[18x06] March 4th, 2012

[Mee]

Weird choice of cars, or rather engines. Morgan has around 100, X-Bow IIRC around 250 and the 7 has 500hp ...

The Caterham R500 has 263 bhp, not 500. That would be absolutely crazy in a car weighing +/- 500 kg .
The sound of that Caterham though .

 

[GerFix]

Brilliant episode! Near perfect. 9

 

[Mr Snow]

Good, solid episode, let down my SIARPC 7/10
Only interesting car shown in the Track-car segment was the Morgan (and the only one I liked)
and apart from using aeroplane engines the Brutus/Bentley were too far apart in application. For me the Bentley is too refined and the Brutus not enough. I'd have like something in-between.
News, pretty forgettable.

 

[NoNeedForAChestWig]

I suppose if I had to vote I'd give it a 7. Not my favourite episode, even of this series, but it wasn't bad either. The Newws was, as is often the case these days, the best part of the show IMO. I can't understand their choice of cars for the test at all, particularly the Morgan, but the Xbow beach buggy as well, to a lesser extent - I'd have thought a better idea would have been testing the Lotus Caterham against another purpose designed/built track car and some kind of fast hatchback like the Focus or something, since the roadcar would be completely different yet still be something people might bring along to a trackday.

 

[suggsygirl]

It will surprise precisely no one who knows me that the news was my favourite bit, especially the bromance bit. I think you were going to Moscow for a dirty weekend actually, at least, that's what was happening in my head.... and now I need a minute.

I was quite happy with the rest of the show, although I wasn't keen on the SIARPC and normally I like that bit. It didn't seem like a remotely even match in the track day bit but the doughnuts section made me laugh. Actually I liked all the Hammond bits... bloody hell, maybe I'm turning into a bit of a closet Hamster-fancier :shock:

 

[smoke]

The Brutus/Bentley film was so manly I think I got pregnant just watching it.

The track day cars in the real world thing is the kind of film that got me into TG in the first place - I'm mechanically useless and don't know a lot about the oily bits of a car, but love the films that celebrate the passion and joy and lunacy of cars and driving.

 

[aaurora]

Ooh, I'm a bit stuck on the rating this week. 8 or 9, I'm thinking. I can't decide.

Track Day: I think each presenter drove a vehicle that was well suited to them. I love Hammond's Morgan (I said Morgan...) and James looked superb in the Caterham. I suspect this first section was filmed earlier than the driving-to-work section as James' hair was much shorter in the first piece. From the news reports of them buying the wet weather clothes, they filmed that on the 18th of Feb, but the first piece... who knows. Back when James' hair was shorter, anyway. Oh god, I loved seeing them driving around the track. LOVED them competing against one another, LOVED them doing donuts (James was FANTASTIC, as was Richard - oh dear, I had a crisis). Really a good segment! More like this - more the 3 of them together, always.

News: HA Moscow honeymoon. I'm in the same boat as suggsygirl on this one YAY they included the Monopoly story - hehe. I just adore the thought of them playing Monopoly for four hours together, probably whilst quite drunk. Lovely. Jeremy said in his video that it was a very funny news, and although it was, it definitely wasn't the funniest. I still laughed, so it still is very much acceptable

Brutus: It wasn't until my second viewing that I found myself concentrating more and I enjoyed it much more second viewing. Those things are insane. Jeremy definitely has gargantuan testes for doing everything that he does.

Driving To Dunsfold in the Rain: First, OUCH. That would have absolutely stung. I loved the "James starting the car" challenge, and Richard helping him was nice. I think that if it hadn't rained for that segment, I don't know what else they would have done to make it seem 'interesting'. The rain and discomfort definitely added interest, no matter how much misery they were in.

Great episode! Shame to see the end of the series already next week.

 

[abczyx]

The review reads like a 9 to me!

Also, it seems pretty clear that they deliberately timed the journey for the rain. Given that they called the clothing shop (days) in advance.

Also, I have just realised that, not only did I not want to strangle RH once, but he delivered the funniest bit of the episode!

 

[Gingertom]

Driving To Dunsfold in the Rain: First, OUCH. That would have absolutely stung. I loved the "James starting the car" challenge, and Richard helping him was nice. I think that if it hadn't rained for that segment, I don't know what else they would have done to make it seem 'interesting'. The rain and discomfort definitely added interest, no matter how much misery they were in.

They shared a secret with us about that at the filming:

Spoiler

They filmed the stuff at Donington during the summer and they were waiting for a rainy filming day to do the "wet 'n' wild drive to work" bit, but they didn't get one until just 2 weeks ago!

 

[NoNeedForAChestWig]

Strangely, I sort of suspected that might have been the case, if not in such an extreme way.

