Finding A Lost Legend - Jeremy Clarkson's BEAST Rover SD1 5.2 V8 by RPi Engineering
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- Опубліковано 27 чер 2024
- In this video we explore some of the most incredible and mysterious lost cars ever the Jeremy Clarkson Rover SD1 by RPi engineering. A tuned 5.2 litre monster created by legendary tuning firm in 2000 for Jeremy’s home video Clarkson: At Full Throttle a video made before his time on “New” Top Gear and Clarkson’s Farm/Diddley Squat farm.
We solve the mystery of the whereabouts of one of the most iconic Rover SD1s ever.
All RPi photos credit to the legends at RPi Engineering: www.v8engines.com
The craziest tuned SD1s video: • CRAZY ROVER SD1s - The...
Another person tried to save this car but sadly it wasn’t too good their video is here: • Jeremy Clarkson 5.2 Ro...
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Yes, please to more "Where Are They Now?" episodes! Cheers
I used to watch this on VHS from about 3 years old. Must have watched it 50+ times in my child hood !!1 Have always told my car mates about the SD1 and so grateful for this vid :)
Vicky showing Clarkson how to drive. What a surprise. 😂😂
😂
Vicky was and is HOT
Been to an exclusive track Clarkson set a time on. There's plenty of drivers that were faster, and these were average corporate types, not race drivers.
VB-H was okay, but Sabine was a real racer, RIP.
@@davidpeters6536 VBH back in the day would have been the better bet off track though....
Thumbnail alone gave me a thousand flashbacks of seeing Cossie spoilered sd1's round my estate as a kid... cheers for that bud!
I can actually chime in on this car. I visited RPi some 20ish years ago. The Clarkson SD1 sat in their Backyard, stripped of its engine. As Chris told me, the engine was built for one of their customers and only loaned to Clarkson for the production of the video. I had crashed my SD1 a short time beforehand, but the engine was still good. Unfortunately, the Clarkson SD1 was not for sale, or I might have been in the position to preserve it. Right next to it sat another one that I would love to know its whereabouts: Richard Hammond's black SD1 that he drove in the "Death of the Rover V8" Top Gear episode. IIRC, it was actually up for sale back then.
Thing about a lot of cars top gear used, the BBC wasn't allowed to sell them. There's a few sat outside in yards in a few locations around the country, just rotting away. Some in museums. But the majority were crushed
@@_M_O_E_ a lot of them are in Beaulieu Motor Museum, particularly the more famous cars, like the amphibious cars, Dominator, Hilux, Ambulances and the TGV12. I went there over Easter. Unfortunately, a lot of them are looking very rough now as they did sit for a number of years before going to Beaulieu. I would love to see a lot of them restored. Not necessarily to concourse spec, but at least bought back to how they were in the show!
There are a few cars privately owned that are still on the road. Most famously Oliver, given Hammond still owns him (now two infact). He did also buy back the Dino from the £10,000 supercars challenge, but he has since sold it on and not sure if that one is still about. DriveTribe have documented the restoration of a few of The Grand Tour cars, such as Martin the Impreza, and the DB9 and F-Type from the most recent specials are also going to be saved. The Mitsuoka from EuroCrash I believe was given away in an online competition, and the SSR from that I think is in Hammond's ownership, along with the Buick Riviera from Loch Down.
The Alfa 75 from the cheap Alfa Romeo challenge, amazingly, is still on the road! Mechanically its been completely overhauled, but is still the same on the outside as it was in the show, Skoda green paint included (although it is started to flake off due to poor body prep). The Starion from the £1,500 Coupe challenge was repaired shortly after that episode came out, but I'm not sure if its still going. The Volvo 850R, E39 Estate, and Lancia Beta Coupe have all been found in Africa, although they are all in a very rough state!
@@poached_egg_on_carsgood info, there are images circulating of a private area at Dunsfold test track, in which the lorries from theory challenge are still there, and I believe a few of the bargain porsches and James mays Capri
With Hindsight, if someone had stored the SD1 away, it would attract a lot of interest today. Oh well, they were different times.
