out that Cruise had turned up early and put more time into his practice than any previous guest; he went on to say that it saddened him that people might try and take the shine off such a fun moment before vehemently refuting any accusations of fixing. It is also worth bearing in mind that Cruise has a fleet of beautiful fast cars and is known to do many of his own stunts; on the day of the lap, he even took out a Bugatti Veyron and reached 190mph on the test track so this was clearly not your everyday celebrity tottering around a lap.
When Formula 1 stars come on the show to do a lap in the Reasonably Priced Car, they are given their own leaderboard, the assumption being it is unfair to list them next to celebrities and other non-professional racing drivers. Some observers have commented that the F1 drivers’ times are not much faster than the various famous faces topping the ‘Star in a Reasonably Priced Car’ leaderboard, but don’t be fooled. Neuroscientist Dr Kerry Spackman has worked in Formula 1 for years and explained to the author that this apparently small margin was very misleading: ‘When Damon Hill and all these Formula 1 guys go round, it isn’t that much quicker than the top [celebrity guests]. A normal car is just so jolly easy to drive; it’s so forgiving evenwhen it catches you by surprise. If the Reasonably Priced Car starts to slide out of control, a Formula 1 driver will have enough time to yawn, make a cup of tea and think, “Oh yeah, about now I’ll give it a bit of a correction.” But that’s also why there’s no real difference between a Formula 1 driver and the top guys in a Reasonably Priced Car because the car is so benign, so simple and so easy, there’s not much you can really do [to be substantially faster]. Obviously Top Gear has had a number of celebrities turn up – there are a lot of petrol-heads out there, after all – and they all think they are pretty good but in actual fact, they have no concept, none whatsoever [of the skills of a racing driver].’
Spackman adeptly sums up the appeal of the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment: ‘Jackie Stewart once said, “There’s only two things you can’t criticise a man for, one is his prowess in bed and the other is his driving.” So many people I’ve come across fancy themselves as being pretty good at driving but even a very good driver like a saloon or touring car champion isn’t up there with F1 drivers. The analogy I would use is that no one would ever say, “You know what? I think I’d take Nadal on in a game of tennis, I think I’d give him a good run for his money.” If you’ve ever sat in a race car with a Formula 1 driver when he’s driving in anger (I’ve sat in a car with a number of drivers), it’s incredible. Yet every man fancies themselves as a bit of a good driver.’
The Top Gear test track was custom-designed for the show by engineers from Lotus. It is located at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, which was built in 1942 by the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Engineers and constantly used during the Second World War (thereafter it fell into disuse and like many British airfields, was turned into a race track). The track has beencleverly designed to include corners that punish oversteer, others that expose understeer; there are bumps and adverse cambers in difficult places, as well as straights demanding full-throttle power that would frighten anyone but the less- than-lunatic . When Richard Hammond first introduced the track in Episode 1 and talked the viewer through the corners, he claimed this was such a cunning leveller of a car’s foibles that it made 0–60 and top speed times ‘meaningless’. However, the 1.75 miles of circuit has played host to a party of the greatest supercars ever built and to date, the top of the leaderboard suggests power still rules the day. That said, when the fastest production car ever built – the Bugatti Veyron – first went round, it came only fourth, with
When Formula 1 stars come on the show to do a lap in the Reasonably Priced Car, they are given their own leaderboard, the assumption being it is unfair to list them next to celebrities and other non-professional racing drivers. Some observers have commented that the F1 drivers’ times are not much faster than the various famous faces topping the ‘Star in a Reasonably Priced Car’ leaderboard, but don’t be fooled. Neuroscientist Dr Kerry Spackman has worked in Formula 1 for years and explained to the author that this apparently small margin was very misleading: ‘When Damon Hill and all these Formula 1 guys go round, it isn’t that much quicker than the top [celebrity guests]. A normal car is just so jolly easy to drive; it’s so forgiving evenwhen it catches you by surprise. If the Reasonably Priced Car starts to slide out of control, a Formula 1 driver will have enough time to yawn, make a cup of tea and think, “Oh yeah, about now I’ll give it a bit of a correction.” But that’s also why there’s no real difference between a Formula 1 driver and the top guys in a Reasonably Priced Car because the car is so benign, so simple and so easy, there’s not much you can really do [to be substantially faster]. Obviously Top Gear has had a number of celebrities turn up – there are a lot of petrol-heads out there, after all – and they all think they are pretty good but in actual fact, they have no concept, none whatsoever [of the skills of a racing driver].’
Spackman adeptly sums up the appeal of the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment: ‘Jackie Stewart once said, “There’s only two things you can’t criticise a man for, one is his prowess in bed and the other is his driving.” So many people I’ve come across fancy themselves as being pretty good at driving but even a very good driver like a saloon or touring car champion isn’t up there with F1 drivers. The analogy I would use is that no one would ever say, “You know what? I think I’d take Nadal on in a game of tennis, I think I’d give him a good run for his money.” If you’ve ever sat in a race car with a Formula 1 driver when he’s driving in anger (I’ve sat in a car with a number of drivers), it’s incredible. Yet every man fancies themselves as a bit of a good driver.’
The Top Gear test track was custom-designed for the show by engineers from Lotus. It is located at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, which was built in 1942 by the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Engineers and constantly used during the Second World War (thereafter it fell into disuse and like many British airfields, was turned into a race track). The track has beencleverly designed to include corners that punish oversteer, others that expose understeer; there are bumps and adverse cambers in difficult places, as well as straights demanding full-throttle power that would frighten anyone but the less- than-lunatic . When Richard Hammond first introduced the track in Episode 1 and talked the viewer through the corners, he claimed this was such a cunning leveller of a car’s foibles that it made 0–60 and top speed times ‘meaningless’. However, the 1.75 miles of circuit has played host to a party of the greatest supercars ever built and to date, the top of the leaderboard suggests power still rules the day. That said, when the fastest production car ever built – the Bugatti Veyron – first went round, it came only fourth, with
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