I've seen video of them motoring around on tracks. It has a real sharp snappy growl. Very nice.

 

[BMW POWER]

Originally posted by live4speed
No sorry, best sounding car in the world is a TVR Tuscan S, I've heard an F355 engine revving high but the TVR V6 when is a beauty.

agree with you 100% had a tuscan s before the cerbera, but it was a straight 6 and not a V6

 

[kinigitt]

Originally posted by BMW POWER
agree with you 100% had a tuscan s before the cerbera, but it was a straight 6 and not a V6

Personally, I prefer the sounds of flat sixes (cough* porsche) to inlines. I think the beauty of the tvr engines is the exhaust note, whereas the porsche 6s have a great induction howl.

 

[BMW POWER]

thats also very true, a friend of mine from work has a boxster S and i have to admit it does sound really tasty. shame then it doesn't go as well as it sounds (got smashed by a nissan sunny gt-i pulsar from the lights )

 

[Dave A]

Originally posted by BMW POWER
agree with you 100% had a tuscan s before the cerbera, but it was a straight 6 and not a V6

Ahh your right, my bad. . I'm shoked at that error.