That’s it, I don’t think anybody knew how iconic it would become back then
It was just another heap loads of cars were done for
Used to know a bouncer with an rpi rover in the 90's. almost identical to Jeremy's, but in black and with 350hp. It was a beast, and loud
Legendary stuff, wonder what happened to it
@@tomdrivesprobably the same fate as the bouncer
@@chucky2316 wouldn't be surprised if he crashed it. He drove like a lunatic
The nova wasn’t a turbo, it was the C20XE not C20LET. If I’m correct it was the C20XE with throttle bodies.
from what i can remember from watching the video as a kid, it used bike carbs, high lift cams and a 2.1L bore. unsure if it was an 8v or 16v but defiantly no turbo
100% correct, my mistake. Good Vauxhall knowledge as well, i'll be reading a lot into Vauxhalls over the coming weeks.
I had a V8 SD1 in about 2001. It had a Ford 5.0L, 4 barrel Holley, Edelbrock ceramic coated headers and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember. Should have kept it, I swapped it for a Sierra Estate! 😂
5 litre is no ball of fire but a lot better than a 1961 Buick enginem and engine designed for an economy car.
I had a 351 Cleveland in a Capri in 1988 - it wasn’t that fast actually as it spun the wheels so much, but never was destroying tyres more fun!
I remember seeing it sat in the yard at RPI some years back, what a shame
I've still got that VHS Video with it on!! Often wondered about the fate of that SD1.
Well done, keep it up. Most enjoyable video!
Thanks
It’s amazing how times change . 350 horse power was a lot back then . Now a days JDM tuners are getting 800-1000 horsepower out of skyline straight sixes .
audi offer 700 bhp from the factory , but 350 is still alot of power today in the real world though , not in the sense of tuning but stock 350 is up there
Interesting video as always
The AWD Capri from one of these DVDs comes to mind as well
Good call!
TwinEnginedCorsa channel did a good video on that particular Capri.
Another great video please keep us updated with your 2.6 SD1
Thanks and will do
A Mondeo ST24 as camera car, I had one of those for a few years, lovely car to drive 🤓. My dad had an SD1 2600 in that green colour, he loved it and so did i, he yearned for the Vitesse!
I used to go to PRI in Horsford with a mate with a Rover 800 Stirling. They had some pretty cool cars outside. this was in the mid 90s. I often drive past the place and it is not quite what it was, as part of there frontage is now taken up be a Hand Carwash. My own Father once owned a SD1 3500 Vitesse, it was either an B or an E reg. This would have been some 30+ years ago now. Still a Stunning Car in my mind to this day.
Someone fitted an aero 27 litre merlin tank engine to an SD1 which had considerably more power, and still exists today.
Charlie broomfield from ppc
Very interesting mate.👍
The nova is owned by the owner of courtenay sport, it's in their workshop
I like the SD1, I like it a lot, but I can't help thinking about a 5.2 in a Capri. Probably lighter than the iron block V6.
On my way to Southend in my Astra GTE 1.8 I remember being overtaken up a slip road by a VERY loud and VERY quick Capri. It had a cutout in its long bonnet with a familiar 'shaker hood' (I think it was called?) with 6.6 writen on it. It was a Trans Am engine? I was familiar as I used to have a TCR set that I'd bought the 6.6ltr Trans Am for.
@@davekennedy6315 I SO wanted a TCR, but go scaletric instead.
@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391 they were both awesome in different ways. Scalextric required true skill to get the cars round the track whereas TCR you could go flat out as the track lip kept cars on track.
But....the thing that I LOVED was due to being a slotless system you could make full blown jumps and the car would land and hit on the electric tracks and drive off again. I used to use books under the track to create jumps that were 8-10" tall (I'm guessing here it was a LONG time ago, with me turning the dreaded big 50 in a couple of weeks!) Great fun! The parts were also harder to get hold of being I'm guessing a Yank toy? But they were cool little cars, barely bigger than Matchbox cars. I also had the Pace Car that you had going round on its own that you had to overtake using the little button on top of the controller. Very, VERY cool!
