Highest Speed

[mycerbera]

I'm wanting to see just how fast my Cerbera 4.2 really is, and was wondering where you can go to find out the top speed. (Apart from Germany) Are there any track days on runways in the UK that are long enough / will let you try?
Any one experianced one? Just how fast did you go in a 4.2?

[bilton_d]

Elvington Air field near York. There was a track day run earlier this year and the Cerbera's were hitting between 180-190 it's 2 x 2 mile straights with 2 tighish bends not that interesting but high speeds are guaranteed. Try contacting the York TVR club they arranged the last one.

[oliverkelly]

I reckon I was hitting 180 + at Elvington. Although I had no speedo, a couple of other 4.5 cerbera's paced me up the straight. It is amazing how stable the car is at that speed. I can remember driving my old Saab at 130 , and feeling it was getting unstable.

[mycerbera]

Why You selling it then???!!!

[Alastairm]

I've had 175 on a 'private' road and it was not even in a sweat!! I'd love to try and get near the magical 200mph barrier someday and a road long/straight enough!

[paulk]

I have a 96 4.2 which clocked 180 at Elvington it was still going but I ran out of road. The 4.5 boys were hitting 190+.

Paul

[joospeed]

I think it was ben pike who got a GPS pic of him doing 200.2 mph. don't know the conditions (downhill, following wind etc) but elvington suggests this might be close to the true top speed of a good cerbie

[dannylt]

I suspect that may have been a hoax?

[The Lost Boys]

We are very pleased with our Red Rose Cerbera so far. We are meticulously running her in but are now up to 4500 revs which delivered 145 on the clock for about 10 miles on the undulating dual carriageway back to Cherbourg after Le Mans. Looking good for towards 190++ by the end of the summer. We were told the Bruntingthorpe was best for outright straight line speed testing when we wanted to test our Chimaera 500. We may try this later this year.

Lost Boys

C5RBY

[dannylt]

If you're still running it in, how come you're holding it at constant revs for so long? If you've done 2000 miles, you really want to start giving it some welly to bed in properly... according to the AJP dept!

danny

[gazzab]

Danny - I am having my engine rebuilt (top and bottom ends) on my 4.5 BUT decided against red rose in the end. Re build costs had gone up and so wanted to limit the spend. BUT anyway I will get the low down from AJP dept re running it in but could you give me your views on this??? Thanks
gary

[dannylt]

Basically, always below 2500 until temperature gets warm, then 3000 until oil is warm (i.e. pressure has dropped to at least 45 at idle from 60). From 2500 up to 4000 rpm by 1000 miles, gentle throttle no lugging, no continuous speed/load, then up to max revs at 7000 miles using more and more throttle. Then full power! If you run it in gently for 3 or 4000 miles, the rings don't bend in properly and the bores glaze- the factory apparently see quite a lot of this.

My first engine hardly ever used oil, though I suspect that there's also a large degree of luck involved at the build stage, also, if an engine is going to blow, then it'll blow - running it in nicely won't help.

danny

[The Lost Boys]

Thanks Danny but we are using your advice from a previous thread and that of John Ravenscroft which was similar. We do not keep revs constant and now peak at 5000 in bursts. 10 miles at 145 is just over 4 minutes running and was the only constant revs that day -apart from traffic at Alencon.

regards

Lost Boys

[bennno]

i recall evo got a tuscan up to 195 on the clock and then the GPS equipment actually determined it was doing 162mph, so i would not trust your speedo.

i went up to about 145 in my Cerb and then the bonnet and wipers lift and it started to feel a bit light at the front and started wandering about, as confirmed by a couple of other owners i know whom tried similar. Just need to look at Autocar for this almost every car has been top ended apart from almost every TVR which seem to say 180+....and before you say there is nowhere long enough, how did they test a macca f1, 959 or F40.

Being realistic top speed is all about BHP ,aerodynamics and gearing.

Given that a F40 is a similar weight to a Cerb and needed 472 genuine BHP to crack 200mph by 1mph and that the only other cars to have done it (Ruf Porsche, Callaway Corvette, 575 Maranello, Mercialago, Diablo SV, Macca F1, EB110, XJ220 all had >480bhp) I dont think that there is much of a chance of a cerb topping 190 flat out. perhaps i am wrong??

Bennno

>> Edited by bennno on Saturday 29th June 00:08

[pinkney]

Bennno, I dare say you could be right. However, aside from the F40 the majority of the cars you mention, although having superior power output, are a lot heavier (is the XJ220 almost 2 tonnes?). I would hazard a guess that the cerb has possibly the best power to weight ratio of the lot.
By the way have just blagged a copy of the new TVR corporate brochure featuring Tamora, Tuscan (+R) and Cerbera. Cerbera 4.5 top speed has mysteriously risen to 195+ mph.
Dan (Cerb4.5) Pinkney

[bennno]

agreed, but power to weight is very secondary to bhp and aerodynamics over the ton! witness the brick wall even a R500 Caterham hits at 100mph.

Bennno

[mark h]

I've seen 160 on the speedo,with the bonnet flapping in my 97 4.2.Autocar ,in their first test back in 96 , said they ran out of straight and bottle at 179mph.They dont say if this was a speedo reading or their timing equipment.

[dannylt]

quote:
Thanks Danny but we are using your advice from a previous thread and that of John Ravenscroft which was similar. We do not keep revs constant and now peak at 5000 in bursts. 10 miles at 145 is just over 4 minutes running and was the only constant revs that day -apart from traffic at Alencon.

Cool! My advice originally came from John R anyway. Bet you can't wait for 5000+ - that's where the real power is, especially on the red rose engine!

[The Lost Boys]

Thanks Danny

we cannot wait - the back end of August and 3,000 miles/6000 revs should be very interesting. The other comment about our burn towards Cherbourg was the incredible acceleration from around 100 mph to the 145 speed - it certainly felt much much quicker than our Chimaera 500 which was no slouch above 100 but did tend to run out of steam a bit around 150.

regards

Lost Boys

[kris wood]

Never went above 150 mph in my Cerb S6 as it felt very light at the front and did not inspire confidence. I had plenty of power to go but just felt unstable at those speeds. In my opinion, it takes a very brave (or stupid??) person to go much above 150mph in a Cerb.