[09x02] February 4th, 2007

[Cobol74]

robertearl There are rude people everywhere, as there are nice ones too. Do not worry about it, Quiky dealt with it.

naylor83 & robertearl

[Ghostwolf]

Originally Posted by yusha

Yes the Veyron was driven back to Italy by the Stig accompanied by a TG filming crew. most of the exterior passing shots shown in the Bugatti race were shot on the drive back to Italy with the Stig driving. The Stig took three days to reach Italy. You can read about it on http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/pr...s/veyron.shtml.

Jeremy has mentioned the same in a column he writes for the Times.

Driving the Bugatti back to Italy while the extra filming was completed couldn’t be the responsibility of a mere human. That’s why we got the Stig to do the driving. During this three, day odyssey he was his usual chatty self, but we did discover something a bit weird during a break at a French petrol station. The Stig goes absolutely crazy for a popular continental chocolately spread Nutella. No, we don’t understand why either.

Bwahahaha! Stig got hooked on Nutella!

[Chupacabras]

How could you not!?!

[hungus]

The fact that we saw, in brilliant fashion, the 16:4 reach 253 mph is better than almost anything I've seen on TP and I've seen them all. Think about it people...over 400 kph in a car you can get groceries with. Just remarkable. Although I think the CCX is faster on the track...hence Bugatti refusing to lend one. It seems odd they would let May hit it's top speed and not give it to a pro driver for a quick lap. Great show, as usual.

[ChaoZ]

It was an okay episode, but I'm growing less and less fond of these three car shootouts. It's really clear that they're set up regardless to what the presenters truly feel about the cars. I mean, Clarkson doesn't seem at all like the S2000 type (from a previous ep). The TT and Alfa was fine, but why drag the RX-8 back into the ring?

It completely feels like the piece was stretched out to fill a hole. I mean golf and an art gallery? Yuck.

[Danny Tran]

Originally Posted by naylor83

So you think they are using material they shot when the Stig drove the Veyron back from England... like, ages ago? I guess it's possible.

Anyway, here are the best frames of what might be the Stig:
http://davidnaylor.org/blog/2007/02/...ut-helmet.html

I guess we could set up a couple of suspected race car drivers in order to identify the stig.


I'm feeling lazy.

[47]

Good ep!
Kind of short, can never get enough of TG!

coupe test was ok, the gallery was funny, they were like some students on an exam

the bast part was James with the Veyron!

And adunaphel's sig is one of the best quotes I've ever heard on TG:

No wonder Michael Schumacher retired, he's slower than me! - James May

but what's that about a train and Jeremy's anouncement?! enlighten me please...

[Adunaphel]

Originally Posted by 47

And adunaphel's sig is one of the best quotes I've ever heard on TG:

No wonder Michael Schumacher retired, he's slower than me! - James May

which is why i ran to my PC the second the episode finished airing to adjust my sig

[SR71]

Just finished watching the show (I know I'm a bit late but it took me a while to download that 700MB rip) and I must say that I liked it a lot more than the first one (which IMHO was haphazardly put together). The good thing was that the show was mostly about cars and not some boring project (road paving, camping, amphibious cars..yawn), even though the golf part was a bit long. Although I don't like Hugh Grant, he was actually funny, however I was shocked to him being allowed to plug his movie. Surprising also that Clarkson is friends with Jemima, Hugh's Girlfriend.

[Donington]

Originally Posted by SR71

however I was shocked to him being allowed to plug his movie. Surprising also that Clarkson is friends with Jemima, Hugh's Girlfriend.

There's the answer to your own question!

[ZX81]

Originally Posted by Ghostwolf

But then again won't that be a bit too long that it will show up on spy satellite image?

It is a very large test facility. Search in Google Earth for "Ehra-Lessien, Germany" and you will see the track.

[SpoBo]

lol that's nuts. There are even multiple smaller tracks inside the huge one. Anyway, this episode was far better then the last one. Finally a whole episode about cars. And not goofing off the entire time. I really enjoyed it. Keep it up! :p

And why did they let James drive it ? They aren't exactly marketing the Veyron to the race-car driver or the young speed freaks. More to the people who have a lot of cash to burn and like their driving fast :p Anyway, they designed the car to be driven by regular people and not super humans

[edkwon]

Originally Posted by azuriana

I must say that Captain Slow was very calm doing 407 km/h ... I was shocked

actually he did cough/choke, i have an explanation for this:

he was coughing on his own saliva.

Most ppl have saliva constantly building up in their mouths and reflexively swallow it, or else you start drooling like a brain damaged mental or choke on it as it goes down the wrong pipe.

I suspect James while keeping a cool face for the camera, was so focused on the fact he was going that fast that he basically forgot to swallow and probably wasnt blinking either, hence the watering eyes towards the end.

Ed

[azuriana]

At the beginning he have such a low woise ... like someone else ... maybe this throat didn't let him talk

[warpedcow]

Originally Posted by |ntegr4L

they are worried that its not gonna be the fastest round the track and therefore beaten by the lightweights (Zonda F, Carrera GT, Enzo, MC12 etc). Shame.

You put the Enzo in your "lightweights" list but not the Koenigsegg CCX which is about 400lbs LESS than the Enzo... why? Actually, I think the CCX is lighter than all of the above cars... 8)

[speedometer]

good episode but a bit boring, i wanted see more from veyron (i wonder how fast it would be in TG-track) and what comes about that Renault/Kovalainen picture,it tells all about clarksons imagination and was, well... stupid.

[naylor83]

Originally Posted by speedometer

good episode but a bit boring, i wanted see more from veyron (i wonder how fast it would be in TG-track) and what comes about that Renault/Kovalainen picture,it tells all about clarksons imagination.

Yeah... I really do think that the only explanation to them not letting them drive the Veyron round the track is because they know it will be smoked for lunch by the current board leader, the CCX.

Considering the CCX weighs 1180 kg compared to the Veyron with 1888 kg, that's quite a reasonable theory. 195 bhp won't make up for 708 kg...

Actually, it's pretty weird that the Veyron does 0-62 in 2.5 while the CCX takes 3.2. How can it be so "much" faster while weighing 700 kg more?

[NecroJoe]

I always thought TG couldn't plug things "because of the unique way the BBC is funded." Like...Nick Mason's book, etc.

Also, Richard looks soo much older now (in the in-studio segments) than he did a few months ago (the 3-coupe segments)...

I also thought the weird editing tricks during the introduction of the TT were unessesary...

[hungus]

Originally Posted by naylor83

Yeah... I really do think that the only explanation to them not letting them drive the Veyron round the track is because they know it will be smoked for lunch by the current board leader, the CCX.

Considering the CCX weighs 1180 kg compared to the Veyron with 1888 kg, that's quite a reasonable theory. 195 bhp won't make up for 708 kg...

Actually, it's pretty weird that the Veyron does 0-62 in 2.5 while the CCX takes 3.2. How can it be so "much" faster while weighing 700 kg more?

Pretty easy actually. AWD. The CCX has to put all of that torque to the rears only. Smoke and spin ensue...

[tedb43o2o3]

Seriously, even my golf skill is much better than three of them.
09x02 only have 53 min...., they cut it.