TVR were well known (like a lot of others in the industry at the time) for being a little generous when it came to how realistic their power performance figures were in the real world.

Factory performance numbers

The table below are the factory numbers for the 4 engine variants of the Cerbera. The story it tells is that the Speed Six & 4.2 are almost the same in terms of BHP & Torque, and the 4.5, especially in Red Rose (RR) form, romps away.

But how do they really stack up?

Engine CC	Variant	Weight	Valves per cyl	BHP	Torque ft.lb	0-60 mph	0-100 mph	Top Speed
4.0	Straight Six	1,130 kg	4	350	330	4.4	10.2	170
4.2	V8	1,100 kg	2	360	320	4.2	9.9	180
4.5	V8	1,100 kg	2	420	380	4.1	8.3	185
4.5RR	V8	1,100 kg	2	440	402	3.9	?	193

Rolling Road Sessions

Over the years, to shed some light on this, a number of organised Dyno sessions have been held.

The Dyno sessions took place in 2005, 2011 and most recently in 2019

Notes:

• The data below was compiled from the results that were shared on Pistonheads, links to the threads are above
• Unfortunately, it appears Torque figures for the 2019 session were not recorded
• Where modifications were declared, they are noted
• All 3 sessions took place at Charlies (Surrey Rolling Road)
• Surrey Rolling Road use a Dyno Dynamics machine, the same Dyno that Joolz (Kits & Classics) uses
• Joolz has stated that there is only a 1-2% difference between Charlies Dyno and his (with Charlies being the higher of the two)
• You can sort the columns by clicking the column header, and if on a desktop, holding the Shift key can sort multiple columns
• Below this table, I have made a bunch of observations & conclusions

Dyno year	4.2	4.5	Other Engine	BHP	Torque ft.lb	Mods
2011	–		–	426	360	–
2019	–		–	412	–	Short induction, full SP exhaust with linked decat, joolz remap
2011	–		–	410	–	–
2011	–		–	406	365	–
2019	–		–	393	–	Whirlwind, Injectors, Exhaust, joolz remap
2011	–		–	393	350	–
2005	–		–	392	364	Joospeed’s Emerald ECU Install/Mapping and Intake Mod
2019	–	–		391	–	4.2/4.5 hybrid: Red Rose heads
2011	–		–	390	–	–
2019	–		–	383	–	no modifications
2011		–	–	381	330	–
2011		–	–	378	–	–
2005	–		–	377	369	Emerald ECU
2005	–		–	377	332	–
2005	–		–	375	365	Emerald ECU
2019		–	–	373	–	ported intakes , Joolz MBE Remap
2019	–	–		371	–	4.2/4.5 hybrid: Red Rose heads
2011		–	–	369	–	–
2011	–		–	365	–	–
2005	–		–	365	352	Standard
2005	–	–		365	345	4.5 Red Rose
2011		–	–	365	–	–
2011		–	–	364	–	–
2005		–	–	360	320	Emerald ECU
2005		–	–	359	330	–
2019		–	–	358	–	ACT performance ex manifolds
2005	–		–	353	325	–
2005	–		–	352	326	–
2005		–	–	351	332	–
2005	–		–	348	344	–
2005		–	–	348	333	–
2005	–		–	346	348	–
2005	–		–	345	342	–
2005		–	–	345	327	–
2005	–		–	342	318	–
2011		–	–	341	345	–
2005	–		–	338	320	–
2005		–	–	336	340	–
2005	–		–	336	335	–
2005	–		–	332	338	–
2019	–	–		541	–	4.5 Supercharger, Emerald ECU, Emerald remap
2019	–	–		478	–	Maserati Granturismo 4.7L engine, TR6060 gearbox
2019	–	–		452	–	4.7 Race car
2019	–	–		433	–	4.7 STR8SIX built engine mapped by Power, ACT quiet exhaust with Balanced Headers
2019	–	–		393	–	S6 4.5 Powers MBE ECU

Observations

• 4.2 Cerberas
  • BHP: 336-381 (360+ achieved with mods)
  • Torque: 320-345 (based on 2 out of 3 sessions. 2019 Torque figures are not available)
  • Lower numbers appear in 2005 clearly showing 4.2s were in a poor state of tune when leaving the factory (a well documented fact)
• 4.5 Cerberas
  • BHP: 332-426 (390+ achieved with mods)
  • Torque: 318-369 (based on 2 out of 3 sessions. 2019 Torque figures are not available)
  • Again, lower numbers from the 2005 session showing a poor state of tune
• Speed Six Cerberas
  • I’m reliably informed some S6s did run, but no data was published. Were the Speed Six guys gun-shy 😉 ?
  • For comparison purposes, I’ve included my Dyno run that took place at Joolz in 2018
  • BHP: 343
  • Torque: 340

• “Other” engine
  • Also shown in the table are a few entries for a 4.2 with a 4.5 head, a Supercharged 4.5, a 4.7, a 4.7 Maserati engine, a 4.7 Race Car, and a 4.5 Speed Six.
    • These all produce some quite amazing numbers.
• Horsepower vs Torque
  • It’s always a hot topic debating which is really the most important, so I won’t go there. But needless to say, it’s interesting to note that while some of the heavily modified Cerberas (particularly the 4.5s) get into the 400+ BHP, the Torque remains comparable with the other engines variants.

Conclusion

• Were the factory numbers accurate? No way.
• Can you get close to the factory numbers? The Speed Six and 4.2 can, yes. The 4.5 almost, and the 4.5 Red Rose is a long way off.
  • A buddy of mine had his 4.5RR Dyno’d at Joolz and only saw 398 BHP, that’s a long way off from the 440 factory number
• Which is most tunable?
  • If we’re only talking aftermarket ECU, induction & mapping, (which will run into the low to mid £x,xxx) all engine variants can benefit from a 10%+ increase
  • If we’re talking increasing CC capacity or strapping a blower to it, (which will run into £10k+) then the world is your oyster as can be seen by the 4.7s and 4.5 Speed Six
• How does this compare to other TVRs?
  • for comparison, a standard Sagaris is around 353 BHP / 300 ft.lb torque, a T350 around 345 BHP