Author Topic: Top gear at world of speed  (Read 14647 times)

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Offline guttley782

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #15 on: December 16, 2008, 05:04:35 PM »
Wester,
Thanks for clarifying how it was done. Much appreciated. Amazing what a bit of poetic licence can do!
An eccentric Englishman building a motorcycle streamliner with the help of a few friends!

Offline Sam Green

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #16 on: December 16, 2008, 08:14:34 PM »
Clarkson actually had a proper run at Speed Week 2000 in a roadster, number 716 I think. Ran 215mph. Personally I think the programme is getting too silly, and they don't like motorcycles, except Hammond! Some good stuff in it from time to time...... surely you have something similar in the USA? Annoyingly they made it seem like they were competing at Speed Week, which threw me until someone said World Of Speed, phew!

Gabriel, just to let you know that James May is also a motorcyclist.

Sam. :wink:
175cc Woodbridge Mile record holder 118.3mph

Offline Glen

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #17 on: December 16, 2008, 08:18:11 PM »
Guttley, in California USA it's called a day on the freeway :cheers:
Glen
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Offline joea

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #18 on: December 16, 2008, 11:18:07 PM »
Gabe, its ironic, I pretty much love all the shows on BBC, sitcoms,
chef shows, top gear especially........and pretty much cant
stand american tv shows anymore....

Joe :)

Offline guttley782

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #19 on: December 17, 2008, 07:21:57 AM »
Hi Joe,
Maybe it is because we get lots of "gearhead" programmes in the UK that we get slightly cynical sometimes..... we don't have your Bonneville heritage, but we have done pretty well on the LSR scene anyway. We do great drama and documentaries. Top Gear is very popular, but uses poetic licence too much for me. The backroom work done to kepp the vehicles running is like the Scrapheap Challenge programme, where experts work their socks off to make the programme work despite the best efforts of the drivers to blow up their machines! I did not know James rode bikes Sam, so thanks for that. It thus remains a shame that Top Gear does not feature some! Hi Glen, the driving in the USA does get enlightening at times! Hired a car in San Fransisco this year to get to the BUB meeting, and enjoyed the journey, using I50 on the way.
An eccentric Englishman building a motorcycle streamliner with the help of a few friends!

Offline Billy @ AHG

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #20 on: December 18, 2008, 01:35:33 PM »
I have been folowing the Top Gear show for a while now and have come to the conclusion that those guys should not recieve a salary for that show, they simply have too much fun to get paid for !
  I have the DVR set to record all the shows, then sort through them for the ones I have already seen , one show covered Hammond's "crash" which I had no idea took place,,all I can say is  "wow, now there is a guy with balls like King Kong"  If you can find it , watch it,  he crashes a jet car at close to 300 mph, when the right front come's apart !   scarry !
Salt Junkie

Offline Malcolm UK

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #21 on: December 19, 2008, 08:15:52 AM »
The Richard Hammond crash might thrill some, but lessons do not seem to have been learnt by the producers of top gear.  Running without safety protection on private time in road cars on the salt seems to have invited trouble ............ but they 'got away with it'.  If any one of them had had an incident, then USFRA or whoever hired them salt time would probably not exist today.

The alleged earning potential of Richard Hammond is over £2.0m a year........

The jet car destroyed by Richard Hammond still holds the outright UK land speed record.

Malcolm
Malcolm UK, Derby, England.

Offline Wester

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #22 on: December 19, 2008, 10:36:43 AM »
Fully within BLM requirements and heavily insured by BBC.

Offline RansomT

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #23 on: December 19, 2008, 10:42:11 AM »
Darn they have pulled all of the top gear episodes off of youtube ......   :cry:

Offline doug

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #24 on: December 19, 2008, 11:05:18 AM »
Darn they have pulled all of the top gear episodes off of youtube ......   :cry:

Go to www.surfthechannel.com where you will find over 100 episodes.  Enjoy!

Robin UK

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #25 on: December 19, 2008, 12:12:19 PM »
I take Malcolm's point, but actually they could have driven at those sorts of speeds quite legally on some sections of German autobahns. If you want scary - get a flight to Heathrow, pick up a rental car and head for the M25 around London. At night, in the rain. No matter what speed you do, there will always be a large white van at warp factor 3 driven by a guy with the IQ of a small soapdish flashing you to get out of the way. A New York cab driver on crack might just about feel comfortable as a newcomer.

Robin

Offline Billy @ AHG

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #26 on: December 19, 2008, 04:25:39 PM »
A few years ago we flew into Gatwick and rented a car , then went south , wanted no part of London or the m25, we wanted to see the country, and did !    Mostly on the narrow country roads, driving like Jackie Stewart, (or so we thought ) looked in the mirror and a gal tailgating us while putting on her eyeliner,  I think all Brits drive for the thrill of it , no matter where they are !   

  And yes we had a hell of a time, Loved the pubs !
Salt Junkie

McRat

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #27 on: December 19, 2008, 08:04:12 PM »
How fast did they get the ZR1 moving?  And the Caddy?  Mostly curious about how much difference there is between asphault top speeds vs. Bonneville.

Nevermind the Dodge. :D

Offline Wester

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Re: Top gear at world of speed
« Reply #28 on: December 19, 2008, 11:38:33 PM »
The ZR1 went something like 186, the Caddy was around 166 and the Dodge was a mile per hour slower.  Pretty much what you would expect the rolling resistance on the salt would do to times compared to their asphalt speeds.  One Hammond comment was that the Dodge did well considering it was down 100 HP from the Cad.

Offline Tom Shannon

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Re: Top Gear at World of Speed 2008
« Reply #29 on: February 19, 2009, 11:03:58 PM »
Now that BBC America has  recently shown Top Gear at 2008 WOS, heres the current link: Hurry before it gets yanked off again!
http://www.topgear.com/us/videos/more/salt-flat-racing/#comments_anchor
if link doesn't fire go to http://www.bbcamerica.com search for link
Tom Shannon
On The Road