James May - best driver of the three?

If I had to choose someone from Top Gear to drive a long distance sensibly on public roads I would choose James and a sat nav, but if you absolutely had to get somewhere as quickly as possible then it would have to be His Stigness...
 
James would get lost even with a sat nav.
I think Stig would be the fastest road driver in the US because all the roads are straight. And as we have seen in the Caterham-Building episode he goes straight if he can.
 
marquito42 said:
James would get lost even with a sat nav.
I think Stig would be the fastest road driver in the US because all the roads are straight. And as we have seen in the Caterham-Building episode he goes straight if he can.
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Don't let the shows affect your judgement. I think James May is perfectly capable of finding directions with a satnav
 
I just remembered that he did once. In the race between the Ford Ka and a Pigeon
 
First of all, first time poster, but long time lurker. Hello all :)

Electric-Mayhem said:
I think he certainly has the most potential, and is actually the "best" driver in two ways. First, he is certainly the best driver when it comes to the boring stuff like driving etiquette, safety and sticking to the rules. Beyond that, he is probably the smartest when it comes to the technical bits and knowing what happens when you do a certain thing and can analyze it.

That said, I'm not sure he will always be the fastest. I don't think its down to lacking the ability, but more because he often doesn't seem to care all that much about it. Obviously he gets competitive and clearly can drive reasonably quickly, but that isn't a given. Jezza and Hammond are much more "into" being fast and both fancy themselves racing drivers. Hammond was the only one for a while that was actively seeking racing licensure and regularly goes and does the competition vehicles on the show. Jeremy is just bonkers and loves to drive fast and also is the only one of the three that is actually a dedicated fan of racing.

I put the win at Monaco down to Jeremy caring more about it then the other two, and since he is an F1 fan that watches the races, he knows the track. Plus, if the show was honest, Jezza spent the night grilling the F1 guys about how to drive the track and the other two were off staring at unobtainable booby's and getting drunk (is it bad that I don't know if I would choose Jezza's or Hammond/May's night out?)

So yeah, given an equal level of motivation, I would put James as the best driver full stop. Lacking that motivation, the other guys would probably come ahead. Jeremy is certainly the most flamboyant driver, but screaming around a track with your ass hanging out and yelling power in cool ways doesn't necessarily make you a great driver. The other thing I've noticed about him is that he finds it hard to drive any other way, and when a car isn't good at doing power slides he tends to get a bit grumpy about it and says it can't handle or that it is too clinical and boring.
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James often talks about Jemery as if he is the number one idiot and red headed angry man on the planet, yet once when he said that, I think he also said that Jeremy actually was a very courteous driver in real life, not at all like his track work.

I might be mistaken, but when they all three are racing, James looks often the most concentrated/nervous(?) of the three whereas the other are just pushing the pedal. Combine that with Monaco being a narrow track with barriers on either side and that may explain the times there.

I think the best way to judge them against each other is by the times of the Britcar race. As far as I remember, Jeremy was a bit quicker than both Richard and James, who were about equal.
 
Yeah, but you need to keep in mind that Richard had never been around Silverstone until that race. Personally, I think if he was more familiar with the track, he'd have been much faster than he was.

I think the acid test would be to put all three of them in the Cee'd for a lap of the test track.
 
I can believe James being the best, he was chosen twice to max the Veyron, there's got to be a reason for that. He has explained that he is perfectly capable of driving fast he just waits for an appropriate time and place "because he's a gentleman"
 
Arnout said:
First of all, first time poster, but long time lurker. Hello all :)



James often talks about Jemery as if he is the number one idiot and red headed angry man on the planet, yet once when he said that, I think he also said that Jeremy actually was a very courteous driver in real life, not at all like his track work.
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That I can believe. Jeremy did a trip from London to Edinburgh and back in one tank of diesel of an A8 back in Series 04/05 and if he wasn't being ridiculous about the Blackpool race in the beginning he would've achieved even higher average speed and end up faster than Hammond in his Polo Bluemotion. Add to the fact that for so many years Jeremy hasn't have his marks deduced in his driver's licence I can believe he can be a courteous driver on the road.
 
Or he just manages not to get caught. ;)
 
Anyone who believes that the skills portrayed in the show by the producers has anything to do with their real life abilities is smoking something. This is an entertainment program and guaranteed they are all first class drivers. One thing I think that DOES stand out is James' film with Jackie Stewart; you dont get that guy's approval by being a rubbish driver.
 
shellygrrl said:
I think the acid test would be to put all three of them in the Cee'd for a lap of the test track.
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This.

