New Bugatti Veyron Race

[robybobey]

Guys! Look!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6986196.stm

Quote: The stunt, part of filming for a new series in October, saw Hammond behind the wheel of a car capable of speeds of more than 250mph, and which can travel from 0 to 60mph in 2.5 seconds. It is said to be the world's fastest production car.

One eyewitness told the Lincolnshire Echo's website that it was an "awesome sight".

The stunt saw Hammond drive the Bugatti for one mile each way down the runway, while the Typhoon flew one mile over the runway, headed vertically for another mile and then turn around.

[Gibby]

My mums boyfriend found these pics on another forum, in two threads.
the 1st. http://forums.airshows.co.uk/cgi-bin...T;f=11;t=37784

2nd. http://forums.airshows.co.uk/cgi-bin...ST;f=9;t=37825

[Polly]

So it was more like a treat for Hammond..

I'm okay with that.

[Weezer]

Originally Posted by Gibby

My mums boyfriend found these pics on another forum, in two threads.
the 1st. http://forums.airshows.co.uk/cgi-bin...T;f=11;t=37784

2nd. http://forums.airshows.co.uk/cgi-bin...ST;f=9;t=37825

I wonder did anyone notice the helmet Hamster was wearing Seems like it will be used in the next series. That's fantastic!

[Frederic]

TG even made it in the Belgian news:
http://www.vrtnieuws.net/cm/vrtnieuw...9TopGear_stunt

[jack_christie]

Kinda funny that's all thats in the news

Cool shots NetWizard

Stunning pix in those links Gibby

Originally Posted by richiekuk

"EuroFighter is a new one, but hardly a good one. Completely outperformed by F22 & newest Russian planes."

Are you F@£?#ng mad, I've seen the F22 in the flesh (well carbon fibre), and yeh it looks good, but the typhoon is better at what it does. The F22 may be stealthy (apparantly), try telling that to the guys who tracked it with a rapier a few years ago.

And well I'll say nothing about the new russian heap.

But the typhoon will not be outperformed by these 2.

Just my 2p worth.

I've never seen anything like the typhoon, what it can do in the sky is jaw droping

[TurnerGTX]

Hamster's 250mph telly stunt

TOP Gear host Richard Hammond took the wheel of a 250mph supercar for a show stunt — a year after nearly dying in a high-speed crash.

The “Hamster” drove a Bugatti Veyron — the world’s fastest street-legal car — in a race with a Typhoon fighter jet.

The BBC said it had followed “stringent” safety procedures for the stunt, filmed last week at RAF Coningsby, Lincs.

One witness described the spectacle — won by the jet, which can travel at twice the speed of sound — as “awesome”.

A Beeb spokesman said: “We were filming for the series in October.”

Richard, 37, suffered brain injuries last September when his jet-powered car crashed at 288mph at an airfield near York.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2...420110,00.html

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally Posted by jack_christie

Kinda funny that's all thats in the news

Cool shots NetWizard

Stunning pix in those links Gibby



I've never seen anything like the typhoon, what it can do in the sky is jaw droping

lets not turn this into another US vs Europe debate!

both are great planes, its not like theyre competitors so why does it matter? they both do the jobs they were designed for pretty well.

plus they can both super cruise, which is the bit i like.... Mach 1.5 or something without the burners on!

i love the F22's hidden weapons bays though, that was a great idea.

[karan1003]

Originally Posted by db2450

Also, US pilots in F22's got out flown by Indian pilots in F16 sometime last year. I will try to find the article.

My friend told me something about that earlier, but I couldn't find anything about it online...

[zenkidori]

Originally Posted by karan1003

My friend told me something about that earlier, but I couldn't find anything about it online...

that's because it wasn't F22s. There was a skirmish between US and Indian pilots, with the US using outdated F15s, outnumbered 3 to 1, with one hand behind their backs(basically). It was just a grab for more funding, people involved or interested in the F22 and F35 programs used it to get more funding.

Aviation Week & Space Technology 10/04/2004, page 50
David A. Fulghum Elmendorf AFB, Alaska

3rd Wing explains what happened when U.S. pilots faced innovative Indian air force tactics
Indian 'Scare'

The losing performance of F-15Cs in simulated air-to-air combat against the Indian air force this year is being perceived by some, both in the U.S. and overseas, as a weakening of American capabilities, and it is generating taunts from within the competitive U.S. fighter community.

