so, who's was the Mousler that Hammond hit

[Simon Mason]

EDLT said:

Simon Mason said:

It was the McInerys Mosler (brand new the week of the race) driven by Michael Vergers at the time. To be fair Verg was following someone past Hammond so a bit unsighted at the time and the Top Gear car was one the very slowest cars in the race.

A risk of being in a race with Moslers and diesel rep-mobiles on track at the same time for 24 hours. Although was Hammond supposed to pull over to let people past or not? Maybe they shouldn't have dicked about in the briefing.

To be fair to the Top Gear crew whenever I passed them they were very much aware of the traffic and being predicatble and that includes Hammond and Clarkson. The issue is their car was akin to being on a Scooter on an autobarn and when you get tired and on a track so obviously not practiced on with limited racing experience they were always going to find it harder than most. They actually did good in the grand scheme of things and had less offs than some.

[2priestsferrari]

Yeah but your man has a point. They arrive with almost no experience then lark around in a drivers briefing that if it was designed for anyone it was these clowns.

In their few laps of practice I dread to think how off the pace they were anyway and that was when they weren't firing it off. Perhaps raising the status to Nat A might exclude some less experienced racers who in fairness do a nice job and take it more seriously. However this was a joke and ended the efforts of one of the front running teams - safety sacrificed in the name of celebrity IMO.

[Heebeegeetee]

garyhun said:

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Hammond was never meant to be a racing driver?

Don't agree. TG showed hi his first ever race a couple of years ago and he did really well, far better than the average first timer that's for sure.

His crash in the jet car was neither racing nor motorsport.

[Hybrids]

2priestsferrari said:

Yeah but your man has a point. They arrive with almost no experience then lark around in a drivers briefing that if it was designed for anyone it was these clowns.

I would be suprised if the stewards allowed them the mess about in the briefing, I would hope that the clips we saw were staged before or after the briefing for "entertainment"
Perhaps one of the PHers who were there could enlighten us ?

[Ahonen]

2priestsferrari said:

Yeah but your man has a point. They arrive with almost no experience then lark around in a drivers briefing that if it was designed for anyone it was these clowns.

I was sat behind them in the briefing. They did not lark around at all. There was the amusement factor of Stig being there in his gear, but that was it.

They are intelligent grown-ups for pity's sake. They were perfectly aware that there were a lot of teams out there who were very serious and they were absolutely crapping themselves before and during the race.

And they weren't that far off the sort of pace that car, or others in its class, would've been doing.

They were, perhaps, a little bit daft to do it as their first race ever but, as Simon said, they did okay. Our guys didn't have a single problem with them all weekend - and ours was one of the very fastest cars out there - but there were a couple of other cars that regularly got in our way, resulting in high-speed Russian roulette.

Take the Vergers incident out of the equation and they didn't touch another car all weekend. Not too bad at all.

Edited by Ahonen on Monday 17th December 09:26

[Graham]

I cant say I noticed the TG guys larking about in the Briefing, a little bit of banter maybe but you always get the odd comment from someone anyway.. If anything JT made more reference to them than they did..

I really think the hammond/mosler comming together was just one of those things.. There was far worse that went on by people that should have known better.....Just watch the Bit where the sag exits the pits and then tries to exit the track stage left.....


I Think Hammonds comments after the incident, and the state of Clarkson as they crossed the line tell you how seriously they were taking it... At the end of the day they are professionals in what they, and its SUPPOSED to look like they are larking around....

[NS24]

2priestsferrari said:

Yeah but your man has a point. They arrive with almost no experience then lark around in a drivers briefing that if it was designed for anyone it was these clowns.

In their few laps of practice I dread to think how off the pace they were anyway and that was when they weren't firing it off. Perhaps raising the status to Nat A might exclude some less experienced racers who in fairness do a nice job and take it more seriously. However this was a joke and ended the efforts of one of the front running teams - safety sacrificed in the name of celebrity IMO.

No larking about during the briefing - as others have said.
I was miles off the pace during practice too - first time at Silverstone & first time in the car. During the race I was almost on the pace for our car. Giving it Nat A status would possibly cut the field in half - as it was it wasn't exactly busy out there.

However it was difficult driving in the dark with the lights of the likes of Mosler's bearing down on you & very difficult to work out if there were one or more & how far behind they were.

I don't think I was the only one finding things tricky going - at one point (between 0200-0400) a Mosler spun off the road just ahead of me in the Luffield complex - this was as we were nose-to-tail behind the safety car.

[RichB]

spectatorsam said:

...why are there no circuit lights especially on the corners, if not all the way down the straits?

Straits Didn't realise it was that wet! Would that be the straits of Cadiz or Gibraltar or perhaps even the Menai Straits?

[RichB]

2priestsferrari said:

Yeah but your man has a point. They arrive with almost no experience then lark around in a drivers briefing that if it was designed for anyone it was these clowns etc. etc.

So according to those who were there this was not the case.

[thunderbelmont]

A racing incident.

End of matter.

TG were not the slowest crew out there.

After studying the laptimes, I was surprised by Captain Slow, who wasn't that slow at all when he was "awake". He obviously suffers from some sort of sleep disorder though....

Ben was on form. ooops, errr "The Stig" was on form.

I have a plan for 2008.....
Think Randall & Hopkirk.....

[2priestsferrari]

RichB said:

2priestsferrari said:

Yeah but your man has a point. They arrive with almost no experience then lark around in a drivers briefing that if it was designed for anyone it was these clowns etc. etc.

So according to those who were there this was not the case.

I think it depends on your take on the term lark around... There was only one briefing and so any lack of attention to play to the camera was done during the only briefing that was held. For sure they weren't as attentive as they might have been.

