Historical Statement

After 3 years of Griffith ownership using the car on road and track, I decided the car had an enormous amount of untapped potential, that I should keep the car and work progressively to upgrade the engine and chassis systems.

This pursuit to increase all round performance began in 1999, and continued over the years working closely with TVR Power, the brake system moving forward with good advice from Neil Anderson together with AP Racing, Leda Suspension providing shock absorbers and springs to suit a balance for road and track. The end result being a very quick car, the engine modifications being the forerunner of the Taraka build today.

On track the car was excellent with good balance and ability to carry speed through the corners. Increased performance was well within the capability of the chassis, and having been on several tracks and being passed by Porsche GT3's the ambition set in to dramatically increase the number of horses under the bonnet. GT3 performance became the objective.

Having always being a fan of forced induction, I decided this would be the best and most cost effective option. To stay naturally aspirated would mean spending lots of money on bespoke engine tuning parts to achieve a moderate power increase with around 400 Bhp being a feasible maximum. Forced induction had the potential to theoretically raise the flywheel power to 500+ Hp, equating to around 470 hp/ton for the Griffith and Chimaera.

For the past 17 years my company AUTOdesign Ltd has been involved with the design and development of vehicle systems including engine, driveline, chassis systems, Vehicle body structures and interiors for major motor manufacturers, all this work carried out using the highest level of Computer Aided Design (CAD).

Our sophisticated Catia 3D software system is the same system used by Major OEM companies including Porsche and NASA Space Centre, therefore this was a sound opportunity to combine business and pleasure, to develop a forced induction system using the advanced technological software we had to hand.

With this in mind, in 2004 I suggested to Dom Trickett of TVR Power that I wanted to supercharge the car engine the objective of achieving 500hp at the flywheel, and to develop systems suitable for the full range of TVR Rover V8 engines. We had the right experience to develop the systems and could produce a first class compact package using the technology available to us.

 

Dom agreed to support the project, to prepare engines for development usage to map the engines, change the fueling and evaluate performance and durability. His enthusiasm was high, not only because we were talking serious hp, but we would be attempting to write a new chapter of development for this renowned engine.

Anyone that knows Dom understands his design to burn rubber!

 

Development of the 4.0 litre was an interesting part of the project; we wanted to offer potential customers a viable option to achieve similar performance to the 500HC engine cost effectively. For too long, the residual values of the 4.0 litre cars have suffered, with potential buyers preferring the grunt of the larger engines. Owners of 4.0 litre cars wanting to upgrade to obtain more power really had only one option, to sell there cherished car fettled to their own needs and possibly owned for several years to buy another used vehicle with increased engine size and unknown quirks. If we could develop a drive-able package, this would give owners another option.

The design process was carried out by our company AUTOdesign Ltd a design consultancy working for major car manufacturers within Europe . Due to the nature and diversity of this project, SC Power Ltd was established to be responsible for future design, marketing and distribution of new Supercharger and performance projects.