Returning TVR Cerbera suffers heavy damage after brake failure

Mike Saunders is hopeful that his TVR Cerbera GT will make a return to racing next month despite suffering extensive damage in a 120mph shunt.

A brake master cylinder failure during the opening GT Cup race of the season at Donington Park caused Saunders to crash into the barriers at Mcleans.

The 31-year-old suffered heavy concussion and bruising, while the car suffered heavy damage including a twisted chassis and cracked gearbox.

“It wasn’t the opening round we were hoping for,” said Saunders, who was returning to the GT Cup in his TVR for the first time since 2013 having raced in Bernie’s V8s recently.

“We lost the brakes in qualifying which had never been an issue before so we changed everything.

“Then in the race coming into Mcleans the brakes failed completely and I was doing a fair rate of knots.

“It was a decent size accident. I went in with the front end and the barrier curves from left to right so I was probably fairly lucky as the passenger side took the hit. The wheel actually ended up in the passenger side.

“It’s just such a shame, we put a lot of effort in to getting it back out this season.”

Undeterred, Saunders plans to rebuild the car and have it back out for the Time Attack meeting at Brands Hatch on June 24.