Damon Hill and the Merc

[canam-phil]

Sunday Times reports that Damon damaged the Merc in his test drive for TV last week over the jumps. Has anyone got more details?

Why do the TV programs not report the fact that in doing the drive the car was damaged? After all, we were lead to believe that the car was designed to do what Damon did with it. They gave the impression that it was.

Have the producers an agreement with the car companies to hide the true facts?

By the way, I loved Damons calm test drive, but the passenger didn't... he threw up!!!

[dennisthemenace]

i was laughing my head off when matey had to get out and top man damon , also watched clarkson unleashed or somthing were he was in a supercharged jag xj chasing tiff in an m5 excellent stuff

[Twin Turbo]

Quite agree...the TV programs and car mags should tell all when thing's go wrong. This month's Top Gear mag tells of a 911 Turbo's gear linkgage breaking and the clutch on a Vanquish giving up after two standing start tests.

Still, seeing the stick Damon was giving the SL, I'm not suprised he broke it. Can't see many owners driving it like that.

[andytk]

dunno about breaking it but the rollbar that banged up when all four wheels left the ground is gas fired and costs about 500 quid to get reset.....

Also one of my mates jumped a car (a big ol Saab) and nearly totalled it. I was in the car at the time and the although our jump felt bigger we had the misfortune to land on the front wheels first thus wrecking the suspension and damaging the engine as well.

Damons jump looked like it landed all four wheels flat so it didn't look that bad but its hard to tell.

Andy (the jumps expert)

[dennisthemenace]

Colin macrae done a good jump yesterday in the focus wrc and totaled his rad

[roop]

I remember tanking over 'the moss' on the way to Lytham from Blackpool in a mates Talbot Samba. The car took off over a jump where the road had sagged. I was in the back seat and could see the road ahead through the sunroof it pitched up at the back so much...! Landed on the front of the car from about 3 foot up. Trashed the front suspension and broke the steering rods so the front wheels were pointing out at 90 degrees to each other. Loads of tyre smoke as we stopped. Closer inspection revelaed snapped front subframe, engine snapped off it's mounts and the whole front of the car creased up about 20 degrees at the windscreen. Hehe, them were the days...!