The TVR Griffith 500 is a very fine machine, that just needs a few modifications to make it almost perfect.
TVR Griffith Suspension is not its strongest point. I drive a 1997/8 TVR Griffith 500 that is a low miles one owner car that I bought in 2011. I have also been riding fast motorcycles since I was a kid and over the last 25 years riding had realised the huge improvements that can be make to a bikes handling by optimsing its suspension. The TVR Griffith Suspension 500 is the least enjoyable part of the car as it quickly gets out of shape on bumpy roads. The TVR Griffith 500 suspension has been checked and it is running the standard shockabsorbers and springs that the factory would have fitted. The current TVR Griffith 500 Suspension is in good condition.
When driving on a smooth road the TVR Griffith 500 Suspension is not too bad, but take it down a bumpty road and it starts to get out of shape. What it feels like to be is that the rebound settings are wrong and too stiff. I say this as the first bump is OK ish and it is the subsequent bumps that the TVR Griffith Suspension struggles to deal with. So the TVR Griffith 500 Suspension absorbs the first bump and the springs compress and then the rebound damping controls how quicky the spring is allowed to return to its normal position. With the rebound too firm the spring has not yet returned to its normal position before the next bump arrives. The TVR Griffith 500 suspension has then at this point lost some of its suspension movement and its ability to soak up the next bump. The TVR Griffith Suspension is then even firmer for the next bump and so on... until a few bumps later it is so firm that it hardly absorbs any of the bumps and just bounces you all over the road. the TVr Griffith Suspension is not doing a good job at this point as you cannot get the power down and have to back off as without the wheels absorbing bumps and following the contours of the road, you are not going to get much feel, traction or control.
I have been investigating TVR Griffith Suspension and have discovered that some/all of the TVR Griffith 500 test/press cars were not fitted with the standard TVR Griffith 500 Suspension but were fitted with Ohlins suspension - shocks and springs. I have also read that some of these handling issues may be down to the chassis design and that uprated shocks and springs can only care the problem to a degree.
I have used Ohlins on various motorcycles over the years and they have always impressed me. When setup properly they have had a very notiecable improvement on a bikes handling. You can setup a bikes suspension on your own with some basic rules and tools. A car is a bit more complicated as you have four wheels and need to get ride height and corner weights all set up and need specialist equipement to do this. I have done it with other cars and it has transformed the handling.
When Griffiths were still being made most people just accepted the wayward nature of its handling on bumpy roads. A few people decided that it must be possible to improve matters, assuming the basic chassis is up to the job. To cut a long story short ... a 500 Griffith ended up on Ohlins car jig in Sweden to have some bespoke suspension developed and with much testing on the road a final damper and spring setup was developed. When they ran the car with its standard suspension on the Ohlins car jig (it shakes it about to simulate bumpy roads) they had to stop it shortly into the test as the car was almost leaving the jig!
Accordingly I and going to try and improve the TVR Griffith 500 Suspension by fitting Ohlins springs and shocks and having the whole thing setup properly.
These Ohlins have been built for me by the same people that did the orginal development work and still specialise in developing car suspension.
In October 2011 I published a few pictures of old bikes - my father and his pals riding around Europe in 1953 on a Brough Superior, Triumph Thunderbirds etc and in just a couple of months the page has had over 13 million hits!
That web page is here - http://www.go-faster.com/SS100.html
If you like even older bikes, then you may be interested to read about my exploits on my 1914 4hp Triumph. I bought it in November 2011 and being a novice to such ancient machines have started to record my experiences of owning and riding it. It is quite an experience riding a bike with no gears, no clutch and almost no brakes!
See: http://www.go-faster.com/1914Triumph.html
I have also created a page about a 1911 Triumph that was once owned by my grandfather,
see http://www.go-faster.com/VeteranTriumph.html
As people have contacted me asking where they could a similar Veteran motorcycle, I have created a web page listing any that are for sale or recently sold - so you can get an idea of values.
See: http://www.go-faster.com/VeteranMotorcycleForSale.html
I have now (January 2012) I bought a 1954 Triumph T110 and created a page about Triumph T110's.
See: http://www.go-faster.com/TriumphT110.html
As people have contacted me asking where they could buy a Triumph T110, I have created a web page listing any that are for sale or recently sold - so you can get an idea of values.
See - http://www.go-faster.com/TriumphT110ForSale.html
I have a web page about the VW Golf GT Tdi 170, see http://www.go-faster.com/VW-Golf-GT-TDI-170.html