In South Africa you could get a Capri with a Ford Windsor V8 in it. It was called Perana.
@@jfv65 Marketed by Basil Green Motors with full approval from Ford,warranty,everything!I think there are a couple in the UK.
Very interesting video thanks
Glad you liked it Chris
Great video! Could you do a video about the Portugese Marina's and it's diesels?
Regards from The Netherlands.
I remember this SD1 as a gang car from The Getaway game.
Nice one
Shared this video with a few like minded friends, also found the whole Full Throttle video on FB, it's a shame what happened to the SD1 but what a monster it was
Saw that as well and thanks for sharing Andrew, hope you enjoyed it
@tomdrives I really did mate, brought back memories, went back and watched it in action and it really didn't like corners, would love someone to make a replica or something
I drove a V8 Vitesse for a living at pace... one of the best cars I have ever driven. Always made me smile. Ours were fettled by Tom Walkinshaw Racing TWR and lowered, stiffened with a body 'air' pack - we lost a few front air dams over the A road yumps in Yorkshire. 65MPH in first gear on a slip road with 4 gears to go... incredibly flexible engine with fuel injection, we never knew the BHP although I would suggest it was upwards of 260 and this was back in 1985! With ventilated front discs and four-pot callipers, the V8 could have provided more clearly (and later did in a variety of brands including TVR) although these were run 24/7 so we had to have reliability as well. Day in day out.
Not much could take it on for a sprint on mixed roads, maybe an M635 CSi
There was one in Congleton, Cheshire a fully restored 5.2 V8 very nice car. sounds awesome. He said it only does 5 mpg, maybe 10 if careful!
I have one of those in Toronto Canada!! Stored for 30 years!!
Gary
Gud vid 💯💥
NORWICH MENTIONED, GRAHHHH. love it when my little city gets a mention
I had all of these! Still got them somewhere. If you could find out what happened to the SD1 in The New Avengers nd The Professionals, reg MOC 229P/MOO229R, that'd be a good one.
I used to have Thriller and Duel (twice)
Hey up Tom good video mate, I've some photos SD1 stock car i owned before covid that you'd probably like
Love the Rover clip from The Man Who Haunted Himself.
In the original opening car chase sequence of the movie the Rover inexplicably sometimes has a black and white number plate and sometimes a yellow and black one. Continuity error? Or a signal that something strange is about to happen?
I noticed that when I watched it, I think it’s intentional.
DHA766Y was a fast car project that started in early 1989. It was a vitesse that went through several incarnations. I wonder what became of it?
And on that bombshell..!! Thank you so much for watching.... goodnight!! 😉👍
Great vid.. Talking of Rovers, the Rover 800 Sterling and the Fastback at the time looked like a modern take on the SD1.. Sadly more Honda than Rover... But did the build any Rear wheel drive or use in competition??
They didn’t use it in competition no, Tony Pond did run a Vitesse around the Isle of Man for Austin Rover to set a speed record though back in the late 80s.
i used to own an sdi 2.4 turbo diesel they were a rarity in their own right
It's impressive that Jett Neptune kept up that British accent through this entire video!
I’m not sure who you’re referring to?
@@tomdrives Jett is an associate of Sam Hyde who you somewhat resemble (at least in the few seconds your face is visible). My comment was a joke referring to that resemblance. Good vid buddy
@@middlesiderrider thanks, I am aware how to play gicky gackers.
More🙏more, maybe a old RS ford deep dive 🙏👍❤️👌
I’d love to… there’s a car I’d like to cover this week.
Clarksons farm season 3 now on Amazon prime!
Clarksons farm season 4 also confirmed.😉👍
I wonder 💭 what happened to the Fast Car magazines SD1 Rover Vitesse? That had a 3.9, then it got fitted with wide arches and a whale tail spoiler.
