I am a lucky, lucky man.
Discussion
Stepping through the doors of Racing Green Cars, and you are rewarded with the sight of a beautiful car showroom, dominated (in my eyes at least), by a gorgeous piece of engineering - HZY as I will call her.
HZY is # 81 Sagaris. It has got the series 2 alloys on it, and a few other choice bits and pieces. But we will get to that. She is grey in colour - not a colour I want for a Sagaris - well, not until later….
Before we even get a chance to start drooling, we are welcomed with a bright and cheery smile, and a hello from a gentleman who I'm going to enjoy the next few hours with. Chris is his name, and he's already left me a professional but personal message on the phone, to get me down the RG.
We spend the next few minutes chatting (and making bad jokes), before he departs on a coffee run for us. (Bad joke example - "How do you want your coffee"? "In a cup"). Thus leaving us to start looking over HZY…. Cradling the drivers door mirror in my hand, my fingers find the nipple (steady now!), and the window drops neatly, and the door pops open into my hand. Swinging it open revels an Aladdin's cave of unexpected swoops and angles, mysterious switches, and the promise of so much more. Dropping into the seat for the first time (having removed the lower padding), is a lovely thing - everything opens out before you, and the stylish logic of the car starts to assert itself. The view through the windscreen is slightly pillbox like initially, but the eyes soon adjust to the sight lines on offer. The carbon black interior contrasts beautifully with the grey seat backs and the blue headliner (the roll cage is picked out in black, naturally).
Exiting the car, and now armed with coffee (good, to stop the drooling), we are treated to the Sagaris being woken from its slumber, and the car slowly makes its way out of the show room, and into the direct sunlight. At once the car transforms from brooding menace (the lady referred to it as the Bat mobile), into something that displays serious intent as well as a dramatic design. Butterflies are starting to build in my stomach - coffee, adrenaline and 400bhp in the second most expensive car TVR have ever put on the road…. This should be interesting.
Chris and I get ourselves strapped in, and we burble away from RG, on a mission to get some heat into the components, and give it some go-go juice. He's giving me the full run down of all the interior switches, and is own personal thoughts on the car, open to all questions, and it's a good thing. I'm quietly bricking myself.
We swap over at the petrol station, and a few things I immediately notice. The rev needle quivers. No rock steady, 'everything is calm and easy' display for this car. It's quivering, like aready woman gun dog, straining at the leash. I like this. Second thing I notice is that the loud pedal is more of a loud button - a very instant response. Adding to the thought process, was the fact I had never driven a car with floor pedals before. Well, a childs go-cart doesn't really count! Negotiating my way away from petrol station, and not collecting any street furniture, a group of orphans, a shrine to Princess Diana, or any other road users (some of those things may not have been there), made my overworked brain feel a damn sight better.
Chris directed me clearly through some directions, and after a hill start (traffic lights), relaxed a bit with the fact I hadn't crashed it / stalled it or anything else bad. He then put me down a road that I will remember for the rest of my life. I know that we were chatting, but gradually my chatter dried up, and I got sucked further and further into the experience that this car offers. Simple words cannot begin to explain the immediacy of the contact the driver feels. This car was actually talking to you - "I just went over a pothole, but it doesn't matter at all - I'll keep deploying every last horsepower on to the road, and you keep us on the black stuff. Deal?"
Deal. Deal indeed. Deal done in fact (but Chris wasn't to know this - yet. Mind you, the fact that I was torn between being polite (talking, giving the car back), and being impolite (figure it out), made the journey interesting….) It was during one particular section that I realised that I was doing a very good Petter Solberg impression - mouth wide open, catching flies (but not with the speed!).
To cut a long(er) story, we made it back. We then started to have a look at the stereo/Satnav in there. Very cool. Very, very cool. So, everything was in one piece. Including the wallet, which proceeded to take a right battering. Yes, that's right. I now own HZY. I will have it in a few days. Only problem is that I'm not going to be able to drive it. How can someone drive after being sleepless for that time? I want it. I want it now. So bad. So I've got myself my own registration (DG 54GGY), and a few sleepless nights to look forward to….
To conclude, I am the luckiest man in the world. Chris (and Chas) are great. RG is great. Chris is exactly what a car salesman should be - honest, and direct. No flannel, no crap, and that's how we like it. Sorry for the over long post, but damn, it's been worth it!
HZY is # 81 Sagaris. It has got the series 2 alloys on it, and a few other choice bits and pieces. But we will get to that. She is grey in colour - not a colour I want for a Sagaris - well, not until later….
Before we even get a chance to start drooling, we are welcomed with a bright and cheery smile, and a hello from a gentleman who I'm going to enjoy the next few hours with. Chris is his name, and he's already left me a professional but personal message on the phone, to get me down the RG.
