2020 hasn't been a kind year to many automakers, and the plucky UK brand TVR is no exception. Deliveries of the long-awaited Griffith sports car, which was first revealed back in 2017, won't begin until next year following more delays. But thanks to one eager TVR enthusiast, the brand will have another car hitting the road soon. You may recall Ashley Sutherland from a piece we wrote last year. Sutherland obtained a TVR Sagaris shell, then began restoring it to roadworthiness.

After completing the project with a 4.0-liter TVR Speed Six engine over the course of two years, Sutherland says the car was too difficult to live with as a daily driver. "Therefore, I decided to start looking at different options with regards to the drivetrain," he told CarBuzz. "Most of my knowledge is based around BMW, so I decided to look at what M engines would be ideal for this project."

Sutherland says his first inclination was to use the 4.0-liter S65 V8 engine from the E90-generation BMW M3. This high-revving, shouty V8 sounds like the ideal candidate to drop in the Sagaris, but another engine drew Sutherland's attention. "After hearing a friend's de-catted S85 engine, I was then sold on the high-revving, screaming V10," he said. For those who don't remember, the S85 can be found under the hood of the E60-generation BMW M5 and E63/E64 M6. It produces 500 horsepower and 384 lb-ft of torque in stock form on its way to an 8,250 rpm redline.

This is an ambitious engine swap, but the man who once dropped an S65 V8 into a 1 Series seems like the right person for the job. "I was lucky enough to have a spare front section of a TVR laying around to use as a mock-up body before trying this in the Sagaris," Sutherland explained. "Once I was confident it would fit, I decided to do the heartbreaking thing, and strip down the car after spending two years finding and making parts for it."

Sadly, the Sagaris will ditch its six-speed manual transmission, as Sutherland doesn't think it will be smooth enough for everyday use. He also says the original SMG single-clutch box was too sluggish, so he will use a more modern BMW dual-clutch transmission instead. Not only should the DCT sync up well with the quick-revving V10, but it will also be smooth in traffic and even include a stop/start mode.

Sutherland says he has trial-fitted the engine six times now with an aim to make the car as friendly as possible to work on. "To some people, I probably seem mad for doing this; I always thought that the Sagaris was way ahead of its time, but the mechanics and electrics were not," Sutherland told us. "I thought by equipping it with the German engineering from BMW's M division, it would help match the insane looks. And what's more insane than fitting a V10 into a car weighing 1,100 kg?"