Anyone watch Top Gear????
Discussion
Kingnitro said:
They just debuted an American version of the show, have to wait a few weeks to get a good assessment of it. But I am curious, have they EVER done anything on a Dragstrip????
Good God I hope not, they would set the sport back decades, they would just take the p!55 ! Nah.. leave them to hoon around going sideways smoking the tyres on six figure cars driven by lottery winners, Wags and footballers. Yes. Mid-'90s, pre-Stig, etc. Tiff squirted off the line, stopped at once, got out, walked briskly away looking shaken, mumbling something about g-force knocking his foot off the pedal.
A year or two later, filmed lapping Charlotte Motor Speedway in a NASCAR stocker while recounting all the different types of racecar he had driven -- came to "Top Fuel Dragster ... scared the life out of me, never want to go near one again."
Imprinted on my memory. Only vehicle known to have defeated him?
A year or two later, filmed lapping Charlotte Motor Speedway in a NASCAR stocker while recounting all the different types of racecar he had driven -- came to "Top Fuel Dragster ... scared the life out of me, never want to go near one again."
Imprinted on my memory. Only vehicle known to have defeated him?
Google found this regarding Tiff's Drag Racing -
BBC ‘TOP GEAR’ TEST DRIVE
For those of you who missed last weeks edition of BBC Top Gear, here’s an insight on what went on!!
Well, we finally did it! We got the famous Tiff Needell, presenter of the BBC’s Top Gear TV show, into Peter Lantz’s Top Fuel dragster. Understandably it wasn’t something he was looking forward to!
The plan was not to throw Tiff in at the deep end but gradually build up his experience of coping with the power and complexities of driving the quarter mile.
The first step was to drive Peter Lane’s ‘Super Gas’ Chevy Camaro, which Peter very kindly made available at short notice. After Peter had talked through the controls and various driving techniques, Tiff was ready for his first run of the day. He managed just over 100mph taking it very steady. He was then ready for a full pass after a gentle get away and achieved a creditable 136mph in 10.77seconds. At this stage Tiff was pleased with his results, however, the next step up to Neil Taylor’s Chevy Lumina Pro Modified car was going to be a very different story – almost 4 times the power and more levers and buttons to push or pull than anything he’d seen before! Neil had installed a passenger seat in the car, so Tiff was strapped in securely and ready to go. This is when Tiff began to realise just how much there was to learn. Neil’s run with Tiff on board was just amazing! After a huge long, smokey burnout, the car moved into stage, onto the rev limiter and was gone! The time – 7.40 seconds at 188mph!!!! We believe this to be the fastest ever passenger ride down the quarter mile. Tiff’s heartbeat monitor had jumped from the normal 68 up to a peak of 202 during the run. It was then that Tiff thanked Neil for the ride as thoughts of actually driving the car disappeared, too much to learn in the short time available. His thoughts of driving the Top Fuel car were that although it was more than twice as powerful as the Pro Mod there was actually far less to do in the c0ckpit. It was his plan after instructions from Peter Lantz just to slam the throttle down for a couple of seconds. The throttle has to be fully on or off and there’s no going back on the throttle once you have lifted or the engine could be seriously damaged, so with the burnout completed he was on the line and ready to go. The tree light had been green for a long time as Tiff prepared himself to ‘hit it’. When he did, the sheer violence of noise and acceleration were so great that his foot was forced off the throttle and his heartbeat leapt to 211!! Tiff didn’t feel the full force but did go 0-60mph in 1.5 seconds. He also now has a very clear understanding of just what it takes. No more “just a quarter mile straight, what’s difficult about it?” Thanks to Tiff Needell and all the BBC Crew for taking the time to do this first in depth feature. Also a very big thank you to Peter Lane, Neil Taylor, Peter Lantz and their crews.
BBC ‘TOP GEAR’ TEST DRIVE
For those of you who missed last weeks edition of BBC Top Gear, here’s an insight on what went on!!
Well, we finally did it! We got the famous Tiff Needell, presenter of the BBC’s Top Gear TV show, into Peter Lantz’s Top Fuel dragster. Understandably it wasn’t something he was looking forward to!
The plan was not to throw Tiff in at the deep end but gradually build up his experience of coping with the power and complexities of driving the quarter mile.
