As announced by TVR a few weeks ago, the fearsome TVR Cerbera 4.5 is making a one-off comeback in a live online auction of the last ever example of the car. The auction was launched today and will close at midnight on 31 August 2006. All proceeds that exceed the reserve price will be donated to a charity, to be named in due course. Okay, I know this is a bit belated but that's becauee my PC went down and I couldn';t get the information posted in the timely manner that I would have liked. Still, better late than never...The headlline news is that there is no new car (yet) but that there have been a number of styling changes to the Sagaris and Tuscan while the T350, Tamora and 3.6 litre version of the Speed Six engine have been dropped from the line up. The three judges commented that the standard of entry for the Back Home concours was extremely high, and competition was fierce for 1st place. It therefore gives us great pleasure to announce the 2001 Chimaera of John Millington as the 2006 winner of the Mervyn Larner Cup. We would like to thank all TVRCC Members who attended Back Home 2006 for making it one of the most successful Back Homes in recent years. Over 400 cars were parked on the promenade under brilliant blue skies. Demonstration drives were made by a wide range of racing TVRs, including the Speed 12, an assortment of Tuscan Challenge Racers and the 1962 Le Mans Grantura, freshly back from successfully completing Le Mans Classic. Over 600 members visited the factory on the Sunday, and with over 130 cars rumbling through Blackpool to close the event, it was truly memorable. Thunder Sunday at Rockingham brought two wins out of two for V8 Sagaris driver Tim Hood ahead of Andy Holden and Steve Glynn. In class B, TVRCC Competition secretary Graham Walden took the honours ahead of Marc Hockin and Kevan Gore, whilst in class C victory went once again to TVR Sprint Deputy Editor Howard Bryan.
Congratulations must also go to rookie driver Mark Freeman, who, in his first outing in any form of motorsport, finished both races but despite the official timing showing that he had also set the fastest lap in Class C in his first race, this turned out to be a trick of the timing gear as he had outbraked himslef, gone straight on at a chicane and missed the hairpin thus shaving 18 seconds off his best time! The next opportunity to see the cars in action will be in demonstration runs at Back Home in Blackpool next Saturday. The next race is at Mallory Park on 20 August. Although the detailed results of the third and final race of "Plateau 4" have not yet been posted, the overall results of the Classic Le Mans have and therefore we are delighted to offer our sincerest congratulations to City region RO Daniel Nash for finishing a highly creditable 20th overall from 70 starters in the 1962 Le Mans Grantura. Daniel, together with co-driver and fellow TVRCC member Kingsley Marten, finished with many supposedly much faster cars - including three Porsche 911s, four E Types, five GT40s and a whole bunch of Ferraris - behind him Even his raw position before "compensation" was very respectable in 28th. Sadly it was a disappointing day for fellow TVRCC member Phil Hooper whose Grantura was placed only 61st out of the 70. The "plateau" was won overall by a Lotus Elan driven by Frenchman Jean Marc Merlin. The Cerbera is one of those sportscars which even after 11 years since its revelation is still regarded as one of the fastest British production cars to hit our roads. With its bone-shattering acceleration and TVR's own unique engine - a flatplane 4.5 litre SOHC-16v V8 producing in excess of 400bhp coupled with a lightweight spaceframe tubular chassis clothed in hand-laid glassfibre and hand-stitched four-seat interior - a car which quite easily hits and tops 180mph. But, was this enough for the never-satisfied owner of one Cerbera owner? The answer, quite simply, NO! And hence was born, PROJECT PHOENIX All in all it was a pretty disappointing day for TVR racing. The expected field of 15-17 cars did not materialise for a number of reasons. Cars not ready, one with a serious electrical problem the day before, and problems during testing the previous day. Iain Jones was unable to qualify or race following a blown head gasket. But with joint Class A leader Tim Hood retiring on the first lap, fellow class A leader Darren Dowling racing but not qualifying due to a failed transponder and class B/overall championship leader Marc Hockin also retiring, it left the field wide open. Dean Cook was thus able to claim his first victory in the 2006 Dunlop Tuscan Challenge/TVRCC Challenge Cup. After 2 seasons in the TVRCC Challenge Cup racing a Turbo TVR Tasmin, the partnership of owner/driver Cliff Jobson and Constructors Track Car Solutions Ltd have embarked on a new race car project for the 2007 season, a TVR T350. Having campaigned successfully the current Twin Turbo 24 valve TVR Tasmin and developed it as far as possible within the constraints of the original factory chassis, the team have moved their focus towards its more modern replacement. History has been made at the La Sarthe circuit this weekend with the first ever win in Le Mans by a diesel powered car. After 24 gruelling hours and 380 laps of the 13km circuit, the Joest Audi No 8 of Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner crossed the finishing line 4 laps ahead of second placed No 17 Pescarolo Sport or Eric Helary, Franck Montagny and Sebastian Loeb. Third was the second Joest Audi. The TVRCC is delighted to announce that TVR has finalised the first stage of its relocation plans and is can confirm to our members that the company will be remaining in Lancashire. TVR have announced that: "For the foreseeable future, TVR will operate from a new international headquarters in Lancaster, where the management, sales and marketing teams, as well as research and development, will all be based. There will also be a TVR museum and an archive library at the headquarters, to which press, visitors, customers and enthusiasts will be warmly welcomed. Despite the obvious disappointment of not seeing the Stig putting the Tuscan Convertible through its paces on the BBC2 Top Gear test track this evening, perhaps we were treated to an even better spectacle of seeing the master himself, Sir Jackie Stewart, pushing the car close to its limits at Oulton Park. In a motor sport master class, he promised to coach one of the Top Gear prsenters, James May, to take 20 seconds of a track time and the Tuscan 2 was chosen as being an ideal car in which to do this. After setting his own time of 1.58 mins in the Tuscan, Sir Jackie then proceeded to coach Mr May until at the end of the day, his original time of 2.26 mins had indeed been reduced down to 2.06, simply by increasing confidence in the car's abilty and carrying increasing speed into each corner. Afterwards, James May commented that he liked the Tuscan and thought that it handled well; it was reported that Sir Jackie also liked the TVR and said "the Tuscan handled really well". It has now been confirmed that the a TVR Sagaris, driven by expert stunt driver Terry Grant, has made it into the Guinness Book of Records. TVR have confirmed that the popular international stunt driving ace used his new Sagaris to break the Guinness World Record for consecutive and uninterrupted doughnuts (360 on-the-spot spins in a car), previously set by Dale Morrison in 2005. Grant coaxed the standard road-going Sagaris and its Yokohama tyres to a superb count of 71 doughnuts to snatch the record.
