Un-official GTPlanet BBC Topgear UK ThreadTV

[Sureboss]

A lot less power, and a lot less weight. The Veyron is half way to being classed as a space shuttle.

 

[Richardrfo]

You can hardly compare them considering the weight difference. If you really want a fair comparison, shall we strip out a Veyron and see what happens then?

 

[Bram Turismo]

You can hardly compare them considering the weight difference. If you really want a fair comparison, shall we strip out a Veyron and see what happens then?

Unfair comparison as well. Because then you'd have a car that weighs the same as an F1, but with a 1,000 horsepower

Caterham R500, kthxbai.

 

[Richardrfo]

Unfair comparison as well. Because then you'd have a car that weighs the same as an F1, but with a 1,000 horsepower

Caterham R500, kthxbai.

Alright, how about cars of it's day?
Ferrari F40 was 40kg lighter but also 156bhp down, 201mph.
Jaguar XJ220 was 35kg heavier, 85bhp down, 217mph.

Sure, that's impressive, but then how about doing what they've done here and comparing the F1 against the fastest production car of the mid 70s?
Not very fair there either, is it.

Also, where does a Caterham come into this? Yes it's the weight-power ratio but it's not been crowned the world's fastest production car so it's invalid.

 

[Perfect Balance]

BTW; girl in blue.

Yeah I noticed her, alot. Sexiest girl I've seen on TG.

I actually didn't find her that great looking at all. I did find the blond that Jeremy talked to later on pretty good looking. Her teeth were slightly weird but it didn't ruin her for me.

 

[-Fred-]

You can hardly compare them considering the weight difference. If you really want a fair comparison, shall we strip out a Veyron and see what happens then?

Not much will happen, because you can only strip out so much before getting into important parts of the car... 4 turbos, 4 intercoolers, 10 radiators, differentials and control modules for the computers... That all adds up to a lot of weight, but that weight is important for the car to remain functionnal.

The F1 was raced successfully on a worldwide level, the F40 as well, even the XJ220 got its share of racing (although not quite as successful as the other two)... Those cars came from racing backgrounds, were built and engineered and designed by people who came from the racing world...

The Veyron has none of that, it was built by a bunch of Volkswagen engineers to make sure it would be claimed as the fastest car in the world. Pedigree is as important as speed in the supercar world, and despite the Bugatti name, it has none. It's a technological marvel, certainly, but in my book, it's miles away from being as impressive as the F40, or the F1, or even the XJ220.

 

[Dijital Majik]

BTW; girl in blue.

👍
all I saw during that segment. and thought it funny how they bring the girls to the front of the crowd every time

 

[Joey D]

OK episode. The cheap car challenge wasn't nearly as funny as I had hoped for.

After watching the Veyron v. McLaren race I still have to say the McLaren is far cooler and I would easily take one over the Veyron.

 

[McLaren]

18, I'd say.

16-17, maybe even younger. No offense, but English girls to me look a lot younger than they appear.

 

[Holdenhsvgtsr]

The F1 was raced successfully on a worldwide level, the F40 as well, even the XJ220 got its share of racing (although not quite as successful as the other two)... Those cars came from racing backgrounds, were built and engineered and designed by people who came from the racing world...

F1 was never built to be a race car it was built to be the best drivers car,it just happened to be rather quick around a track.

The Veyron has none of that, it was built by a bunch of Volkswagen engineers to make sure it would be claimed as the fastest car in the world. Pedigree is as important as speed in the supercar world, and despite the Bugatti name, it has none. It's a technological marvel, certainly, but in my book, it's miles away from being as impressive as the F40, or the F1, or even the XJ220.

erm the veyron was NEVER built to be the fastest road car,iirc it never was as vw never put it forward to the guinness book of records.

 

[Sureboss]

You can hardly compare them considering the weight difference. If you really want a fair comparison, shall we strip out a Veyron and see what happens then?

And how many of those 16 cylinders will come out in the strip down?

 

[Blitz187]

16-17, maybe even younger. No offense, but English girls to me look a lot younger than they appear.

I think that applies more to Asian women then English girls....

