TVR Peter Wheeler’s Taimar Turbo 1977

Featured in Classic & Sports Car July 2012 edition

Details

The 3000M Turbo was launched at the Earls Court motor show in 1975.

It was based on the already successful 3000M but with the Ford Essex engine fitted with a turbocharger. This installation was the result of the co-operation with Ralph Broad who had developed this installation for the Essex V6 engines fitted to the various Ford range of cars. Slight modifications had to be made to the chassis and other parts to get the turbocharged installation to fit, along with an oil cooler to keep the oil sump temperatures in check. But it was worth it, with a power out put of 230 bhp and a 0-60 time of just 6 seconds. To achieve this apart from the use of turbocharging boost at a pressure of 9psi, the entire engine was ‘blueprinted’ and balanced before final assembly, while the compression ratio was reduced to 8:1. The turbocharger did not begin to work effectively until 2,700rpm, before which the car performed similar to a normally-aspirated M series TVR.

The car also had the distinction of being the first British turbocharged production car. As the M series range expanded with the Taimar and convertible 3000S body styles the turbo was also offered as an option for these models as well. The Turbo range made little impression in terms of overall sales with just a total of 63 of all body styles being built between 1975 and 1979, but as it generated so much publicity and produced such startling performance figures in the various motoring magazines it served its purpose as a company flagship. Autocar tried a Turbo convertible in 1979 and made the point that it could sprint to the quarter mile from rest slightly faster than the exotic and much more costly Porsche 3-litre Turbo.