Any Cerb owners in a race series?
Discussion
I have a 96 4.2 Cerb, had it a bit over two years now and really enjoying taming the beast, driving what is essentially the best value for money hi-performance GT car available for not a vast amount of money.
Done a few track days, starting to get the bug to push her a bit harder on track and very interested in the exploits of JonnyW and the like, who are racing Cerbs in the Tuscan Challenge and Pro-Mil GT series.
Getting to the point, one thing holding me back is the worry of damage to the car, its still quite low mileage and in very nice condition for its age. Bit of a risk on a track day but probably an inevitability in any kind of race series.
So those of you that race essentially road going TVRs, particularly Cerbs how much have you had to spend on body repairs? as the cerb seems to be molded all in one piece, there are no removable panels as far as I can see. It would be nice if you could have a complete one piece replaceable flip front and/or any other replaceable panels as on most track cars. if its a small ding on a panel suppose could do a reasonable repair one's self as long as not too fussy about paint finish but anything more would start to get expensive.
I suppose it has to come to a point where one has to asses the market value of the car and decide is this an amount of money I'm happy to risk or get a very cheap Cerb that need some work and prep it to track specification, maybe even to the point where its no longer road legal and trailer it to race meets?
Would be interested to hear any thoughts from any of you who actually race these cars....
Done a few track days, starting to get the bug to push her a bit harder on track and very interested in the exploits of JonnyW and the like, who are racing Cerbs in the Tuscan Challenge and Pro-Mil GT series.
Getting to the point, one thing holding me back is the worry of damage to the car, its still quite low mileage and in very nice condition for its age. Bit of a risk on a track day but probably an inevitability in any kind of race series.
So those of you that race essentially road going TVRs, particularly Cerbs how much have you had to spend on body repairs? as the cerb seems to be molded all in one piece, there are no removable panels as far as I can see. It would be nice if you could have a complete one piece replaceable flip front and/or any other replaceable panels as on most track cars. if its a small ding on a panel suppose could do a reasonable repair one's self as long as not too fussy about paint finish but anything more would start to get expensive.
I suppose it has to come to a point where one has to asses the market value of the car and decide is this an amount of money I'm happy to risk or get a very cheap Cerb that need some work and prep it to track specification, maybe even to the point where its no longer road legal and trailer it to race meets?
Would be interested to hear any thoughts from any of you who actually race these cars....
Eric - the only removeable panel on the out and out Tuscan racers is the front clamshell, so a bash in the side of back is the same to repair as every other TVR
On the Cerb you could have a one piece bonnet section made up, but the big cost would be the mould. If there were two of three of you racing Cebs you could share the cost - but I guess noone really wants to spend the money, unless they ahev just taken the front end off the car.
As far as body damage, there have been very few accidents involving serious body damage in the last couple of years. I can think of 2 or 3 in qualifying (no other cars involved), a small bit of contact at Oulton last year, but otherwise very little
On the Cerb you could have a one piece bonnet section made up, but the big cost would be the mould. If there were two of three of you racing Cebs you could share the cost - but I guess noone really wants to spend the money, unless they ahev just taken the front end off the car.
As far as body damage, there have been very few accidents involving serious body damage in the last couple of years. I can think of 2 or 3 in qualifying (no other cars involved), a small bit of contact at Oulton last year, but otherwise very little
Erich,
I like you bought a good example 4.2 Cerb,'97,started with track days and then joined the TVR Sprint Squad.
After two great years sprinting, I also competed in the All Circuits Championship, I blew the lovely 4.2 engine to smitherines!!
And that was the incident I needed to think about what is it worth now?
The automatic step was to rip it apart and make a racing car! A 4.5 engine was found and the car started a rapid change from road to racer with suspension, brakes, chassis, diff, rad etc upgraded and all of the safety aspects installed, plus lots of wheels and tyres.All of this was under the watchfull eye of Andy APM!
As Andy H has said it is an expensive process, not including the doner vehicle and the general racing expenses and tyres it has cost the best part of £20k to get me here.
But I have had an offer on the car for close to this and since the outing in the ProMil GT where I had a good showing against significantly expensive kit there is a lot more interest.
Where are all the Cerbs that race? There are three racers knocking about, one is in Belgium I believe and the two other factory cars are under blankets somewhere.
The road converted racers are my one, Mike Itsallyellow and there is another finished one at Andy APMs.
They are a good robust motor, a bit haevy but are strong and can take a knock, I've hit a few things and it has only ever needed paint.I also like fibreglasses ability to absorb impact, whilt I have a top of the range Andy Ronbinson FIA cage I still like the feeling that there is something that would crumple rather than fly off.
I have a ring fenced budget on the car, now agreed with Andy, to pull my skirt up a bit more next year. Power to weight is perfect but another few grand are going on suspension and rubber.After that she should be done, anything else will make the Cerb uneligable for the TVR series class and the other GT series that are interested in the car.
Bite the bullet and start with sprinting, you'Ll soon get the bug!!
Jonny
I like you bought a good example 4.2 Cerb,'97,started with track days and then joined the TVR Sprint Squad.
After two great years sprinting, I also competed in the All Circuits Championship, I blew the lovely 4.2 engine to smitherines!!
And that was the incident I needed to think about what is it worth now?
