1996 Jeremy Clarkson Supercar Drag Race - TVR Cerbera 

The 1990s were fantastic in many ways but TV production has certainly improved for the better

Took annoying to a new level.

lol yeah no kidding!@@Vincentofvega

absolutely!@@MatthewPoxon

We all are.

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Tun tun ta ta tun tun tuuuuuun

@@sukhdevr3489 😳 😆

I hear no trumpets, just an annoying cheap keyboard

Somewhere there was a producer screaming, "we've paid for the sample and we're going to use it!"

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Yeah, that was amazing!

@@MatthewPoxon pam-pam-papa-pam-pam-paaaaaa LOL

@@Ostin3232😂😂😂

Reminds of Mario kart

Really irritating to say the least!

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It is annoying but it wouldn’t be the same without it either. Tastes have certainly changed over the last almost 3 decades

@@MatthewPoxon I remember watching this in the 90s on vhs. It was annoying then as it is now! Nothing to take away from TVR tho. That was a mighty impressive performance! I’d love to see a rerun today with the same cars to see if the results would be the same 🤔

I've recorded it, and I shall now play it before I enter any of the rooms at work.

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Oh yeah they basically turned themselves into a supercar drag race channel didn't they. A far cry from what they started out as. Not unlike Top Gear.

​@@soundseeker63 pretty sure they still do car reviews, just drag races is what people seem to want.

🤣🤣🤣 Matt Clarkson

Carwow's drag races are so boring it's just ridiculous. ELECTRIC VEHICLE VERSUS SUPER SUV 1/4 MILE, WHO WILL WIN? Who gives a shit about those dumb races?

no, it was most likely just a 4.5.

@@cydonia9342 It wasn't a 4.5 Red Rose spec car. it's well known now that TVR were sneaky and they fitted a race spec engine into the Cerbera. I think the 4.2 Cerb still would have done the business, just not by so much of a margin. The was an article in, 'Evo,' magazine back in the day, and they took a TVR Cerbera over to Germany for a 'straightener' against a Brabus Mercedes. I recall reading it, and the German engineers stood around and sniggered about the unusual intake manifold on the Cerb. One of them was heard to say, "Only the British would make an intake manifold out of sellotape!" Oh how they laughed..........Right up until the TVR proceeded to smash the Brabus to a pulp in every single performance test. It was a delightful result- Mercedes finest pulverised by a car built in a shed in Blackpool by a small eccentric British company! One in the eye for Fritz!

I don't think the 4.5 was around when this was filmed. My bet would be it was a 4.2 but TVR were sometimes a little conservative with things like bhp and torque. I am told that getting an early 4.2 off the line was very difficult. Power had to be fed in otherwise with the weight and power it just spun it's wheels.

It was a pre-production 4.5 on Tuscan induction, which is basically what the production 4.5 got. About 400bhp.

​@@Nickthebassist01the Tuscan was a straight 6, not a V8 like the Cerbera. The AJPV8 was also developed a long time before the Speed 6. This rumour has basically been confirmed by ex-TVR people.

The entire lineup is easily more fun and usable than a Gemera though

That is a crazy statistic

@@pgr3290tvr's are fun, when they work!

Actual race cars were faster though due to no being so restricted and safe

Too bad the Gemera is just a shell car at this point. Hardly been driven over 60 mph even by Christian himself

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Better? Perfect you mean!😂

The Cerbera has aged very well and still reasonable performance by today’s standards.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Our RS4 Performance is as fast, my 992 GTS, is quicker... but yeah, in its day the TVR was a beast. My late father had one BTW.

Gorgeous British car indeed I love the Cerbera, I wish they had more in the states we need cars like that over here

TVR's are absolute trash. Built quality was terrible.

​@tlove2108 not as bad as you're grammar

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The Speed 12 was my favourite car in the game.

The colors Was best

That explains why the Caterham performed so poorly. I would have thought I it would have been phenomenal over the first 1/8 mile being so light.

Haha how do you know this? That's a cool piece of trivia.

@@sukhdevr3489 One of my friends worked at Caterham at the time. He was furious with the stubborn and overly confident owner.

