Top Gear Returns Sunday 7th October

MagicBoy said:
I still maintain a top-class driver will excel whatever type of car you stick him in - think Senna and Mansell. Hamilton has the potential to rewrite F1 history - he seems to have that extra competitive edge that's been missing from Coulthard, Button etc.

Comparatively modern era F1 looks easy with the electronic nanny state reigning it in and regulating starts etc. Bring back 1986-era turbo cars with 1500bhp, huuuuge turbo lag, 1 lap qualifying tyres, proper H-gate gearbox and a lot less downforce...

Anti-stall is for girls. :D
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Well it looks easy until you put a pretty experienced driver in one, and he cannot even get it out of the pits :)
 
This is the stig

PROFILESTIGGY.jpg


NAME : Stephen Evans
NICKNAME / ALIAS : Stiggy / The Stig
BORN :

1971
RESIDES : London, UK
CAR DRIVEN 2006 : Nissan Skyline R32GTS
CAR DRIVEN 2007 : TBA
 
The_One said:
BTW is alonso the Stig?

Remember when the Stig caught the train to london??

Well when The Stig was on the train, he picked up a copy of the Metro, with Lewis Hamilton celebrating a race win on the back of it. Upon seeing Hamilton, he threw the paper away in apparent disgust

The Stig is a white male with dark hair

The Stig has driven Alonso's Renault F1 car around the track previously

Alonso lives in Oxford, as does Jeremy Clarkson

When Alonso took part in his first test for McLaren, he wore plain white overalls and a plain white helmet

When Alonso first moved to Oxford, the original Stig was "killed off" by driving a Jag off an aircraft carrier


Sounds plausable to me???
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The "Stig" who did the Renault F1 car round the track back in 2005 was actually Heikki Kovalainen (sp?) disguised as the Stig.
 
Checking through the footage, Button and Hamilton definitely used the same car, but it had a normal front seat in when Button was driving and a Bucket when Hamilton was driving. Mansell seemed to use both cars and the interior shots show a normal front seat.

Highly doubtful this would add 3 seconds to a lap though, so unless there's something really dodgy going on maybe he just found a line the rest didnt, you'll never know!
 
I'd say leave it till he comes back in the dry.

Andy Wilman said he kept watching the second to last corner over and over because he was so amazed.
 
The track was not really wet but slightly damp so with a crappy car like the Liana it doesn't make a lot of difference, certainly not 3 seconds.

I also don't find it amazing that LH was singing etc. in the car, he is used to F1 so in this car he has plenty of time between corners, just look at Hamster his experience, his mind could not think fast enough so I can imagine LH having plenty of time to think about stuff when driving the Liana.
 
Dutch Guy said:
The track was not really wet but slightly damp so with a crappy car like the Liana it doesn't make a lot of difference, certainly not 3 seconds.

I also don't find it amazing that LH was singing etc. in the car, he is used to F1 so in this car he has plenty of time between corners, just look at Hamster his experience, his mind could not think fast enough so I can imagine LH having plenty of time to think about stuff when driving the Liana.
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Damp is actually worse than wet. If properly wet the tyres do their job and clear the water. If damp, its the tyre compound which affects the grip and so crappy tyres will be much worse than decent quality performance tyres.

When driving a slow car, its cornering speed (and maintaining speed) which is the most important aspect to a lap time, so the low levels of grip bought about by the damp track will have a significant affect on the overall lap time.
 
That's how at TG episode is supposed to be.

Really interesting article on the old cars - loved that. It's amazing to see where we've got to now.

James Blunt is actually not as bad a character as I thought, and having done a little research has actually done a fair bit in his life, kudos for him being first in at Kosovo too.

Lewis Hamilton, legend, he's got a good spirit too.

That automatic GPS lap remembering BMW - :eek:

I loved that Vauxhall! :eek: :o

The F1 feature was good fun - I like it how hamster gets all the fun (read: dangerous) jobs! :D

It's good TV.
 
Alibaba99 said:
Damp is actually worse than wet. If properly wet the tyres do their job and clear the water. If damp, its the tyre compound which affects the grip and so crappy tyres will be much worse than decent quality performance tyres.
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That is true, but I think that every lap is done on the same stock tyres and not slicks, intermediates or wet tyres depending on the conditions.
 
The_One said:
Im going to open a can of worms......

I think hamiltons time was a lie :rolleyes:

To say hamiltons lap was smooth is OTT imo as he had a terribl start and bogged down, cut the hammerhead and messed up the last corner, it was hardly a "wet" lap either

it was damp at best.

you cant def the law of pysics, thinking hamilton can corner as quick i nthe wet as another formula 1 driver can i nthe dry is absolutely stupid.

granted hamilton is quick but not 3 seconds quicker than another formula 1 driver.


would hamilton of challenged for the f1 title in a honda or sauber etc, i dont think so.

could someone like button of challenged i nthe mclaren i think so.

point is all the drivers in formula 1 are all exceptional drivers and the person at pole is not 3 seconds faster than the person in 10th or 12th for example tthe time differences in formula 1 are tenths of a second!!