The automatic step was to rip it apart and make a racing car! A 4.5 engine was found and the car started a rapid change from road to racer with suspension, brakes, chassis, diff, rad etc upgraded and all of the safety aspects installed, plus lots of wheels and tyres.All of this was under the watchfull eye of Andy APM!
As Andy H has said it is an expensive process, not including the doner vehicle and the general racing expenses and tyres it has cost the best part of £20k to get me here.
But I have had an offer on the car for close to this and since the outing in the ProMil GT where I had a good showing against significantly expensive kit there is a lot more interest.
Where are all the Cerbs that race? There are three racers knocking about, one is in Belgium I believe and the two other factory cars are under blankets somewhere.
The road converted racers are my one, Mike Itsallyellow and there is another finished one at Andy APMs.
They are a good robust motor, a bit haevy but are strong and can take a knock, I've hit a few things and it has only ever needed paint.I also like fibreglasses ability to absorb impact, whilt I have a top of the range Andy Ronbinson FIA cage I still like the feeling that there is something that would crumple rather than fly off.
I have a ring fenced budget on the car, now agreed with Andy, to pull my skirt up a bit more next year. Power to weight is perfect but another few grand are going on suspension and rubber.After that she should be done, anything else will make the Cerb uneligable for the TVR series class and the other GT series that are interested in the car.
Bite the bullet and start with sprinting, you'Ll soon get the bug!!
Jonny
JonnyW said:
Erich,
I like you bought a good example 4.2 Cerb,'97,started with track days and then joined the TVR Sprint Squad.
After two great years sprinting, I also competed in the All Circuits Championship, I blew the lovely 4.2 engine to smitherines!!
And that was the incident I needed to think about what is it worth now?
The automatic step was to rip it apart and make a racing car! A 4.5 engine was found and the car started a rapid change from road to racer with suspension, brakes, chassis, diff, rad etc upgraded and all of the safety aspects installed, plus lots of wheels and tyres.All of this was under the watchfull eye of Andy APM!
As Andy H has said it is an expensive process, not including the doner vehicle and the general racing expenses and tyres it has cost the best part of £20k to get me here.
But I have had an offer on the car for close to this and since the outing in the ProMil GT where I had a good showing against significantly expensive kit there is a lot more interest.
Where are all the Cerbs that race? There are three racers knocking about, one is in Belgium I believe and the two other factory cars are under blankets somewhere.
The road converted racers are my one, Mike Itsallyellow and there is another finished one at Andy APMs.
They are a good robust motor, a bit haevy but are strong and can take a knock, I've hit a few things and it has only ever needed paint.I also like fibreglasses ability to absorb impact, whilt I have a top of the range Andy Ronbinson FIA cage I still like the feeling that there is something that would crumple rather than fly off.
I have a ring fenced budget on the car, now agreed with Andy, to pull my skirt up a bit more next year. Power to weight is perfect but another few grand are going on suspension and rubber.After that she should be done, anything else will make the Cerb uneligable for the TVR series class and the other GT series that are interested in the car.
Bite the bullet and start with sprinting, you'Ll soon get the bug!!
Jonny
Jonny, Thanks for the feedback, definitely food for thought there. since my few track days this year have been wondering about getting something cheaper for track use, but at the same time the Cerb just feels so right when you start to push it a bit harder, it does so feel like weapon of choice, it probably takes something like your experience with the 4.2 engine to make ones mind up as to where to go next with the car.I like you bought a good example 4.2 Cerb,'97,started with track days and then joined the TVR Sprint Squad.
After two great years sprinting, I also competed in the All Circuits Championship, I blew the lovely 4.2 engine to smitherines!!
And that was the incident I needed to think about what is it worth now?
The automatic step was to rip it apart and make a racing car! A 4.5 engine was found and the car started a rapid change from road to racer with suspension, brakes, chassis, diff, rad etc upgraded and all of the safety aspects installed, plus lots of wheels and tyres.All of this was under the watchfull eye of Andy APM!
As Andy H has said it is an expensive process, not including the doner vehicle and the general racing expenses and tyres it has cost the best part of £20k to get me here.
But I have had an offer on the car for close to this and since the outing in the ProMil GT where I had a good showing against significantly expensive kit there is a lot more interest.
Where are all the Cerbs that race? There are three racers knocking about, one is in Belgium I believe and the two other factory cars are under blankets somewhere.
The road converted racers are my one, Mike Itsallyellow and there is another finished one at Andy APMs.
They are a good robust motor, a bit haevy but are strong and can take a knock, I've hit a few things and it has only ever needed paint.I also like fibreglasses ability to absorb impact, whilt I have a top of the range Andy Ronbinson FIA cage I still like the feeling that there is something that would crumple rather than fly off.
I have a ring fenced budget on the car, now agreed with Andy, to pull my skirt up a bit more next year. Power to weight is perfect but another few grand are going on suspension and rubber.After that she should be done, anything else will make the Cerb uneligable for the TVR series class and the other GT series that are interested in the car.
Bite the bullet and start with sprinting, you'Ll soon get the bug!!
Jonny
As you say it is surprising there is nobody else on the track yet with road converted racers, have seen that black beauty a few times at APM, really like it, but im sure the owner would want considerably more for it than I have in the way of spare cash at the moment.
Best of luck for next season.
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