Very interesting… I thought the JPE should have been quicker than it was… 👍

@@caterhamsuperlightr81 Everyone thought that 🙊

Same here, Christmas nightlight was always the new Clarkson VHS and later DVD 👍

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you are a brave man.

Yeah to be fair as an avid TVR fan I would take the Vantage as well. Last of the proper hand built Newport Pagnel cars

I've loved that Vantage since I got this VHS for Christmas back in the day. I love when he's sliding it about and says "when you get it just right, it's like a dirty great gokart" 😂

@@nevets5891 Yes I remember that. A Rolls Royce with attitude!

3 of my dream cars right there, Vantage, Cerbera and the 912

Yes, TVR is my favourite but the Aston is an Aston.

LOL

Same runway as what they used earlier on, ainit? I knew I was not bullshitting myself!

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Both British icons 👍

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Same here, this video is one of the main reasons I own a TVR today.

Exactly same reason

The Lotus Esprit is a British icon.

It’s impressive 2 x cars in the test originated from lotus designs…. Even more so because the power output of that lotus could deploy with esprit’s was constrained by available gearboxes at the time. If they’d be able to spec a more robust gearbox then they’d have been able to sell lots more cars.

@@robertpatrick3350true. I still wonder, when they switched transmissions in the late 80s, why did they choose another French transmission that was going to be the weak point? And there's always something cool about the 7 surviving for 50 years. Pretty wild.

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😂

Agreed. I love the TVR but I think the Aston Vantage is my favourite. The last of the Newport Pagnell hand build Vantages

It was a fantastic car. Great looking both inside and out. Race engine, full roll cage, space frame chassis with double wishbones all round. Great car and performance for the price.

@@MatthewPoxon - indeed. TVR always made the best of comparatively small resources. They put funding and development where it was most effective for the end product.

I like the Tasmin 280i. 🤷‍♂️

Well this one infamously had a non-production engine put in for the race. Also notice how the windscreen wipers look ready to fly away when it starts to pick up speed😂 They made fast, fun, great handling sports cars but ultimately they went under because they made Italian supercars seem well built and reliable by comparison.

I could be wrong, but i believe there were rumors that the TVR wasnt stock.

Fast but it's fiberglass body and rotting chassis make it a badly built machine ....fast but build quality is crap

let it underrated, because you know what happens when it get correctly "rated" ask the japanese about it...

The 993 911 has aged exceptionally well. Looks epic in Turbo form and painted black on this video. Not as cool as the Bad Boys II 964 though. I would probably take the Vantage, last of the proper Newport Pagnel hand built cars

​@@MatthewPoxon that vantage caught my eye too. Loved it's looks in Gran Turismo.

The Vantage is stunning. I bought the 993 Twin Turbo new in 1996 in Porsche Yellow (orangey). It was the fastest car I had owned after having Ferraris and other top sports cars. The most amazing thing was the viscous all-wheel drive: mid-turn (under power), as you felt the rear tires losing some grip, all of the sudden you felt the front tires start pulling you thru the turn. Wonderful car and loved the classic dashboard design.@@MatthewPoxon

@@eastbaystreet1242a brand new 993 Turbo must have incredible back in the day. Performance by today’s standards is good so must have been ridiculous back then.

It was ridiculous, Matthew. It is one of the few cars I miss from that period. The 500E was also sublime. But even though I miss those cars, I don't regret my decisions to sell them because that capital led to far greater financial returns. And amazingly, my current weekender, a 2 tonne S63 Cabrio, is faster than those cars! @@MatthewPoxon

We are the same age, this was one of the videos that got me into cars when I was young. These were all Halo cars back then. Crazy how things have moved on in terms of performance. Sounds like you have owned some amazing cars!

A little older but resonates exactly the same. Growing up in an era when sub 6 seconds was frankly exotic, these were all bedroom poster stuff. Test drove a Tuscan once and went pale 😂. I drive an M5 CS now and even that is being humbled at the lights by Teslas and Polestars. There’s nothing more to go after in terms of straight line pace now, that pencil’s been sharpened too many times. I’m going to find something old and lightweight with a manual gearbox and leave them to it.

Where's the Shelby Cobra? Where's 0-100-0? Braking, as Clarkson well knows, is very important.