 

[Sascha77]

The Bently and Brutus were cool as hell. Now I want to see how fast Jay Leno's Tank Car would go around the track.

Yup. The tank car would've fit perfectly into that piece. And you do know that Leno is currently building a Merlin-engined Bentley himself? There's a video on the engine on his website.

The Caterham R500 has 263 bhp, not 500.

Yikes! My bad. Must've been thinking of the Atom V8/500.

I think you have to grease the valves every so-and-so miles,

I seriously doubt that since the BMW VI is an aircraft engine. How are you going to manually lubricate it in operation when it's mounted in a wing-nacelle?

On the right in this pic there are two black lines running up towards the head/camshaft. My guess is that they are oil-lines delivering oil to the camshaft-bearings.

Another pic showing the lines entering the cam-housing

or it could be like a diesel locomotive where oil is very gradually allowed to seep out onto the components.

Seems more likely. Without a fully enclosed head, a little oil is bound to escape anyway - hence JC getting splashed with hot oil. The valves themselves are "greased" by the fuel (which would've been much more oily back then). I don't see why you'd have to constantly grease the springs. A lot of engines back then had exposed valve springs.

Side-note: The BMW VI didn't *really* power the He-111. IIRC, only the very first prototypes used this engine. Later prototypes and production planes used more powerful Daimler Benz engines.


Re-watched the espisode in 720p now, and it's another 8/10 for me. Not a lot of sillyness, some truly great cars, another epic rack during the news and I even liked the Audi-joke. Points deducted for recycled jokes/lines ("the first time I've been wrong since 1974"/"track-days have become such big business..". SIARPC wasn't all that interesting, but that's ok.

So far, S18 is the best series in recent years (conveniently ignoring the Sweeney-disaster). Even with one show to go, they'd have to royally screw up in ep07 to change that verdict. The only things missing from the series are the new 911 and an epic race.



S.

 

[NoNeedForAChestWig]

I love Hammond's Morgan (I said Morgan...)

Oh dear, it appears my silly sense of humour is rubbing off on the general FG population

 

[he-he]

Oh dear, it appears my silly sense of humour is rubbing off on the general FG population

We're doomed..

 

[MWF]

Oh dear, it appears my silly sense of humour is rubbing off on the general FG population

I thought you only rubbed off over he-he?

 

[NoNeedForAChestWig]

We're doomed..

You can go off people, you know. Apparently

 

[simbaleo]

I seriously doubt that since the BMW VI is an aircraft engine. How are you going to manually lubricate it in operation when it's mounted in a wing-nacelle?

Aircraft engines have service intervals like any other engine. Nacelles have access ports and hatches for exactly that reason, and the engines are removed completely with relatively frequency. In that time period they were usually lubricated with very thick grease. Powdered graphite was also used in some applications.

The valves themselves are "greased" by the fuel (which would've been much more oily back then).

Fuel is not a lubricant, even in fuel oil form. Moreover, there's no way for unburnt fuel to get anywhere near the exhaust valve stems or rocker arms, and if there was a significant percentage of oil in the fuel, you'd see a huge plume of white/blue smoke from the thing whenever it ran.

I don't see why you'd have to constantly grease the springs.

It has less to do with the springs and more to do with the contact point on the rocker arms, valve stems, and related hardware. Don't lubricate them and they seize, which in an aircraft application, will really ruin your day.

 

[blkhks]

I gave it a 9.

Three epic laps from the Stig were a 10+ in my book. He was really working all three around the track. Just fantastic driving just to keep them on the track, let alone the lap times he did in them. I thought the Brutus was best with those little "pram wheels" it had and how the Stig was sawing away at the wheel (even though I'd rather have the Bentley or, especially, the Morgan). Well done Stiggie!

Added plus was the good looking women during the news. One behind Jezza right shoulder, the blonde off of James' right shoulder and, my favorite, the one behind Richard's left shoulder with the scarf.

But the SIARPC knocked it down a notch overall.

 

[gt1750]

This was a great episode, I was thoroughly entertained from the start till the credits. I absolutely loved all the crazy machines shown, especially the Spitfire powered Bentley. Epic 10/10

 

[aaurora]

They shared a secret with us about that at the filming:

Spoiler

They filmed the stuff at Donington during the summer and they were waiting for a rainy filming day to do the "wet 'n' wild drive to work" bit, but they didn't get one until just 2 weeks ago!

Thank YOU Gingertom! That's fantastic to know +1 to you.

 

[JB21NALAX]

Best top gear episode in a couple seasons. They weren't being stupid and it didn't look scripted. STIARPC was ok, but that does't take away from how good the show was. 10/10