 

[Moglet]

16-17, maybe even younger. No offense, but English girls to me look a lot younger than they appear.

To quote the Inbetweeners;

"If there's grass on the pitch, play ball"

"But what if there isn't grass on the pitch?"

"Well by the time you've found out it's probably too late anyway"

 

[Dave A]

erm the veyron was NEVER built to be the fastest road car,iirc it never was as vw never put it forward to the guinness book of records.

Yes it was, when they were designing the car the engineers were told that it had to do over 250mph, making it the fastest road car in the world.

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

F1 was never built to be a race car it was built to be the best drivers car,it just happened to be rather quick around a track.

Whut? Fred never said the F1 was designed as a race car and then trimmed up into a road car, but simply that the McLaren came from a racing background.

 

[McLaren]

Whut? Fred never said the F1 was designed as a race car and then trimmed up into a road car, but simply that the McLaren came from a racing background.

Exactly. Hell, it was even Bruce's idea to something like the F1 around.

 

[MagpieRacer]

16-17, maybe even younger. No offense, but English girls to me look a lot younger than they appear.

Defo 18, based on the fact you gottza be 18 to go there.

 

[-Fred-]

Whut? Fred never said the F1 was designed as a race car and then trimmed up into a road car, but simply that the McLaren came from a racing background.

That is correct, Gordon Murray, head designer and engineer of the F1 project, for the young ones who were most likely 2 or 3 years old back in 1992, if not newborns, was also the chief engineer/designer for the McLaren Formula 1 Team.

The car went on to win overall at Le Mans in 1995, the last true race car based on a road car to do so, and dominated the BPR GT championship afterwards, as well as appearances in FIA GT and JGTC. And the BMW S70/2 engine ended up powering the V12 LMR sports cars from 1998 to 2000, again quite successfully.

241 mph. In 1993. Without 4 turbochargers, without all wheel drive, traction control, stability control, no semi-automatic twin clutch paddle gearbox. Instead of just throwing endless amounts of money at it to make it do what they wanted it to do, they engineered it so that everything was absolutely perfect. Hence why it's still the greatest.

 

[Keef]

I was utterly let down by the F1 piece... It's like it was rushed and just jammed in there at the end as a filler piece. And besides, a drag race is not exactly a good comparison in this case, but even then, it just proves how advanced the F1 was for its time. 300+hp down on the Veyron, and yet only what, 3-4 car lengths behind after a mile? How many 16 year old cars can do that? How many month old cars can do that, period? Wonder what it would do at the track, though... I don't think it would be faster than the Veyron, but it would be fairly close. Probably closer to Enzo territory I believe.

And the teeny bit was absolutely hilarious. That's TopGear at its finest there. 👍

I'd guess the F1's track performance wouldn't be as stellar as it could be. That would pretty much depend 100% on the tires the car is using. Tires from 1993 are no match for the rubber that modern cars wear. I vaguely remember a Road & Track feature a couple years ago where they included an orange F1 in some sort of test. The performance numbers (I'm not sure if they were freshly tested or not) were quite underwhelming, though staggering for the car's time period. Plus, the car sat high off the ground and had quite a bit less body control than modern supercars.

But I think the car has the goods to make it happen. Give it modern performance tires, set it out on the track, and I believe it would be witchcraft.

Anyways, I was disappointed that Top Gear didn't give out any figures for the drag race. The Veyron is supposed to have an insane sub-3 second 0-60 time, and I remember the McLaren's being 3.2 or so. And yet the F1 jumped out in front immediately, and out-accelerated the Bugatti for a good while. I'd bet that F1 got to 60 before the Veyron, and maybe even faster than that.

 

[Joey D]

241 mph. In 1993. Without 4 turbochargers, without all wheel drive, traction control, stability control, no semi-automatic twin clutch paddle gearbox. Instead of just throwing endless amounts of money at it to make it do what they wanted it to do, they engineered it so that everything was absolutely perfect. Hence why it's still the greatest.

+1

I couldn't agree more with this statement when it comes to talking about the Veyron v. F1. I don't even need to say anything since Fred basically said the exact same thing I was thinking.

