Richard drives a F1 car round Silverstone - Top Gear

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Also this car was driven around the Stowe circuit, which is basically a karting track for an F1.

I think quite a lot of this film was exaggerated, but driving an F1 car is still very difficult.

👍︎︎ 102 👤︎︎ u/MrF1GuyV12POWAHHH 📅︎︎ Apr 22 2017 🗫︎ replies

Steve Sutcliffe and Chris Harris drove around Silverstone for Autocar during winter in a Jag and Honda and did far better. This was just over dramatic TG pandering to those with no idea themselves.

Even Tom Cruise was putting respectable laps together in a RBR minus traction control.

👍︎︎ 48 👤︎︎ u/sennais1 📅︎︎ Apr 23 2017 🗫︎ replies

ITT: People who have never driven an F1 car, telling people who have never driven an F1 car, how easy it is to drive an F1 car.

👍︎︎ 86 👤︎︎ u/[deleted] 📅︎︎ Apr 23 2017 🗫︎ replies

The one time Hammond put on an act for an entertainment show.

Seriously, people drive F1 cars all the time. Its not as hard as he pretends.

https://www.lrs-formula.com/en/

https://www.agsformule1.com/en/driving-courses/formula1/

http://www.rajamakiracing.com/en/

https://www.puresport.net/us/f1-driving-experience

https://racing-school.co.uk/product-category/cars/formula-1-car/

Edit - did I say "one time?" I meant, like every time they get before the cameras.

👍︎︎ 121 👤︎︎ u/Baygo22 📅︎︎ Apr 22 2017 🗫︎ replies

I think it was embellished for television sake, but also keep in mind someone driving road cars for a tv show doesn't mean they know the faintest about actual car control and how to drive a race car.

👍︎︎ 59 👤︎︎ u/oh84s 📅︎︎ Apr 22 2017 🗫︎ replies
👍︎︎ 14 👤︎︎ u/_Kierz_ 📅︎︎ Apr 22 2017 🗫︎ replies

I think his problem was he was going too slow so he had no brake temp to slow down , so to counter that he drove slower and had no temps in anything.

👍︎︎ 4 👤︎︎ u/Alphaskud 📅︎︎ Apr 23 2017 🗫︎ replies
👍︎︎ 3 👤︎︎ u/VinylAndOctavia 📅︎︎ Apr 23 2017 🗫︎ replies

I love his reaction when he gives it full throttle right out of the pits. He was completely awestruck.

