Man, that looks like fun. Too much money, but fun none the less.
Stiggy didn't look all that good on the track. I'm sure a proper rally driver could get a much better result. I think you have to assume the thing is going to trade ends a 'flick it through the corners. They need a proper Stig, AKA Blomqvist.
i already looked those over, got super tempted, and then remembered i'm in college with no garage to keep one in or money to buy it, then got depressed, then forgot about it, then watched top gear and got re-depressed remembering how i don't have one... sad day... but awesome episode!
I watched that and made a mental note to ensure that any car I build and hand over to a journalist will damn sure not have such daffy handling problems. (I know the short wheelbase doesn't help, but yeah there is something wrong with that one)
Did you not see the right front dive like crazy at every stop? That car had teething problems...
Yea, that is the sweetest kit car I have ever seen. I wouldn't mind one with an LSx in the back.
Is it just me or is there anyone else who really couldn't care less about Top Gear? I know saying this is kinda like saying one doesn't like Miatas around here, but I really don't get it. If I see it flipping through the channels I'll watch it, I like the cars, but don't really see the appeal of the show. Of course, I don't really see the appeal of TV in general - I sure watch enough of it, but I find it mostly to be a waste of time.
Guilty as charged, I went straight to Google and typed, "hawk stratos."
TJ, for me, Top Gear has mounted the motorcycle and pointed it at the ramp, but it hasn't jumped the shark just yet.
TJ wrote: Is it just me or is there anyone else who really couldn't care less about Top Gear? I know saying this is kinda like saying one doesn't like Miatas around here, but I really don't get it. If I see it flipping through the channels I'll watch it, I like the cars, but don't really see the appeal of the show. Of course, I don't really see the appeal of TV in general - I sure watch enough of it, but I find it mostly to be a waste of time.
You're not alone in this. I actually couldn't be bothered to watch any of the last three episodes (should probably download last Sunday's from the BBC before it disappears) and I actually like/used to like the show. Not to mention I could watch it over the air and all that.
I actually find watching the download (which I can get via iPlayer, obviously) better than watching it during the broadcast so I can skip the boring or annoying bits.
Not a great fan of TV anyway but this used to be one of the shows I liked to watch.
For me the show is about one thing, 3 really good friends.
Jeff wrote: For me the show is about one thing, 3 really good friends.
Sorta like Two Guys Garage when they for some reason had three guys, except with cooler accents?
TJ wrote:Jeff wrote: For me the show is about one thing, 3 really good friends.Sorta like Two Guys Garage when they for some reason had three guys, except with cooler accents?
Off topic, but...
Hang around with british shiny happy people long enough and the accent will loose its appeal.
Trust me.
Clem
[edit: this was not meant to imply british people are shiny happy people...but rather to say there are some...and they spoiled the accent for me]
I'm in agreement here, the Stig they have right now is not so swift. He doesn't have that edge like the original did.
I didn't have to Google Hawk. When Clarkson's voiceover said "..it wasn't built by Lancia..." I yelled "It's a Hawk! That's the one I want to build" and started bouncing up and down on the couch while my wife tried to think of a way to leave without me noticing.
Obviously, the car wasn't done. It needed some serious sorting. I don't know who provided the car, Hawk or some bloke with a shed, but I hope they're really embarrassed. Nice paint, but spend some time driving the car before you hand it over to the media! Westfield is guilty of the same. Caterham understands, and that's why Caterham always cleans Westfield's clock in comparison tests.
As for the Stig, he did a pretty good job of driving through that second spin. The editors were obviously trying to make the car look as bad as possible, usually spins like that would be confined to a highlight reel.
I think a Hawk with an NSX motor would be pretty interesting, although the noise of that Alfa powerplant is threatening to change my mind. LSx? Not so much. Stratoses (Strati?) are supposed to run a V6.
As for TG losing its edge, I'm not going to agree. The Vietnam episode, the Africa episode, even the factual and not at all entertaining US episode show that it's as good as it ever was.
The Hawk Stratos has been on my to-own list for about 10-years. Of course, one of my first car-memories is watching the Stratos in WRC on ABC's Wide World of Sports.
I don't think I'd bother with the expense or trouble of the Dino engine though. Honestly, VR6 is what I have in mind for it.
Is this Stig new for this season?
When did the "original stig" last appear?
One of these days I will build one of those cars with an Alfa V6 in it, though the motor out of my wifes SAAB 9-5 Aero would be a lot of fun.
The original Stig was the black stig, and he got fired off an aircraft carrier in the first or second season when his identity was revealed. If the current Stig is different than in recent years, TG ain't sayin'.
You guys do know that they routinely change the Stig under that helmet, right? That was why Michael Schumacher showed up as the Stig in last year's episode, who else would Ferrari allow to drive their uber-exclusive car?
I'm guessing that for many episodes it is Ben Collins under the helmet and for others it may be someone else depending on production needs, etc.
Clarkson himself summed up TG best [paraphrasing], "We've won an award for 'Best Factual Show', which is pretty amazing since we haven't uttered a fact in 5 years..."
Here is the story from the Hawk stratos folk's side.
http://www.stratossupersite.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=7683
They are pretty unhappy with how they were represented
I agree it seems the limits were pushed... but at the same time, I would not lend a car to TG expecting a good review... I've only been watching the show for a few years now since it started showing on BBCA, and I got that pretty quick.
Of course it's contrived... just watch the editing and you can see that....
For example, does one really think James is that stupid that he would willingly chose a Aston Martin race car to drive around southern Europe? Of course not... but it made the skit a lot more entertaining to watch him try... and that's the whole point of the show. To expect anything more out of it is just being naive...
They're just adolescent school boys having fun with each other and occasionally, some cars.
With regards to the other side of the Stratos story - the mechanic let the car go out to have the new spotlights wired in while he wasn't able to get the brakes to work? Seems like poor prioritizing to me. But I guess it's got to look shiny for TV.
Looking through that forum - they were definitely not happy :) And it looks as if there was only a week or so to get the car together and at the track. Tight timeline. Then TG popped the engine, and they had a month to get it reassembled and sort the handling.
I remember Two Guys Garage when it was just 2 guys!
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