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Big, Fast, Mad, Scary, Fun! - SEAC 420 Test Drive By
Mike Bressington As you may or may
not know. I have recently sold my 350i (shock, horror)! After over seven
years of ownership I have decided to part company with my baby and look
for something a little newer and dare I say it, something a little more
comfortable! Coming up to 40 (well
in a few years time) I think that I am going through what can only be
described as a reverse mid-life crisis. After owning a 350i for so many
years, which as we all know only comes in one flavour - LOUD, in a moment
of weakness I find myself hankering after something a little more ‘civilised’
to drive around in – In this case I was thinking about a Chimaera. I think that the cars
however are two totally different beasts. If cars were liked to rock bands
then the Wedge series (especially the bigger badder Wedge cars) would
have to be AC/DC or Motorhead; raw, gruff and just a little bit rude.
The Chimaera would be more akin to Aerosmith, more modern, polished with
better production and a little more ‘sophistication’ but still
with a rebellious ‘bad boy’ side. And with AC/DC and the like
you either like them or you don’t just like the Wedge cars. Now I have absolutely
nothing against Chimaera TVR’s and can honestly say that after testing
quite a few they have proved to be very capable, good looking, well handling
sportscars. They even stop when you want them to, what a novelty that
was after driving around in a 350i with almost zero braking power for
so many years! Something was telling me though instead of going for a Chimaera which in my humble opinion are a little bit ‘popular’ for want of a better word but to go for a bigger, madder, scarier Wedge car. The noise, relative exclusivity and the bonkers ‘dated’ 80’s aggressive styling has always made me smile whenever I see (or hear) one. I decided to have a look around at a few models and to test-drive a few just to get the feel of the cars before making a decision as to which one to replace my 350i with. Out of the blue a regular Wedge forum member Richard Hurd aka ‘Dickymint’ came up with an interesting offer to help make my mind up. After a brief phone
conversation which ended up with Richard saying ‘Well, if you pop
up I will take you out in my 420 SEAC, and if you want you can take the
wheel to get a proper feel for the car, would that interest you?’
A go in a SEAC! would that interest me? Wild horses would not keep me
away. The day arrived and after studying the car from many different angles I decided that it just looked gorgeous. It literally looks like it is going 200 miles an hour just standing there on his drive.
One thing that I did
notice however was that you can definitely see the composite kevlar ‘ripple’
of the bodywork at certain angles. Richard’s car of course was one
of the SEACs that were bodied in the composite material and just a small
percentage of the car perhaps just the front air dam(?) made of GRP instead
of the entire body as with most other TVR’s. I believe that TVR re-bodied a lot of the SEACS due to customer complaints and body stress cracking issues. An interesting thing to note with the composite cars is that the panels tend to be very thin compared to GRP (and therefore 200lbs lighter) and actually change shape in the heat. Press the door panel and it actually flexes, same with every panel on the car which is really disconcerting!
Richard turned the key and the tuned 4228cc 300bhp V8 exploded into life, wow does this baby make it’s presence known. This car makes absolutely no pretence of what it’s purpose is, rev the car and it literally barks at you, this is one sports car not for the feint hearted. After taking quite a few pictures, Richard and I sped off. I do not make a very good passenger especially in powerful cars but on this occasion I must confess I was especially on edge. You could tell by the purposeful exhaust note that under the bonnet there was a big bad monster ready to be let rip. Compared to the 350i this car is nothing short of an animal, much more aggressive and to top it all, it had started to rain just to add to the fun!
Although a slight
misfire was evident due to car being relatively cold the SEAC was obviously
not happy about being held back and having to behave, driving slowly through
small towns are not its thing! We burbled and rumbled our way out of town
onto some clear driving roads. After a mile or two the engine was suitably
warmed up and the misfire seemed to disappear, Richard let rip on the
throttle and all I remember was hanging on thinking ‘Jessssus’.
It was my turn to
have a go and Richard pulled into a lay by for me to change positions
with him. Immediately I noticed a much lower driving position than the
350i. The seat seemed inches lower, I wondered if this was ‘standard’
on the SEACs or had the seat runners been altered to accommodate a taller
person in the past? The position was not uncomfortable but just different
to my old Wedge. The car also sports scalloped inner door panels which
give the occupants a little more elbow room than the other Wedge cars
I have been in. I released the rather
odd ‘umbrella handle’ under dash hand brake and started to let
off the clutch. ‘Take it easy at first not too much revs’ I
thought, then big wheel spin - oops, picked up speed went into second
another wheel spin - oops, started to pick up some more speed went into
third and the tyres chirped again! This drive is going to be interesting
I thought. Compared to the 350i this car has some serious power and savage acceleration. I was acutely aware that the road was a little wet and this car seemed much lighter on it’s feet due to the lightweight body than what I was used to. I got the distinct feeling that if you were to loose respect for the car for a moment it would turn around and bite a BIG chunk out of you.
After gripping onto
the wooden steering wheel like grim death for a while I started to actually
feel a little less nervous about the drive, in spite of the back end trying
to break away every time we went around a corner a little too fast. I
was just thankful that the roads were drying out, I was also especially
thankful that the SEACS were fitted with ‘uprated’ brakes -
these babies stop you in 300 yards instead of 400 as on the 350i’s!! After some short sprints
and a few good fast runs up and down the bypass Rich suggested that we
go for a coke and ice in his local pub that was coming up just around
the corner. As we were taking a few more photos in the car park Rich noticed
a familiar car pulling in. It was his good Lady, Sam popping in for a
stress reliever after work. Turns out that Sam is a total convert to the
Wedge community as well – She has taken the reins of Dickymints’
first baby his old red 350i. And I thought I was addicted to Wedge cars! After the refreshment
stop and a good natter it was time to take a few more pics, start the
SEAC up and head back to Richard’s home. I pulled up on his drive
and switched off the car – phew what a morning. The experience had
been nothing short of exhilarating. One of my fears when Richard offered
me the chance to have a go, was I was going to actually drive my dream
car. Sometimes if you get the chance to drive the car of your dreams it
may turn out to be not as good as you imagined it and it could be a big
let down. This car was nothing
short of awesome it exceeded what I imagined it to be like, I am one of
the lucky ones who’s dream car is everything I expected it to be
and then some. Only problem now is that I want one so bad that it hurts
- thanks Richard you have ruined my life! ;-) So I have only now
got to try out a 450SE and I can die a happy man. One thing for sure is
though I won’t be buying that Chim. I would like to thank Richard Hurd for the faith and trust in me to let me have a go of his beloved 420 SEAC - Long live Wedges. Mike Bressington |
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