👍︎︎ 6 👤︎︎ u/theruley 📅︎︎ Apr 22 2017 🗫︎ replies
Captions
This is the Renault R25. As the car that won Fernando Alonso a world championship... it's one of the all-time F1 greats. The R25 is also the last of the breed from the monstrous V10 era, when the cars were chucking out close to 1,000 horsepower. Now, there's going to be no Top Gear nonsense today. I'm not going to race it against a cheetah or a bat on a superbike. My mission is simply to get that round a track. Specifically, two laps around Stowe Circuit at Silverstone. More specifically, two laps without stuffing a priceless World Championship-winning F1 car. Now, to put all this into context, the fastest road car I've ever driven is the Bugatti Veyron, which has a power to weight ratio of 530 horsepower per ton. But the power to weight ratio of this is 1,500 horsepower per tonne. But it's not just the numbers. Nothing can prepare your mind, your senses, your body, your reaction times for the assault of a Formula 1 car. So, before the assault, it was back to school. My teacher would be race team boss Jonathan Lewis and my first lesson would be in one of his little formula Renault cars. -It's very simple, really. -It looks like a Formula 1 car to me, only a bit smaller and not quite as fiddly. Okay. Well, it is a baby formula car. As a Veyron veteran, I was keen to show him what I could do! Still, the Formula Renault only has a piddly two-litre engine from a Clio, so mastering it should be easy. Right, I'm about going to try and gas it a bit down the straight. I've never let a complete novice go out in one of our cars before. The Formula Renault has only one fifth the power of an F1 car and I now realised the size of the mountain I had to climb. I've experienced what proper brakes are! It's like hitting a wall! And just as I was getting used to this car, I was shoved into its bigger brother, a World Series car, with twice the power of the Formula Renault. He's gone quiet. And no wonder! The straight-line speed I could cope with, but in the corners, I just couldn't think fast enough to react.= I'm quick! I don't know how much to trust it! It's just so.... There's so much to learn. I can't drive fast enough to get the heat in the brakes and then there's no brakes. I've just grappled with 500 brake horsepower in a 500 kilo car and I'm only halfway there. I was summoned to look at the readouts from my on-board telemetry. You're riding the brake and you're riding the accelerator. It's 'cause I'm doing left-foot braking. And the other thing is, you've been quite severe on one of the downshifts and you've put eight-and-a-half on the motor. If I'd done what I did on that lap in a Formula 1 car, what would have happened? You'd have probably spun it and wrecked the engine. How much is an engine rebuild on a Formula 1 car? Probably about 150,000, 200,000 or more. I needed lots more time in the World Series car, but that wasn't going to happen... because my muscles were struggling to cope with the cornering forces. My head is going to come off and I'm not joking. His neck will go soon, so, he needs to drive the Formula 1. Before I moved on, Yoda gave me a pep talk. Everything you experience in the World Series car is probably going to be more than three times as much, maybe more, in the Formula 1. My thinking time, that was my problem and I had a bit of an off. It's because I thought I'd left it too late to brake. Then I realised I hadn't, but because I was thinking that, the car was already round the corner and I was in the wrong gear and I span. I can't think fast enough, more than anything else. You're going to have to concentrate, especially with that thing. If you think that's hard, that's going to be another level. That's snug. If you are ten, I'm doing this on your behalf. You're in here with me. Now I've got control of the throttle. That's me. Dear God, that's me revving a Formula 1 engine. The eyes of the whole F1 team were upon me. This was it. Rev. It had taken me a minute to do 40 feet. Are we going all the way back in? Is it all off? Here's the problem with the stalling. I know it's very funny, but the car has a system. If you stall, it's a disaster. So, as you're setting off, if it thinks you haven't got enough power, it just cuts the clutch in again and you just look an idiot. -Eight. -Eight anti-stalls? That's a record, isn't it? After the team had laughed at me and warmed the tyres to make them more grippy, they sent me on my way. Oh, God! It feels totally different to the other car. Totally different. Turning left... my God, I'm in a Formula 1 car! I'm going to try the throttle and see what... Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Holy mother! There's no temperature in the brakes. In the half a lap I'd managed, the car had made a big impression. It's absolutely the most glorious machine... in the world. I'm going as fast as I feel I can. It's not fast enough to heat the tyres, which means I've no grip or down force. If I go a bit faster than that, there'll still be no heat in the tyres and no down force and I will crash. The only way from where I am now is a lot faster. Then I'll have heat in the tyres and grip and I won't crash. And to make things worse, the man with my telemetry was hardly a bag of laughs. There's a big gap between where you're lifting off and braking. You should come straight off the accelerator onto the brakes. -Right. -There's no need for that big gap. How big a gap is it? Half a second between you lifting off... -Not massive, is it? -It should be straightaway. He was right, though. If I was going to do two laps in this thing, I had to dig deep. I've got to think about everything I've learned. Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God! That's unbelievable. There's no temperature in the brakes. They feel like they're not working. I'd done a lap! Just one more. Turning in. Oh, it's beautiful. I suspect the chief mechanic had seen better. But as far as I was concerned, driving god. It's the most scary thing in the whole world. The last corner is coming up. I'm braking. I'm in second. I'm going to aim it for the line. I've done it! I've done it! I've done it! Holy crap! To mark the occasion, the technicians let the engine play its party piece.
Info
Channel: Top Gear
Views: 14,450,889
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: BBC, Auto, Vehicle, Top, Gear, Hot, Free, Car, video, Clarkson, Stig, Test, Track, Speed, Top Gear (TV Program), Richard Hammond, Formula 1, Silverstone, F1, F1 Car, BBC Worldwide
Id: EGUZJVY-sHo
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 9min 53sec (593 seconds)
Published: Fri Nov 07 2008
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