Another Top Gear race?

[Richmondgal]

Found this while reading stuff about the Blackpool Lights:

The appearance of the hosts of BBC 2's cult motoring programme - who raced to the resort - stole the show.

A bedraggled Jeremy Clarkson told the packed crowds: "We had a bit of a Top Gear race today. All I can tell you is that James May lost. All I want to do now is go to bed. That was a long day."

Although the race remains a closely guarded secret the presenter was spotted driving away in a Jaguar with fellow host Hammond behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Polo.

May remained nowhere to be seen while it was rumoured the Stig had got a National Express coach to the resort.

It is believed that the race was from Basle in Switzerland and will be the subject of an hour-long Top Gear to be screened at a later date.

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/bl...wds.4442803.jp

[anti-net]

oohhh I love Basel, I use to live near there my guess is its a race between a quick car (the Jag) a normal car (polo) on the basis that you can't go the top speed of the Jaguar because of speed limits and speed Nazi's. And putting Stig on a National Express coach because his job is too awesome and needs to be ruined a bit

[leviathan]

Well... another race involving Stig on public transport then, only bigger scale this time.

Let's see: Hammond in a Polo, Jeremy in a Jag, and James - whatever he was in - losing. I like the idea of "fast car vs. slow car" race, with the coach maybe being the "very big very slow car"... but what could James use then? Any ideas? All I can think of would be his flying washing machine, but that would be repeating, not in the sense of TG.

[Mineworksfine]

"Stig on a National Express coach because his job is too awesome and needs to be ruined a bit"

Bear in mind it probably won't be the real Stig if they do. Look at the cross London Challenge. The Stig in that piece was nearly as tall as Jeremy, whereas the regular Stig looks to stand at about 5'10". My guess is that when the Stig isn't actually driving it's probably just one of their researchers in identical clothing.

[Cobol74]

Probably correct - but what a 'party pooper'.

[j8mie]

Rubs hands together. Another cool Top Gear race, I can't wait.

Originally Posted by Mineworksfine

...Bear in mind it probably won't be the real Stig if they do. Look at the cross London Challenge. The Stig in that piece was nearly as tall as Jeremy, whereas the regular Stig looks to stand at about 5'10". My guess is that when the Stig isn't actually driving it's probably just one of their researchers in identical clothing.

No doubt that will be the case. When ever the Stig is asked to do something normal that doesn't involve fast driving his height does seem to change, so it's going to be someone else. The Caterham race to Knockhill was another case I suspect when they used a member of the production crew to be "The Stig".

[Mineworksfine]

Just had another thought......

"Some say he expands and contracts depending on the ambient temperature.........". After all Jeremy did describe the weather as rather hot and muggy when they did the London thing. Mmmmmmm?

[MacGuffin]

This kind of race would only make sense if they largely involved the German Autobahns, instead of cruising through France once more again (yawn)...

Then it would be very nice to see if the more powerful car has a chance against a slower car with lower fuel consumption

[Mineworksfine]

Originally Posted by MacGuffin

This kind of race would only make sense if they largely involved the German Autobahns, instead of cruising through France once more again (yawn)...

Then it would be very nice to see if the more powerful car has a chance against a slower car with lower fuel consumption

Just remembered one of Paul Horrell's* columns from TG mag a while back about the fastest way to cross Europe. He had worked out that driving as fast as one could is not necessarily the quickest method due to the vastly increased fuel consumption (remember wind resistance increases with the square of speed so therefore does fuel use) requiring more fuel stops. By maintaining a steady cruising speed of around 85mph the whole journey time is reduced as he had to stop a lot less often.

They could therefore be testing this theory at least in part with Jeremy going hell for leather in the (rumoured) Jag while James takes things steady - tortoise and hare kind of thing - 'though where Richard and the Stig factor into the equation I'm not sure. If I come up with any ideas later I'll post them but if anyone else has any theories it'd be interesting to hear them.

*For those who don't read the mag Paul is one of the staff writers. He does a monthly column like James and Jeremy as well as road tests and other articles. He is a bit of an ubergeek, right down to the glasses and a slight lisp, but his copy is usually pretty good.

[Soup?]

If it is from Swiss land, wouldn't that mean It's Stigness will need a passport?

Just a thought.

[leviathan]

Originally Posted by Soup?

If it is from Swiss land, wouldn't that mean It's Stigness will need a passport?

Some say, his first name actually is "The"...

[stiggie]

It's Stigness already has a passport. He has appeared in the US on one of Clarkson's DVDs and he drove the Veyron back to Italy for them after the truffle race.

[Soup?]

Originally Posted by leviathan

Some say, his first name actually is "The"...

Some say that to look at his passport photo is to look at The Abyss

[_HighVoltage_]

Hammond drove my car!!! Wohoo!

Oh no...I expect some major bashing from Jeremy and James

[theaxe]

That's interesting, I met Jeremy on a Zurich to London flight back in August. I wonder if he was coming back from filming this episode...

[UNHchabo]

Originally Posted by Mineworksfine

Just remembered one of Paul Horrell's* columns from TG mag a while back about the fastest way to cross Europe. He had worked out that driving as fast as one could is not necessarily the quickest method due to the vastly increased fuel consumption

Jeremy mentioned this already during the Oslo race, while driving the SLR on the Autobahn. I'm not sure they'd do that again; I imagine this race has a different point.

[Mineworksfine]

Originally Posted by UNHchabo

Jeremy mentioned this already during the Oslo race, while driving the SLR on the Autobahn. I'm not sure they'd do that again; I imagine this race has a different point.

Well remembered. I'd forgotten about that, which is odd considering I was at Dunsfold for the recording of that show! It's me age doncha know.

[UNHchabo]

Originally Posted by Mineworksfine

Well remembered. I'd forgotten about that, which is odd considering I was at Dunsfold for the recording of that show! It's me age doncha know.

That episode was on BBC America just two weeks ago, so it was fresh in my mind.

[hajj]

Originally Posted by MacGuffin

This kind of race would only make sense if they largely involved the German Autobahns, instead of cruising through France once more again (yawn)...

Then it would be very nice to see if the more powerful car has a chance against a slower car with lower fuel consumption

I guess you are forgetting that most of France in actually empty, whereas the South West of Germany is not. In France you can do 150km/h all day long without any problems (mind the speed cameras), whereas that would be a problem in that part of Germany. And yes Paris would be a problem, but you need to go through Paris anyway.

Anyway, seems like a good race.