The key design features were an all aluminium alloy block and head,[3] with cast iron cylinder liners, double overhead camshafts, finger follower 24-valve actuation, one throttle and injector per cylinder (throttle-body fuel injection), equal length tubular exhaust manifolds dual 3-way catalytic converters and a dry sump lubrication system allowing the engine to be mounted lower in the vehicle chassis.

These features enabled the engine to provide lightweight, compact dimensions, extremely fast throttle response and high peak horsepower.

Unfortunately, during TVR’s development of the original MCD design, it was decided to remove the drilled lubrication oil-ways from the camshaft centres to the peak of each of the camshaft lobes, resulting in starvation of lubrication and early versions of the Speed Six engine suffering from poor valve-train durability leading to many warranty claims against TVR.

Other third party development work has also mitigated this issue by using revised material hardness for the cam lobes, finger followers and valve guides.

However this proved unsuccessful due to cooling challenges so the few Typhon/T440 models that made production were instead fitted with standard naturally aspirated 4.0L Speed Six engines.