The new TVR Griffith – everything you need to know

The covers came off the car, called Griffith as expected, before a packed audience on TVR’s stand at the Earls Court Motor Show. Echoes of past TVR launches came thick and fast, albeit without the scantily-clad models that made TVR launches in the real Earls Court notorious in earlier decades.

More than anything, though, this was about the future, not the past. Here’s a much-loved true-Brit performance car, moribund for a decade, reborn in carbon-fibre and aluminium and designed by no less an eminence than Gordon Murray to be the antidote to overly large, heavy and complex sports cars. Strange but true: it’s Murray’s performance-car follow-up to the McLaren F1…

Promising to be fast, noisy and – most revolutionary of all for a TVR – well made, the 2018 Griffith looks the part with classic proportions, a powerful stance and plenty of distinctive styling cues, some new and some recalling TVRs of old. At Revival’s Earls Court Motor Show, no glamour models were needed to make this TVR the centre of attention.

So, the car: and it’s pretty much what you’d expect it to be, and what mad-keen TVR owners – none more so than company boss Les Edgar – have been clamouring for.

There are no turbos here. There’s no four-wheel drive or paddle-shift transmission. No sign of an electric motor or fancy drive modes. The noise it makes will be real enough, not synthetically piped into the cabin. What you do get is V8 grunt up front, side exhausts, six-speed manual ‘box, rear diff and two whopping 20-inch wishbone-suspended wheels whose 275/30 tyres are single-handedly responsible for providing traction. Driver aids? Nope. Drift mode? You can be assured of it, and it will be controlled by the right foot rather than any button. And the steering? TVR purists will be eager to try that: it’s electrically assisted.

The engine is a 5.0-litre Ford V8 “enhanced” by Cosworth. Power and torque are not yet confirmed but we assume it has around 500bhp in order to achieve the longstanding power-weight target of 400bhp/tonne. The new Griffith weighs in at 1250kg. 

The V8 is set low and back in the chassis for what TVR says is 50-50 weight distribution. As for its size, the Griffith is 170mm (6ins) shorter, 75mm (3ins) narrower and 70mm (almost 3ins) lower than a Jaguar F-type. If 1250kg turns out to be accurate, it will also weigh around 300kg less than the Jag.

All this sportscar classicism gets a real 21st-century jolt when you look under the skin. Gordon Murray has been threatening a new performance car using his patented iStream construction system for a while, and this is it. There’s no other sportscar like it. 

Carbon-fibre faced honeycomb sections, Formula 1-style, are bonded to steel and aluminium for a chassis structure that provides not just a big weight saving over a traditional monocoque but also what is said to be exceptional rigidity and crash worthiness. In the launch version unveiled at Goodwood, the car’s body is also carbon composite; in the past, it’s been suggested that other less exotic (and less expensive) versions may follow. 

Underneath, the Griffith has a completely flat floor for what is said to be full ground effects aerodynamics. There’s a deep splitter up front and integrated diffuser behind, making for a very distinctive looking rear end. Just as distinctive are the air vents aft of the front wheels, the geometric slashes contrasting with the otherwise sculpted body. 

Ground effects, carbon and alloy chassis; Gordon Murray has been here before, originally with the Brabham BT49 F1 car in 1979.

The cabin is a strict two-seater said to be roomy for two with ”more than adequate” luggage room. A simple layout and chunky buttons will be familiar to TVR owners of old, though rows of dials are replaced by a rather more up to date instrument pod. In the centre of the dash is an infotainment system that’s said to have been specially designed for the car. 

All this just leaves the inevitable: how fast and how much?

TVR says the Griffith will hit 200mph and accelerate from 0-60mph in less than four seconds. Price for the all-carbon launch editions starts at £90,000, with delivery from late 2018. Custom wheels, all leather interior, bespoke infotainment system and special paint are included. The car is being built in a brand new facility in the Ebbw Vale Enterprise Zone in South Wales which has been set up with backing from the Welsh government.

Put up the flags, TVR is back! The new Griffith’s debut at Revival is certainly a big day for Les Edgar. He told us: “This is the culmination of nearly three years of tireless work and we’re all proud as punch. The Griffith is unmistakably a TVR, a British muscle car that’s as awesome and brutal as it is charismatic and refined.” 

There’s one more thing promised with the new car, something that won’t be lost on TVR owners of old: it won’t fall apart. As Les Edgar says: “The car will offer reliability and practicality never seen by the brand before.”

Photography by Tom Shaxson