The Cope India exercise also seemingly shocked some in Congress and the Pentagon who used the event to renew the call for modernizing the U.S. fighter force with stealthy F/A-22s and F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

The reasons for the drubbing have gone largely unexplained and been misunderstood, according to those based here with the 3rd Wing who participated. Two major factors stand out: None of the six 3rd Wing F-15Cs was equipped with the newest long-range, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars. These Raytheon APG-63(V)2 radars were designed to find small and stealthy targets. At India's request, the U.S. agreed to mock combat at 3-to-1 odds and without the use of simulated long-range, radar-guided AIM-120 Amraams that even the odds with beyond-visual-range kills.

These same U.S. participants say the Indian pilots showed innovation and flexibility in their tactics. They also admit that they came into the exercise underrating the training and tactics of the pilots they faced. Instead of typical Cold War-style, ground-controlled interceptions, the Indians varied aircraft mixes, altitudes and formations. Indian air force planners never reinforced failure or repeated tactics that the U.S. easily repelled. Moreover, the IAF's airborne commanders changed tactics as opportunities arose. Nor did U.S. pilots believe they faced only India's top guns. Instead, they said that at least in some units they faced a mix of experienced and relatively new Indian fighter and strike pilots.

Maj. Mark A. Snowden, the 3rd Wing's chief of air-to-air tactics and a participant in Cope India, spoke for the 13 U.S. pilots who attended the exercise. They flew six F-15Cs, each equipped with a fighter data link for rapid exchange of target information, AIM-9Xs and a Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System, he says. The aircraft had been to Singapore for another exercise and for the long, six-week jaunt it was decided not to bring along the additional maintenance package needed to support AESA-equipped F-15Cs.

Cope India was held Feb. 15-28 at Gwalior, about 150 mi. south of Delhi, where the Indian air force has its Tactics Air Combat Development Establishment, which operates late-model MiG-21 Fishbeds as fighter escorts and MiG-27 Floggers as strike aircraft. Aerospace officials who have heard the classified brief on the exercise say the MiG-21s were equipped with a "gray-market" Bison radar and avionics upgrade.

Mica-armed Dassault Mirages 2000s are also stationed there. Brought in for the exercise were Sukhoi Su-30s (but not the newest Su-30 MKIs) carrying simulated AA-11s and AA-12 Adders. There also were five MiG-29 Flankers involved in a peripheral role and an Antonov An-32 Cline as a simulated AWACS.

"The outcome of the exercise boils down to [the fact that] they ran tactics that were more advanced than we expected," Snowden says. "India had developed its own air tactics somewhat in a vacuum. They had done some training with the French that we knew about, but we did not expect them to be a very well-trained air force. That was silly.

"They could come up with a game plan, but if it wasn't working they would call an audible and change [tactics in flight]," he says. "They made good decisions about when to bring their strikers in. The MiG-21s would be embedded with a Flogger for integral protection. There was a data link between the Flankers that was used to pass information. [Using all their assets,] they built a very good [radar] picture of what we were doing and were able to make good decisions about when to roll [their aircraft] in and out."

Aerospace industry officials say there's some indication that the MiG-21s also may have been getting a data feed from other airborne radars that gave them improved situational awareness of the airborne picture.

Generally the combat scenario was to have four F-15s flying at any time against about 12 Indian aircraft. While the U.S. pilots normally train to four versus 12, that takes into account at least two of the U.S. aircraft having AESA radar and being able to make the first, beyond-visual-range shots. For the exercise, both sides restricted long-range shots.

"That's what the Indians wanted to do," Snowden says. "That [handicap] really benefits a numerically superior force because you can't whittle away some of their force at long range. They were simulating active missiles [including] AA-12s." This means the missile has its own radar transmitter and doesn't depend on the launch aircraft's radar after launch. With the older AA-10 Alamo, the launching fighter has to keep its target illuminated with radar so the U.S. pilots would know when they were being targeted. But with the AA-12, they didn't know if they had been targeted. The Mirage 2000s carried the active Mica missile. Aerospace industry officials said that some of the radars the U.S. pilots encountered, including that of the Mirage 2000s, exhibited different characteristics than those on standard versions of the aircraft.


