TVR Tuscan Challenge

History

With the success of the S Series, TVR began development of an ES, an S series sports car with a Holden V6 3.8-litre engine. It wasn't until the 1988 British Motorshow, in Birmingham NEC; the car was unveiled as a prototype with plans for it to be developed for road use, but in order to attract public interests and stimulate sales, TVR resurrected the Tuscan name and at the same time instigated the one-make TVR Tuscan Challenge series.

In order to attract a large field, TVR offered the first batch at a discount of £16,000 plus VAT for entrants with a condition that they commit themselves to compete at least six of the twelve races in the championship. Should that fail, the purchaser would agree to pay the extra £16,000 at the end of the season.

With the instant success of the series in its first year in 1989, plans for a road car fell by the wayside as TVR was busy with the 'S' and the older wedge models as well as design and development work for the forthcoming Griffith and Chimaera models.

It never went beyond the motor show prototype stage, and the Tuscans continued to be produced in small volumes as racing cars.

The S based chassis had to be developed to cope with the extreme power outputs of the tuned Rover V8 engine; by the end of its development, it ended up being a completely new chassis with a wider track, increased wheelbase and much strengthening.

From the debut race in 1989, Tuscan Challenge racers were powered by a TVR Power developed 4.5 litre variant of the venerable Rover V8 with a power output of over 400 bhp (over 300 kW). This was transmitted through a Borg Warner T5 gearbox to its nine-inch (229 mm) wide sixteen-inch (406 mm) diameter O.Z. split-rim wheels shod with Dunlop cross-ply racing tyres. In the early 1990, as the aging Rover V8 was getting beyond its development limits and Rover's takeover by BMW, plus his rumoured refusal of having German engines in his cars, Wheeler commissioned engine designer Al Melling to develop the new AJPV8 engine, producing more power than its Rover counterpart, driving personally an AJP V8 powered TVR Tuscan racing car since 1990 in 4.5 up to 5.0 litres version for engine development, also available for overseas series. With the new V8 engine, the car was capable of 0-60 mph in over 3 seconds and 0-100 mph in just 6.9 seconds. The cars boasted of 536 bhp (400 kW) per tonne (400 W/kg) with a capability reaching in excess of 190 mph (310 km/h), the cars became popular with race goers. All engines are factory supplied sealed units to ensure a level playing field.

Dealers were usually encouraged to enter the series and the then company owner Peter Wheeler competed in the series, from which he used his expertise to develop the Speed 12, its managing director at the time, Ben Samuelson also competed in the series. Many drivers who are now competing in the Le Mans Series, FIA GT Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans, such as Jamie Campbell-Walter, Bobby Verdon-Roe, Martin Short and Michael Caine, developed their skills in the series. Nigel Mansell was to compete for a one off race at Donington Park in 1993 but was unable to after he was hospitalised following a BTCC incident. Other drivers who have guest driven in the series throughout its history includes Colin McRae, Andy Wallace, Tim Harvey, Anthony Reid, Tiff Needell and John Cleland.

Carlube sponsored the series between 2002 and 2004. The series was now renamed Dunlop TVR Challenge. At the end of 2003, a version of the T350 known as the Sagaris was introduced with an intention to run alongside the racing Tuscan and to eventually replace them. But when owner Peter Wheeler sold the company to Nikolay Smolensky, who abruptly ended factory support before the 2005 season had begun. TVR's Motorsport Director acquired the rights and kept the series going but on a much smaller basis; by then, TVR had sold off all its racers. With waning entries as many of these cars had either been converted to road use or ended up in track days, the series would continue under a new format as it merged with the Toolsnstuff.co.uk/SIP TVRCC Challenge Cup, a smaller series that consists of a wide range of TVR models, meaning that the gird now featured a more diverse range of TVR models in one race and the series split into three categories (see Categories).

In 2006, the series acquired a new sponsor, Dunlop Tyres, which meant it provides the tyres, giving a leeway for drivers to decide if they want to compete on slicks, road or track tyres and not just restricted to TVR's; the series has an Invitation Class for any make of sports car providing that it complies with the MSA regulations for the original championship it was built to race in.

Many of these models have found their way competing outside the series, and some of them have been converted into a Sagaris clone as they share similar parts and are the same dimensions. Driver Michel Mora used a Tuscan Challenge in the FFSA GT Championship from 1999 to 2001, before being joined by a second car from Massimo Cairati, car developed from Fisconsult managed from Avv. Vito Gianfranco Truglia in order to promote the brand for road car sales on the Italian market. Cairati also ran Avv. Truglia's car in select rounds of the Italian GT Championship that year, winning both manches in Mugello race and finishing ninth in the overall drivers championship and second in his class.

Due to the Tuscan Challenge's participation in national grand tourer series in the 1990s, the cars were made eligible for the GT90s Revival Series, a historic racing series. Two Tuscan Challenges raced at the series' first round at Silverstone.

Categories

Class position depends on the engine capacity, power output and car development. There are currently four categories.

Road going versions

The Tuscan was originally intended as a road car, and two road cars were produced and the sales brochures even printed. However, with the development of the Griffith and the success of the race series road car production ceased and it is thought the road cars were converted to racers to fill the demand. Despite this there was still a demand for road going Tuscan Racers and a number of owners have converted race cars for road use. These provide dramatic if fairly uncompromising road cars without the level of comfort and trim quality found in TVR road cars. The majority of these are converted racing cars and fewer have built them from scratch, just by sourcing the chassis and bodywork and adding the level of comfort to suit their needs.

Conversions includes installation of a speedometer (as racing cars do not have them), changes to the lighting system, having the chassis powder-coated, relocating the fuel tank from the original driver's side to the rear of the car to allow for a passenger seat and conversions to protect the fuel cell in an event of an accident. Also installation of traction control is considered to be an option. However obtaining the car plus the prohibitive cost of conversion at £10,000 and the complication of the task makes finding such a model on a public road a rare find.

Many of the converted Tuscans which house the AJP8 engines have engines that are commonly sourced from accident damaged Cerberas as race engines are leased by the factories, though its Rover V8s of the earlier cars can be easily sourced. Although with the end of factory backing for the race series the race engines have now all been sold and there is at least one road going Tuscan with a full race 4.5 AJP8 engine.