The first step was to drive Peter Lane’s ‘Super Gas’ Chevy Camaro, which Peter very kindly made available at short notice. After Peter had talked through the controls and various driving techniques, Tiff was ready for his first run of the day. He managed just over 100mph taking it very steady. He was then ready for a full pass after a gentle get away and achieved a creditable 136mph in 10.77seconds. At this stage Tiff was pleased with his results, however, the next step up to Neil Taylor’s Chevy Lumina Pro Modified car was going to be a very different story – almost 4 times the power and more levers and buttons to push or pull than anything he’d seen before! Neil had installed a passenger seat in the car, so Tiff was strapped in securely and ready to go. This is when Tiff began to realise just how much there was to learn. Neil’s run with Tiff on board was just amazing! After a huge long, smokey burnout, the car moved into stage, onto the rev limiter and was gone! The time – 7.40 seconds at 188mph!!!! We believe this to be the fastest ever passenger ride down the quarter mile. Tiff’s heartbeat monitor had jumped from the normal 68 up to a peak of 202 during the run. It was then that Tiff thanked Neil for the ride as thoughts of actually driving the car disappeared, too much to learn in the short time available. His thoughts of driving the Top Fuel car were that although it was more than twice as powerful as the Pro Mod there was actually far less to do in the c0ckpit. It was his plan after instructions from Peter Lantz just to slam the throttle down for a couple of seconds. The throttle has to be fully on or off and there’s no going back on the throttle once you have lifted or the engine could be seriously damaged, so with the burnout completed he was on the line and ready to go. The tree light had been green for a long time as Tiff prepared himself to ‘hit it’. When he did, the sheer violence of noise and acceleration were so great that his foot was forced off the throttle and his heartbeat leapt to 211!! Tiff didn’t feel the full force but did go 0-60mph in 1.5 seconds. He also now has a very clear understanding of just what it takes. No more “just a quarter mile straight, what’s difficult about it?” Thanks to Tiff Needell and all the BBC Crew for taking the time to do this first in depth feature. Also a very big thank you to Peter Lane, Neil Taylor, Peter Lantz and their crews.
Not the actual TV show but Carter Motorsport have had a reporter from the Top Gear Magazine as a guest at the Pod several times and there was a feature of about 5 pages featuring Andy competing in Pomona at the begining of the year. Also Paul Marstons Dragster was featured being driven by a reporter from the Magazine.
There was also a feature in the Magazine [ or a magazine ] on Tiff Needell driving the cars mentioned above.
There was also a feature in the Magazine [ or a magazine ] on Tiff Needell driving the cars mentioned above.
Edited by DWphil on Tuesday 23 November 22:44
DWphil said:
Not the actual TV show but Carter Motorsport have had a reporter from the Top Gear Magazine as a guest at the Pod several times and there was a feature of about 5 pages featuring Andy competing in Pomona at the begining of the year. Also Paul Marstons Dragster was featured being driven by a reporter from the Magazine
Yep. Top Gear Magazine have generally been quite positive about drag racing, unlike the TV show. I'm even in it in a couple of photos, when they came with us to do an item on Smax at Alastaro. They've done features on Grumpy's Dodge, too.FordCorsair said:
I am sure Jeremy raced a Black (Ford?) pick-up truck at Santa Pod for Top Gear in the mid nineties ('94/'95?). It was a RWYB type meeting and he got beat each time, probably why there have been no re-visits.
Think it was at Avon Park and a GMC Cyclone when they first arrived over here.Edited by FordCorsair on Wednesday 24th November 12:31
Actually Clarkson took the Syclone to York Raceway for the street racer championships, my guess is 1993.
He was beaten by Steve Niemantas in the black (34?) Ford in his first run.
At the top end he asked Steve Niemantas what 0-60 the Ford did and Niemantas said "I've got no clue, we measure the 0-100 because 0-60 is too quick".
There was also an interview with Frank Mason showing Clarkson around his car.
And yes the Tiff Needell 1995 episode was a cracker, he must have s
t himself.
He was beaten by Steve Niemantas in the black (34?) Ford in his first run.
At the top end he asked Steve Niemantas what 0-60 the Ford did and Niemantas said "I've got no clue, we measure the 0-100 because 0-60 is too quick".
There was also an interview with Frank Mason showing Clarkson around his car.
And yes the Tiff Needell 1995 episode was a cracker, he must have s
t himself.Kingnitro said:
Thanks for the replys guys, I figured you all are more dialed in with this show then us Americans! How can you have a show about Fast cars without Drag racing???
Because over here 99% of the population can't get moist over things going fast in a straight line and being modified to do so much that they can't then do a corner etc.Silent1 said:
Kingnitro said:
Thanks for the replys guys, I figured you all are more dialed in with this show then us Americans! How can you have a show about Fast cars without Drag racing???
Because over here 99% of the population can't get moist over things going fast in a straight line and being modified to do so much that they can't then do a corner etc.Slinky said:
Silent1 said:
Kingnitro said:
Thanks for the replys guys, I figured you all are more dialed in with this show then us Americans! How can you have a show about Fast cars without Drag racing???
Because over here 99% of the population can't get moist over things going fast in a straight line and being modified to do so much that they can't then do a corner etc.I'm just pointing out over here that drag racing is a subculture of a subculture anyway.
I'm not trying to be offensive, far from it in fact, my cars are worked on by some guys who are heavily involved in drag racing and go to Finland every year to do it over there as well
I'm just pointing out over here that drag racing is a subculture of a subculture anyway.
[/quote]
Not trying! Your doing allright so far
I'm just pointing out over here that drag racing is a subculture of a subculture anyway.
[/quote]
Not trying! Your doing allright so far
Silent1 said:
Kingnitro said:
Thanks for the replys guys, I figured you all are more dialed in with this show then us Americans! How can you have a show about Fast cars without Drag racing???
Because over here 99% of the population can't get moist over things going fast in a straight line and being modified to do so much that they can't then do a corner etc.Kingnitro said:
Everyone thinks Drag racings' easy cause it's in a straight line....till they try it!
"Car is moving around like hell. They didn't tell me this. Having to steer to keep it in a straight line. They didn't tell me that"-- Tom Ford, in Top Gear Magazine, on driving Grumpy's Dodge :-)
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