This British racing green Rover Vitesse fastback rolled off the Cowley production line in June 1994 Ordered for Barclays Bank, it was fitted with Recaro leather interior and a 2 litre 180hp engine
Barclays owned the car for 2 years covering 30,000 miles, the next 4 years it was privately owned until I purchased the car in 2000. Still in very good original condition, that is how the car remained for a year or so From Bank manager to Brands Hatch
The standard car has good performance 0-60 in 7.8 seconds and a top speed of 140mph. These misunderstood cars have become a rare sight on the road today but have great potential with a 2 litre twin cam 16 valve turbo charged engine and long wheelbase independent suspension chassis. It is a difficult car to modify, it is heavy, front wheel drive and no tuning parts are available so everything is specially designed. With the demise of Rover even standard parts are becoming difficult to find
The car is always evolving, in 2004 a new engine with forged pistons was fitted along with a bigger turbo and modified cylinder head. 2005 a big valve cylinder head was fitted. 2006 four extra injectors were fitted (two per cylinder) Coil on plug ignition replaced the HT leads and distributor cap along with DTA engine management. The turbo size was increased further and front suspension and brakes uprated in 2008. 2010 a full roll cage was welded in for safety and to stiffen the bodyshell, most of the interior has been removed, replaced with two lightweight Recaro bucket seats and 4 point harnesses, 2014 Wilwood 6 piston brake calipers and larger front discs were fitted. 2016 the rear suspension was rebuilt and converted to an adjustable coilover setup with uprated bushes, springs and shock absorbers. 2019 a custom exhaust manifold and system was fitted.
For 2020 the rear suspension is being fine tuned, steering wheel replaced and gearbox and ratios changed. Details will be added to the updates page in March
This car competed inRedline TOTB3, held every year at Elvington airfield near York, a competition to find the fastest road legal cars in the country, despite running problems on the day and against all the odds we were the fastest front wheel drive car around the handing circuit
This website rovervitesse.com is dedicated to showing the maintenance and evolution of one particular Rover Vitesse as well as information on other MG Rover models. Click on the menu at the top of this page for more images and information updated August 2020