Preserving the Cerb

[BLUETHUNDER]

After a lot of thought,and with the intention now on keeping the Cerbera i have decided that preservation is in order.And i dont mean in the rebuild stakes.But i'm going to take some of the risks out of the equation with Cerbera ownership.With closure of the factory and the parts situation iffy.Coupled with the fact Cerbs that have been written off through crashes and fires,then it seems that the Cerb will indeed be a rare breed.So i've decided that as from this year im withdrawing the Cerb from track days or anything that takes avoidable risks.I will still be out and about in it.But i want to preserve it,rather than it end up in the bin.

[Keithyboy]

. . . there's probably just as much chance of binning it on the road as on track - through no fault of your own - there's more idiots on the road in general terms than on track IMHO

[BCA]

Agreed, everything on these cars is replaceable one way or another - I think it'd be a shame to "preserve" it in that way.

[touching cloth]

I can see where you are coming from Mark and just pleased you are definitely keeping it . There is a balance to be had between garage queen and used and abused, am sure you will find that as can't see you keeping it wrapped in too much cotton wool .

[TT Tim]

Odd post Bluethunder, I concurr with BCA, a car that regularly visits the circuit is more likely to be better maintained and checked than maybe a standard road car would be. Also on track, other than the occasional muppet, everyone is there for the same reason and has the same considerations as you do so accidents are unlikely. This was born out at the track evening that I arranged last year, other than the poor chap in his Griff' the evening was uneventful, prooving that 40 TVRs can play nicely on the same track!

I think it's far more dangerous on the M20 than Brands.

Don't dismiss using the Cerb' on track, if it's what you enjoy doing.

BTW: Thinking of track days, I've been appoached to arrange another TVR event, I thought maybe a whole day this time.

Watch this space.

Oh, Happy New Year everyone.

Tim

[BLUETHUNDER]

TT Tim said:

Odd post Bluethunder, I concurr with BCA, a car that regularly visits the circuit is more likely to be better maintained and checked than maybe a standard road car would be. Also on track, other than the occasional muppet, everyone is there for the same reason and has the same considerations as you do so accidents are unlikely. This was born out at the track evening that I arranged last year, other than the poor chap in his Griff' the evening was uneventful, prooving that 40 TVRs can play nicely on the same track!

I think it's far more dangerous on the M20 than Brands.

Don't dismiss using the Cerb' on track, if it's what you enjoy doing.

BTW: Thinking of track days, I've been appoached to arrange another TVR event, I thought maybe a whole day this time.

Watch this space.

Oh, Happy New Year everyone.

Tim

I was there the night of the Griff off.And to be honest that put me off after that,and i returned to the garage.If these were ordinary cars then i would have no hesitation about using it around a track and abusing it on a daily basis.But you have to face reality.They are getting rarer.You only have to look at the posts over the last year or so and see the ones that have been wrote off,and thats the ones that are posted on here.If for example i used the Vette around a track and blew the engine,then i know that i could get an engine no problem.If i done the same with the Cerb then i think it would be a different story altogether.I know of people that have had there cars in at garages and are still there a few months on waiting on parts.Going back to FT how many of the Cerb owners took there car to its full potential.I know i didnt.I wanted to come home in it,and i suspect many others did the same.Which brings it to the point.For me these cars need to be cared for now.The back up and parts are getting harder to source or in the end we will all be left with drive way ornaments.IMHO.But if you are going to organise another track day i might be interested.

[TT Tim]

BLUETHUNDER said:

TT Tim said:

Odd post Bluethunder, I concurr with BCA, a car that regularly visits the circuit is more likely to be better maintained and checked than maybe a standard road car would be. Also on track, other than the occasional muppet, everyone is there for the same reason and has the same considerations as you do so accidents are unlikely. This was born out at the track evening that I arranged last year, other than the poor chap in his Griff' the evening was uneventful, prooving that 40 TVRs can play nicely on the same track!