Out of these cars, which would you pick today for pure driving enjoyment?

@@msfasa Aston V8 Vantage for me

Same here!

It's still in my loft 😂

I know, back in the 90s, before global warming took over the world, we still had clouds.

Having been an TVR enthusiast and owner for many years now I agree the Cerbera feels brutally fast. In terms of figures it doesn’t stack up with some of the modern cars, however it still feels faster. I think it is mainly down to the lack of refinement compared to modern cars, it is essentially a lightweight race car.

Never been in a cerbera but I did get a passenger ride in a v8 Griffith at the classic car show at the NEC, around some local roads the owner said the police didn't really bother them as long as they weren't being total hooligans, so would I like to see what it could do, of course I said yes and before I knew it we were doing 120mph, just this big slug of torque, it was relentless. Loved it.

Why Didn't You Go To Top Speed 195mph? 😈

@@SuperiorNo1 I wasn't driving and if I'm honest 150 ish was fast enough on a dual carriageway.

I was carried away with nostalgia. My brother recently had an Audi RS6 Avant with close to 700 bhp , in which I went for a short drive as a passenger and stepped out in a state of disbelief, he now has a EV in the shape of a Porsche Taycan which I've not been in, I'm sure is impressive but I know it won't sound like a Cerbera :-)

1990s dream car posters!

LOL I am not sure most agree 🎺🎺🎺

TVR seemed unstoppable at that time. Thanks for the comment and glad you enjoyed it.

They didn't want the Yankees to have a chance, probably told the driver to ease off the gas, there's no way the Viper was that far behind.

Great looking car

​@@MichiganGourmetguyabsolutely. That car should be capable of a low 12 in the quarter, but it got stomped here. Old mate must have shifted to second at 3000rpm then missed 3rd, given up and put it in 4th.

@@Rollin8.0I mean just look at what Top Gear did with Tesla ... this is an entertainment show, not a news show. And to be sure, as an American, I'm good with that - it's a fun show to watch - but I don't really rely on them for facts.

Either they lied or have a weaker "EU" Viper. Their specs are wrong. It's not 415bhp / 0-60 in 4.6s, it's 450 and 4.0. In 1/4 mile, the Porsche would jump ahead and it would be close at the line. I imagine they suck at driving it, which to be fair these early Vipers were unforgiving wolverines and the Euros probably hated it. Jeremy always complained about cars that don't ride like a Mercedes and shift with one finger. He even compared a blue collar American V8 noise as nothing compared to a Ferrari exhaust, as if those race cars are on every corner in Europe.

Always straight to the TVR dealer on Gran Turismo. 👍

LOL

They drove it straight back to the factory after the race 😂😂😂😂😂

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I thought I had El Cid playing in another tab...

They're in Britain, and this is their national anthem, you hear it everywhere in London I'm told.

Thanks for watching 👍

I agree, a breed of raw cars with little to no driver aids that are sadly confined to the past.

It is certainly a great looking car 👍

love the lines and handling of the cerbera from GT also. it reminds me of the swedish indigo 3000 cars that had a similar look as a cerbera.

Same here!

Agreed 👍

The performance must have been absolutely insane back in the 1990s

@@MatthewPoxon Absolutely... 💪

They are not as unreliable as the press would lead you to believe

My mate had one and it was useless. It was quick when it worked but it honestly was crap. ​@@MatthewPoxon

I didn’t know that. Sounds like a missed opportunity which is a shame. 500bhp would have been game changing back then.

Thanks for sharing. Owning a Cerbera back in the day must have been crazy.

Pretty amazing indeed - my money was on the 911 🙂

Yes, "well turned out" indeed. Happens all the time when things aren't closely controlled/monitored. I was in a major Ferrari event, World Championship (sports cars) and one of the drivers with very close connections to Ferrari was handed a car that the factory brought over on race day (so he didn't race his own race car)... guess who won... I bet that car had almost 200hp more than the rest of us (and that's not sour grapes - I was a midfielder with no chance to win in any circumstance).