With the way traditional fans of the show are becoming/have become I think a serious segment with them doing their fastest laps would be great. I think millions of people have been waiting for something along these lines.
 
everyone who is using the britcar challenge as evidence of jeremy being fast is coming at it from the wrong angle....

you have to remember they were all getting mad at him because he was pushing the car too much and burning up the brakes and tires. All the others were restraining themselves and working as a team.

as for monaco, Jeremy has done that course many times over the years, he knows it very well. So it doesn't surprise me that he was quicker as he would be more confident with the course right from the start.

I also wouldn't put it past Jeremy to sit at home and play the course a hundred times on his PS3 just so he has an advantage.

And again, if you put them all in the Cee'd, you would still get poor results, the amount of time Jeremy and Richard have on the TG track is probably about 100 to 1 of how many laps that James has completed, so his lack of experience is a key factor in what would make him the slowest on the test track.

I'm willing to bet, he probably has the best abilities, but the least experience. And as such, the others will always be faster, but he may in fact be the better driver. (if that makes sense to anyone.)
 
scoops said:
everyone who is using the britcar challenge as evidence of jeremy being fast is coming at it from the wrong angle....

you have to remember they were all getting mad at him because he was pushing the car too much and burning up the brakes and tires. All the others were restraining themselves and working as a team.

as for monaco, Jeremy has done that course many times over the years, he knows it very well. So it doesn't surprise me that he was quicker as he would be more confident with the course right from the start.

I also wouldn't put it past Jeremy to sit at home and play the course a hundred times on his PS3 just so he has an advantage.

And again, if you put them all in the Cee'd, you would still get poor results, the amount of time Jeremy and Richard have on the TG track is probably about 100 to 1 of how many laps that James has completed, so his lack of experience is a key factor in what would make him the slowest on the test track.

I'm willing to bet, he probably has the best abilities, but the least experience. And as such, the others will always be faster, but he may in fact be the better driver. (if that makes sense to anyone.)
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The test track isn't that complicated, there has to be a law of diminishing return on learning to drive around it.. James must've spent plenty of time around it to know what to do.
 
Buktu said:
The test track isn't that complicated, there has to be a law of diminishing return on learning to drive around it.. James must've spent plenty of time around it to know what to do.
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Knowing your way around a track, and knowing your way around at full speed are two different things though, and I don't think he's every really put that effort in.

We'll never know though I guess...
 
The test track isn't all *that* demanding. Most corners are relatively fast and there's lots of flat-out sections. I mean coming out of Hammerhead you're basically flat out until you come up to the second to last corner. More of a test of ball-size than of pure talent I'd say. Tight and twisty Monaco is a much better test of talent IMO. I found it rather weird that JM was the slowest in the excellent Clio. I've driven both the Clio and the Abarth (non SS, but still), and there's no doubt in my mind which of the two I'd take for fast driving. As long as you keep the revs up in the Clio, it can't be touched by the Abarth.

In terms of driving styles I think there is no better representation than when they go to the Virginia Raceway in 15x07. Jeremy is just being stupid, kicking the tale out the whole time, Hammond is seriously competitive and will go to extraordinary lengths to win. And James is the gentleman driver; sensible and knowledgeable but when a race is presented will give it the beans.
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Another good example would be the Muscle-car trip, when JM overtook Jezza and Clarkson had quite a bit of trouble keeping up in the ZR1. But then again: Since everything is scripted, how are we to know that that was a "real" situation?

Personally, I think May summed it up best himself: "I can drive fast if I want to, it's just that I only do it at the right time and place" .. or something to that effect.



S.
 
I <3 James May the most and that's all that matters. :D

I think Jeremy is the fastest because he is the most aggressive and fearless but with proper training I do think James could be better. But he would have to get over himself and learn to really grab the car by the scruff of the neck. If he did that, his perfectionism and consistency would make him far better than Jeremy, who simply has the biggest gonads and the heaviest foot. Look at him in the recent Aventador film around Imola... he's properly quick. I couldn't drive that 700 HP beast around Imola. That takes SERIOUS gut and skill just to man-handle such a car.
 
Don't forget its hammond thats always crashing things. (silverstone, that rangerover while racing vs the wingsuit, and I am sure I am forgetting some)
 
S_I said:
Don't forget its hammond thats always crashing things. (silverstone, that rangerover while racing vs the wingsuit, and I am sure I am forgetting some)
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The Bowler in Iceland vs the turbine-kayak, the Bowler in the German vs TG film into a hill... The obvious one (though that's cruel, I don't really think it was his fault)...

Now I'm going to be on the hunt for 'things richard hammond has crashed into'

Thanks. Make me a nice person why dont ya...
 
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