Tornado

I understand quite definitely clarkson was supposed to be on the locomotive all along.

Hammond was clearly very frustrated at the situation with the bike at KX... for a little guy he has a fowl mouth (which I accidentally caught on a video), especially when he finally left on the bike at 08.05, only to have to turn and come back to the ramp as this time the jag stalled, and they had to repeat the road departure again. There was a bit of a discussion going on at 8am..

James May we definitely more than at home in his Jag, I have several pictures where he was sat back relaxed and another giving the thumbs up !

If the car won, then in reality, if they had got off at 07.25 with the train, the car would have been more than an hour earlier.

 

Not to be discourteous - or disbelieving - but I wonder if James Mayes actually kept to the national speed limits during his journey and was his journey monitored throughout to confirm it - in the same way that Tornado was monitored to maintain speed at 75 mph ?

As a car driver I cannot believe that a car would win when (a) the national speed limit of 70 mph on dual carriageways and 60 mph on single carriageways was being observed and (b) the original A1 route through towns with a traffic problem and 30 mph speed limits was - reportedly - being followed.

Is it my age or am I just being cynical ?

 

Your being cynical :smt002 They have to follow all the same H&S and insurance rules as any other BBC program (much to their annoyance im sure!) and besides, to make a meaningful difference to the time they'd have to spend a long time over the limit, unlikely for Capt. Slow i'd have thought...!

Chris

 

Are we sure the Jag didnt use the M1 & A1 ?

I knew the bike was going the A1 and had the advantage of jumping traffic, the Jag would have the advantage of the Motorway.

otherwise the bike and the car would have just leap frogged each other on identical roads.. not as much fun.

 

I understand that a portion of the ticket revenue is being donated to Charity.

 

I do have to confess on friday night I let a close top gear mad friend of mine into the Top Gear secret, and said if he wants to know more he had to show up at liverpool st at 6.30am...he grumbled about trainspotting days out I met him and brought him over to KX.

He confessed he has never seen a steam train in steam before and came along to KX with me purely because of the Top Gear aspect.

his words at the end of it.. "actually steam trains are kind of cool"... and "I always had this theory that trainspotters secretly are having loads of fun"...

I capitalised on that by telling him about Miss Wolsztyn Competition and the shed disco at the annual jamboree in Wolsztyn with a few thousand local's at it.

I think Top Gear will have a very positive impact on our nations preserved railways the weekend after it is aired in the UK and the UK heritage lines will do well to prepare for it...which line will have the top gear cars on display then ?

Maybe 20 years after the end of communism our it's time our hobby came in from the cold....

How about SSS3 with Miss Llangollen or U2 on an A1, could always be Cliff Richard with a Castle ?

 

Maybe the female volunteers (and others) might like a "Mr Llangollen" competition as well?

Richard

 

Interesting thread on the Hornby forum:

http://www.hornby.com/forum/forum-threa ... ead-L-9932


I cannot believe there are not more non railway forum posts about the race, this is the only one I've found so far

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... Top%20Gear!

 

Said Red Molly to James, "That's a fine motorbike,
A girl could feel special on any such like."
Said James to Red Molly, "My hat's off to you.
That's a Vincent Black Lightning 1952."

One of Richard Thompson's finest...

 

Well at least we now know the truth

Well done to the A1 Trust for pulling this one off - but I am not really happy with the concept of a two tier railtour market. Secret email lists about tours on open sale rankles a bit, and whilst I did not have the time to take this one up, the freedom to consider participation is what matters.

If Steam Dreams were taking the financial risk of the run, I trust that the BBC were charged a hefty fee for filming and that the profits on the day are going to the A1 Trust

There is a recognised scale of charges for filming on railway property and this was somewhat more than a mike and a few camera crew on a station concourse, for which the usual charge is well over £1,000 a day.

As for all this worry - if not paranoia - about crowd control etc it really is meaningless, and those who buy into it have simply lost the plot. The only serious trespass I have seen this year was up in the wilds of Scotland on the GB2 and that was by Joe Public - not railway minded people.

The Beeb and other TV and production companies film all over the country 24/7 without applying "D" Notices and I see no difference here.

The secret was out days before the run amongst those who wanted to know and watch - so where were the thousands?

And Ray - where were you when Mel ran anti clockwise with 6229 and clockwise with No 7?

 

The difference being, when the *public* (as opposed to gricers) knew about tornado, there was such problems at places like Holme you had trains being put under caution. It would not have been much of a race had that happened again now would it? I am only aggrieved because I am not on any sekrit yahoo groups or the like, but I know where to look otherwise, and my point about the license fee is not that it was used, far from it, it is that I as a payer was then denied the chance of a shot.

 

As a license fee payer, I am entitled to watch the programme they eventually produce. But it doesn't give me any rights to see how they produce it. I wouldn't expect to be able to walk onto the set of Eastenders, so I respect their request to keep this a bit "hush-hush", after all the trespass problems on the earlier tours.

Richard

 

I am minded to bring on the collies as the sheep seem to be around here in hundreds.

This event took place in plain view of the public either on the road or on the railway. There was no set involved.

Is everyone around here really so happy to be told how to conduct every aspect of their lives, because I'm not and I shan't be buying into it any time soon.

Baaa! Baaa!

 

Good for you - we'll try not to trample all over your ego when the collies come to round us up.

 

Ah but you can apply for tickets to be in the audience during the recording of many of the shows we see, Top Gear included. I somehow doubt that this one was on the list and only a fortunate few
got the chance to apply for tickets.

 

So a few people are upset that they weren't on the list of favoured clients offered the chance to ride the special train. At least 5596 admits it. Steam Dreams can offer the tickets to whomsoever they like. It's up to them how they sell them. I don't suppose they had any trouble finding buyers. There's nothing to say they have to be advertised - it's not a government contract up for tender, after all.

As for all this hot air about "licence fee payers" - the licence fee pays for BBC programmes to be made. The BBC is responsible for making the best programmes it can for the given budget. Buying a licence allows you to watch the finished product. None of this means they have to publicise any part of the programme-making process unless they want to. Of course the BBC wants to keep the lid on this sort of filming. Any sensible film or TV producer will keep details of their filming as private as they can - unless it's something like Antiques Roadshow, in which case the event is set up to cope with the expected crowds.

Honestly, this sort of nonsense is worse than livery debates!