TVR eyes Le Mans 24 Hours return in GT class

Computer games mogul Les Edgar, who took control of TVR in 2013, has revealed that racing is very much part of his plans for the brand he is in the process of relaunching and that Le Mans is his ultimate goal.

"Le Mans has to be a sensible target, because we want to prove the reliability of our cars," Edgar told AUTOSPORT.

"We could do a GT3 car, but whatever we do it would be some kind of GT car, because we want people to be able to relate our racing to the TVRs that they can buy for the road."

Edgar also stated that TVR, which ran the successful one-make Tuscan Challenge in the UK from 1989-2004, was "much broader" than just international GT racing.

No timescale has been put on a return to the race circuits by TVR, which has yet to reveal details of its forthcoming road cars.

"Our racing plans have to play second fiddle to our road car programme," Edgar explained.

"We are making good progress with the design of our new car, and we are in the fortunate position of having as much time as we want — we need to make sure that we take the time to get it right."

TVR's previous campaigns at Le Mans came in the first half of the 2000s with the Tuscan 400R: the Racesports team fielded entries in the 24 hours in 2003 and '05, while the Chamberlain-Synergy squad ran two cars in 2004.

TVR has a new development centre in the Cranleigh, Surrey workshops previously occupied by the GTC Competition McLaren, Lister and Sebah/Rebellion Racing teams.

DID YOU KNOW...
...Les Edgar had a hand in Aston Martin's return to the international sportscar arena 10 years ago?

The Aston enthusiast and sometime racer put forward the idea of taking the Vanquish into the GTS class, but the British marque came up with an alternative plan of building a carbon-tubbed supercar that would have been known as the AMS-1.

Ford, which then controlled Aston, vetoed the idea, but a change of ownership allowed the marque to forge a relationship with Prodrive ahead of the 2005 season - a tie-up that continues to this day.