Indian planners combined the use of top-line fighters like this Su-30 with older types and impressive, innovative tactics.
Credit: USAF TSGT. KEITH BROWN


The U.S. pilots used no active missiles, and the AIM-120 Amraam capability was limited to a 20-naut.-mi. range while keeping the target illuminated when attacking and 18 naut. mi. when defending, as were all the missiles in the exercise.

"When we saw that they were a more professional air force, we realized that within the constraints of the exercise we were going to have a very difficult time," Snowden says. "In general, it looked like they ran a broad spectrum of tactics and they were adaptive. They would analyze what we were doing and then try something else. They weren't afraid to bring the strikers in high or low. They would move them around so that we could never anticipate from day to day what we were going to see."

By comparison, the U.S. pilots don't think they offered the Indians any surprises. The initial tactic is to run a wall with all four F-15s up front. That plays well when the long-range missiles and AESA radar are in play.

"You know we're there and we're not hiding," Snowden says. "But we didn't have the beyond-visual-range shot or the numerical advantage. Eventually we were just worn down by the numbers. They were very smart about it. Their goal was to get to a target area, engage the target and then withdraw without prolonging the fight. If there were a couple of Eagles still alive away from the target area, they would keep them pinned in, get done with the target and then egress with all their forces.

"All their aircraft seemed to be capable of breaking out [targets] and shooting at the ranges the exercise allowed," he says. "We generally don't train to an active missile threat [like the Mirage's Mica or the AA-12 for the Russian-built aircraft], and that was one of the things that caused us some problems."

USAF planners here see Cope India as the first step in an annual series of exchange exercises.

VERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY old news.

back on topic:

I'm looking forward to this episode, although I hope they did more with it than just a drag race down the runway!

[chvvkumar]

Hmm...the reality is somewhat distorted (read - over hyped against the USAF)

I think theese provide more info on the subject (note that the Indians were using Sukhoi su-30 against the USAFs' f-15s)

http://kuku.sawf.org/Articles/139.aspx
http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/007810.php

EDIT: zenkidori beat me to it.

[ViperVX]

Eurofighter is good only in direct engageing, neither F22 nor Russian 37 needn't to get even close, they got Much better radars, navigation, targeting systems, better height deck & radar invisibility systems, they'll shut EF's down LONG be4 they can even reach them. It's a known fact, no need to argue that.

That's why F22 is by far the most expensive plane, they only made like 5 or 6.

Once again, those are not DIRECT AIR ENGAGEMENT fighters, for that there are TONS of good American, Russain, Israel & French ones, but it will never happen.

[Mooecow]

Originally Posted by ViperVX

That's why F22 is by far the most expensive plane, they only made like 5 or 6.

While it is expensive, more then 6 have been produced. 100 F-22's have already been delivered to the Air Force, and more are being produced.http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123066644

[halllo_fireball]

Rubbish rubbish rubbish - They could test it on their track but couldn't go for a timed lap. There was a french review (its on youtube) containing some rude driving and a lot of smoke.
AND NO the Veyron isn't just a dragster! Thinking of all reviews I heard so far the handling is very good and truly amazing for a two ton car.

Jan

[liquid_rockface]

Originally Posted by Weezer

I wonder did anyone notice the helmet Hamster was wearing Seems like it will be used in the next series. That's fantastic!

By gosh you're right That is seriously awesome!!!! I cannot believe that nobody else has commented on this!!

So clearly Hammond has received the helmet and it is his size!!!! Woohooo!! Somebody should post those pics in the helmet topic in the main Top Gear forum! I'm so excited!!!


edit: I see there is a topic...must be new, I missed it!!!

For anybody who didn't notice:

[Viper007Bond]

Umm, ever try reading the front page of our site?

[veneficus]

ohh i cant wait! this next season is going to be a ripper

[enrique]

Link:

+ YouTube Video

10-4

[speedster502]

I'm quite honoured to know that the Bugatti raced literally outside my door step. I did go watch it though, quite a spectacular event.

[Ferrari-Zen]

Nice one, that's gonna be a great film.

...but they should also take it to the Top Gear track and set a laptime with it! (and get it sideways more than Tiff did )

i havent seen the tiff footage yet so i dont know how the veyron drives but from what ive seen the veyron drives awsomely fast but how about cornering and if it does race on the track from what ive read the caparo might beat is anyway.