Landracing Forum

Bonneville Salt Flats Discussion => Bonneville General Chat => Topic started by: #31 on December 14, 2008, 02:23:52 PM

Title: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: #31 on December 14, 2008, 02:23:52 PM
check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXO9X-Rhh-M
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: jl222 on December 14, 2008, 03:48:33 PM
  Thats a great video found myself smiling at the end.

                  JL222 :cheers:
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: t russell on December 14, 2008, 04:07:27 PM
Very cool
thanks
terry
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: petercalaguiro on December 14, 2008, 04:29:33 PM
Great video! These guys were really having fun!.....but, how could they go that fast without suits and rollbars? Was this some special private meet? Just curious.
Peter
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Dakin Engineering on December 14, 2008, 09:42:45 PM
They showed up late Friday and took over the 130 course Saturday morning.
Shook hands with Jeremy and Hammond. Nice blokes.

Sam
#6062
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Stainless1 on December 14, 2008, 10:33:50 PM
Don't forgert paid a tidy sum.... for a private timing session...
Neat video, good to see the BBC having fun ... Good to see the USFRA could help them with the event.
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: landracing on December 15, 2008, 01:21:05 AM
If you guys have never seen their car show, set your recorders... it is pretty much non stop funny stuff... They do stuff with new and old cars, taking on different tasks with them and the commentary they have is pretty funny... I like the battering they do on the cars..

JonAmo
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: hayaboosta on December 15, 2008, 04:27:13 AM
Good times!   :cheers:
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: guttley782 on December 15, 2008, 09:12:18 AM
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!
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: maj on December 15, 2008, 04:03:08 PM
When they were running the Poms,Kiwi's and Aussies all went over for a look but not many of the local guys knew who they were (or didn't care ??)

There is an Aussie version, but it looks to have been directed to fit the same mould and it doesn't work
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: petercalaguiro on December 15, 2008, 07:27:43 PM
How do you locate their show on TV? It sounds like one great gearhead adventure after another!
Peter
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: t russell on December 15, 2008, 08:59:52 PM
How do you locate their show on TV? It sounds like one great gearhead adventure after another!
Peter
bbc america
terry
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: JoshH on December 16, 2008, 01:25:17 AM
This one is one of the best, made me cry the first time I saw it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azc9dQLL09w&feature=channel_page
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Wester on December 16, 2008, 01:36:59 AM
The original situation was for them to pass the tech inspection for the 130 Club and make runs there to get used to running on the salt.  We shut down at 6:00 for the day on Friday and ran them on the long course for some higher speed runs after most of the crowd had left the salt.  The whole thing was interesting to say the least.  Our intent was to not interfere with the normal running and yet to give them runs on the long course with all of our safety people still in place.  They paid for the extra hour with a credit card.  Obviously the clips moved from the 130 Club course to the long course back to the 130 Club course.  Not what actually happened and the B 25 flew over as they were making the last of their runs on the long course.  That was a great sight, coming in very low, down the course from Floating Mountain.  Those big radial engines sounded great!  I still get goosebumps remembering the moment.  The look on Monte's face as he listened to their banter was priceless.
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Robin UK on December 16, 2008, 06:09:09 AM
You can watch Top Gear any time via the BBC website as well - www.bbc.co.uk

Click on iPlayer (usually a big box on the homepage) and it will list a range of TV and radio programes which you can replay after they've been transmitted on UK TV. Issue 7 of Top Gear is on the site now.

Robin
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: guttley782 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!
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Sam Green 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:
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Glen on December 16, 2008, 08:18:11 PM
Guttley, in California USA it's called a day on the freeway :cheers:
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: joea 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 :)
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: guttley782 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.
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Billy @ AHG 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 !
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Malcolm UK 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
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Wester on December 19, 2008, 10:36:43 AM
Fully within BLM requirements and heavily insured by BBC.
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: RansomT on December 19, 2008, 10:42:11 AM
Darn they have pulled all of the top gear episodes off of youtube ......   :cry:
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: doug 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!
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Robin UK 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
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Billy @ AHG 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 !
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: McRat 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
Title: Re: Top gear at world of speed
Post by: Wester 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.
Title: Re: Top Gear at World of Speed 2008
Post by: Tom Shannon 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