Stig drives the Corvette ZR1

And that's all the information I have, you can try asking Traqmate who posted the clip....

Mclaren MP4-12C vs Ferrari 458, Round 2: D'OH!

Spring must be Supercar test time in the UK. CAR pits the McLaren versus the Ferrari 458, Porsche GT2 RS, Mercedes SLS, Audi R8 V10 and Lamborghini LP 670-4 PS. This is the way all tests should be, BTW, Same track, same day, same driver, in this case, the ex-Stig Ben Collins.

SLS 1:33.1
Audi: 1:31.06
McLaren: 1:30.1
Lambo: 1:29.92
GT2 RS: 1:28.78
458 Italia:1:28.30

In the video, tires are not specified save for the Porsche GT2 RS' standard Michelin Sport Cup which makes the Ferrari time that much more remarkable. Also, you can't turn traction control fully off on the 12c, really?

As you can see at the end of the video, Mclaren claimed there was a mechanical issue with the car tested and later returned to the same track with their chief test driver and a presumably perfect MP4 12c fitted with optional Pirelli Corsa.

Their time? 1:28.0 ....D'oh!

It's all in the July Issue of CAR

Ouch.

Ham on a Stig

CG raised a good point about the hyper-publicized appearance by Lewis Hamilton on Top Gear this Sunday:

"...will Clarkson pull a "Peter Windsor" and stage everything to glorify the Ham-ego and allow him to beat the Stig time or will Clarkson be honest to his cynical roots and just beat the crap out of the self centered kiddo in the interview?"

Are you kidding me? Let's look at the BBC's very press release:

Hamilton gets behind the wheel of the Suzuki Liana - the same car that the other F1 stars Mansell, Button, Hill and Webber have previously found themselves in - to find out if he can beat our Stig's blisteringly quick time of 1.44.4.
The only difference being that Lewis has to deal with not only water but also oil leaked from Jeremy's VXR8 on track earlier in the day.

sure....blame the Vauxhall in case he does not beat the time!

Speaking of choking, Hamilton has been running around London with Naomi Campbell* again, last time the well travelled supermodel was near the Ham was at Interlagos...need we say more?

* If you remember, we told you about the Naomi-Lewis-Flavio connection in September...

The Ultima-te Stig lap.

Ok, it's only technically a street car but it's still pretty impressive that the Ultima GTR pulverized the TopGear lap record by almost five seconds!!! The GTR lapped at 1:12.8, that's 4.8 seconds faster than the Koenigsegg CXX (with Stig wing).

In this clip from the Ultima web site, it's especially cool to see a complete lap of the test track we all have seen a million times, from a driver's point of view.

from Ultima's web page:

British supercar manufacturers Ultima Sports Ltd have this week celebrated their 15th year anniversary in style by obliterating the Top Gear TV Lap Record by over four and a half seconds in their standard production Ultima GTR720 road car, which was a record previously held by the Swedish Koenigsegg CXX.
Driven by Ultima’s own Stig, the standard production 200 + mph Ultima GTR720 equipped with fully e-marked road tyres which was driven to the test venue, recorded a blistering fully verified lap time of 1min12.8secs, demolishing the previous record held by the £415,000 Koenigsegg CXX of 1min17.6secs. The record attempt was organized by Ultima Sports Ltd themselves in conjunction with Plans Motorsport after apparently being overlooked by the producers at Top Gear TV over the last couple of years despite repeated approaches.

Richard Marlow, Director of Ultima Sports Ltd commented
"It came as no surprise to any of us here at the factory that on our very first hot lap in the Ultima GTR the Top Gear TV Lap Record was well and truly beaten leaving all other supercars in it’s wake which accurately demonstrates the all round performance envelope of the Ultima GTR. I always knew that the GTR could take the crown with ease by a simply huge margin, the fully verified lap time data shows that in a head to head race with the £450,000 Ferrari Enzo the Ultima GTR would lap it every 12 laps! ...

Ted Marlow, Managing Director of Ultima Sports Ltd commented
"We were forced into having to achieve this Top Gear TV track record independently as despite repeated approaches by ourselves, customers and worldwide Ultima fans to Top Gear TV with a view to having the Ultima GTR720 timed around the Top Gear track and road test, no invites were forthcoming.

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