This is the world’s only TVR Cerbera Speed 12 ever built specifically for road use and it is heading to auction on May 20 thanks to Silverstone Auctions in the UK.
TVR first conceived the Cerbera Speed 12 as a race car that it had hoped could rival the McLaren F1 GTR. At the time of its development, it was known as ‘Project 7/12’, denoting the fact that it had two Cerbera Speed Six straight-six engines that were fused together, forming a 7.7-liter V12. This brute of an engine was good for approximately 960 hp.
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To compete in the FIA GT Championship, TVR was forced to install air intake restrictors that capped power to around 675 hp and while the car did race on a handful of occasions, regulation changes opened up the series for purpose-built cars like the Porsche 911 GT1, making the ultimate TVR obsolete.
While the brand’s hopes of rivaling McLaren at Le Mans were dashed, it turned its attention to developing a road-going version of the car. Curiously, TVR boss Peter Wheeler axed the road car project after testing a prototype on the street, stating that it was too powerful and wild to be sold to customers. Production plans were immediately scrapped and the prototypes were disassembled, except for this one.
The one remaining Cerbera Speed 12 was finished in 2005 and was later upgraded by its first owner. It has been in the possession of the current vendor since 2010 and was fully recommissioned in 2014. It now weighs around 1,000 kg (2,200 lbs) and delivers 850 hp and more than 900 lb-ft (1,220 Nm) of torque.
Silverstone Auctions hasn’t said how much it expects the car to sell for but it should fetch a pretty penny.
