Lewis Hamilton on this weeks episode of Topgear

[autogyro]

Top Gear is primarily about entertainment.
It is not a 'serious' program about cars.
With the present day dumbed down society any serious program would only last a week.

That is not to say that Clarkson and the others do not know about cars, they are all very good drivers and experts in their field.

As to the time trials, I would be much happier if it had an official timekeeper who was not answerable to viewing figures.
Without such credibility it just becomes another part of the American 'Dream' culture, an illusion.

I actualy believe that Clarkson would prefer a better regulated and technical show to reflect its British origins.
Unfortunately he is controlled by the system as it is.

[JimClarkFan]

No sour grapes,
I'll openly admit Ive never been a fan of LH, but I respect his ability and I think he would easily be in the top 3 of drivers.

Im alluding to the fact that Top gear is one of the most viewed programs on the planet, and it wouldnt go down very well if the 'local' F1 star made his return to the show, and still came up short.

As others have said, Top Gear is heavily scripted and orchestrated, I highly doubt the producers would let facts get in the way of ratings.

How would Lewis not beating the time drive down ratings. I don't understand.

The assumption is that everyone else up to this point was treated fairly, but since Lewis beat the time there is now hints of fowl play. I must admit I did initially think that was possible, the time just seemed too fast, however when you take into account he did 1.44.7 in the wet several years ago, that makes the 1.42.9 time seem entirely realistic.

[turbof1]

What is next? 9/11 conspiracy theories?

Nothing, but really absolutely nothing, points that Hamilton had an unfair advantage. Yes top gear is about entertainment, and if Hamilton failed to break the record they would surely have mocked the f*ck out of him at the show. They unfortunaly did not show the complete lap, but from footage we have seen he clearly was taking huge loads of speed through several corners.

They did not made up the time.

[Pup]

Well, they've admitted to scripting their car reviews ahead of time, so it's hardly a stretch that they'd also script this. I think Hamilton is the best driver out there, but jeez guys, it's Top Gear - possibly the most xenophobic show ever aired on BBC - of course Hamilton was going to top the time sheets.

[Absolutelee]

Scripting a car review so that you aren't just rambling "uhhhhh its good" while trying to drive is completely different from making up a time. That would only be a valid comparison if when scripting their reviews they also made up the stats. "This VW Polo is great! 400 HP and it only costs 85 pounds!"

[Pup]

They don't script them in the sense of just giving them stuff to say - they script the results, too. Remember that their defense in the Tesla suit wasn't that they were honest, but that the viewers knew that it was only entertainment and that their tests have nothing to do with the real world. They had the car running out of charge and Clarkson saying that the car "just didn't work" all before the car even arrived on their track. They've even been accused of cutting the chassis on cars to make them perform poorly on camera.

So would they fix the results for something like this? Come on - why wouldn't they?

Like I say, it doesn't matter. Louis has proved time and again, I think, that he's the best driver in F1, and that's all that matters.

[JimClarkFan]

They don't script them in the sense of just giving them stuff to say - they script the results, too. Remember that their defense in the Tesla suit wasn't that they were honest, but that the viewers knew that it was only entertainment and that their tests have nothing to do with the real world. They had the car running out of charge and Clarkson saying that the car "just didn't work" all before the car even arrived on their track. They've even been accused of cutting the chassis on cars to make them perform poorly on camera.

So would they fix the results for something like this? Come on - why wouldn't they?

Like I say, it doesn't matter. Louis has proved time and again, I think, that he's the best driver in F1, and that's all that matters.

Everyone knows that the 'entertainment' parts of the show are scripted, but that is not proof that any of the laps are. There has never been a hint previously to suggest that times were manipulated in any way. The only thing difference in this case is that Lewis is at the wheel and that he set the fastest time. Now loads of people are coming out of the woodwork to suggest foul play.

The logic here is easy to see for the neutral, the show is scripted because Lewis was the fastest, so far that is what I'm seeing in this thread . For there is nothing to suggest otherwise. Too much fanboyism on this site.

Thread should be closed.

