Top Gear At Silverstone

[essentialatom]

I've put up my pictures in this thread. They're not brilliant but worth a look

[jack_christie]

Nice pix essentialatom

Inaccurate bollox in the Sun: Slamster Richard in new smash

[Demon_X]

i read the article

that got me thinking...is Hamster FULLY recovered from the crash?

i mean...will he really be able to do what he did in the earlier series...

i wouldn't blame him for what he went through

but....is he okay?

[djellison]

If they're only going to get that amount of time from a fairly expensive project as renting, running, and breaking and fixing a racing car, getting racing licenses sorted etc etc...how much do they spend on an entire episode!!

Doug

[ArosaMike]

Well at least part of that story in The Sun is correct which makes a change for them! LOL Where the hell did they get £100,000 from? LOL The car's probably worth £30,000 max. Fundamentally it's a production car. They make it sound so serious as well!

[Viper007Bond]

It's race spec. I'm sure it's a lot more than the original (roll cage, stripped interior, racing exhaust, brakes, wheels, wing, engine mods, etc.).

[anti-net]

Yeah the BBC are reporting it too (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6988623.stm) it was hardly a crash, more a racing dump.

[Martyn]

LOL, that Sun article... "no other cars involved", no Hammond didn't t-bone a Chad Racing Mosler did he...

[anti-net]

Heh, the sun proving there that they are of course, a very accurate news paper.

[essentialatom]

My favourite bit is "A spectator said:"

Really? I know that if I'd seen it, I wouldn't be saying to The Sun, “He could see memories of the jet car were flooding back and Richard needed space.”

You do wonder how they can get away with just... blatant lying.

[IceBone]

The only thing missing is the fact that either "despite their bad luck they went on to win the race" or "that they didn't finish the race at all because of the crash". just as blatant a lie as any.

[Viper007Bond]

Didn't you hear? The Easter Bunny pushed Hammond back to the pits.

[essentialatom]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

Didn't you hear? The Easter Bunny pushed Hammond back to the pits.

Who knew? Rabbits and hamsters can coexist peacefully! I knew someone who had both and all they did was fight.

[Werner]

Originally Posted by Martyn

Another pic!



Now going back out for the restart!

would it be possible to get this pic in full res? it's wonderfull!

[James May's Hair]

Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has been involved in another accident. The 37-year-old presenter of the BBC2 motoring show was at home when he stubbed his toe on the leg of the coffee table which was in the middle of his living room. Hammond – known to his fans as Hamster – was said to have been unconscious for several minutes.

An ‘onlooker’ said: “he nearly died, there was coffee everywhere and a Bourbon biscuit was slightly jolted on a plate. His wife came in and found him. She immediately rushed to the kitchen for a Jay cloth. After the accident last year, this was the last thing he needed. The carpet was new and although Mindy managed to get most of it soaked up, inevitably, there is a small stain”.

Mindy is said to be distraught at Richard’s reckless attitude towards biscuits and is said to have taken the children to stay with friends.

“It’s just one load of bollocks after another”, said a contributor on the popular FinalGear website. “Lock this thread”, demanded a user calling himself Honda F1.

A BBC spokesman said: “oh fuck off! It was a fucking racing car, taking part in a fucking race at a fucking racing circuit. Haven’t you got better things to report, you c**t!?

The HSE is investigating and the Daily Mail have blamed Jeremy Clarkson and have demanded he be arrested.

[Donington]

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by James May's Hair

Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has been involved in another accident. The 37-year-old presenter of the BBC2 motoring show was at home when he stubbed his toe on the leg of the coffee table which was in the middle of his living room. Hammond – known to his fans as Hamster – was said to have been unconscious for several minutes.

An ‘onlooker’ said: “he nearly died, there was coffee everywhere and a Bourbon biscuit was slightly jolted on a plate. His wife came in and found him. She immediately rushed to the kitchen for a Jay cloth. After the accident last year, this was the last thing he needed. The carpet was new and although Mindy managed to get most of it soaked up, inevitably, there is a small stain”.

Mindy is said to be distraught at Richard’s reckless attitude towards biscuits and is said to have taken the children to stay with friends.

“It’s just one load of bollocks after another”, said a contributor on the popular FinalGear website. “Lock this thread”, demanded a user calling himself Honda F1.

A BBC spokesman said: “oh fuck off! It was a fucking racing car, taking part in a fucking race at a fucking racing circuit. Haven’t you got better things to report, you c**t!?

The HSE is investigating and the Daily Mail have blamed Jeremy Clarkson and have demanded he be arrested.

hahaha good effing call...

[ArosaMike]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

It's race spec. I'm sure it's a lot more than the original (roll cage, stripped interior, racing exhaust, brakes, wheels, wing, engine mods, etc.).

It was a E46 BMW 330 DTi (fundamentally just a 330d SE). It was built to production spec. The car was the later revision of the E36 with the funky 'flame surfaced' front lights. Here is a similar car on Pistonheads for £18k http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/225359.htm

Now I quote from the eerc rules for the championship:

7 ENGINE
The engine (crankcase and cylinder head) must remain original in all cases as the engine is
manufactured, an alternative engine can be fitted to the car but it has to be the same make of
manufacture as the car. The Organisers must be notified if the engine size (capacity) is altered.
7.1 Location
The engine must be installed in the original engine compartment and the crankshaft axis must be
retained. Intake and exhaust manifold are free.
7.2 Induction Systems
7.2.1 Supercharging is permitted provided that it complies with the corresponding series model of the
manufacturer. In case of supercharging, the nominal cylinder capacity will be multiplied by 1, 4 and the
car will pass into the class corresponding to the fictive volume thus obtained.
7.2.2 For cars with mechanical superchargers (compressors), as for example G compressors, the factor for
the cylinder capacity will also be 1.4.The supercharging system must remain original; supercharger or
compressor cars will carry a 1.4 multiplication. (Ex. Comprex and G compressors). This means that a
naturally aspirated engine must remain a naturally aspirated engine; an exhaust-gas turbocharger
engine must remain an exhaust-gas turbocharger engine.
7.2.3 The addition of a supercharger not complying with the original system is consequently not eligible. The
make and the design of the supercharging system are free (so a Garrett supercharger can for example
be replaced by a KKK supercharger and vice versa).
The equivalent formula for rotary engines covered by NSU Wankel patents is as follows: Fictive volume
= 1, 5 x (maximum minus minimum capacities of the combustion chambers). For the cylinder capacity
calculation, the value for p is 3,1415.
The fuel and air feed as well as auxiliary devices, radiators and similar are free.

So in other words they must run the standard engine. They can alter the map or run a different turbo, but it's probably not going to extend to much more than a couple of grand at most.

Pick up points for suspension can't change so you have to run standard wishbones etc.

So the only other mods are a rollcage and bigger fuel tank. Which ever way you put it, there is no way that car cost £100,000 even with the labour charges included. For that amount of money you could buy an ex WTCC 3 series! http://www.racecarsdirect.com/viewlisting.php?view=6872

[Martyn]

For those of you that requested high res pictures, I'm not being rude, but I have about 1600 pictures to process from the entire weekend, so they may take a while!

[ArosaMike]

Originally Posted by Martyn

For those of you that requested high res pictures, I'm not being rude, but I have about 1600 pictures to process from the entire weekend, so they may take a while!

I know the feeling mate. I had 800plus from Britcar and Renault World Series. Obviously though you were awake a lot longer than me Any idea what caused the Duke car to go out? I was told by one of the guys it crashed out, but was it bad?