Race lap record: 1:22.637 (Michele Alboreto, Ferrari, 1985) 1st variation (1973–1975) (Redesigned with swimming pool section) Length: 3.278 km (2.037 mi) Turns: 20: Race lap record: 1:27.9 (Ronnie Peterson, Lotus-Ford, 1974) Original circuit (1929–1972) Length: 3.145 km (1.954 mi) Turns: 14: Race lap record: 1:22.2 (Jackie Stewart, Tyrrell-Ford, 1971). The system will respond with details about the racer's current position, lap time, and other race data. Text the rider’s number to email protected: ex – ‘174’ If requesting the status for more than one rider, separate each racing number with a space, i.e., 16 199 512.
At the start of series 24, we decided to up the ante. We wanted something a bit faster, a bit livelier, a bit more fun for our celebrities to thrash around in.Enter the Toyota GT86, Top Gear’s new Reasonably Fast Car. The 86 is of course, a pared-back, drivers’ car fitted with a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated engine (producing around 200bhp), a six-speed manual gearbox and rear-wheel-drive.And those rear wheels are quite skinny; the tyres are from the Toyota Prius. So it’s more liable to, y’know, move around a bit on a hot lap.
The search for a new Reasonably Priced Car was long and arduous, but eventually a suitable candidate was found: a brown-ish Kia Cee’d. Affectionately named the ‘Cee-apostrophe-dee’, the understeery Korean machine quickly got to work, scaring and frustrating the likes of Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Michael Fassbender and Amber Heard.The Americans battled with a host of northern comedians for leaderboard domination, with Matt LeBlanc getting the final word after pipping Rowan Atkinson by a tenth of a second. In 2006, the Liana was retired from celebrity duties, recalled only on the rare occasions that those from the world of motorsport grace our humble studio. Enter the Reasonably Priced Chevrolet Lacetti: as blue as the old Liana, but no less powerful. More so, in fact.At the wheel of the Chevy, the famous faces of the world began posting visibly quicker times, with Jay Kay setting the benchmark at 1 minute 45.8 seconds. After eight series the Lacetti was eventually laid to rest underneath a demolished chimney.
Top Gear’s first Reasonably Priced Car, born out of a burning need to see household names amble around a makeshift track with varying degrees of success. For seven series, the Liana was piloted by no fewer than 65 stars, including Stephen Fry, Jodie Kidd, Trevor Eve, Lionel Richie and even a blind chap named Billy Baxter.All but four of the 65 cleared the (admittedly low) two-minute barrier, although none were faster than Dame Ellen McArthur, whose time of 1 minute 46.7 seconds was never bettered. For 2016, the TG team spanned the globe in search of motoring hooliganism. Highlights included a hotride around London in a modified Mustang, thrashing Ferrari’s mad F12tdf, buying a second-hand car to race the Orient Express down to Venice, and a plethora of McLarens hooning around our test track. With Jenson Button.Elsewhere, Matt took a bit of a wrong turn on his way to the West Country and ended up in Morocco in an Ariel Nomad. Rory had to hotfoot it to Geneva in Jag’s nutjob F-Type SVR. Oh, and Harris got Vulcanised.
Clarkson, Hammond and May visit all four corners of the globe, as the trio herd cows in the far reaches of Australia and conduct a half-hearted search and rescue operation in the wilderness of British Columbia. Richard – without needing to be asked twice – takes the opportunity to make a tribute to the Land Rover Defender by driving one up an extremely steep incline, and James and Jeremy pay similar homage to the history of French manufacturer Peugeot, albeit with fewer compliments. The presenters are also tasked with building their own ambulances, while Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Olly Murs feature in the Reasonably Priced Astra. Inadvisable amounts of radiation await James, Jeremy and Richard as the trio embark on a road trip to Ukraine’s deserted nuclear power station, Chernobyl. Escaping without the inconvenience of additional limbs and mutated facial features, the presenters give road tests to the jaw dropping McLaren P1, the astonishing Porsche 918, and the less-scary-but-still-pretty-good Caterham Seven 620R. And before heading out for another classic Top Gear adventure in Burma, there’s just time to cram Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hiddlestone and Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul into the Reasonably Priced Car. The presenters provide some essential consumer advice as Jeremy and James use a hire car and a boat to find the quickest way to get around in New Zealand, while Richard gathers a selection of cabs together to determine which is the fastest taxi in the world.
