Anybody else read Stiggy's biography?

nderwater wrote:

wcelliot wrote: I like the idea of the same highly skilled person at the same track in different cars... this method removes the most variables for an apples to apples comparison of the cars.

Apples to apples? What about weather? The lap time board is nearly meaningless when cars hit the track during different times of day, different seasons and when the track is wet. Are the times for a car run while winter snow is falling remotely comparable to a car run on a sunny summer afternoon?

How do you expect them to eliminate the weather as a factor, seriously.

It's an entertainment show guy, sit back relax and enjoy it.

Indoor Track?

The thing that I am always curious about when it comes to car testing is tires. They can make a HUGE difference, you would think you would want to standardize them.

Testing them as them come of the showroom is not bad, but normalizing for tires give you a more realistic picture. A manufacturer could put sticky tires on their cars to make them seem better, not sure if that has ever happened (NSX?).

Didn't the Elise come with RA1s at one point?

I thought the Elise came with sticky Yokos, and I'm sure Ferrari sends them cars with R-Comps and the suspension tuned for their track ...

MrJoshua wrote:

Maroon92 wrote: The way he put it, he was not getting any recognition, and he felt "replaceable". I have felt that way about many jobs, and it eventually forced me to leave. The BBC engineered in some replace-ability so they wouldn't have to pay a big name driver.

Not saying you are defending his feelings, but: HE WAS HIRED TO BE AN ANONYMOUS CHARACTER THAT COULD EASILY BE SWAPPED OR REPLACED! I'm pretty sure he has no right to be whiny about that.

Even better, he was the second one hired after the first one outed himself. So it's fair to say he understood...

Shows like TG and magazines pretty much have to test with the tires that come on the car. Why? Partly because you'll never find one tire that's available in all possible sizes. But also because that's the tires the manufacturer has chosen for that car, and they probably tuned the suspension to take them into account. The goal isn't to find out just how fast a car can be run around the track once it's been modified, it's to see exactly how well it works out of the box.

Well, magazines except GRM perhaps. It's kinda expected that GRM readers are the sort who will swap over to different tires. But not necessarily until the stock ones are done!

i like how Top Gear has managed to soldier on without him- they sure were lucky to find a new baby Stig in the holy land, and they were even luckier that Stigs mature rapidly and have an innate ability to drive cars fast..

Duke wrote: It's not like Top Gear has been some perfect automotive heaven in the more recent seasons, that he destroyed utterly on a whim. Much as I love it, the show and the hosts are getting tired.

I can't disagree...I haven't been watching the current series....I'll get to it eventually.

Osterkraut wrote:

Maroon92 wrote:

Osterkraut wrote: Nope. Won't.

why? I am just curious what your predisposed hatin' is...

He killed Santa Claus to make a quick buck.

I once saw a torrent for this book, and under the comments one guy said "great! now I won't have to give that pinch-valve any money!" paraphrased, of course.

MrJoshua wrote:

Maroon92 wrote: The way he put it, he was not getting any recognition, and he felt "replaceable". I have felt that way about many jobs, and it eventually forced me to leave. The BBC engineered in some replace-ability so they wouldn't have to pay a big name driver.

Not saying you are defending his feelings, but: HE WAS HIRED TO BE AN ANONYMOUS CHARACTER THAT COULD EASILY BE SWAPPED OR REPLACED! I'm pretty sure he has no right to be whiny about that.

Like Kiss and Earth, Wind and Fire!