2002 TVR T440R

If you are familiar with TVR’s back catalogue, you will understand the significance of this car; just like with the TVR Cerbera Speed 12 sold by Iconic Auctioneers (formerly Silverstone Auctions) last year, for £601,500, we are thrilled to offer this incredible opportunity to own another genuine piece of TVR history.

The T440R was created so that TVR could challenge at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the intention of securing the marque homologation and FIA Approval to enter GT1 Class Endurance Racing. Initially named the ‘Tuscan R’ (R standing for Racing), the project began during the late 1990s with the hope that TVR would return to the Circuit de la Sarthe for the first time in more than 40 years. With an entirely new approach required to maintain speeds in excess of 200 mph on the Mulsanne Straight, the T440R was constructed completely by hand with a specialist in-house factory team. Designed with the help of cutting-edge CAD/CAM Technology, the complex and cutting-edge advanced structure was both hugely advanced and expensive to develop, and was like no other TVR built before it, or since.

With a naturally-aspirated engine producing more than 400bhp and weighing just over 1100kgs, the performance of the T440R was quite simply staggering. Sophisticated aerodynamics generated a drag coefficient of a remarkable 0.32 and the production methods included a flat-floor design constructed from resin-filled aluminium honeycomb. This structure was then bonded and bolted directly to the seamless tubular chassis and integral steel roll-cage. A separate, lightweight carbon fibre tub was then also bonded to the structure together with the carbon fibre bodywok adding further strength and rigid reinforcement.

From this, TVR were able to offer (in theory) two road-going versions of this car, the T440R - with a 4.2-litre 440bhp engine, and the Typhon (which was intended to run a sequential gearbox and a supercharger, but never came to fruition). The first of the T440R examples, and always registered as ‘PN02 ZNG’, is the car presented here. PN02 ZNG was actually the second factory pre-production car, the first (a purple, or sometimes silver example) was destroyed at the factory.

PN02 ZNG remained road-registered, sporting its factory 4.2-litre powerplant, and was the original factory press car which was used in the marketing literature and brochures at the time, and was famously driven by Jeremy Clarkson in his 2002 film, No Limits, which can be viewed on YouTube. Subsequently, the car was factory-converted into an interpretation of the envisaged race car (in DeWalt livery) and was displayed at Le Mans, as a promotional exercise, in about 2004/5, to publicise TVR’s (hopefully) forthcoming involvement in the racing series. Following this, in 2008, it was purchased by a private customer (through ‘Racing Green’), whilst being in the care of TVR specialists since 2014.

Overseen by our vendor, it has now been fully restored by those TVR specialists, and is fitted with a brand new 4.4-litre Speed Six engine built by Dom Trickett at Powers Performance, the same company that developed high-performance engines for the factory. Its engine now is as close in output/engineering competency as TVR ever achieved, with the 'aspirational' 440bhp (which helped coin the model's name back-in-the-day) always proving hard to actually reach. It also has a new clutch, differential, shocks, close-ratio gearbox, suspension and many other parts, all bespoke to the car. The exhaust was built by the talented Ryan Edwards, whilst the door glass was specially re-made by the original manufacturers in Italy! Such has been the attention to detail. PN02 ZNG is now in better condition that it ever was, it's fit & finish is superb, the materials used are first-rate, whilst the engineers employed to reinstate it have had the time, budget and derived knowledge to make this sensational car as good as it could ever be.

The car has been superbly painted in its stunning original Candy Apple Red and has a newly trimmed, high-quality full leather interior. A comprehensive photo file of the rebuild, plus pictures of the car in its original form at the factory, have been put together to record this historic build (available upon request).

The provenance of PN02 ZNG is indisputable, valid and can be easily traced; indeed, David Hothersall (TVR CC), an expert on these cars, can vouch for its veracity. Please do enquire if there is any uncertainty or questions.

With the TVR Cerbera Speed 12 having sold for more than £600,000 last year, this original T440R represents an incredible chance to own an immaculate piece of the TVR story for a fraction of that figure. One of the rarest (but entirely usable) cars in TVR’s history could now be yours.

Iconic Auctioneers are again very proud to offer for sale such a car- a unique example of its type from an era of British automotive brilliance. For any serious collector or enthusiast, this is a remarkable opportunity to acquire this legendary motor car and, as its owner, you and it would be welcome and much admired at any high-profile motoring event anywhere in the world.

PN02 ZNG was recently featured in the current edition of 'Classic & Sportscar' magazine: https://www.classicandsportscar.com/features/tvr-t440r-blackpools-200mph-road-racer  and also on the 'DriveTribe' YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqBS19coeBc

(The first eight photographs here are used with permission from, and much thanks to, Classic & Sportscar magazine, part of the Haymarket Media Group, and were taken by John Bradshaw; and the Copyright remains with them)