Hamilton takes Top Gear challenge

Lewis Hamilton squares up to resident Top Gear driver The Stig
Formula One star Lewis Hamilton is to swap his multi-million pound, 230mph McLaren to drive a modest family car for BBC Two's Top Gear show on Sunday.
Hamilton takes part in the programme's "star in a reasonably priced car" feature, where celebrities compete to post the fastest lap around a track.

The 22-year-old Briton is out to beat a time of one minute 44.4 seconds, set by Top Gear's resident driver The Stig.

Hamilton's time will be revealed during the programme which starts at 2000 GMT.

Former Formula One stars Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Mark Webber have already taken the challenge.


The select group of former drivers is pitted in a separate category to stars such as Hugh Grant, Simon Cowell, Ellen MacArthur and Gordon Ramsay who have all taken the challenge in the past.

The appearance will be the first on the show since Hamilton narrowly failed to win the world championship in his rookie season, losing out to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen by one point.

 

There's a reason Lewis drives for one of the top F1 teams and Ben Collins has to make ends meet on a silly car show If The Stig wins it will be as big a fix as all the challenges on TG

My money's on LH

 

I really hope he gets beat fair and square....

Won't be the first time, he probably crashed (?)

Dunx

 

Cant wait to watch this. I hope the Stig beats him fair and square. Just because he can handle a F1 car round a track after hours of practice, doesnt mean he will beat the stig on a track he knows like the back of his hand.

Lets see what happens.

I think they are testing the clio 197 aswell tommorow, that should be interesting!

 

He was able to trounce former world champions and well seasoned drivers on tracks they knew well in his rookie season. If he'd won the championship we'd all be loving him, but that was out of his hands due to the cheating FIA so now he's just another British loser for us to kick whilst down, until next year. If The Stig does beat him I will doubt the integrity of the result as much as the last two F1 races of the season. Ben Collins is good, but there is a reason he's never contested at the pinnacle of motorsport, a bit like Tiff Needell

 

I think the real cheats were his team. I'd have banned the lot for next season including the drivers if they knew. Sorry but I've never been a Hamilton fan. Bung just about any driver on the back of the grid into the best car and you'll have a championship contender.

 

Is that why 2x world champ Alonso couldn't win it either

It's the format of F1 to build the best car AND source/build the best engine AND recruit the best driver, if you manage to get all three bases covered then you're pretty much unbeatable (Ferrari for a few years). To get anywhere near that dream position all three components have to work in harmony. An engineer can only make a car or engine better if the driver tells him where it's weak points are. The Yanks use identical cars to place the emphasis on driving ability, and yet they never fair too well in F1. I would however like to see a season finale using 22 identical cars (possibly borrowed from the Sceptics) in a single race drivers showdown. LH has won in every discipline in his rapid climb to date, I for one can see much more potential in him than any of the other modern era British drivers.

 

"Is that why 2x world champ Alonso couldn't win it either "

Sorry, I don't get what point you're making.



By all accounts Hamilton wasn't quicker than Stig. Hamilton was on a wet track though. I would prefer a championship where all the drivers were in identical cars.

On the flipside look at someone like Coulthard. Once upon a time he was in a competitive car and was successful. Now in an uncompetitive car you never hear of him. I'm sure with the extra years of experience he's now had makes him a slower driver.

The car you are in pretty much determines where you'll finish at the end of the season.

 

Actually Coulthard had a cracking season last year, even in a 3rd rate car he was mixing it in the midfield regularly. In his early seasons he showed the same promise I can see in LH now but made too many mistakes, whereas LH has been virtually flawless all season.
As I said earlier, F1 is about the constructor AND the driver, identical cars would remove competition for the engineering and stifle technological development. There is justification for doing it, but also for not. Rule changes next year should see the driver being more involved in the control of the car, I hope, which may sort the men from the boys.

 

Quote from the producer's blog:-

"Anyway, Lewis took his tuition from the Stig very seriously, then we set the stop watch and sent him off. The lap time you'll find out if you watch Sunday's show, but I will say I've been in the edit for two days since we recorded the show, and I still keep replaying his second to last corner, because I've never seen a piece of driving quite like it. The world is governed by the rules of physics, but he just seems to have his own set."

 

wow, I wanna go

 

0.3s off The Stig's dry time and they usually sat that the wet adds 3-4s He didn't exactly look like he was taking it very seriously either

 

whats that corner called DOH, he took that wide so could have gained .3 easily. BRITAIN GREAT MANS SPORT RUGBY LEAGUE and 1 DRIVER

 

That was fast...

James Blunt was a top bloke as well,how come he didn't mention his Scoob though...

 

Of course it's about the driver and the team, you're not going to put a complete idiot in the best car. My point is the biggest factor in who wins a championship and who finishes last is the car they are in and the team behind them. I'm not having a pop at Hamilton at all, just simply pointing out if he was in a back row car you wouldn't see him remotely competing for the championship.

As we have seen every time rules are brought in to make it a more level playing field in terms of driver skill, the teams just find a way around this with other advances. I do agree that stifling technology in making all the cars the same way is the wrong way to go. But, my original point still stands.

Generally the best drivers will run with the best teams, the very nature of the set-up (ie. hard cash) will determine this. So at the most basic level F1 is the ultimate sport that displays whoever has the deepest pockets will win. Sadly the same as most sports.

It will be interesting to see Hamilton's dry lap time. But I'd like to see a sandbag or two in Hamilton's car to compensate their weight difference

 

gambon is the name of the corner int it.... he was bloody good... and quick

 

Top lap by lewis

dont forget to watch this weekend you might just see someone some of you know

 

Something to do with a BMW?

 

with a fecking big wing on the back

 

And some very cunning signwriting on the sides.

 

And talking about sign writing????