I think it's far more dangerous on the M20 than Brands.

Don't dismiss using the Cerb' on track, if it's what you enjoy doing.

BTW: Thinking of track days, I've been appoached to arrange another TVR event, I thought maybe a whole day this time.

Watch this space.

Oh, Happy New Year everyone.

Tim

I was there the night of the Griff off.And to be honest that put me off after that,and i returned to the garage.If these were ordinary cars then i would have no hesitation about using it around a track and abusing it on a daily basis.But you have to face reality.They are getting rarer.You only have to look at the posts over the last year or so and see the ones that have been wrote off,and thats the ones that are posted on here.If for example i used the Vette around a track and blew the engine,then i know that i could get an engine no problem.If i done the same with the Cerb then i think it would be a different story altogether.I know of people that have had there cars in at garages and are still there a few months on waiting on parts.Going back to FT how many of the Cerb owners took there car to its full potential.I know i didnt.I wanted to come home in it,and i suspect many others did the same.Which brings it to the point.For me these cars need to be cared for now.The back up and parts are getting harder to source or in the end we will all be left with drive way ornaments.IMHO.But if you are going to organise another track day i might be interested.

I can see where you're coming from, I guess I've had this at the back of my mind too as I've been building a supply of 'spares' including a couple of blocks, diffs, pistons, cranks, inlets etc etc' you get the idea.

If there is a demand then there will be people who can fix it, you have people like Andy @ APM, Dom @ Power and Paul @ Austec who are committed to ensuring our cars stay on the road.

But, I do also think it's important to secure lines of supply for the consumables such as brake disks, clutches etc, and at sensible prices. I'm in the process of buying some wheel hubs for my car for nearly 50% of UK cost! These are bits that you're going to need whether you use your car on the road or track.

Glad to see you're keeping the Cerb though, she's a beauty.

Tim

[cirvy]

I've been having similar thoughts over the hols.

Cerb now 9 years old, & i was wondering if it's time to ease off slightly on the track days. To me, all those vital ( & increasingly rare ) components are going to wear out more rapidly if you're doing a hatfull of track days through the summer!!!!

Was talking to my mate about going halves on a Caterfield type thingy ( hate the looks but love the drive ), & then the Cerb can be eased gracefully into a partial early retirement

Still unsure though

[amazon]

BLUETHUNDER said:

After a lot of thought,and with the intention now on keeping the Cerbera

Very happy to hear that Mark!

[Keithyboy]

. . well guys I have to say I'm disappointed but you are entitled to your opinion of course. I can't understand why you wouldn't want to explore the limits of your cars potential though e.g. at FT. That is the point of the event surely and of track days. The only real casualty IIRC at FT was NickCCCs 5th gear. I certainly took no prisoners either (to peak power at 7,200rpm for my map) as far as I could but the car was just fine. OK I blew my 3rd gear and the lay shaft at Spa later in the year but hey these are race bred cars and should be used as such - IMHO of course. I do accept there needs to be a balance though but one shouldn't be afraid to give their Cerb a good ragging - it's what they were built for after all

Edited by Keithyboy on Wednesday 2nd January 23:49

[bosscerbera]

Keithyboy said:

one shouldn't be afraid to give their Cerb a good ragging - it's what they were built for after all

[dinkel]

BLUETHUNDER said:

. . . im withdrawing the Cerb from track days or anything that takes avoidable risks.I will still be out and about in it.But i want to preserve it,rather than it end up in the bin.

There's a lot between a scratch and and a total wrap up. If you believe in your driving skills - you must be when you're driving a TVR - . . . I'd say: drive the car, it's absolutely made for it. I can't see absolutely no point in Blvd-cruising or even worse: garage-queening a Cerbera.
The parts issue: I can see that but there must be - or come in - specialists. Just like there are classic Aston / Ferrari / Cobra etc. specialists.