We spend the next few minutes chatting (and making bad jokes), before he departs on a coffee run for us. (Bad joke example - "How do you want your coffee"? "In a cup"). Thus leaving us to start looking over HZY…. Cradling the drivers door mirror in my hand, my fingers find the nipple (steady now!), and the window drops neatly, and the door pops open into my hand. Swinging it open revels an Aladdin's cave of unexpected swoops and angles, mysterious switches, and the promise of so much more. Dropping into the seat for the first time (having removed the lower padding), is a lovely thing - everything opens out before you, and the stylish logic of the car starts to assert itself. The view through the windscreen is slightly pillbox like initially, but the eyes soon adjust to the sight lines on offer. The carbon black interior contrasts beautifully with the grey seat backs and the blue headliner (the roll cage is picked out in black, naturally).
Exiting the car, and now armed with coffee (good, to stop the drooling), we are treated to the Sagaris being woken from its slumber, and the car slowly makes its way out of the show room, and into the direct sunlight. At once the car transforms from brooding menace (the lady referred to it as the Bat mobile), into something that displays serious intent as well as a dramatic design. Butterflies are starting to build in my stomach - coffee, adrenaline and 400bhp in the second most expensive car TVR have ever put on the road…. This should be interesting.
Chris and I get ourselves strapped in, and we burble away from RG, on a mission to get some heat into the components, and give it some go-go juice. He's giving me the full run down of all the interior switches, and is own personal thoughts on the car, open to all questions, and it's a good thing. I'm quietly bricking myself.
We swap over at the petrol station, and a few things I immediately notice. The rev needle quivers. No rock steady, 'everything is calm and easy' display for this car. It's quivering, like a
Chris directed me clearly through some directions, and after a hill start (traffic lights), relaxed a bit with the fact I hadn't crashed it / stalled it or anything else bad. He then put me down a road that I will remember for the rest of my life. I know that we were chatting, but gradually my chatter dried up, and I got sucked further and further into the experience that this car offers. Simple words cannot begin to explain the immediacy of the contact the driver feels. This car was actually talking to you - "I just went over a pothole, but it doesn't matter at all - I'll keep deploying every last horsepower on to the road, and you keep us on the black stuff. Deal?"
Deal. Deal indeed. Deal done in fact (but Chris wasn't to know this - yet. Mind you, the fact that I was torn between being polite (talking, giving the car back), and being impolite (figure it out), made the journey interesting….) It was during one particular section that I realised that I was doing a very good Petter Solberg impression - mouth wide open, catching flies (but not with the speed!).
To cut a long(er) story, we made it back. We then started to have a look at the stereo/Satnav in there. Very cool. Very, very cool. So, everything was in one piece. Including the wallet, which proceeded to take a right battering. Yes, that's right. I now own HZY. I will have it in a few days. Only problem is that I'm not going to be able to drive it. How can someone drive after being sleepless for that time? I want it. I want it now. So bad. So I've got myself my own registration (DG 54GGY), and a few sleepless nights to look forward to….
To conclude, I am the luckiest man in the world. Chris (and Chas) are great. RG is great. Chris is exactly what a car salesman should be - honest, and direct. No flannel, no crap, and that's how we like it. Sorry for the over long post, but damn, it's been worth it!
Great post,I have always had the same feelings with every TVR i have owned (3) I am contemplating a Sagaris myself and have looked at your car,very nice indeed 
Many thanks for your kind words. Yes, very long, but I wanted to try to articulate what happened.
I failed miserably, but at least I was able to convey a few bits and pieces!
Yes, this was the car at Britcar, and apparently you will be seeing a lot more of it over the coming year...
As for the Richard Meaden comment - ha! You are far too kind (maybe I absorbed his style having read Evo since issue 3...).
I will come back to this thread with some better (and up to date) pictures...
I failed miserably, but at least I was able to convey a few bits and pieces!
Yes, this was the car at Britcar, and apparently you will be seeing a lot more of it over the coming year...
As for the Richard Meaden comment - ha! You are far too kind (maybe I absorbed his style having read Evo since issue 3...).
I will come back to this thread with some better (and up to date) pictures...
Great car and great post Don - best one I've read about getting a new car since 'GI Jnr's Lambo Murci experience:
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/members/showcar.asp?c...
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/members/showcar.asp?c...
Don1 said:
I'm quietly bricking myself.
Excellent........laughed out loud at that bit cos it's exactly how I felt when I drove ours for the first time.In fact, I even insisted I drove it on my own...without Ray watching over my shoulder cos I was that nervous.
But, the most amazing thing is....the spine tingling feeling of that first drive never goes away.....
It happens every time you get in and commence the 'start sequence'
I just LOVE it!!
Congratulations........great colour, great plate, great car!!
YP
Congrats on the new purchase - they are fantastic cars. I met the previous owner of your car last weekend - I bought the orginal wheels it had on it from him (anthrachite spiders) and he put the current wheels on it. He seemed like someone whom looked after his cars (he had had 6 TVR's before and said that the Sag was the best built and favourite of all of them) and only sold the Sag to buy a Lamborghini!
Racing Green are fantastic - I bought my Sag from them - welcome to the club!
Racing Green are fantastic - I bought my Sag from them - welcome to the club!
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