yet hamilton made up 3 seconds over a short track. hmmm :o

its taken top gear months and months to get hamilton on the show and even then his dad had a say in it and i bet mclaren had rules etc wrote into the appearance contract or whatever he had to sign.

its in TG's best interests to make him look exceptional

next time its wet on the roads try and take your car for a blast where you normally like to drive and see if your happy cornering at the same speed you would when it was dry. doesn matter how good a driver you are you simply wont be able to because of the law of pysics.

if the car has no traction it has no traction doesnt matter what the driver does with the pedals or the steering wheel

do people seriously think hamilton can take a corner on wet track at the same speed as another formula one driver (mansell/button) can in the dry?

oh come on and get real

Clarkson couldnt of been further up lewis's rear if he wanted to.

wonder why top gear only show half the lap and not the full lap......stops people timing it doesnt it ;)
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Thank god for that, someone whose not right up Hamiltons rear end believing everything!

Unless they stuck some OMGWTF EAGLE F1zzzzzzzzzzzz on his car and the others had linglongs theres no way in hell he would be as quick as the other F1 drivers who posted drive times.
 
Freefaller said:
James Blunt is actually not as bad a character as I thought, and having done a little research has actually done a fair bit in his life, kudos for him being first in at Kosovo too.

Lewis Hamilton, legend, he's got a good spirit too.
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Agreed, enjoyed both their interviews and laps.
 
Like top gear are going to fiddle the result to make Lewis look good - what would be the point - ok also the whole f1 grid is fiddled to make him look good too? (it may be fiddled but only for the donkeys)

the fact that some of you do not believe it just shows how good the lap was
 
The fact is he was the same speed as button who did a dry lap.

Does hamilton lap circuits in f1 in the wet the same speed as someone can do them i nthe dry.

The answer is no, theres no question he will of done a fast lap its the fact its done in the wet when the law of pysics wouldnt allow it.

Anyway im just an armchair fan who has questioned what TG churn out everyweek, which imo is a scripted show, the lap times, the car reviews (driving that old car straight across the junction because they couldnt stop) errrm scripted *cough* and the fact the races across continents are scripted *cough*

too many ppl watch whats on tv and take it as gospel.

a mate whos a professional racing driver and has raced with hamilton said it was a fix straight away as well, as hes a professional racing driver and is qualified to know what hes talking about i'll side with him even though i questioned it myself to start with anyway!
 
Alibaba99 said:
Damp is actually worse than wet. If properly wet the tyres do their job and clear the water. If damp, its the tyre compound which affects the grip and so crappy tyres will be much worse than decent quality performance tyres.

When driving a slow car, its cornering speed (and maintaining speed) which is the most important aspect to a lap time, so the low levels of grip bought about by the damp track will have a significant affect on the overall lap time.
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Who's to say what tyres are on that Liana though? If they've stuck with OEM tyres and kept on replacing them, they'll undoubtedly be some all-weather tyre. Tyres designed to work in the winter have a rubber compound that's designed to work best around 7 or 8 degrees C, summer track day tyres don't work well until they're so soft that they feel tacky, so I'd imagine all weather tyres work well at a fair-to-middling temperature range, just like when Lewis drove his lap.

If the tyres aren't clearing water, and are working exactly in their sweet spot temperature-wise, they might well offer the same level of grip in the damp as the same tyres will on a hot day, when they're ridiculously overheated and sliding everywhere.

Damp tarmac is still fairly grippy FWIW - go out in rubber soled shoes on a warm, but damp (not rainy) day. Stand on the road, and try to twist your foot round - tarmac is very sticky!
 
Real life is dull. Tests, facts and figures are dull.

The fact I turn on BBC2 at 8pm on a Sunday and feel good about myself and exhange my neutral expression a smile says it all.

It's entertainment, that entertained me. Stop reading **** rag newspapers and talking to people who do and just enjoy something for what it is. Gossip and rumours are the biggest social killer. I'd rather just sit back and take what's on offer.

If the show wasn't great, they wouldn't be able to get these great drivers behind a POS Korean car. Simple.
 
The_One said:
which imo is a scripted show, the lap times, the car reviews (driving that old car straight across the junction because they couldnt stop) errrm scripted *cough* and the fact the races across continents are scripted *cough*
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because of course, this instantly renders the whole thing, unfunny, uninteresting, totally unentertaining and worthless :rolleyes:
 
Slam62 said:
Like top gear are going to fiddle the result to make Lewis look good - what would be the point - ok also the whole f1 grid is fiddled to make him look good too? (it may be fiddled but only for the donkeys)

the fact that some of you do not believe it just shows how good the lap was
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It didn't look that good to me, but it's impossible to tell from just snippets. We'd need an aerial view, to get the whole lap in one shot.

I see some cause for doubt when one F1 driver is so much faster than others in a mediocre normal car.

On the other hand, it's possible that the relatively small difference in track conditions don't make much difference to an F1 driver. I imagine it would all seem rather sedate to them, with plenty of time to make many small adjustments, hum a few tunes and make a mental list of what to buy the next time he goes shopping.

Also, the lack of familiarity with the car and track would tend to exaggerate differences in lap times.
 
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