► TVR Sagaris takes No.8
► Les Edgar talks new TVR
► Meeting the beast (and the new boss)
Push the button under the mirror and, as the window drops and the door releases, you clock the canted-over straight-six’s red cam cover, clearly visible through the lacerations in the wickedly curvaceous bonnet. Drop into the leather-scented cockpit, smile at its whimsical Gaudi shapes and, with a final check that the stubby aluminium gearlever – hot in the midday summer sun – is in neutral, twist the key. The six explodes into life with comic violence, its voice through those bizarre silencers at once harsh, cultured and industrial. From cold it’s grumpy and work-shy like a Parisian waiter, but with time and warmth comes a steady 850rpm idle.
Down with the initially tricky but beautifully crisp AP Racing clutch, into first and get going. The steering, via a timeless and airbag-free ‘Personal’ wheel, is rapid of response, weighty and reassuring. The brakes are the same – the virtually solid middle pedal doesn’t appear to yield at all. Instead, the braking effort it metes out is directly proportional to the pressure you exert upon it.
But really the Sagaris is about the last of those three slim, floor-hinged alloy pedals. Its throw is long but the six’s clarity of response, and the barrage of noise with which it batters sleepy Surrey with every twitch, are special. Up to 3000rpm-ish drive is so-so and the fuelling a little rough, but from there to as high as you dare rev someone else’s £60k (and rising) sports car, acceleration is vivid and ferocious. And so you rattle along sun-drenched lanes, noise pouring off the car just as heat pours from the bonnet in molten torrents. The suspension has an unexpected compliancy but there just isn’t the travel to deal with tarmac this wretched, so the car’s always moving around, the wheel always writhing. All the time you’re involved; keeping the nose on line, working the five-speed gearbox, deploying as much of the six’s performance as possible, whenever possible. Scary? A little. Rewarding? Utterly. Special? Oh yes.
TVR – Back in business
The Sagaris’s core values of speed, theatre and an unfettered driving experience feel as relevant as ever. TVR, back in business with money, passion and ambition behind it, is banking on it. Like the Sagaris the new car, due in 2017, will be compact, lightweight, powerful and extrovert. So far their faith appears well founded. ‘We were sold out for year one within days of opening the order book,’ says Les Edgar, the face of TVR’s ‘couple of handfuls’ of new shareholders. ‘The response was unbelievable.’
TVR this time around has already come a long way in two short years. ‘We acquired the marque and assets in May 2013 and soon realised we had a tiger by the tail – this wasn’t about trying to revive some dusty old 1930s marque,’ explains Edgar. ‘The TVR brand wasn’t dead – there’s an active, passionate community around these cars. The response to the new one reflects that.’
What can we expect from the new TVRs?
Those early deposits have secured an 1100kg (target kerbweight), 400bhp-per-tonne two-seat sports coupe. The final price will be in the £60k-£90k range. A convertible, a track car and a one-make racer will follow. Engineered by Gordon Murray Design, the tubular steel chassis, reinforced with bonded composite panels to deliver the required rigidity and impact resistance, will mount a mixed-material body (likely composites, aluminium and plastics) and be built using Murray’s low-investment iStream manufacturing process.
Front-engined and rear-wheel drive, the new TVR will be powered by a Cosworth-fettled normally aspirated V8. While the Sagaris’s six was in the running early on, emissions compliance beyond 2017 would have proved an insurmountable challenge. ‘The V8’s base block is one that’s made in reasonable numbers, so it’ll be reliable,’ explains Edgar. ‘Cosworth are dry-sumping it, fitting a lightweight flywheel and making it special, with the characteristics we want. I can’t confirm the capacity or power output but it’ll be big, tuned for torque and have the potential for more power than we need.’ A simple, switchable ABS system and engine ECU traction control will feature, as will airbags – ‘Building a 200mph car without them would probably be seen as irresponsible.’
Murray and Cosworth bring expertise and credibility. ‘We had this credibility gap – we needed to be able to give people reason to believe we could do this where ultimately others have failed,’ explains Edgar. ‘We knew we didn’t want to try to design and build our own engines, and we knew we don’t want to use the same old spaceframe chassis. So we went to people who could give us a reliable engine and a chassis to bring us into the 21st century. Our dream team was Gordon Murray and Cosworth.’
Pressure for Les Edgar to get it right for TVR fans
Edgar is in no doubt about the kind of car the new TVR will be, and how it’ll fit into the 21st century automotive landscape. ‘With TVR we’re a kind of hybrid, a niche that’s British sports car with a little American muscle,’ he says. ‘And it’s back to basics – in my opinion the current batch of supercars are over-priced, over-hyped, super-sized and not what a real British sports car should be. Our philosophy is keeping it simple, not because of our abilities or because of price but because that’s what a TVR should be. Our desire is to deliver a car that is the spirit of driving.’
Fortunately Edgar appears all too aware of the responsibility that comes with the job. ‘I know we’re holding people’s hopes and dreams in our hands. In the past there were problems with TVR taking deposits early, and this time around there have been naysayers saying you’d have to be mad to put a deposit down on a car for which we haven’t released a specification, a design rendering or even a price. Well yeah, but luckily there are a lot of crazy people out there. And I’m not going to let them down.’
TVR Sagaris: the specs
Produced: 2005-2006
Price at launch: £49,995
Value now: £58,000
Engine: 3996cc straight-six, 380bhp @ 7000rpm, 349lb ft @ 4500rpm
Performance: 3.7sec 0-62mph, 185mph
Edgar’s 5 must-drive British cars
TVR Griffith
‘One of the most beautiful sports cars ever built. One of the project leaders at Cosworth has a Griffith and it’s the perfect car for immersing yourself in TVR, and to get your clothes and skin smelling of unburned fuel.’
Blower Bentley
‘I’m a 30-year veteran of going to Le Mans and the Blower Bentley is a true legend. How those guys raced those cars around there at the speeds they did is just astonishing.’
Ford Sierra Cosworth
‘This one doesn’t need much explanation. At the time it didn’t matter what you were driving, or how much you’d paid for it, one of these would leave you for dust at every set of lights.’
Aston Martin Vantage 600
‘I love these cars – the last great hand-built Newport Pagnell Aston Martins. 600bhp, 600lb ft of torque, twin superchargers. Yes they weigh two and a quarter tonnes but if I wasn’t involved with TVR it’s the car I’d choose to drive on a nice day.’
Series 1 Land Rover
‘Everyone should drive one – hard work but special and unique. Drive the five miles from here to Cranfield in a Series 1 and you’ll feel like you’ve conquered the 500-mile Hindu Kush.’