Ferrari Daytona vs. XSR 48 boat Part 1 - Top Gear - BBC

you see this year a motoring icon is celebrating its 40th birthday Richard Hammond he was last year and the year before my niece's birthday make sweet isn't it well is that so then he'll be 38 yes all right I am thank you very much this motoring icon though it's an important one and to celebrate its birthday we had to go somewhere really special to here in fact the Riviera the legendary stretch of coastline which for decades has been the spiritual home of Playboy's movie stars and the jet set which sort of makes it the perfect place for one of the all-time great jet set cars the Ferrari Daytona it may take its name from a racetrack in America but trust me the Daytona is the absolute essence of pure European supercar drop-dead gorgeous looks stunning the speed born in Italy I'm gonna take it for a drive now from here Portofino which is a sort of Italian Whitby along the coast to San Tropez and even though it's 40 years old this is the perfect machine for the job no it isn't yes it is well it isn't well it just is that's why I'm here with it it isn't not anymore what is well it's a boat not that one this one what we have here is the XS are 48 or in plain English the only way to get around on the Riviera not only is it stunning to look at it's also the world's fastest diesel production with the top speed of 80 miles an hour James this is from the future you're from 1948 yes I know you think that but I like modern intelligent engineering solutions and this is one but this is a carbon-fiber racing hull that's one world powerboat championships and then they've put you know some nice seats and switches sat-nav James was adamant that this wasn't just some rich man's vulgar toy may defend this ah yeah yes I was hoping you would need that that is a carbon-fiber bog yetis to prove to James of all people that the old ways are the best I offered to race him to San Tropez him in his carbon-fiber convenience and me in the greatest grand tourer ever made how much is that worth by the way that one 200,000 pads one of the quarter million chaff move you scrap off the harbor [Applause] the start of the race wasn't exactly dramatic there was a three not speed limit in the harbor and my car was well 40 years old his old date owners take a while to warm up and you have to sort of skip second gear goes straight to third for a while until the gearbox has come up to temperature otherwise sort of explodes while his 250 mile route was 40 miles longer than mine Hammond was convinced he'd be able to maintain a higher average speed but once my cabin cruiser was out onto the open water it would turn into a ferocious powerboat racer and for that reason I couldn't drive it on my own this is Peter he's a many times world powerboat champion holds powerboat endurance record he's doing the tricky throttle and trim stuff I'm doing the steering and the nav I have faster we go nine knots and we need to learn the right direction they're going to be the wrong way the autostrada beckoned this is it [Applause] the date elinoz shouldn't really have to defend its honor on its birthday but if James wanted a race again 0.4 later Italian v12 unleashed right here we go 1600 horsepower that's for the more than 1/2 times what have you got eBay runners gods five dollar 50 mile-an-hour and there's a tunnel after up the window a little bit I'm sorry about the window 70 miles an hour across the water that's fabulous this pose has been conceived like a supercar it's very powerful very very light very agile has just enough trim and creature comforts to make it bearable but that's all it is a hard core performance machine my supercar doesn't have a space-age Kazi but it does have infinitely more pedigree the Daytona if somebody says to you Ferrari dato even if you've never been in one if you've never even seen one it sounds right you know with the name like that it's not gonna be a finger these days it takes many months and many millions to design a new car the Daytona seven days and just look absolutely sublime on the water I had no time for Herman's misty-eyed Mills and Boon Murray just exactly what's going on in Richard happens by he's got a romantic the char of Persia and all those people but it's different now this place is full of puppy dad and New York Hilton this is the modern way to do it as long as I'm not driving when it was launched in 1968 the Daytona cost 10,000 pounds making it the most expensive Ferrari ever but not everyone thought it was worth the money a year earlier Lamborghini had brought out of the bureau and that was in super futuristic mid-engined it was really showing the way forwards for supercars and yet there was Ferrari with a front-engine car in its day was seen as a bit of a dinosaur but the Daytona had the last laugh because of the mirrors front end the lift high speeds it started to go very light because aerodynamically didn't quite work top speed this cope 174 30 miles into my journey the water was getting a big chop here that I wasn't worried suspended with sort of suspension units off the technique apparently needs to relax let's eat take the battery [Music] forty miles into my journey and something rather perverse was happening you're actually watching a man go to the process of falling in love it's not perfect this new love of mine other stories about the incredibly heavy steering and the clutches a bit like a big Italian v12 engine truck and all of those things are true operating the steering wheel is like turning one of those hatch wheels on a submarine in a world war Tim film but the Daytona brings back the glamour it reminds the Riviera what the Riviera is all about

Channel: Top Gear

Views: 2,373,714

Rating: 4.885808 out of 5

Keywords: BBC, Top, Gear, Ferrari, Daytona, XSR48, Boat, Car, Auto, Challenge, Motor, Review, Cars, Video, BBC Worldwide, Top Gear, Topgear, Autos, Motoring, Jeremy Clarkson, Jeremy, Clarkson, Richard Hammond, Richard, Hammond, James May, James, May, The Stig, Ferrari Daytona (Automobile Model), British Broadcasting Corporation (Production Company), Ferrari S.p.A. (Automobile Company), Top Gear (TV Program)

Id: TBBy-4tnWoM

Length: 9min 9sec (549 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 17 2009