Top Gear Test Track
- Thread starter Bluehomeboy
- 89 comments
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ExigeEvan
Premium
- 17,192
It's a motoring entertainment program. Not a scientific Journal.
Also as Famine pointed out in an earlier thread, profesional drivers race within a few tenths of a second a lap.
And it's never going to be fair because the weather. Rain and the fact they are in a big open space so wind is also key.
- 683
kikie
That's what i thought, too......
PS: That's BTG Time right?? Cause 9.09 was the time a friend of mine did, but of the whole track (E34 BMW M5)......... I felt so wierd and thought....like
WTF, a 340 HP BMW M5 can't beat a Jag Diesel with Clarkson at the wheel
??- 30
puricele7eWasn't that a 220 hp Diesel Jaguar S-Type ? If not, sorry
220 hp FR jaguar as opposed 170hp FF passat. which one would you pick? all clarkson can do is spin out and complain about dashboard controls
Dottinger-Hohe
I'd probably favor the Passat. Remember, that Jag was a diesel. It just isn't going to perform as well as a gasoline-based engine with the same power. Watch the video again, Clarkson mentioned on several occasions that most of the time, the Jag's output was significantly less than 220hp, except right around the redline (which was all of 4500rpm).
And remember, even Sabine only got a 9:12 in that car. That ain't sayin' much. How fast do you think that Passat could get 'round the Ring? What kind of times does it have in the game?
- 30
unfortunately my beloved 94 passat wagon did not make it into the game, in fact no passat did. i understand that it is a diesel, but the nurburgring is by no means a speed circuit. it has its fast sections, surely. i own a 1980 mercedes benz 300td (non turbo) and you are right, off the line it is quite slow. but once you get up to redline and shift, you start in the next gear fairly high in the powerband. and in the next, and so on. i guess i just figured that if my extremely heavy 5cyl MB wasnt PAINFULLY slow, then a diesel engine with atleast 100 more hp then the benz and 50 more then the VR6 that it would be able to pull a better time. you make a strong point with sabine only being able to run 9.16..i didnt see that part of the program. 45 seconds is still a huge difference tho. she ended up neaerly beating jeremy's time in a van in a subsequent episode.Jedi2016
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- Philippines
Clarkson's not a racecar driver like Tiff Needell or Vicki Butler-Henderson (ex-co-hosts) or even Sabine Schmidt. Given that, he's not a bad driver. He's got a good sense of car control, and he knows when NOT to push it. He does a lot spins for the show, though, but that's entertainment. Again, not a bad driver, just a goofy one... with a really terrible sense of style and a really acidic wit.
- 89
- Octane100
Those of you that mentioned that the stig is a variety of drivers are correct , since perry mcarthy's departure there hasnt been a single stig there have been a range of ex and current professional drivers.
the most frequent of the pack is ben collins who has been the stig for most of the sittings since perry mcarthy departed for more info google their names, i know ben collins has his own site but its pointless me posting the url as its down at the moment. For the eagle eyed viewer he can be seen without his stig attire in the episode where he races a 4wd evo rally car against some dude with a land skateboard type thingee.
Then there is julian bailey the next most frequent whoose background is of sports car racing , F3000 champ and ex tyrrel F1 driver.
Rob huff ( seat touring car driver in the BTCC) has guested a few times too as the stig.
hope this clears up the cobwebs
the most frequent of the pack is ben collins who has been the stig for most of the sittings since perry mcarthy departed for more info google their names, i know ben collins has his own site but its pointless me posting the url as its down at the moment. For the eagle eyed viewer he can be seen without his stig attire in the episode where he races a 4wd evo rally car against some dude with a land skateboard type thingee.
Then there is julian bailey the next most frequent whoose background is of sports car racing , F3000 champ and ex tyrrel F1 driver.
Rob huff ( seat touring car driver in the BTCC) has guested a few times too as the stig.
hope this clears up the cobwebs
- 1,394
- Lost in thought.
- GTP_crimson
Famine
WOW, famine! I couldn't have done that in 3 breaths!
- 19
Either Im extremely gullible 
, or one of the "STIGS" died doing some stunt
Heres a link:
Just copy that to the URL bar
(still cant figure out all this dumfangled "PHP" stuff)
It even says STIG dies!
, or one of the "STIGS" died doing some stuntHeres a link:
PHP:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/downloads/Just copy that to the URL bar
(still cant figure out all this dumfangled "PHP" stuff)
It even says STIG dies!
EspritRacer1122Either Im extremely gullible
You're very gullible. That was a staged event, the car was empty when it left the carrier. It's what we in the video world like to call "editing". They simply cut from a shot of Stig driving the car to a shot of an empty car being launched. You'll note the telltale compressed air on the deck of the carrier that shot the car off.
The current Stig simply left the show, probably to go back to normal racing, or some other scheduling conflict, and so they made a big deal out of it by saying that he "died".
If you actually believed it, you should probably stop watching television... you could get the wrong idea about practically everything.
- 3,746
jaxmkii
Most people now believe there is no single Stig, rather a collection of Stigs. Also, since the cars are tested in a variety of conditions with a simple ("We'll add 4 seconds to that time because it was clearly wet") adjustment, even if there were only one Stig and he was the most consistent driver ever, the consistency of the results would be dubious at best.
- 683
amp88's got a point, but at least you can compare dry laps
- 1,151
Does anyone have a layout image ? , i remeber seeing on TG once , but i was'nt accomadated by the site. it's fairly tight , smaller in area than motorland i would imagine.
- 19
YAYYYY! MuNkey Go cLunkEy!! heheheo
- 683
or that Thatcher lady 
- 111
We want the top gear test track!that would be ace to race!
Scaff
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