World’s ‘most-dangerous car’ sells for eye-watering £600k at auction

A UNIQUE British road supercar described as the world’s “most-dangerous” has sold for the eye-watering sum of £600,000 at auction.

The new owner of the TVR Cerbera Speed 12 can be assured they won’t see another model on the roads as it was the only one of its kind ever built.

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It found fame though when it was used as a model for the Grand Turismo computer game.

Going under the hammer with Silverstone Auctions on May 20 it generated some frenzied bidding from as far afield as Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia and the US, as well as the UK.

It was eventually sold to a British buyer for £601,500 around double the expected price.

Looking like a race car that just happens to be legal to drive on the road, the Speed 12 was so powerful and difficult to drive as a prototype that the decision was made not to push forward a manufacturing run.

TVR, and then boss Peter Wheeler, were not known for shirking away from a  challenge, but even the company’s top man – who raced other models in his spare time – thought it was too much of a handful for buyers.

Designed with the intention of keeping up with the famous McLaren F1, the Speed 12 has a 7.7-litre V12 petrol engine. 

The power unit made around 850bhp, while the car only weighed about 1,000kg, so acceleration was ferocious.

TVR built one Speed 12 road car – made up from road car, prototype and racing parts – and sold it to a buyer that Wheeler himself personally vetted to ensure it was going to the right home.

Also going under the hammer at the auction was a 1996 Ford Escort Cosworth 2.0 which sold for £163,12, setting a new word record for a standard production car sold at auction.

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