The TVR

TVR

thumb|right|240px|TVR No.2, the oldest surviving TVR, located at [[Lakeland Motor Museum, Newby Bridge, Cumbria]]TVR was an independent British manufacturer of sports cars. Until 2006 it was based in the English seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, but has since split up into several smaller...

 S Series was announced at the 1986 NEC motor show. Due to a massive positive response the car went into production in less than 12 months, with 250 pre-manufacture orders. This was Peter Wheeler's first major development since buying the company from Martin Lilley, and the turning point in TVR's fortunes.

Between 1986 and 1994 2,604 S Series cars were made; 410 of these were of the V8S variety.

A 1989 TVR S2 was restored and sold as part of the UK television series Wheeler Dealers

Wheeler Dealers

Wheeler Dealers is a British television series produced by Attaboy TV for the Discovery Channel, fronted by Mike Brewer and mechanic Edd China with assistance from technical advisor Paul Brackley...

, first shown on the Discovery Realtime channel on the 3rd November 2009.

A TVR S2 was used in the classic British Sports cars challenge of Top Gear in series 15 Episode 6, bought by James May. It lapped the Lotus test track in 2:15.09 minutes.

S/S2/S3(C)/S4C

The V6 S Series cars used Ford

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

's Cologne V6

Ford Cologne V6 engine

The original Ford Cologne V6, also known as the 'Ford Taunus V6', is a series of 60° cast iron block V6 engines produced continuously by the Ford Motor Company in Cologne, Germany since 1968...

 in 2.8 L, 160 hp (S) and 2.9 L, 170 hp (S2-S4) forms. The early "S" cars are often referred to as "S1"s, to distinguish them from later iterations. The S3 and S4 received longer doors, although some late S2's were also thus equipped.

Vehicle models ending with "C" were used to denote vehicles which were fitted with a catalytic converter. Only the S3 and S4 were fitted with catalysts. Cat standard in the UK was only introduced in August 1992, at "K" registration, catalyzed earlier cars were intended for export to markets with tighter emissions standards.

V8S

The standard specification of the V8S included ½ hide leather interior, walnut trim, mohair hood, OZ alloy wheels, driving lamps, electric windows and door mirrors.

The V8S contains a 4.0 L fuel-injected Rover V8 engine

Rover V8 engine

The Rover V8 engine is a compact V8 internal combustion engine with aluminium cylinder heads and cylinder block, originally designed by General Motors and later re-designed and produced by Rover in the United Kingdom...

, with gas-flowed cylinder heads, higher lift camshaft, compression ratio upped to 10:5:1, revised manifold, new chip for the engine management system and a limited slip differential. The result is 240 bhp at 5250 rpm and 270 lbft of torque at 3000 rpm.

The V8S has a number of cosmetic differences over the V6.
The bonnet has a large hump - created to house the Italian specification supercharger but carried over to all V8S models.
Picture of S3 on the left, and V8S on the right showing the 2 main bonnet styles.

The V8S has a small vent facing the windscreen, whereas S1 to S3 models face forward.
Very late S3 and S4 models had no hump at all.
As with all TVR's there is no specific point in time when they changed styles, probably when they ran out!

The suspension track is slightly wider on the V8S achieved with revised wishbones at the front and revised trailing arms at the rear. Disc brakes are fitted all round.

0-60 mph could be achieved in 4.9 seconds and 0-100 mph in 12.9 seconds. It was faster than an Aston Martin Virage

Aston Martin Virage

The Virage was Aston Martin's replacement for the decades-old V8 models. Introduced at the Birmingham Motor Show in 1988, it was joined by the high-performance Vantage in 1993, and the name of the standard car was changed to V8 in 1996....

, a Ferrari Testarossa

Ferrari Testarossa

The Ferrari Testarossa is a 12-cylinder mid-engine sports car manufactured by Ferrari, which went into production in 1984 as the successor to the Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer...

, Lotus Esprit Turbo SE and Porsche Carrera 2

Porsche Carrera

Carrera is a trademarked name exclusively used by Porsche for its models to honor the company's success in the Carrera Panamericana race.The following vehicles have been called Carrera:* Porsche 356* Porsche 904* Porsche 911...

 the supercar

Supercar

Supercar is a term used most often to describe an expensive high end car. It has been defined specifically as "a very expensive, fast or powerful car"...

s of the early 1990s.

2-litre V8S

A very rare beast is the 2 litre supercharged version of the V8S - this was created for the Italian market to overcome their strict taxation based on engine capacity. The engine was a modified 3.5 litre Rover V8 fitted with a smaller-throw crank to reduce the engine capacity, retaining the 88.9 mm bore but with an extremely short stroke of 40.25 mm. This meant a displacement of 1998 cc, with a compression rate of 8.0:1. Lucas

Lucas

Lucas is the Latin form of the Greek name Loukas , and it's a common name in many modern languages.Lucas may refer to several things.-Real:*Lucas Barrios, Paraguayan footballer currently playing for Borussia Dortmund...

 electronic fuel injection

Fuel injection

Fuel injection is a system for admitting fuel into an internal combustion engine. It has become the primary fuel delivery system used in automotive petrol engines, having almost completely replaced carburetors in the late 1980s....

 was fitted, along with an intercooled

Intercooler

An intercooler , or charge air cooler, is an air-to-air or air-to-liquid heat exchange device used on turbocharged and supercharged internal combustion engines to improve their volumetric efficiency by increasing intake air charge density through nearly isobaric cooling, which removes...

 Eaton

Eaton Corporation

Eaton Corporation is a global diversified power management company with 2010 sales of $13.7 billion. The company is a leading provider of electrical components and systems for power quality, distribution and control; hydraulics components, systems and services for industrial and mobile equipment;...

 supercharger. All of this produced 233 PS at 6,200 rpm and 266 newton metre at 3,700 rpm. Performance was on par with the bigger V8s, with a top speed of 232 kilometre per hour and 0–100 km/h coming up in 6.5 seconds. Ventilated disc brakes were fitted up front, and the 2-litre V8 also got adjustable ride height hydraulic shocks

Shock absorber

A shock absorber is a mechanical device designed to smooth out or damp shock impulse, and dissipate kinetic energy. It is a type of dashpot.-Nomenclature:...

. There is at this time only one known to exist.