Don’t you think Clarkson has passed his use by date???
Along with hamster and captain slow!!!!
Regards Ian 👨🎤🇳🇿😎👍😂😂🍸🍸
knowing its fate, it sounds like the Clarkson SD1 was assembled as a temporary show car. such a shame. it would probably be quite collectable now.
What a surprise - something involving Clarkson and a British Leyland badge ending up as scrap. With a 1 month build time, apart from the near off-the-shelf performance parts, the rest was probably a ‘looks good on camera’ bodge job with no thoughts of long-term durability. It’s a real shame that in the early days I used to find Clarkson really witty and amusing but as Top Gear became more focussed on the mass destruction of cars in the name of entertainment and less about learning about cars I could buy, plus Clarkson’s controversial media outbursts, I went off him and the programme. I’ve never seen any of his videos and DVDs.
Nice one mate in 1988 I went to the thirty mini years show at silverstone it was to celebrate the minis thirtieth birthday it was the biggest gathering of classic minis ever and rover supplied three classic minis to put on a stunt driving display a red one a black one and a blue one drivin by Russ swift Britain's top stunt driver the three minis had a special blue sticker applied to the inside of the windscreen it said thirty mini years display vehicle after the show the cars disappeared people have been wondering for years what happened to them did rover take them back and crush them ? Or are they in a private collection somewhere? It would be interesting to find out I live in Ireland and it's hard to find any information about these cars
well ya cant win em all Tom
I think the Nova is still around. Courtenay Sport bought it back in 2012/13 I believe
Judging by your profile picture I recon you might have a car that is related to Vicki’s ;)
@@tomdrives Very closely related yes! Mines is a C reg too
Lol😂
It's in their workshop
❤❤❤❤❤
I really should have bought that 5.0 Vitesse back in the day...lit the tyres in third
I’d like a V8 one day
@@tomdrives they are lovely, simple engines. Sound great.
Grew up in P6 V8s without seatbelts
Had a couple of SD1s and a Freight Rover V8 van I converted to a camper for my sales job. Did 10k miles a month in that - surprisingly economical.
SD1 is such a lovely car but a late P6 is just as amazing. A P5B coupé has to call the ticket...if you ditch that autobox!
6:07 known as ofx now lol 😂
How much is 360 Brake hp in wheel hp ?
Those throttle bodies aren't going to work if they are still sitting on a shelf behind you in every video.
Shhhh more is coming trust me. Funny thing is by my feet in the video is a massive radiator, Davies Craig cooling setup and loads more stuff.
I’m getting the diff and brakes next week, all I can for now is, they aren’t there in the next one ;)
Carburettors
One thing I don’t understand The TWR Bastos cars handled like F1 cars the similarities are obvious, so they put this fantastic engine in a Sd1 with uprated shock absorbers !these things with the suspension sorted drive a massive go kart I’m sure on a track it would trounce that nova properly sorted , look at the Sd1 at goodwood it’s only beaten by the galaxy because it quicker in a straight line.
Even a standard vitesse has an amazing feeling on the rd and they didn’t do much to it
The Sd1 was amazing and I might get another one one day
I have an out of the box p6B 3500s but I would probably sell it for a special silver leaf vitesse 👍
Those cars are on another level, a company is doing some work on one of the Bastos cars, the suspension, everything, immense, things I can’t comprehend.
Ever thought about doing some videos on the car plants Tom?
The old car plants like Speke etc?
@@tomdrives like the history of Longbridge, Solihull etc
@@goblin457 I’ve got a whole new series coming out, I’m currently working on it with a lot of ex workers. It integrates nicely into that, if though it doesn’t cover what you need when it’s out in full let me know and I’ll get something made a bit more extensive.
@@tomdrives awesome 👍
Can I do a criticism? Could you bass up the audio a bit? Top stuff!!
