In the late 1990s, the successful Tuscan Challenge race series was in need of updating and Peter Wheeler began the project that would fulfill his ambition to see TVRs at Le Mans.

Work began on a completely new racing car that would be built using modern composites,[1] be more rigid than any previous TVR and be CAD designed to reach speeds in excess of 200 mph (322 km/h) and be stable.

Originally it began life as the TuscanR (A natural follow on from the infamous Tuscan Racers (TVR Tuscan Challenge) that the cars were to replace) but as TVR launched the T350 road car it was deemed that the racers should be referred going forward as T400R.

The success of the Tuscan Racer series through the 90s had been highly beneficial to the company and their first attempt to build a GT1 class car and associated road cars, the Speed 12 project and the Cerbera Speed 12 project had introduced TVR to some modern composites and techniques but Wheeler had been experimenting with Kevlar and carbon fibre since the SEAC models of the late 1980s.

The GT1 projects themselves did not succeed and in traditional TVR style, Wheeler announced that the 800BHP+ road cars would be too dangerous for normal customers.