Despite rumours that you may have read elsewhere about TVR moving abroad, the TVRCC can confirm that company bosses, including Nikolai Smolenski, have held extensive talks with Blackpool council chiefs over a new site in the town, believed to be on south shore close to both the M55 and the airport. It is believed to be a council owned site with room for expansion. Alan Cavill, Blackpool's head of corporate policy and development, reported in Blackpool Today earlier this week: "The company has been very clear in what it wanted and we think we can get somewhere near to that. The feeling remains the same. We think it's a pretty good offer, but it's a commercial decision for a commercial company. We're selling the benefits of the town to them as best we can and stressing the benefits of having a skilled workforce already available". As soon as we have confirmation of any of these proposals, we will let members know both here and in Sprint. It is with great sadness that the TVR Car Club announces that long time TVR General and Transport Manager David Cumming lost his battle with cancer on Saturday night.
Well known to many members, David, also known as "Poser" or "Pal" has been a stalwart at Bristol Avenue for over 28 years after joining TVR initially as a car cleaner and then rising up through the various trades on the shop floor and during his time working in most departments at the factory. Perhaps his most well known role though was as Transport Manager where he was responsible for getting our cars delivered to the dealers on time. Our thoughts, prayers and condolences at this tragic time go to his family. David's funeral takes place on Monday 22 May at Carlton Crematorium at 10.45am. All members who knew him are welcome but please do come in your TVRs. The family have requested no flowers but instead donations to Cancer Research may be made through the Club Office. The third round of the Dunlop Tuscan Challenge takes place at Castle Combe this Bank Holiday Monday.30/4/2006
The TVR race is at 5.45pm, but several of the TVR drivers are also competing in the 'Special GT' race at 3pm. Qualifying starts at 10amCastle Combe is a hugely friendly circuit and probably one of the best from a spectator perspective - raised banking enables the spectator to see far more of the track than at many circuits.
The TVR field includes full Tuscan Challenge spec cars, Tim Hood's new Sagaris V8, and a variety of other racing TVRs including a Griffith, Chimeara and numerous Tasmins. The paddock is open to spectators and the drivers are all happy to spend time with club members talking through the cars and where that ellusive last 10th of a second is likely to come from! The race will also be shown on Motors TV The TVR Cerbera 4.5 is to make a one-off come-back, with an online auction in a few weeks' time. TVR Engineering have announced "One of the great icons of the British automotive industry, the fearsome TVR Cerbera is set to make a one-off come-back in an unprecedented online auction opening in a few weeks' time. The Cerbera became an instant hit with both old and new TVR fans alike when it broke cover in 1996, and continued to be a phenomenal success for almost a decade. This 2+2 classic GT coupe ceased production last year with the introduction of the new breed of TVRs: the sensational Sagaris, the almighty Tuscan convertible and the completely reworked Tuscan targa. But TVR's forward-thinking chairman also has a fondness for the company's distinguished heritage, and commissioned one final Cerbera to return to production in TVR's true tradition of producing one-off 'specials'. Powered by TVR's own 4.5 litre AJPV8, it has been meticulously hand-built to the chairman's own specification and is a personal homage to this and other bygone British sports cars. This Cerbera, the last ever to be built, will be for sale by public auction on TVR's website, some of the proceeds from which will be donated to a charity. A special, limited edition catalogue will be produced to commemorate the occasion." TVR has announced it is cutting its workforce and relocating to a new site before the end of the year. TVR has revealed today that it is cutting its staff and plans to leave its current site at Bristol Avenue within six months, according to a company spokesman. Ian Law of TVR Engineering confirmed to the TVR Car Club today that 71 workers had been laid-off from the Blackpool factory and also stated that the current Bristol Avenue site, home to TVR since 1970, was to be vacated within the next six months. Ian stated that it has been a long winter for the motor industry and that sales in the early part of the year have been slow. He also stated that TVR remains optimistic that its plans to expand abroad would offset any temporary downturn in the domestic market and also added that we are in for some big surprises at the July Motor Show. A Spokesperson at the Factory today also assured the TVR Car Club of their continued support towards this year's Back Home event and confirmed that the all important Sunday tours around the Bristol Avenue Factory would still be available as planned. |
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