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Agreed all very special 👍

Crazy cheap for the performance 👍

@@MatthewPoxonbasically the tesla plaid of its day

That is crazy cheap. If you look at the Viper and the US cost at the time, then convert to pounds at the time, it would be about 38k in pounds based on US pricing, so the fact they say it's 60k pounds, that's quite the mark-up. It's always amazing how much more cars cost in Europe than in the US, which also makes that TVR seem like quite the value.

The Aston was 177k. Adjusted for inflation that's 338k today...

£40k In 1996 Was Still Alot Of Money 😈

I didn’t realise the 911 was 4wd. If there was such a thing a 2wd Turbo would have probably been faster as that Porsche weighs a fair amount at 1.5 tonnes. 2wd would be a fair amount lighter.

yes, it was all wheel drive. I bought mine new in 1996: viscous all wheel drive - so if the rears lost traction, more power was shifted to the fronts in milliseconds. I agree with quick2mack. Something fishy going on in this race. @@MatthewPoxon

TVR Cerbera 1100kg Porsche 911 Turbo 1500kg 😈

I've heard the engine in the TVR wasn't quite the production one lol

An awful lot of money back in the 1990s!

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People tend to forget that a standard Cossie was a relatively quick car but most of them in the wild were chipped and produced silly power.

Standard cossies are only 220hp, it's quite easy to bump it up another 100hp, then it would be in the mix 🏁

@@toddc6682 220BHP at a time most hot hatches were around 100BHP is still very quick but yes chipped to 300BHP+ which a lot of them were is a different ball game. Clarkson did do a video where he raced all the tuned Cosworths against each other.

That is really interesting, thanks for that. 👍

The McLaren would have decimated them

@@187Blondie for sure, but be good to see by just how much.

XJ220 and McLaren F1 would surely be a fair bit faster especially over a mile drag race. Would be interesting to see.

F40 is one to watch too their acceleration is insane probably one of the fastest things for its hp in the world

@@AmariLambo F40 was a different world of acceleration. Carbon fibre bodied twin turbo V8, pure madness!

Glad you enjoyed it. I recon the Porsche and Aston are worth a few quid nowadays

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The 933 911 is phenomenal car for its time. Still one of the best looking 911s.

Beetle.

There is every need for the trumpets - LOL

Couldn’t agree more. 1990s were a fantastic time for car enthusiasts. These cars were incredible in that era. Thanks for the comment 👍

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Yeah it is strange why the viper performed so poorly, it should have come good with all that power mid race.

@@MatthewPoxonThe Viper was built for 0-60 and Quarter Mile stuff. By the time the quarter mile was over, the torque curve would’ve fallen a bit flat and the long gearing would’ve taken over. Early Viper’s were well-known to have been geared for 300+mph for emissions reasons.

@@39PSIOnTheDaily That makes sense, thanks.

​@@39PSIOnTheDailythe driver was useless. The race was over a standing mile, at the very least it should have gotten off the line like a scalded cat and been near the front of the pack for the first 1/4-1/2 mile before the aero ruined the fun.

@@39PSIOnTheDailythis is 96 and the Viper came out in 92, so it shouldn't be an early model - but maybe it was. Maybe they were running it on 85 octane.

No no no. American car bad. We must keep up that rhetoric. Even if it means making the guy quit in the middle of the race and engine swapping the TVR.

Modern Tires? Not 28 year old ones?

The viper I was very surprised by the result. It is a really early one with the 3 spoke wheels but it should have performed better nonetheless. Driver error perhaps.

As a two time (and current) Viper owner, I can assure you that the right driver in a Gen 1 can get faster Mike times than that. Again, clarkson always treated the Viper like dog shit. He had a weird love/hate relationship with it. Ultimately, his pride with all things British would screw over the Viper everytime. But, it’s all entertainment anyways. Right? Except for the damn trumpet. Oof…

​@@justinmcroberts4633Which Viper is your favourite? I love the look of the late 90s one or one before the SRT10, I think it's the GTS. I doubt I'll ever see one in England.

100% agree timeless design. Looks like it is going fast just stood still.

Maybe but Porsche does have more power on paper but weighs 1.5 tonnes vs the just over 1 tonne for the TVR so it is a plausible result.

Not much BHP per litre compared to European cars, it does look good though.

Haha exactly it's a truck or lorry engine I think. Looks the best out of these cars imo.

