When talking British cars, it’s hard to deliberate on the subject without bringing TVR into the conversation. After one too many years of financial turmoil and production downtime, the Whiteley-based automaker is back in business with the Griffith.
Having made its world premiere at the 2017 Goodwood Revival alongside the likes of the Caterham Seven SuperSprint, the Griffith isn’t big on aerodynamic trickery. Unlike the huge wings and sharp canards of modern go-faster machines, the flat-floored British sports car is all about ground effects. Benefitting from a 50:50 weight distribution helps with handling, but also pays dividend in terms of proportions. Just look at the length of that hood!
In the walkaround videos at the end of the story, it’s easy to notice how far back the Ford-sourced Cosworth 5.0-liter V8 sits in the engine bay. In fact, it’s located behind the front axle, which means it benefits from a front-mid engine layout. Thanks to Gordon Murray’s know-how and plenty of carbon fiber, the Griffith also happens to be light, tipping the scales at 1,250 kg.
Most impressively, take a look at the cabin. The 500-hp Griffith is engineered to be more inviting than previous TVR models, as well as more reliable. These aspects come courtesy of head honcho Les Edgar, who managed to acquire the failing automaker from Russian oligarch Nikolai Smolensky four year ago. And indeed, that’s a mechanical handbrake in there, and the gear lever is comically short in TVR’s effort to offer an authentic driver-machine bond.
Yours truly still thinks the headlights could’ve been drawn better, but that’s not a deal-breaker by any means. Production of the 2018 TVR Griffith is scheduled to start in the latter part of next year, with each and every Launch Edition model of the 500-unit run already spoken for at £90,000 a pop.
Prospective customers interested in the all-new Griffith sports car can get a place in the queue by placing a £5,000 deposit on the TVR website.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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