RE: Caparo Lays Claim To Top Gear Power Lap
Discussion
Fatboy said:
Think sitting on a barstool in the middle of a paddling pool, floating in the channel...
Given the sheer numbers of Kia Sportages and Sorentos, Hyundai Tucsons and Santa Fes blasting past at near-1L on Dutch motorways, a considerable subset of todays motoring society seems to think of that as A Good Thing...tinman0 said:
no, your description of 100mm high is a description of a kerb. a speed bump maybe 100mm but it has sloppy bits so you can drive over it.
regulations don't specify the slope, consequently unless the slope has a horizontal length less than the distance between the leading edge of your lowest part and the wheel you'll ground out.The Carparo has far too long horizontal component to tackle any of the bumps in the London Borough of Stretham.
J
joe_90 said:
my god.
look back at this thread and read how nerdy you all look. Its top gear, they do what they want when they want, and Clarkson etc do not care.
This thread is beginning to look like some pirate download speed nerd thread that goes on in the dark corners of the internet, debating the smallest of facts over pron downloads.
Just ask youself what would Clarkson etc think if he read this thread. I know its piston heads, but this is Topgear you are talking about, they are a law until themselves.
/rant off.
//please.. carry on.
I thought the discussion had moved on to the merits of the Caparo rather than TG but perhaps I mis understood.look back at this thread and read how nerdy you all look. Its top gear, they do what they want when they want, and Clarkson etc do not care.
This thread is beginning to look like some pirate download speed nerd thread that goes on in the dark corners of the internet, debating the smallest of facts over pron downloads.
Just ask youself what would Clarkson etc think if he read this thread. I know its piston heads, but this is Topgear you are talking about, they are a law until themselves.
/rant off.
//please.. carry on.
Ben
darth_pies said:
Mars said:
Top Gear is being hypocritical here but it's their show so we live with it.
Caparo's PR team must be suicidal and/or unemployed. The bodged launches are a case study in how to cock up your PR and poison the media against you....<snip>
Then they've turned around and slagged it off for being unfinished at the 'launch'!
....could happen to any low volume manufacturer launching its first product and i think they've had a raw deal.
Personally I find it disappointing that I've yet to read/see anything about it where it hasn't appeared to be something like the bad old days of kitcars - only on a millionaire's scale. Swop beardy-grease monkeys for shirt-collared laptop operators. Other components are all there; wobbly performance and cornering, fire, body panels falling off, hours of head-scratching...
havoc said:
Re: Ultima, I thought it was more to do with 'image' - a £50k refugee from a 60's Le Mans race with a drop-in yank V8? Built near Leicester? That topping the board doesn't have quite the right ring to it, does it?!?
...and they knew from the start it would top the board (until the Caparo came along...)
And so is the Noble (or was)and the M12 /M400 is up on the fastest lap board... though not at the top. ...and they knew from the start it would top the board (until the Caparo came along...)
I find the lack of the Ultima on the board,odd and suspect that it's as someone else has said and it's some kind of personality clash.
I remember speaking to a couple of Radical blokes at the MPH show a few years back, and they were convinced this whole thing about 'trackday cars' was because of pressure put on TG by Ferrari/Pagani/Lambo etc.
From their point of view, having a car that's a tenth of the price completely destroying their supercars on the track is a little embarrassing, and they have the weight to say, 'well you can't have the Ferrari F39999999 next year until you take that scaffolding-with-an-engine off the top spot'.
From their point of view, having a car that's a tenth of the price completely destroying their supercars on the track is a little embarrassing, and they have the weight to say, 'well you can't have the Ferrari F39999999 next year until you take that scaffolding-with-an-engine off the top spot'.
For interest/info (maybe not interest) see the link below. Speed bump height is officially limited to 100mm but recommended to be 75mm.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/162259/165240/244921/244924/TAL_2-961
http://www.dft.gov.uk/162259/165240/244921/244924/TAL_2-961
I think another problem is how close the top supercars are and by how much the time was battered. There is no excitement watching an F430 Scuderia which might beat the Enzo and maybe even the 'egg when you know they haven't got a cat in hells chance of beating the Caparo sat at the top.
said:
It's very simple; as others have eluded to, Top Gear is about making 'entertainment' telly for the masses, it is by no means scientific in its approach to 'testing'.
The Top Gear 'Lap' fills 5-10 mins an episode and that's about it. The mere fact that the 'tests' take place throughout the year, in all weathers, renders the results all but worthless.
Caparo laying claim to the TG 'record' is about as pointless as the car they produce.
I'm a fan of it from a 'build it cos we could' perspective - but £235k for privelege? Not to mention the fact that it's broken down in some way or other every time it's been tested!? No thanks. Just go and buy yourself a pukka race car - it will be faster on the one place you can get to enjoy it - the track.
Other than maybe parking outside the Casino in Monaco, or posing down the Kings Road (briefly), there's no point in using it on the road.
