R247 VLR

My dad had always wanted a real sports car. In the past, before he had two financial drains i.e. me and my sister!, he had a number of entertaining cars. From tuned mini's, mk2 Jag's and a Dolomite Sprint.

When we'd grown up - relatively speaking - it was only a matter of persuading 'Who must be obeyed'. We bribed her with Harry (A West Highland Terrier) and then we got the ok!!

The sports car my dad always talked of getting was going to be a 911 (sorry, said it now), but the budget didn't stretch to a Turbo, as anything else was just too slow. So we looked at TVR.

After approximately ?? months of searching we bought R247 VLR from TVR Centre in Barnet in 2001. We had a few niggling problems at first with the gearbox alignment, but it was sorted under warranty. Since then we've had no major mechanic faults in 20,000 fun filled miles in both England and Europe. To play it safe the first year we did a whirlwind tour of England, with a trip to Blackpool for a factory tour. 2002 saw us do Le'mans. From there after the race we headed East for four further days driving around Germany, Holland and Belgium.

In 2003 we did our first real trackday. However it wasn't in this country, but the ex Formula 1 circuit in Belgium, Zolder as part of the TVRCC Continental meeting. It is an amazing experience and I would recommend this to anyone. The car performed well, however the water temperature was running well into the 90's after 5 or so laps. So on the last session we experimented by removing the number plate. The results were remarkable. Car ran solidly for 10+ laps at a reading of 80. The number plate was soon modified to its current size and position. The next day after the trackday is what as called the Treasure hunt. This is just an excuse to hoon around some fantastic driving roads on and around the Eifel mountains in Germany. Again after this event we did another 5 days touring around Europe.

When we returned we started to look at some modifications. First suspension. We heard good things about Nitrons so they went on the list. Next were brakes. At this time TVR had just released an upgrade for Griffs & Chims, but the waiting list went into months so an alternative was found. We got Brembo's callipers and 300mm discs shoehorned into the standard 15" wheel. It took close onto 5 months before all the parts came together. Unfortunately they were not ready for our next trackday in 2004, which again was in another country, this time southern Spain.

This was going to be another trip altogether. A group of 7 TVR's, many of which were meeting for the very first time. A 2 night cruise on the 'Pride of Bilbao' was an ideal was of getting to one another and each others drinking tolerances!! We were all glad to get back onto drive after one of the worst crossings in history, but looking forward to 10 days of fantastic roads. We were 20 miles from the harbour when we pulled into a motorservice station to meet an American who is currently living out there. He also happens to own a DeTomaso Pantera. As we pulled in, I saw steam exiting the bonnet. The radiator had blown. Rad-Weld was used but was not successful. We stayed in Vitoria, a nearby town as the Radiator was removed, fixed but when being pressure tested it failed again. We decided to get a new radiator flown in and installed. Two days after we arrived at Bilbao we left again at approximately 7 o'clock while it was SNOWING. In those two days the rest of the group had made it to Guadix which is less than 40 miles of the southern coast. We had a lot of catching up to do!!

By 9 o'clock we were travelling around the ring road of Madrid. Midnight we where driving past JaŽn. We drove approximately 500 miles, north to the south, in 6 hours. Unfortunately finding the Hotel in pitch blackness took another hour. We finally got to bed at about 3am, had 6 hours of sleep then did a trackday!

We had such a great time we did it again in 2005!

Before the 05 trip to Spain the car went though a number of modifications. The brake upgrade has been installed. The Guadix track is quite hard on brakes, but there was no hint of fade.

Finally the engine was taken out and rebuilt over the winter by TVR Power to their Taraka spec (No.11). TVR Power is currently developing a Supercharger kit delivering around the 500bhp mark. Watch this space...