As for them not doing a bad job. I lost count of the number of times that car left the circuit in the short pieces of film shown the other night, and they were off the pace. The car was not in the slowest class and yet apart from when BC was driving at times its pace was 2m 30s +

[RichB]

2priestsferrari said:

RichB said:

2priestsferrari said:

Yeah but your man has a point. They arrive with almost no experience then lark around in a drivers briefing that if it was designed for anyone it was these clowns etc. etc.

So according to those who were there this was not the case.

...in the short pieces of film shown the other night...

Oh sorry, you saw it on TV. From you comments I assumed you were one of the drivers in the briefing.

[Scuffers]

Graham said:

I cant say I noticed the TG guys larking about in the Briefing, a little bit of banter maybe but you always get the odd comment from someone anyway.. If anything JT made more reference to them than they did..

I really think the hammond/mosler comming together was just one of those things.. There was far worse that went on by people that should have known better.....Just watch the Bit where the sag exits the pits and then tries to exit the track stage left.....


I Think Hammonds comments after the incident, and the state of Clarkson as they crossed the line tell you how seriously they were taking it... At the end of the day they are professionals in what they, and its SUPPOSED to look like they are larking around....

Echo that...

for all the 'TV' stuff, they were mostly shitting themselves, as most first timmers do... I did not personally see any of them do anything dumb on track that others have not already done before.

24H is very daunting for anybody other than people who do them several times a year...

[s.m.h.]

There was certainly some "artistic interpretation" on the show, for those who were there or are in racing it can be frustrating when a journo says something that is blatantly wrong! The "it will take 10 minutes to change the tyres" On what? Does he include Dunlop swapping the cases over???

[spectatorsam]

oh
ho ho ho swillerw a duckshunory did yerw

RichB said:

spectatorsam said:

...why are there no circuit lights especially on the corners, if not all the way down the straits?

Straits Didn't realise it was that wet! Would that be the straits of Cadiz or Gibraltar or perhaps even the Menai Straits?

[IainT]

s.m.h. said:

There was certainly some "artistic interpretation" on the show, for those who were there or are in racing it can be frustrating when a journo says something that is blatantly wrong! The "it will take 10 minutes to change the tyres" On what? Does he include Dunlop swapping the cases over???

I did think that the comment about time lost in the pits for a tyre change (5 laps IIRC) seemed a bit much - I suspect dramatic license was used.

[JP_Midget]

IainT said:

s.m.h. said:

There was certainly some "artistic interpretation" on the show, for those who were there or are in racing it can be frustrating when a journo says something that is blatantly wrong! The "it will take 10 minutes to change the tyres" On what? Does he include Dunlop swapping the cases over???

I did think that the comment about time lost in the pits for a tyre change (5 laps IIRC) seemed a bit much - I suspect dramatic license was used.

I suspect that if it was left to those three it would take much longer!

I think they did remarkably well, and though the accident was caused by Hammond seeming to move over, I don't think he should be held at fault at all. I doubt the move on Hammond's part was a concious decision, probably a reaction by the first car coming through and him being really tired.

I've only done 15 minute races and they leave me shattered, so goodness knows how they managed to go for the stints they were.

[IainT]

JP_Midget said:

IainT said:

s.m.h. said:

There was certainly some "artistic interpretation" on the show, for those who were there or are in racing it can be frustrating when a journo says something that is blatantly wrong! The "it will take 10 minutes to change the tyres" On what? Does he include Dunlop swapping the cases over???

I did think that the comment about time lost in the pits for a tyre change (5 laps IIRC) seemed a bit much - I suspect dramatic license was used.

I suspect that if it was left to those three it would take much longer!

I think they did remarkably well, and though the accident was caused by Hammond seeming to move over, I don't think he should be held at fault at all. I doubt the move on Hammond's part was a concious decision, probably a reaction by the first car coming through and him being really tired.

I've only done 15 minute races and they leave me shattered, so goodness knows how they managed to go for the stints they were.

30 minute track sessions are hard enough - I can only imagine how ahrd racing is, all that conentration plus the physical nature must mean that making mistakes after an hour or so is the norm rather than a rarity!

[Conian]

Simon Mason said:

stuff...

Wow that's your real name! I thought for a moment it was a Green Wing reference
Is your nickname 'shitting' ?

[Simon Mason]

IainT said:

JP_Midget said:

IainT said:

s.m.h. said:

There was certainly some "artistic interpretation" on the show, for those who were there or are in racing it can be frustrating when a journo says something that is blatantly wrong! The "it will take 10 minutes to change the tyres" On what? Does he include Dunlop swapping the cases over???

I did think that the comment about time lost in the pits for a tyre change (5 laps IIRC) seemed a bit much - I suspect dramatic license was used.

I suspect that if it was left to those three it would take much longer!

I think they did remarkably well, and though the accident was caused by Hammond seeming to move over, I don't think he should be held at fault at all. I doubt the move on Hammond's part was a concious decision, probably a reaction by the first car coming through and him being really tired.

I've only done 15 minute races and they leave me shattered, so goodness knows how they managed to go for the stints they were.

30 minute track sessions are hard enough - I can only imagine how ahrd racing is, all that conentration plus the physical nature must mean that making mistakes after an hour or so is the norm rather than a rarity!

Our car was running comfortable 2 hour 30 minute stints, with my first stint at 2 hours 50 to see what we could get from the tyres but heres the point, the only real issue in that duration is bordem! You become a bit of a Robot. Odd as it sounds you want to come in just to do something different.

Soon wake up when you catch another new patch of oil or a load of spilt gravel mid corner though.