Ultima beating everything by a country mile would be far too embarrassing to the mainstream manufacturers and let's face it, they need to keep them on-side to lend cars for the regular 'supercar vs. some inane form of trasnport psuedo race' where they miraculously finish within microns of each other.
Enjoy it for what it is - telly. If you want to prove a point, just go an buy a suitable car and thrash everyone else at an appropriate trackday/race/test session.
who said that?? The Top Gear 'Lap' fills 5-10 mins an episode and that's about it. The mere fact that the 'tests' take place throughout the year, in all weathers, renders the results all but worthless.
Caparo laying claim to the TG 'record' is about as pointless as the car they produce.
I'm a fan of it from a 'build it cos we could' perspective - but £235k for privelege? Not to mention the fact that it's broken down in some way or other every time it's been tested!? No thanks. Just go and buy yourself a pukka race car - it will be faster on the one place you can get to enjoy it - the track.
Other than maybe parking outside the Casino in Monaco, or posing down the Kings Road (briefly), there's no point in using it on the road.
Ultima beating everything by a country mile would be far too embarrassing to the mainstream manufacturers and let's face it, they need to keep them on-side to lend cars for the regular 'supercar vs. some inane form of trasnport psuedo race' where they miraculously finish within microns of each other.
Enjoy it for what it is - telly. If you want to prove a point, just go an buy a suitable car and thrash everyone else at an appropriate trackday/race/test session.
Whether it is just good television, or a special club with rules to suit the day, it still adds kudos to a car regardless of the entertainment intention and light hearted nature to the program.
Top Gear has become an institution for many people since its relaunch a few years back and it doesn't matter how flippant and controvertial Jeremy gets, we still hang on his words. To top it all, when the Stig (whatever version of him we are at now under that helmet) gets behind the wheel, I for one want to see him tame the most unruly of machines and add the top cars to my dream garage - that reminds me, I must build a virtual extension to my current 20 car virtual garage!
Top Gear has become an institution for many people since its relaunch a few years back and it doesn't matter how flippant and controvertial Jeremy gets, we still hang on his words. To top it all, when the Stig (whatever version of him we are at now under that helmet) gets behind the wheel, I for one want to see him tame the most unruly of machines and add the top cars to my dream garage - that reminds me, I must build a virtual extension to my current 20 car virtual garage!
The Caparo is EVERYTHING I expected it to be. A very fast race car for the road that will never work, will never be sold in the numbers claimed for the purposes claimed in its original brief. Sorry the thing is a fecking joke, the Veyron is not. That is a car that will pootle around like a golf, work day after day....and will then hit 250mph before pootling into town to collect some new pants. THAT is something special, the Caparo is another race car with some road bits on it, nothing more and because of that, to me, nothing special.
I also have no idea why Top Gear test track times are so important, I can't think of one single Ultima driver who would give a stuff, and I expect the Caparo owners to be much the same. Its' about as consistent as that bloke who reported the Iraqi view of the world in the last gulf conflict. "There are no engineers around the car, the car is not on fire, the car is practical, we will sell millions."
Why buy a Caparo when you could buy an old Group C race car which is probably more practical, easier to live with and quicker. I'll take a Lancia LC2 please, with Martini stripes of course.
I also have no idea why Top Gear test track times are so important, I can't think of one single Ultima driver who would give a stuff, and I expect the Caparo owners to be much the same. Its' about as consistent as that bloke who reported the Iraqi view of the world in the last gulf conflict. "There are no engineers around the car, the car is not on fire, the car is practical, we will sell millions."
Why buy a Caparo when you could buy an old Group C race car which is probably more practical, easier to live with and quicker. I'll take a Lancia LC2 please, with Martini stripes of course.
housemaster said:
Why buy a Caparo when you could buy an old Group C race car which is probably more practical, easier to live with and quicker. I'll take a Lancia LC2 please, with Martini stripes of course.
Exactly (and good choice although I'd like a Spice or - actually - I'd go back a generation and take a slower but prettier T70 Mk3B). If one wanted the full hit of an IRL engine that badly ...surely one would buy an old IRL car?
I’m in with bosscerbra here, it’s a track machine and the only compromise if the lights. It’s also hideously expensive for what it actually is; you could actually buy a really good car for £180,000 or £190,000 or however much they want now. I’m not sure about this “racing” engine business either, I’m aware that companies with big budgets and large engineering recourses can make endurance racing power plants work on the road (Porche for instance with the CGT) but usually a racing engine will be brittle and not really ideal for fast road use (in terms of power delivery etc.).
So which PHers are going to buy these? I suspect that even though they can endure the lack of quality on a TVR or rough ride on a stripped out sports car this is just a step too far.
So which PHers are going to buy these? I suspect that even though they can endure the lack of quality on a TVR or rough ride on a stripped out sports car this is just a step too far.
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