Blackpool is sometimes described as the Las Vegas of the United Kingdom. It's an image that has more to do with its passion for neon and tat than the presence of high rollers. Situated on England's northwest coast, it was once a holiday haven for the working class, who reveled in a diet of candyfloss and fish and chips. Now they all go to Spain, and a cocktail of drugs and alcohol is the favored tipple in this ghostly town.
The depressing aura is lifted only by the sound of one of its homespun products rumbling down the promenade. TVR has been producing cars in Blackpool since 1947, but it was only in the 1990s that it became a genuine rival to Porsche. There are even tentative plans to bring the new Tamora to the United States.
The TVR factory is just a few miles from central Blackpool, and the large, tatty outbuildings pay homage to the British craft industry. It feels a far cry from the hallowed turf of Maranello, but the comparison is real enough. Like Ferrari, TVR manufactures just about everything itself, from the chassis to the circuit boards and seats. Even the engines are assembled here and carry an Aston-style plaque, embossed with the builder's name. Owners are invited to visit the factory to see their cars being built, and many take up the offer.
The Tamora is the new entry-level TVR. Priced at 36,500 ($50,845)-or 43,460 ($60,540) in the form you see here-it's a direct rival to the Porsche Boxster S, BMW M roadster and the Mercedes SLK 32 AMG. It's designed to be a more approachable, less intimidating car than its larger brethren and to appeal to a wider audience. But as you shall see, with TVR all things are relative.
What pictures can't convey is how small this car is. At 155.5 in. long and 67.5 in. wide, it's 2.8 in. shorter than a Mercedes SLK and 9.5 in. narrower. This may be of little significance on U.S. roads, but on the U.K.'s twisting blacktop, it's a major advantage. Tiny dimensions also help keep the mass down. TVR's chairman, Peter Wheeler, shares the passion of Lotus founder Colin Chapman for lightweight cars, although in TVR's case this is combined with ludicrous amounts of power.
The body is constructed of plastic reinforced with glass, which has kept the curb weight to just 2,337 lb. Nestling under the clamshell bonnet is TVR's own 3605cc, Speed Six engine. It features an alloy head and block and four valves per cylinder, but it's naturally aspirated and there's no trick valve-timing system. It's featured in TVR's other models, but it's been subtly detuned in this application. As a result, it now produces "only" 350 bhp at 7200 rpm and 290 lb-ft of torque at 5500 rpm.
Accessing this power means first navigating your way around a TVR interior, which is predictably eccentric. To open a door, for example, you press a button hidden under the wing mirror. Now suitably en-sconced, the first thing to note is the abundance of space. Wheeler is nearly 6 1/2- ft tall and needs to fit his cars, which is good news for the lanky.
The wheel moves to and fro and fore and aft, and the pedal positions can be adjusted with a spanner, so finding a good driving position isn't a problem. Other TVR interiors can be intimidating, with a bulbous rollcage and a letterbox windshield, but in the Tamora this is less of a problem. You sit marginally higher and the windshield is larger, so the front corners of the car are visible, which is a major benefit in a car this rapid.
TVR insists on manufacturing its own switchgear, most of which is machined from aluminum. Some of this is ergonomically suspect-the window switches, for example, are identical to the adjacent electric door openers-but they're good to touch and contribute to the feeling this is something special. It's also refreshing to be met with a fascia that's not festooned with a mass of buttons serving little or no purpose.
One eccentricity that takes a little getting used to, though, is the dashboard. In the interests of aesthetics, the speedometer is marked in 20-mph increments, and even these have been abbreviated, so 100 mph is written as 10. The rev counter, by contrast, reads from 0 to 9 (the limiter's actually at 7800 rpm) and sweeps in a counter-clockwise arc. There's a supplementary digital display below the dials, which can be set to show the exact speed and rpm, but this proves difficult to read in direct sunlight. The green, amber and red gearchange lights are a nice touch, though.
The Tamora starts on the turn of a key, which seems disappointingly normal-other TVRs start on a button. But any concerns that the Tamora might be too civilized for its own good are dispelled within the first revolution of the straight six. It settles quickly to a deep, cultured growl that smacks of potency. This engine is the automotive equivalent of "come-hither" eyes.