[Pup]

The logic here is easy to see for the neutral, the show is scripted because Lewis was the fastest, so far that is what I'm seeing in this thread . For there is nothing to suggest otherwise. Too much fanboyism on this site.

Thread should be closed.

"Anyone who disagrees with me is a biased fanboy and now that I've had my say no one else should be allowed to say anything else."

Typical. It's a TV show - and a long stale one at that. I realize that people still like it, but really, it was interesting to me for about 3 episodes before the "let's race a blimp, judge a car by how easily it drifts, then talk to an out-of-work actor" formula got tiresome.

Judge Hamilton by what he does in F1. And given how well he's done, I'm surprised that any of his fans would fell the need to be defensive about what he does elsewhere. People get their egos so wrapped up in what their heroes do or don't do. It's really not healthy.

[JimClarkFan]

The logic here is easy to see for the neutral, the show is scripted because Lewis was the fastest, so far that is what I'm seeing in this thread . For there is nothing to suggest otherwise. Too much fanboyism on this site.

Thread should be closed.

"Anyone who disagrees with me is a biased fanboy and now that I've had my say no one else should be allowed to say anything else."

Typical.

Except that I have said repeatedly in this thread that I was initially suspicious about the time, but changed my mind when someone mentioned his previous wet lap in 08. That's a considered response on my part, and a change to my initial thoughts based on the available data I had to make my decision before versus after . You have nothing to base your claim on, and as far as I'm concerned that's the all the we need to know.


^I agree with your edit, judge him by his F1 deeds

[Richard]

I agree the entertainment bits are scripted, but I doubt they fix the lap time. All the UK TV companies have been fined and reprimanded over that sort of thing in recent years. As a result US reality TV shows on UK TV have a caption at the start warning that some scenes may have been scripted.

To be vaguely technical about it, the times don't have much validity due to the hugely variable inputs such as condition of the tyres, track temperature, track condition etc. All we do know is that one driver is able to extract a performance in frankly peculiar conditions that was significantly better than another comparable driver. I can easily imagine that another ad-hoc competition might get a different result - for instance Vettel might turn out to be better than Hamilton at racing a Robin Reliant my supermarket car park.

Anyway, there's no denying it was awesome lap by Hamilton.

[Nando]

I think it´s a far better place to see the difference of drivers then Formula 1 with individually built prototypes that looks vastly different to each other.

[Anon123]

"It's fixed because it's a British show"... right. Anyone who lives in the UK knows that most of us love mocking our sportsmen and women when they fail as much as we love cheering for them when they succeed. If they were going to fix it I doubt they would have made the gap 1.1 seconds because that sounds too much, when you look at the way Lewis slid into the 2nd to last corner and the way he used all of the exit in the final turn it seems a bit more believable. F1 drivers have beaten each other by bigger margins in the ROC and no one says thats fixed.

[ringo]

Well if this is fixed and manipulated, we would have to put all of the stigs timed laps in the sports cars in question.
To be honest i simply don't believe a timed lap would be scripted. It's just too much of an imagined conspiracy.
It's too hard to grasp onto something made up when compared to the reality, which is the lap time that was measured.
1.1s is not a lot. I really don't think it's extra ordinarily impossible.
He's out qualified teammates by those margins before, and that's where hundreths of a second set cars apart over 5km.
His F1 qualy laps are more ungodly and unrealistic than the top gear time to me at lease.

It's just too much effort to go the tin foil hat route. And i can bet if maldonado or some other fast young F1 driver gets a go he can beat Vettel's time. Vettel's speed is not proven against any other driver but old Mark "cob" Webber.

[raymondu999]

I don't get why people are getting so worked up about this. Top Gear never promised that their F1 timing board was the alpha-and-omega in judging driver speeds. Tyres, temperatures, track conditions etc make sure that this whole thing is not a fair test. It's a show, people. Move on.

[Cam]

For all we know......

http://www.chipmydiesel.com.au/products ... /1502.html

I would have at least given it a good tune and pumped the tyres. One can only imagine what other things might have been done.