Of course you can, i'll look into that. On my studio speakers it sounds fine (to me) but not everyone is at my house on my PC ;)
I would love that engine shoehorned in to a 70s vauxhall / opel
Cavalier mk1, seen a rover v8 on a cavalier mk1 was on ebay a month ago
Strange it’s marked as sorn not scraped?
Did he use an upgraded Buick V8 engine?I remember growing up in those days in South Africa people used to buy Buick engine parts for their Rover V8
Yes he did
That Nova would have been a C20XE 2.0 16v. If it was actually a C20LET turbo, I can assure you it would have walked away from that Rover with ease.
C20LET powered Novas and Corsa B's are not to be taken lightly
So I found out a while back the Nova actually won the race. Unfortunately they’d already written the script for the end of the video so the race was fixed for the SD1 to win.
Looks like a Bonneville SSEI.
I have this DVD, as if i remember correctly, he claimed it had Eleventy Million Horse Power 🤣🤣🤣
😂 classic
That was the red Ruf Porsche 911 Convertible he drove in the same vide
😎😎😎😎👍👍👍👍
Another (in)famous car - the Range Rover in which the three Essex Boys were blasted to death. It was cleaned up, auctioned online and is now in private ownership.
Test drive-1980 US Datsun/ Leyland USA dealer. Really wanted this car , great looking, weird like a Citroen. Mouse hair interior not great.
Went for test drive, mirror fell off. Still unique-highway test drive -OK. Idiot salesperson said brakes cound'nt lock up. Almost got killed. Now I owned a 1967 2000 TC-, So I wanted to love this car. I still think it's great looking vechicle (I ''m a British car idiot).
Rpi doesn’t sell 5.2 v8’s these days 😔
Guessing it was an R380 gearbox.
100% right, completely misread the notes I’d made! Good job you caught it
Clarkson is no friend of Rover. Nor is May
🥝✔️
The nova left standard would be a 30k car now 😩
It is now back to original with original engine
Thank god!
They had to ‘sandbag’ in the Nova & fake a spin to let Clarkson past! The team did a terrible job on the Rover with three exceptions of the 5.2, it was a boat! ⛴️
I have no respect for Jeremy, but I wouldn't say it to his face as he might hit me lol!
The Nova was on throttle bodies not turbo
What I read it was a turbo? Got a link to it?
@tomdrives Watch the video. The spec is explained and you can clearly hear it has throttle bodies.
The rover is currently on sorn it’s not scrapped at all
I spoke with the people who built the car, the SORN status means nothing on the tax check website.
@@tomdrives considering I used the dvla one. It’s still alive
@@kraikkonen05 it’s not though… a car I’ve scrapped is still on SORN…. I watched it get scrapped.
*Two big valve heads...
shame what people do to classic cars!
R350 gearbox ? You mean R380
Correct
What a waste of a decent car!!! I'm amazed that they didn't sell it to Jeremy or to someone else!!
Sad but a lot of star cars end up the same way
Performance?? from a Rover V8? Go look at the cylinder heads. And valve sizes. So tiny they will never make any power. Without flow any power is imagined. GpA cars were cheating,, and not really very fast. 5 litres? A bit more torque but no head flow. Even the very special ones made by Leyland Australia via the CAC for John McCormacks F5000 were still no better than Holden V8 ones.
The Wildcat heads & inlet made things better but you are right what you said with the oe type heads
Sorry but RPi are nowhere near the best of the best when it comes to RV8 engines. They are the best at taking your money without giving horsepower figures first…..
Name the best then?
@@tomdrives The guys at V8 Developments or Paul at V8 Tuner. Either will give you a better RV8 than RPi
Rovercraft.
@@jesscourt9068 long since closed. Thank god. They were awful too
@@phillofthouse7538 why?
It doesn't suit the colour at all.
This is one of the worst videos I’ve ever watched. Get to the point man! Rip might be one of the best (definitely agree) but a pretty amateur mistake with the noise limit.
I don’t think I’m the reason why you can’t sit still for 9 minutes. Scene setting is part of story telling,