This is the 2000 TVR Cerbera Speed 12, a one-of-a-kind race car for the road from the British manufacturer. The goal was to have a car that would become both the world’s greatest performance road car & also to become the basis for a future GT1 endurance race car. Ultimately the project never lived up to its potential due to GT1 class regulation changes, development issues, and overall being far too powerful for road use. Originally known as the 7/12 project, this idea was first presented during the 1996 Birmingham Motor Show, and by the year 1998, the project’s name changed from ‘7/12’ to ‘Speed 12’, and a racing variant called the ‘Speed 12 GTS’ was finalized for racing within the GT1 class in the FIA GT Championship. The Speed 12 made its way into the racing scene during the 1998 British GT, with a best result of 4th place in the British GT Snetterton in on 6/14/98. The name changed yet again in the year 2000, now called the ‘TVR Cerbera Speed 12’, and during this time, the Speed 12 participated in the GT2 class of the British GT Championship for a few seasons until 2002, securing numerous 1st place finishes. Because of their bad luck with regulations in racing, TVR shifted their focus to strictly building the wildest road car anyone has ever seen. During development, then-owner Peter Wheeler drove one of the finished road-going Speed 12 prototypes home and concluded the car could not be driven on any public road, resulting in all deposits and plans for production to be scrapped, and the remaining prototypes to be parted out to aid in race efforts, except for one car. In the year 2003, this car, W112 BHG, became offered for sale as the only road-going Speed 12 in the world, shocking many, as the project had been shut down. The car was part of a new project, which was a road-car built on the shell of one of the remaining GT racers. This is a car that a team of TVR engineers led by Johnny Greenwood placed all of their knowledge and efforts into.
How many made? 1
Engine: 7.7L V12 - 850bhp
Debut: TVR ad, August 2003
Top Speed: around 240mph
0-60mph: around 2.9 seconds
Photo Credit: @darren_in_cornwall, @alankennyphotography
Research: @rarecarsonly