Speaking of which: I was a Spa 6 Hours:


Original racing Cob taken out only a few months after Amaral's bought it . . . there's nothing that can't be fixed.

Anyways: best wishes all

[Nickccc]

Going back to FT how many of the Cerb owners took there car to its full potential.I know i didnt.I wanted to come home in it,

1.Me,
2. Keith
?
seriously, it's your car to do as you want with, but I'm with Keith they like being driven hard and I still drove back from FT.Bits can be made if they can not be sorced so not realy a problem. If you trackday your car you have to accept you may stack it.
Happy new year everyone.
Nick.

[grahamn]

I also gave mine the full beans at FT. It is only at theses sort of events or trackdays that you can really explore the cars potential.

I will own up to taking things carefully at tracks with little or no run offs though, as I don't trust myself to keep it on the black stuff at all times. But places with wide open spaces I will go for it.

[longbow]

The whole point of FT was to prove how quick Cerbs can be in a straight line - if people held back and subsequently were beaten by 'slower' cars, I'm gobsmacked!!

I gave mine 100% and it did the business. Beat the 996 GT3 RS which isn't too shabby!!

The only part of the Cerb I see problems with parts is the engine. More and more people will be forced into using re-used parts from breakers yards. Everything else is ubiquitous stuff, and GRP can always be re-formed. You need to balance the use of the car I agree, but Cerbs are not that rare yet to warrant storage for the sake of preservation.

To be honest, the way fuel prices are going I wouldn't be surprised if any of us can even afford a car in 10 years or so..........

[HarryW]

Nickccc said:

Going back to FT how many of the Cerb owners took there car to its full potential...

1. Me,
2. Keith
3. Longbow
4. HarryW

...

Added above.
I took mine up as hard as I could but with the Rev counter dropping off under hard acceleration I short shifted a bit and wheel spun a lot more . After finding out I went by in gear speeds having asked around the pit lane as the car was new to me. I'm glad I took a poll of owners as Nicks seem to be longer geared than everyone else's

[Byker28i]

I ragged mine hard at FT, running over the line in 4th on the rev limiter. I didn't want to waste the time changing gear as the line was so close (and I was winning everytime)

[RUSSELLM]

My Cerbie get's used 7 days a week.

Engines can be rebuilt, chassis can be repaired as can the GRP.

Only insurers "write" off cars. You don't have to claim if you don't want to

As for track days, I'm more worried by the motorist behind me fiicking about with their radio. Or sat behind me as I'm waiting to join a roundabout.

The only way of eliminating the risks is to not drive it, and donate it to a museum.

Even though they're getting rarer, I don't believe anything under the TVR marque will ever gain large amount of money. No more than Lotus, Marcos, Jensen etc

Can't see the point really

[HarryW]

I think the only bits that will become harder to come by will be silly things like the glass, however with the buying power of car clubs even this is not insurmountable.
Mechanically AJP blocks and possibly heads might become a bigger issue. The rest of the internals are already being made/sourced.

[BLUETHUNDER]

I never said at any point that i was going to garage,or lock it away.I was just going to take some of the risks away.No doubt i probably will do another track day in it.It seems that with the factory gone there is no place that manufactures parts specific to the Cerb.You only have to see on here in the last few months people wanting windscreens and were finding it very hard to get one.I know this is a bit off subject but the 101 Landrover has a club that manufactures every part for the vehicle.So of the 2550 made at least owners can keep some of the 600 vehicles left on the road moving. I dont think that can be said of the Cerbera,unless some sort of planning is done now.Just going back to fighting Torque.If i had taken a Griff or Chimaera there,then i would have had no hesitation to rag the arse off of it,in actual fact i used to do such with my previous Chimaera.If i had taken one of those and an engine had let go.Then i know that by the following morning i could have had a new engine in place,i wouldnt with the Cerb.It would have been sitting at an Indies for months waiting on parts.And thats something i didnt want.

Edited by BLUETHUNDER on Thursday 3rd January 20:10