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The Only TVR Cerbera Speed 12 Road Car Ever Built Is Heading to Auction

One of the most ridiculous British sports cars in recent memory is set to cross the auction block later this spring.

No, we’re not talking about an Aston Martin or McLaren. What we’re talking about is the 2000 TVR Cerbera Speed 12. In May, Silverstone Auctions will sell the only example of the ferocious speed machine ever built for road use.

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TVR introduced a hard-top sports car with 2+2 seating called the Cerbera in 1996. The sleek coupe would serve as the basis for the Cerbera Speed 12—or, as it was originally known, the Project 7/12—a race car the company hoped would rival the McLaren F1 GTR, the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, and Porsche GT1, according to Top Gear. After these hopes were dashed by a change in racing regulations, the company turned its attention to building a road-going version of the vehicle. Those plans were also canceled after chairman Peter Wheeler took the car for a test-drive and decided it was too much for the average driver to handle.

The 2000 TVR Cerbera Speed 12 from the side
2000 TVR Cerbera Speed 12

Despite this, TVR would end up building a single street-legal Cerbera Speed 12, which was sold to a buyer vetted by Wheeler himself—and that’s the car that Silverstone Auctions is selling. It wears a heavily modified version of the original Cerbera’s body that includes large intakes and even bigger fenders finished in metallic red topped with a black rear wing that you can’t miss. While it is a road car, the cabin is as spartan as they come. The space is equipped with two carbon-fiber seats, a simple instrument setup and a roll cage so that you never forget its racing roots

Flip up the hood and you’ll find a front-mounted 7.7-liter V-12 that’s actually made from two of TVR’s AJP-6 straight sixes. The engine snapped an input shaft during the testing phase, so its unclear just how powerful it actually is, according to the auction house. Each of the straight sixes was capable of producing 473 hp by itself, suggesting a combined output of more than 940 horses. The closest TVR came to an official figure for the road car was 790 hp, though.

Inside the 2000 TVR Cerbera Speed 12
Inside the Cerbera Speed 12

If you’re a supercar lover in pursuit of something rare, the one-of-a-kind Cerbera Speed 12 should be near the top of your list. The unique speed machine will go up for bid on Saturday, May 20. No pre-sale estimate has been announced, though it seems safe to say that’ll it’ll take a fair bit of money to win this auction.

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