{"id":28622,"date":"2024-02-05T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T08:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/?p=28622"},"modified":"2024-02-02T16:42:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T16:42:00","slug":"tvr-cerbera-the-time-is-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/tvr-cerbera-the-time-is-now\/","title":{"rendered":"TVR Cerbera \u2013 The Time is Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

The act of driving is one of life’s simple pleasures. Sliding behind the wheel and being in complete control of a car, especially one as exciting as the TVR Cerbera, evokes early childhood memories of our first forays into freedom; those initial experiences of autonomy that riding bikes or piloting home-made go-karts permitted. Powerful emotions indeed but ones that have been somewhat quelled by the modern motor. New cars, with their lane assist modes, dynamic stability control and collision intervention systems, to name but three contemporary driver aids, have robbed us of the very thing that makes driving so much fun. Who wants to be a passenger in their own car? It’s fun the first time someone else drives and you get to experience a different perspective while uttering \u201cI’ve never sat on this side before\u201d but the novelty soon wears off and you’re itching to be back behind the controls where you belong.<\/p>\n

\"TVR,<\/p>\n

Classic cars provide an opportunity to retain that unhindered sense of involvement, and that’s exactly how we see most modern driver aids here at Car & Classic \u2013 as a hindrance. Yes, things like ABS and some forms of traction control can be useful, as well as life saving in some instances, but most of these systems, like those mentioned above, are superfluous and diminish that pure driving pleasure we just talked about. We had our first run in with lane assist recently in a hire car and it was the single most jarring, hateful driving experience we’ve ever had to endure, and we’ve been behind the wheel of all and sundry for a LONG time. So invasive and counter-intuitive was it that we had to immediately pull over and figure out how to turn the damn thing off.<\/p>\n

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What we’re trying to say here is that we prefer a more analogue driving experience. If we want to cut across a lane in order to get a better line on a quiet country B-road or perhaps peel out of a T-junction because we’re feeling a little yobbish then that is our decision and our decision alone and one car that allows you to do both of these things with aplomb and in sublime style is the TVR Cerbera.<\/p>\n

An Introduction to the TVR Cerbera<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The bonkers British firm founded by Trevor Wilkinson has been making sublime sports cars since the late ’50s when its first production effort, the Grantura<\/a>, hit the streets. Renowned for being a little bit left field when it comes to design choices, many a TVR has captured the hearts and minds of petrolheads the world over, not least of which being the Cerbera.<\/p>\n

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Unveiled in 1996 the Cerbera was the very first 2+2 that TVR had produced. Not only that but it was also the first of the bunch to feature an engine developed completely by the engineers at TVR itself and to say that they got it right would be quite the understatement. Designed by F1 engineer Alwyn ‘Al’ Melling, the V8 motor that TVR produced was nothing short of sensational. Lightweight, and compact with a 75 degree flat-plane crank, the 4.2-litre engine, in its original form, spat out 360bhp, and in a car that weighed just 1,100kg that meant a power to weight ratio of bloomin’ fast. The car’s blistering performance was beautifully illustrated by Jeremy Clarkson when he drag raced a Cerbera against some of the fastest production cars of the time back in the mid ’90s, with the TVR decimating all over the quarter mile.<\/p>\n