Elsewhere, the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta gets the chance to show what it can do on the roads of Scotland, and TG tackles water-based motoring once again with the creation of the fabled Hovervan. Ron Howard, Rachel Riley and Benedict Cumberbatch are among the celebs let loose in the brand new Reasonably Priced Car: a red Vauxhall Astra Techline. The Top Gear Technology Centre swings into action again as Jeremy aims to build a car even smaller than the Peel P50, while the subject of OAP transport is addressed as well with the creation of the ‘Rover James’. After proving itself with a host of celebrity names on our track, a batch of Kia Cee’ds are sent to Twickenham for what is assumed to be the first ever game of car rugby, and the presenters conduct a race from London to Milan with a Shelby Mustang GT500 up against public transport. Special guests include Mick Fleetwood, Amy Macdonald and James McAvoy. James, Richard and Jeremy get back to business by taking a Lamborghini Aventador, a McLaren MP4-12C and a Noble M600 to Italy, and there’s also a trip to Beijing to meet the Stig’s surprisingly violent Chinese cousin. Top Gear is then invited to film a car chase for the upcoming remake of The Sweeney starring Ray Winstone and Plan B, before taking on a trio of disabled war veterans on some DIY mobility scooters.
On the track, the dust is blown off the Suzuki Liana as Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen sets a lap time, while ordinary stars Matt LeBlanc and Slash compete in the Reasonably Priced Cee’d. It’s the 50th birthday of the Jaguar E-Type, which means a celebration involving a marching band, some Spitfires and the white cliffs of Dover is in order. Less bombastically, three hot hatches are driven around the circuit of the Monaco Grand Prix, the McLaren MP4-12C lines up against the Ferrari 458 on our track, and the presenters decide to have a go at improving the railways with cars and caravans. Northern comedians Ross Noble and Rowan Atkinson get strapped in to the Reasonably Priced Kia Cee’d, as do music legends Alice Cooper and Bob Geldof.
Richard, Jeremy and James attempt to prove that they are wise men by driving three convertibles across the Middle East, before undermining themselves somewhat by landing a helicopter on top of a Skoda Yeti, robbing a bank in Albania and converting a combine harvester into a snow plough suitable for the roads of Britain. There’s plenty of action on the track as well as Hammond finally gets the chance to drive some of his supercar heroes from the 80s, and Top Gear Australia are in town to compete for a motoring version of the Ashes. John Bishop, Simon Pegg and Amber Heard are among the stars in the Reasonably Priced Car. Top Gear dabbles with danger as James drives up to the edge of an active volcano, Richard holds an explosive funeral for our old Chevrolet Lacetti, and Jeremy drives the widow maker that is the Reliant Robin. The trio recover by embarking on a relaxing holiday in Cornwall – which turns out to be anything but in their home-made motorhomes – while Captain Slow goes very, very fast in the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.
Stars in the new Reasonably Priced Kia Cee-apostrophe-d include Rupert Grint, Peta 23 from Essex and F1 veteran Rubens Barrichello. Oh, and two little-known Americanists called Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise. The three presenters push the boundaries of modern engineering as they build their own homemade electric car, and James takes holidaymakers into the realms of the unknown by inventing a caravan that can fly. There’s also another ‘sensible’ road test, with Jeremy taking the Renault Twingo to its limits in Belfast, and the superb Lexus LFA takes to our track to demonstrate why it’s one of the best cars in the world today.
And that’s according to the Stig. Guests include Eric Bana, Michael Sheen and the revelation that is Seasick Steve.
Comparing great athletes across eras and different sports has long been an American pastime. In the world of motor racing, we have our own uniquely beloved format: lap time comparisons. We also have our favorite drivers to champion with endless hours of bench racing, but when it comes to ranking the fastest cars from a similar discipline, the numbers do the talking.Starting at the top of the mountain, Formula 1 has long been the standard bearer for speed records in road racing, and on rare occasions, we get the chance to compare F1's peerless lap times against other series on the same track.The most recent instance came at Silverstone when F1 and the FIA World Endurance Championship used identical configurations in somewhat similar weather settings. Differences in track temperatures can influence speed and grip in meaningful ways, but if you can find ambient conditions that are similar, it's possible to contrast the relative speeds.