 

[Pebb]

Episode 3 - Preview

Source: Top Gear Website

Filming’s wrapped for another week down at the Top Gear studio and it looks like yet more sensible consumer advice from Jeremy, Richard and James.

In this Sunday’s show the boys will attempt to find three sensibly priced small cars that won’t make you miserable – a process that involves haranguing bankers, harnessing large dogs, and almost getting arrested. Like we said, sensible stuff.

Plus, James meets American stunt driving legend Ken Block and Jeremy tests the mildly insane Mercedes SL Black on the track.

This week’s star in our reasonably priced car is BBC One funnyman Michael McIntyre.

 

[Joey D]

Awesome, Ken Block! I can't wait!

 

[Moglet]

In this Sunday’s show the boys will attempt to find three sensibly priced small cars that won’t make you miserable

Does that mean new or used? I'm guessing used but I'm hoping new so there's at least a small chance of a cheeky little Fiat popping up

 

[TheCracker]

I'd guess the F1's track performance wouldn't be as stellar as it could be. That would pretty much depend 100% on the tires the car is using. Tires from 1993 are no match for the rubber that modern cars wear. I vaguely remember a Road & Track feature a couple years ago where they included an orange F1 in some sort of test. The performance numbers (I'm not sure if they were freshly tested or not) were quite underwhelming, though staggering for the car's time period. Plus, the car sat high off the ground and had quite a bit less body control than modern supercars.

But I think the car has the goods to make it happen. Give it modern performance tires, set it out on the track, and I believe it would be witchcraft.

It's been timed by EVO at their usual test track (Bedford West) here.

Although i have a feeling that the one they used is the one owned by a bloke who calls himself flemke on Pistonheads, and is slightly modified using contemporary Enzo spec tyres.

 

[Paulie]

With TG AU season 2 having just come to an end, I was really disappointed to find that we're not going straight to this new season, so I'll have to wait even longer, because I will wait until it's on tele.

 

[McLaren]

Anyways, I was disappointed that Top Gear didn't give out any figures for the drag race. The Veyron is supposed to have an insane sub-3 second 0-60 time, and I remember the McLaren's being 3.2 or so. And yet the F1 jumped out in front immediately, and out-accelerated the Bugatti for a good while. I'd bet that F1 got to 60 before the Veyron, and maybe even faster than that.

Well, I would assume that not only besides being lighter, but that The Stig had an absolutely perfect launch.

1 of the most amazing things about the F1 is that all 64 cars are still around, any crashed being rebuilt. Being so, I wonder just how many of these rebuilt ones stand up to newer cars considering some material in the cars has come a long way since 1990.

 

[Pebb]

Here are two shots from the episode 3 rehearsal:

Source - Top Gear Website

 

[Delphic Reason]

That Mito makes me go all crosseyed.

Not a looker.

 

[J-PaP]

Well, I would assume that not only besides being lighter, but that The Stig had an absolutely perfect launch.

1 of the most amazing things about the F1 is that all 64 cars are still around, any crashed being rebuilt. Being so, I wonder just how many of these rebuilt ones stand up to newer cars considering some material in the cars has come a long way since 1990.

Unfortunately that is not true. I know that 2 (road cars) were written off. One was in a high speed crash (was owned by an accountant in the UK I believe). The second I know was in some kind of engine fire however was still rebuilt (The spare F1 chassis (107) that was built was used as part of the rebuild process).

There was recently another one that received a fair amount of damage after catching ablaze in the US but that should be repaired.

 

[McLaren]

Unfortunately that is not true. I know that 2 (road cars) were written off. One was in a high speed crash (was owned by an accountant in the UK I believe). The second I know was in some kind of engine fire however was still rebuilt (The spare F1 chassis (107) that was built was used as part of the rebuild process).

There was recently another one that received a fair amount of damage after catching ablaze in the US but that should be repaired.

I've heard of both & both were sent off to McLaren's HQ. It is extremely probable that they were both repaired to the company's best extent, esp. if Ferrari has done the same to nearly every Enzo.