Dunlop TVRCC Challenge

What's it all about?

The current TVR "Challenge" is an evolution of two TVR racing series. The original Challenge was the Factory support TVR Tuscan series that ran from the early 1990s through to the mid 2000s. The second was the TVRCC Tasmin Challenge, which started in 2000 and was an entry levels series to promote "grass-roots" TVR Motorsport and develop both Drivers and Teams for the Tuscans and beyond.

These were some of the most spectacular and hard-fought Motorsport series of the time, drawing large crowds and TV coverage throughout the year with a reputation for close exciting racing everywhere they went. Many of the current "Tin-tops" & GT Racers cut their teeth as part of these series, going onto race in Porsches, Listers and Saleens etc in the GT's, Porsche Cup, Britcars, LMES (Le Mans Endurance Series) as well as Le Mans itself. The Factory concentrated on the GT's with the fabulous Speed 12 seeing some success with a couple of race wins against McLaren F1s etc. A major achievement. There was even a Cerby in the GTs for a while, as Martin Short of Roll centre Racing briefly campaigned his SP6 car before moving to Saleens.

With Factory support withdrawn in 2004 (the new owner wanted to concentrate on quality and production issues) the world of TVR Motorsport was decimated. There was no way that many of the teams could continue to compete competitively without the Factory's help. Not only that, but a new car had been promised. TVR had "suggested" that a new series was on the cards based on the highly successful T350 cars so many of the teams were unsure which car they should be developing. T350? The Sagaris? Typhon? The confusion caused many to leave the fold. A few of the T350 cars surfaced briefly, but disappeared as the privateer teams realised that they would have to develop the cars on their own against Factory supported & "Works" competition.

Some of the big boys persisted notably LNT Racing and Peninsula-TVR. Both these teams were running the "new" Tuscan T400 based cars and with some success. Lawrence Tomlinson (LNT) was very successful as a Team Owner and Driver of the re-branded Synergy Cars in the LMES, and John Hartshorne of Peninsula-TVR still competes in his T400 Tuscan in the LMES (peeking as a Privateer entry to Le Mans in 2004 & 05).

Back to the Tuscans and Tasmins. Most were sold off to Individuals. Some went to Sprints; some went to other Race series. The most notable being Topcats Racing, who have continually contested the Britcars in their Tuscan as well as their Marcos'. Their Tuscan is Michael Caine's Championship winning car and now has just received a bright new Orange Sagaris Body! We'll all be seeing A LOT more of that car in the future, as it is already competitive! A few more of the Tuscans were converted to road cars (WOW!) or like the Tasmins, have just remained in private hands waiting for a suitable series to come along. And that is where John Reid comes in.

John ran TVR Motorsport for the Factory for many years and was in fact the driving force behind it. He has now resurrected the "Challenge" so that we can all see, or even compete, in the only solely TVR grid in the country! With the cars blown to the far corners of Motorsport, Dealer Showrooms and covered in garages across the land, John has opened up the series to cover the full breadth of the TVR range. Basically, if it's a production TVR you can enter it (subject to a few race regs!)

To keep the series competitive across such a wide production run, it has been split into three categories. Group A for 5.0L N.A. (naturally aspirated) engines and up to 3.0L F.I (forced induction.) (350bhp +). Group B for 3.0-5.0 N.A.engines and < 3.0L F.I. engines (< 350bhp)
Group C for < 3.0 N.A engines.

Championship points are awarded in every race for placed cars as well as fastest laps, which really encourages the competitors to compete at every round and to focus on reliability as well as outright pace. Tim Broughton won the 2005 championship in his twin-turbo Tasmin, even though there was an AJP Tuscan in the listings. But this year will be different. There are several AJP Tuscans on the grid as well as Tim Hoods awesome Sagaris bodied car. Currently Darren Dowling (a vastly experienced Tuscan runner) is vying with Tim at the front of the grid for the honours in Group A with Marc Hockin (in his gorgeous TVR Power Griffith) heading the Group B runners over Graham Waldren is his Tuscan. But graham has just upgraded his engine so things will get closer. The Group C cars have quite a spread of competitors with Rookies and Road conversion cars against Tasmin Racers so things are very interesting across the whole of the grid.

With the series attending all the great circuits as well as some of the newer tracks, they are bound to be racing near you at least once in the year! From Pembrey to Snetterton, Oulton to Brands, the guys are covering some serious miles across most of the U.K pursuing their passion for TVR and Motorsport. So if you need an excuse to drive your Tiv over the weekend, don't go for the 60-mile "milk or newspaper run!" Checkout the tvrmonster calendar and see who's near you and when.

I GUARANTEE you'll have a lot more fun!