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 year...