Giving it plenty, but failing to unstick the back end - tail happy? Not with super sticky tyres and uprated suspension...
AFTER a month's worth of steady voting on the austin-rover forums, the site's readers have chosen Dave Puzey's impressive Rover SD1 Vitesse Twin Plenum as their favourite car from 2005...
Voting was a two horse race between this car and Kevin Davis' Princess ST, which has done so much during the year to lift the profile of the Wedge in the classic press. In fact, if the award was being given to the car and owner who worked the hardest for the cause, Kevin would probably have nudged it over Dave - not because Dave and the SD1 Club do less than Kevin and the Princess and Ambassador Owners Club, but because everyone already knows the SD1 is a classic, whereas the Princess is still a bit of a cult car... Thanks to Kevin's efforts, the Princess is rapidly heading to the same level of recognition that the SD1 already enjoys.
However, Dave's Rover SD1 has won the vote, and it's a car that we can all enjoy. We drove the car back in March, and enjoyed every minute of it - comparing it rather favourably to MG Rover's press-demonstrator MG ZT 260 V8 (ironically, the same breed of car that picked up last year's award). It seems ironic that austin-rover.co.uk - a website set-up to revel in the joys of BL motoring and celebrate such heroic failures as the Allegro and CityRover has now chosen two V8 powered sport saloons as its flagship cars...
Sweet emotion...
Giving it plenty, but failing to unstick the back end - tail happy? Not with
super sticky tyres and uprated suspension...
hat on Earth is there left to be
told about the Rover SD1 Vitesse that we haven't said before? Well, not much
really. It's an endearingly flawed legend in a Rover back catalogue filled with
great cars. I mean, if you take a long hard look at the SD1 Vitesse, it is hard
to work out why Rover befell the fate it did... It had everything - style, pace,
and road presence - and at the time of its launch, there was nothing quite else
like it available on the market.
If Rover remained building cars like this, the chances are, it would still be in business today, and more than likely strong enough to give BMW and Mercedes-Benz a bloody nose in the sales charts, too. Okay, it might have been a tad unreliable, and build quality wasn't quite what is should have been, but on the whole, owners seemed to forgive it these foibles, safe in the knowledge that if they needed to get somewhere in a hurry, there was little to touch a Vitesse when pressing on...
When I needed to find an SD1 Vitesse for a story I was writing for the now sadly defunct totalMG magazine, the SD1 Owners Club put me in touch with Dave Puzey. They informed me that Dave's example was pristine, and had been tuned to 270bhp, thanks to the addition of an ex-Land Rover 3.9-litre lump and a variety of other modifications - oh and would I be okay driving it?
Would I be okay? Is a bear a catholic (or is that the other way round)? Of course I would be okay!
And air intake big enough to suck up sheep, cows, small children... anything
that stood in its way, really...
Being re-united with an SD1 after several months in denial had been an eye-opening experience for me. Not only had my appreciation of the design's beauty been re-awakened by my abstenance, but I had forgotten just how intimidating these cars are when you're up close and personal. Watching it negotiate traffic was sheer poetry in motion for me... And although I was behind the wheel of a rather tasty MG ZT 260 at the time, my attention had been caught by this blood red Vitesse.
I guess once an SD1 aficionado, always an SD1 aficionado.
Driving the Vitesse was no disappointment either. Full-bore acceleration is an aural treat, with a soundtrack to die for. And as Dave's car has 270bhp to do its bidding, its pace is more than enough to dispatch annoying BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes and Audis, with a mere flick of the right foot.
To add a cliche, it is a bit of a man's car, because it's pedals, steering and gear change are all delightfully meaty. But I like that - simply because it means you never forget the car's true potential.
Sadly, my drive was all-too brief, and with Dave looking on, I couldn't press on too much. I did ask if he wanted to swap his Vitesse for my shiny '04-registered ZT V8. Needless to say he just laughed at me. Shame.
Dave. You're a lucky, lucky man...
About Dave's Vitesse...
...in his own words
"THE car was originally built in June 1985 and registered the following November. It is believed that all Twin Plenum Vitesses were built as single plenum cars and then reworked by Lotus, hence the gap. The car was originally 'owned' by a manager at Rover and sold into the market as a second hand car about nine to 12 months later. It is also believed that all twin plenum Vitesses were sold like this as there was an NVH issue which prevented them being sold as 'new' cars.
"After another four owners, I acquired the car two days after Christmas 1995, following a chance conversation whilst marshalling on the Network Q Rally that year. After much body restoration – new sills, front wings, tailgate, all door stripped and repaired and a new engine the car is as it stands today."
Car of the year, 2005
Last year's winner is a car we all know and love on austin-rover.co.uk. Car: MG ZT 260 V8 |
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With thanks to Alisdair Cusick for the photos...