Driver - Scaff
Car - TVR Cerbera Speed 12
Deep Forest Time - 108.321 (no driver aids)
Report
The Red Rose TVR Speed 12 is the only road legal version in existence, originally a works development car, it was chopped to supply parts to the British GT cars. Many of you may remember its appearance in the UK motoring magazine Evo, and we are the first people to test it since then.
However its not exactly the same car, as in the intervening time, work has not stopped on the car. The power output, which has always been more than adequate, has been left alone; the work has gone into a complete change of the suspension system and the fitting of a brake balance controller.
So with fully adjustable suspension and a track to test its mettle we head off to see if the Speed 12 is the monster that legend would have us believe.
Scaffs 👍
As the car rolls off the transporter at the Deep Forest pit lane, the engineer who looks after Red Rose wanders towards me. I stare at the car as he approaches, pretty its not, but is does look damn mean. Vivid red in colour with a plain black wing jutting across the back, it seems impossibly low even given the revised ride height for deep forest.
To late to check if my life insurance is in order, a voice brings me back to the world, the engineer is asking if I am looking forward to this, all I can do is nod. Lets get you strapped in then, he says guiding me towards the open door. Dropping in the Speed 12 is more race car than road car, the trim is almost none existent, the interior is all roll cage and the drivers seat mounted low and far back in the cars body, its placement more about weight distribution than driver comfort.
OK, shes running on very sticky rubber today, so its going to be easier than with the road legal tyres on, but you still wont be able to use more than ¼ throttle in first and 2/3rds throttle in second and third. After that the gearing and down-force will let you use full throttle. With that he leans in and thumbs the starter, at which point I appear to acquire selective deafness, the monstrous engine ahead of me now dominating my full auditory range. The door slams shut and with a thumb up and a grin from the engineer Im on my way.
Gently feeding in the power as I start my first lap it becomes abundantly clear that the engineer was not joking about the throttle, anything more than ¼ application just spins the rear tyres, not fast, but fun and it does smell great.
As promised second and third are much better, allowing 2/3rds throttle application before the tyres are once again sacrificed to the gods of the rubber tree. Now Deep Forest could be described as a little bit bumpy, in the same way the Speed 12 could be described as a little bit quick. But the way the new suspension handles the dips and drops of the tracks is stunning, the car rolling with the changes in direction and camber rather than jumping and skipping. Youre wits are still required to ensure that a bumps does not end in a tyre frying moment, but its more than predictable and easy to modulate.
A few laps in and Ive started to open up the pace, the car flowing from corner to corner, the exhaust note hammering off the tunnel walls, barking back at me as I brake and blip the throttle hard on downchanges. Half needed half just to hear that sound echoing off the walls again. Im soon at one with the throttle control the car demands, as the increase in grip the downforce provides over 70mph is massive, making the car very stable and predictable at speed.
What does take a little longer to adapt to are the brakes, aided by the downforce they offer superb initial stopping power, once the car slows and the downforce reduces you need to back of the brake pressure to stop the tyres locking. A little disconcerting at first but it soon becomes second nature.
Then it strikes me, Ive been pounding out the laps in a TVR Cerbera Speed 12, pushing it harder and closer to the limit each time round; and it has not tried to kill me once! If anything, the harder I push the more it seems to offer. The car has almost no vices, its incredibly neutral at all speeds, now I am quite sure that with more road orientated rubber fitted that would change, but this is still a very big surprise.
With that thought still in my mind I see the wave from the pit wall and its time to tale the car back in, and I already know Im not going to want to give it back. The time spent with it today has hardly scratched the surface of what it can do, the fastest lap recorded was a 108.321. Considering the car has no driver aids fitted at all, its very, very impressive; particularly as it is clear the car has much more to offer.
I walk away from the car still a little shaken, mainly because the car I had just experienced could be taken out on the public roads with nothing more than a change of tyres. Quick does not even begin to explain it, because against all my preconceptions it had also been stable, predictable and fun.
I want one, simple as that.
Scaffs 👎
Ummmm, the throttle requires good control in the lower gears and the brakes suffer slightly at lower speeds without the help of downforce. Thats about it.
OK, as a road car its more than seriously compromised. Its hardly something that could be used for a quick run to the garage for a pack of smokes, but despite its road legal status the track is its real home.
Overall
One of the most lunatic creations ever, and the automotive world is a better and richer place for it.
Its fast, handles wonderfully and demands involvement from the driver at every level.
Get a chance to drive one and you should take it, before the killjoys of the world realise just what we have created and make the whole damn thing illegal.
Long live Trevor, just a shame they one made the one, but at least they made that many.
Spec
838bhp@7,250rpm
680ft/lb@5,750rpm
1020kg
0-30 1.62 secs
0-60 3.48 secs
0-100 5.8 secs
0-100-0 9.14 secs
¼ mile 10.465 secs @ 154 mph
V Max 227.80 mph
Modifications
Oil Change
Racing Exhaust
R5 Tyres
Brake Balance Controller
Racing Suspension
Fully Customisable Transmission
Stiffness
Fully Customisable LSD
Wing
Setting
All are shown Front then Rear
Spring Rate 12 / 10
Ride Height 85 / 85
Damper
Bound 3 / 3
Rebound 4 / 4
Camber 2.3 / 1.0
Toe 0 / 0
Stabilisers 3 / 3
Downforce 10 / 25
VCD 30 / 40 / 20
Brake Balance 4 / 3
Gearbox Auto 13