TVR does not build many cars like the TVR Tuscan T400R: a 2-door coupe with TVR Speed Six, built from 2000 to 2004 in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. Its designer of record is Graham Browne.
The story
In the late 1990s, the successful Tuscan Challenge race series was in need of updating and Peter Wheeler began the project that would fulfill his ambition to see TVRs at Le Mans. Work began on a completely new racing car that would be built using modern composites, be more rigid than any previous TVR and be CAD designed to reach speeds in excess of 200 mph (322 km/h) and be stable.
The car itself would be a steel tubular frame with full roll cage forming the backbone to a full carbon fibre monocoque. By 2000 work was well under way on the carbon fibre TuscanR GT car.
What is underneath
Under the skin sits TVR Speed Six. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Where it sits in TVR's history is not in doubt: the TVR Tuscan Challenge / TVR Cerbera Speed 12 came before it. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Hyundai Santa Fe, the SEAT León, the Honda Fit. Nearby in the TVR catalogue sit the TVR 3000S and the TVR 350SE.
TVR Tuscan