Journal: The New V8-Powered Griffith Heralds The Triumphant Return Of TVR

The New V8-Powered Griffith Heralds The Triumphant Return Of TVR

By Alex Sobran
September 8, 2017

Do you remember TVR? It’s been 70 years since the British sports car company began exercising its engineering talents under the Trevcar Motors name, and over a decade since they’ve made anything new. The company’s history is a patchwork of dementedly rapid and raw cars (recall the Cerbera Speed 12 for instance) and a maze of financial and managerial restructuring woes that came to a head in the mid-2000s as plans for new models and reintroductions of previous ones consistently faltered and came to nothing.

Now, once more under British ownership, they are back in the automotive headlines again, and not with more news of fiscal woe this time. With a new car bearing an old name and a very promising future, this return to form wearing a TVR Griffith name tag debuted at the Goodwood Revival this morning, and the excitement is well-deserved. When you have the mages at Cosworth tuning your five-liter V8 to churn somewhere around 500 horsepower through a carbon and composite construction designed by Gordon Murray before spinning the rear wheels, it tends to be the case that any and all hype is called for.

Cosworth and Murray are names synonymous with Formula 1 prowess and outright domination (the DFV series of motors and the MP4/4 respectively spring to mind), and their involvement with this project bodes well not just for the individual car’s competence, but for the future of the TVR company at large. They are planning additional new models in the coming years, and this time we’re inclined to believe in the realization of the claim if the names they’ve worked with right out of the gate are any indication of their seriousness.

Thankfully the company’s coma for the past 10 years hasn’t resulted in any perceptible memory loss, and the new car is staying very true to the ethos of the company’s past. Which is to say it embodies a few simple traits: it’s small, it’s light (coming in at around 2,750lbs, or 1,250kg), it’s not addled with electronic assistance, and it will be ridiculously quick. TVR says the new Griffith will be capable of cresting the 200mph tick on the speedometer, and thanks to the flat undercarriage and ground effects-engineering of Mr. Murray, it will stick to the street like something that wasn’t designed to be on one. It’s perfectly balanced to boot, and while any car achieving a 50:50 distribution of its mass is an achievement of engineering unto itself, it is especially laudable in this case given the Ford Mustang-sourced honker of an engine placed up front. That motor will help the lithe Griffith reach 60mph in the sub-four-second range, and without relying on any kind of dual-clutch or other automatic wizardry, just a good old six-speed.

Production of the Griffith is slated to begin later in 2018, and the company says it’s planning to bring the car to the racetrack in the near future as well, and as such they’ve also brought along a liveried pace car to the Lord March estate for the Revival weekend. It shouldn’t require much alteration to turn this beast from Britain into a full-on competitor; TVR is known for building cars with minimal pedestrian aids, and the experience, like a race car’s, is not typically a forgiving one, but it is one that can be extremely fulfilling when placed in hands capable of squeezing out the potential inherent in these lightweight, powerful, rear-wheel drive cars.

Join the Conversation
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
16 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
cbell92129
cbell92129
7 years ago

Reminds me of the Supra concept….beautiful…

Paul Steel
Paul Steel
7 years ago

Saw it in the metal and it looks ok, from the outside anyway, not so sure about the interior, but it seems to be priced about right.

Boxerman
Boxerman
7 years ago

looks like a new miata mated with a viper.

Whats the performance advantage.

Matthew Lange
7 years ago

Not a TVR fan by any means but I saw the car in the flesh at the Goodwood Revival. It looks a LOT better in real life than it does in the photographs and exactly how you would expect a modern TVR to look.

Darel Matthews
Darel Matthews
7 years ago

The wheels are horrendous Pep-Boyz clearance-rack items, the inlets on the front and rear fascia remind me of every single cheapo-car manufacturer (Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Honda, but especially and most egregiously Toyota) tarting up their beige compact sedans to look “grounded to the ground”, the engine is exactly what generations of toothless rednecks ruined previous iterations of otherwise excellent TVRs with, and the interior, all of it, every bit, looks like it was cobbled together from that same Pep-Boyz clearance bin.

But other than that, I like it.

CruiseMulholland
CruiseMulholland
7 years ago

I owned several TVRs from the Peter Wheeler era. A ’95 Griffith with the 5liter V8 – serpentine – engine, one of my most thrilling sports cars ever, kept that stunner for more than a decade.
This new one not my style, but thank you Peter Wheeler for those glorious times.

GuitarSlinger
GuitarSlinger
7 years ago

Aesthetically though not offensive this does nothing for me . So it seems Gordon Murray’s involvement may prove to be this attempt to revive the iconic TVR brand’s one saving grace .. hoping the performance lives up to Murray’s standards and iStream can keep the costs low enough to make this attempt viable . Question is .. assuming the GM factor is in play … will it be enough ? I’m guessing …. much as it pains me … a definitive … no !

JB21
JB21
7 years ago

I found that the styling to be very tame for TVR. I was hoping more for where Sagaris left off than this rather handsome appeal. Mustang’s V8 is good, that’s pretty light chunk of metal, actually, and very tune-able, but I was hoping for modernized version of TVR’s own terrific straight six (I heard they were terrific, I’ve never driven a TVR actually). All in all, it’s way too sane for my idea of TVR, but I hope they do well, and maybe they can afford to go back a bit to what-were-they-thinking kind of cars. And maybe ship some to the US side this time around?

GuitarSlinger
GuitarSlinger
7 years ago
Reply to  JB21

re; TVR’s iconic straight six . I have .. driven many that is … so I’ll put this plainly . When they work … they are a magnificent engine . Problem is … they hardly ever do … work that is . Fragile temperamental [ emphasis on ‘ mental ‘ ] unreliable little beasts is in reality being a bit … kind

GuitarSlinger
GuitarSlinger
7 years ago
Reply to  JB21

FYI ; TVR imported many a car to our shores in the 60’s 70’s with a few even making it our way in the 80’s . Problem was between the death of dealers , their legendary lack of reliability and quality … not to mention pathetic follow up and service .. well .. thats why they went away

Paul Ipolito
Paul Ipolito
7 years ago

I was buying into the idea until I saw the instrument panel. Looks like beer cans glued to the dashboard. I probably wasn’t going to buy one anyway .

Paul Ipolito
Paul Ipolito
7 years ago
Reply to  Paul Ipolito

So three people think the panel looks good?

Bill Meyer
Bill Meyer
7 years ago

Does anyone else see an expensive pain in the butt?

Ian Miles
Ian Miles
7 years ago

A perfect return. One of the interesting aspects is the use of Gordon Murray’s iStream. It reportedly reduced development and production start up costs by 90%. Very clever. Then he went all old school TVR. The result, mad, bad, loud but also reliable.

Gavin Langier
Gavin Langier
7 years ago

Yep, I’m also getting elements of Audi & Jaguar from the front end and the side has a hint of recent Ferrari grand tourers. All in all it doesn’t go that well together & seems to be aimed at an older customer than the likes of the more dramatic Sagaris which I particularly like. I think the rear view is better and has a nice TVR signature. It’s great news that TVR are back, especially with Cosworth & Murray, let’s hope the body will look better in other colours.

Marshall
Marshall
7 years ago

Does anyone else see a viper and LFA?

Petrolicious Newsletter