The rumor was always that the Viper was restricted due to Chrysler’s partnership with Lamborghini at the time. The Oreca Vipers won LeMans without much change to the engine. Those cars were said to make somewhere between 650-750hp. The same type of rumor persisted later when the last Gen Viper made 675 hp. Since Fiat owned Chrysler and Ferrari, they were restricted so as to not be faster than Ferrari’s best for a much lower price.

I had a TOP Ferrari exec hint the same (with a wink) to me. Pretty standard stuff across co-owned brands. How could Lambo or Ferrari have a car that cost 1/4 the price outperforming it... and an American car at that!@@joshpratt110

Stunning machine. Last of the hand built Aston Vantages

Same here! 🤣🤣🤣

The fastest cars are always underestimated

A beetle in running shoes.. 😂

I think a lot of us suspect that the TVR had been "upgraded". It doesn't look like there was any effort made to verify these things on race day. Jeremy and his crew were probably elated to have access to the cars at all.

Ha, sore loser..

Yeah, I never understood that. Surely should have been quicker over the first 1/8

Probably cause it would have wiped the floor with everything and JC wouldn't want to upset Mr. Wheeler. If I remember right the JPE reached 100 in 8 and half or so and it held the 0-100-0 record by Autocar at 12.5 for many years

The factory didn’t have a JPE when the race was organised. They borrowed a recently delivered customer car. On the day, the owner insisted on driving it himself, which did not please the factory. Fast car yes, but horribly tricky to get that package off the line well. Very peaky engine and no weight make it virtually impossible for an owner to replicate the record breaking times. It’s either stratospheric wheelspin, or bogging horribly for ages. The sweet spot is unbelievably small.

​@@DontPanicDearI did not know this caterham was made in the 90s. Only really saw it in mid 2000s TG. They probably should've used something else here. Maybe a Lotus Carlton, Ferrari 355.

Uniquely British and eccentric 👍

Hahahahhaha - so true!

Or tin worm😢

Chassis corrosion is the main source of deterioration on TVR

@@dspencer8827 Shame they were awesome cars!

Would have expected the Caterham to beat it off the line but Viper should have come good mid track.

because its a crap American engine, 8l only producing 415bhp?? little more than 50bhp per litre (and they probably lied, i bet it was less than 400bhp really, it must have been as it was so slow)

​@@andy5768Doesn't matter, should have won in the long run. The answer is Brits always have to prove they're the best and TG was biased af back then...

​@andy5768 no the viper has proved it merits time and time again. So stop with the stupid "American car can't turn or do anything right" banter. This race was clearly rigged. I didn't expect the viper to win but it was almost like the guy just gave up in the middle of the race. Gen 1 Vipers may be crude but slow is something they're not.

longer gearing and poorer power to weight ratio, it weighs around 1500kg,

LOL - they are very 1990s

Crazy amount of money now let alone back then. They were all hand built so I expect why it is so expensive

Not confirmed but it is possible. The Cerbera was one of the fastest production cars of that era with 420BHP and weighing just over a tonne.

@@MatthewPoxon it was awesome. I remember reading about in my dads Autocar magazines when it came out. Praised by the press all around I think. A real hero car.

A bit harsh on the poor Cerbera 🤣🤣🤣

🧐 Interesting

Gotta love the 1990s 🤣🤣

Surprising to see how slow a standard Cossie is. All the ones I have encountered have had the wick turned up.

Mmmm. Hot hatches in early Cossie days were 120/130bhp, the the Sierra was ballistic comparatively. An E28 M5 was only 80bhp more, and those were mighty. Those are also pretty slow today 😢

Hahahahhahaha, that proper made me LOL 🎺🎺🤣🤣🤣

Trevor was also famed for cheating! No way this had 50bhp less than the 993 turbo! The way it was pulling, I’d say it was 150bhp up on the 911.

Weight was the factor here not BHP. The TVR weighs just over a tonne where as the Porsche is 1600KG

Fantastic story, TVR definitely the underdog here.

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They were the best of the best back in the day but technology has certainly moved on!

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Spot on! The Porsche is around 1600KG, big difference.

1990s were indeed an incredible era