Safe Speed Forums

What more can you say, not only is Ellen MacArthur the fastest person round the world by yacht, but Ellen is now the fastest celeb round the Top Gear track.

WELL DONE Ellen

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Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

Yes, that was an awesome lap. It looked far and away the neatest I'd seen to date, which just shows how true all the adages about keeping it neat are.

You could almost sense that she'd asked "What do I have to do to win?", been given an explanation about smooth tight lines, braking points etc, then simply gone out there and done it!

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

Yep, she was fantastic.

Just wait until you see all the lycra wearers trying to emulate the cyclist in the race against the Clio tho

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"Are you sh**ing me?"
"John Spartan, you are fined one credit for a violation of the verbal morality statute."

I'm going to be a bit of an anal party pooper here, not about Ellen's lap, but about the sub 10 grand Supercar bit.
Clarkson was driving that Maserati on a public road (A4) with its engine making seriously ill sounds, and him claiming that if it let go the he'd lose his brakes as well. And when it eventually lunched itself, it showered the Lambo with smoke and engine parts. and Clarkson had to stick in the hedge in order to stop.
Not very responsible IMHO. Supposing it had dumped oil all over the road and a motorcyclist had come along?
Or if it had locked up and slewed across the road?
Driving an unroadworthy vehicle is an offence isn't it?

Large pinch of salt required methinks.

With all their "challenges" I get the impression it's hammed up rather a lot, and that the cars are carefully boxed in with support vehicles etc. I would also suspect that the "parking it in the hedge" stunt was largely just that - are we really to believe that the braking system was entirely engine powered?

I think there were a few exaggerations here, in order for it to make good television...

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

According to a post on Scoobynet from a guy who's friend sold Hammond his car, they initially rejected it because it was in too good condition and they wanted something more enteratining, so I suspect that yes, it was hammed up a bit.

He also reckons they unbolted the bit of trim that fell off when hammond shut the door, since it was fine last time he saw it (and also, it fell off twice)

Still top entertainment though.

And don't worry about the lycra wearers trying to emulate the Clio race, I thought they all absolutely refused to watch top gear as some kind of pointless protest.

not all lycra wearers are tree hugging hippies...

As a piece of entertainment it was brilliant.

I thought it would just take out the servo? Alright it would make braking more difficult but surely there would have been some there, plus the handbrake, plus changing down.

Still it was good fun to watch!

Ole Clarky wouldnt give a toss about us bikers, mainly because he knows were faster than him, and bikes scare him shitless.

With his engine dropping to pieces behind him? I don't think so!

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Keep right on to the end of the road ...

mrrr.....it was only May behind him............. and it would have made it even more spectacular!

I was under the impression that the braking system had already gone at the track and he was using engine braking to slow the car down, hence the remark about losing his braking if the engine went.

Bit silly to drive through good ol' Wiltshire with such a dangerous car, but then, if he wasn't speeding, the Scamerati wouldn't be interested and there aren't any Traffic Police any more

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If you're right, did your heels in
If you're wrong, admit it!

Sink the scameraships
Give us back our Police Force

I saw it last night. Clarkson wants shooting for what he did to that Mazza. I recon that was a perfecly good engine before he took it to castle combe....

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.