McLaren F1 v TVR Speed 12

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Mike Rotch

Mike Rotch

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Every man and his dog believes that the McLaren is the fastest road car ever built. But wadda bout the TVR speed 12? It has similar stats: a 7.7l V12. A 1000kgs curb mass. 385kph top speed!!

Have there ever been shootouts between the two, cos they seem pretty well matched to me :eek:
 
As far as I'm aware, no-one has ever dared do a road test on the Speed 12, because it is fundamentally undriveable on the road - Peter Wheeler (the TVR boss) drove one home and said it "scared the hell out of me".

TVR claim a 0-60mph figure of 3.0s for the 12, with a 240mph estimated top speed (although I'd suspect given a straight long enough (and downhill enough) it'd acheive more).

800hp on 1000kg (2204lbs, for our non-metric friends), in an FR with no - I repeat NO - traction control at all, just sounds like a recipe for disaster. Which is why Wheeler personally attempts to talk anyone who wants one out of it.
 
800hp on 1000kg
Wow, I never realized they were that lightweight. It sounds like a deathtrap hehe. (a deathtrap I wouldn't mind owning)
 
If memory serves me correctly TVR also require you to attend and pass a drivers ability course at TVR before you are even allowed to purchase a Speed12 and then pick it up. As mentioned it is one of the if not the most brutal factory cars produced. The power to weight ratio and the enormous amount of torque the engine produces is way beyond what 99.1% of the people in the world could handle safely.
 
yeah, doesn't Peter Wheeler himself call you and try to convince you to NOT buy the car even if you pass the course and all that? Well, the Veyron still domniates, and that's fine by me.
 
Originally posted by Famine
Which is why Wheeler personally attempts to talk anyone who wants one out of it.
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And to add to that, everyone's been stealing my lines today! :D

I'm not sure about the requirement to pass a test - that's legally very shaky ground. I'm also not sure just how many road cars have been built, and how many, if any, have been sold to customers...
 
Famine according to to a performance car program I was watching on Sky Digital a few months back, they do sell them but like maybe 5 - 7 a year. They are custom ordered, and yes they make sure you can handle the car before you can purchase one and also before delivery. TVR flies you to the factory for the purchase on a private plane or helicopter.
 
Any self respecting car collector has to have one, just to say "I have the fastest production car in the world"

Imagine pulling up to a M3 at a set of lights in that thing :lol:
 
Originally posted by Mike Rotch
Any self respecting car collector has to have one, just to say "I have the fastest production car in the world"

Imagine pulling up to a M3 at a set of lights in that thing :lol:
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You'd probabvly get you're ass kicked on take off since the 12 has no traction control.
 
lol, This may be true, but how far do you think that m3 is gonna get before you blow by him :)
 
Originally posted by Famine
And to add to that, everyone's been stealing my lines today! :D

I'm not sure about the requirement to pass a test - that's legally very shaky ground. I'm also not sure just how many road cars have been built, and how many, if any, have been sold to customers...
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I know that Liam from UK band The Prodigy has one.

He also has a McLaren F1.

He's the only person that i know has bought one.
 
Originally posted by RazorGTR
Famine according to to a performance car program I was watching on Sky Digital a few months back, they do sell them but like maybe 5 - 7 a year. They are custom ordered, and yes they make sure you can handle the car before you can purchase one and also before delivery. TVR flies you to the factory for the purchase on a private plane or helicopter.
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Drive one slow enough and you can handle anything... Legally they wouldn't be allowed to make you pass a competancy test, unless it was something like a BRDC licence - but then the BRDC would have to have interests in the car. They would probably want teach you, until they were satisfied, but they wouldn't actually be allowed to force you into it.

M3 0-60mph in 5.5s. Speed 12 0-60mph in 3.0s.

Giles: Someone in the Prodigy has one? Jesus...
 
Had.

He crashed it (not sure whose fault it was) into a Rover Metro at 40mph - destroying the Metro totally, and lightly scratching the McLaren's front bumper. I believe he got rid of the McLaren soon after.
 
I heard he rolled it into a ditch after a collision with a Metro and wrote it off, although I could be wrong
 
No - he didn't write it off. I wonder just how hard it would be to roll a McLaren F1?

Someone did write one off, and himself and his 2 passengers in the process. He was an alleged drugs dealer, running from police (can you think of a better car to run with?). He smashed it into an oak tree at 110mph, ripping the car in half.

"Often, the weakest component of a car is the driver"
 
Originally posted by Roo
I heard he rolled it into a ditch after a collision with a Metro and wrote it off, although I could be wrong
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I may be mistaken, but i did see a picture of him somewhere with a severely messed up McLaren. I suppose he could have written off the first one, bought another, dinged the metro, sold it, and still be as rich as rain.
 
Someone did a photoshop background lift - they put in a picture of him "spazzed up" as Mr. Bean, onto a photo of a mildly concussed burgundy F1...
 
Those F1s are amazing in crashes though. I remember seeing the video of the frontal crash test for federalization. Most cars crumble up, pushing the front wheels under the firewall.

The F1's front wheels didn't even move...it just - bounced.
 
Originally posted by AltF8
Those F1s are amazing in crashes though. I remember seeing the video of the frontal crash test for federalization. Most cars crumble up, pushing the front wheels under the firewall.

The F1's front wheels didn't even move...it just - bounced.
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You mean like the occupants head off the dashboard? Front ends are meant to crumple in order to dissipate energy that would otherwise to transmitted to the cockpit
 
Originally posted by bengee
Which is why f1 drivers have there helmet secured while in the vehicle... at least i believe this is done...
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👍 they use HANS - the Head and Neck Safety system which prevents 45g whiplash
 
I guess the thinking is, if you drive it in such a stupid fashion as to crash it, you deserve to die, but the car should live and be passed on to a better person... :D
 
Originally posted by Famine
I guess the thinking is, if you drive it in such a stupid fashion as to crash it, you deserve to die, but the car should live and be passed on to a better person... :D
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True, but then you'll end up getting a car like James Dean's cursed porsche and it becomes the Jeffrey Dahmer of the car lot :eek:
 
Originally posted by RazorGTR
If memory serves me correctly TVR also require you to attend and pass a drivers ability course at TVR before you are even allowed to purchase a Speed12 and then pick it up. As mentioned it is one of the if not the most brutal factory cars produced. The power to weight ratio and the enormous amount of torque the engine produces is way beyond what 99.1% of the people in the world could handle safely.
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I know that when my dad purchased our Viper they asked him to seriously think about attending a class to teach him how to drive it since he had nothing quite like it before at the time.
They were hesitant about letting him just jump into the ACR and take it flying down the highway.
 
Originally posted by Famine
Someone did a photoshop background lift - they put in a picture of him "spazzed up" as Mr. Bean, onto a photo of a mildly concussed burgundy F1...
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mclaren_071902_01.jpg


Poor car. :(
 
That's the shop Famine was talking about...that photo of the paper I'd presume is shopped as well, look at the red McLaren next to the Metro, that is probably the one that he had. :p
 

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