1992 Rover 220 Coupe Turbo
'Tomcat' Land Speed Record Holder

Registration No: N/A
Chassis No: SAXXWXCC6A
MOT: None

• Thought to be the sole survivor of the two Land Speed Record 'Tomcats' built
• Still holds 36 of the 37 Land Speed Records that it broke in August 1992
• Professionally recommissioned in 2022 for a commemorative event and still to LSR specification

In the summer of 1992, two pre-production Rover 220 Turbo Coupes were stripped to a bare shell by the Rover development team, checked and rebuilt with various modifications including engine tuning, fuel feed, roll cage, large capacity fuel tank, racing seat and various safety devices. This was carried out in readiness for an attempt at speed records previously held by Porsche, BMW, Bentley, Vauxhall, and Alfa Romeo. These two cars were set up to run at a top speed of just under 160mph. The attempt took place on 29th August 1992, at the Millbrook Proving Ground, Bedfordshire. The entire team working on the car had also been involved with the development of the production model which when introduced was the most powerful and fastest production Rover model ever built.

In 1993, the code name Tomcat from the project days was also used to create a new race series, the Dunlop Rover Tomcat Race Series. Examples competed against each other around the United Kingdom and Europe for two years until Rover dropped their backing.

The sale car is one of the two specially modified pre-production coupes used in the 1992 attempt and still holds 36 of the 37 records that it broke. It remains to Land Speed Record breaking specification. In 2022, this historic machine was professionally recommissioned in readiness for a recreation of the 1992 event at Millbrook where it led a cavalcade of surviving Tomcats for several laps around the banked circuit, and then onto the Proving Ground's 'Alpine' road section. The original team from the Rover factory who built the car, were reunited with it for the occasion. It is believed that the second LSR car was exported a number of years ago and it is unknown whether it still exists. The car is said to remain in superb running order and be great fun to drive, which is a major credit to the engineering team that produced it.

For more information, please contact:
Chris Wardley
chris.wardley@handh.co.uk
07841 838967