sik68
10-25-2010, 12:42 PM
As some of you are aware, Top Gear USA is presently taping its first episodes, filmed at none other than El Toro Base. To parallel the British show, the episodes will feature the same Power Lap segment, where the featured car of the week will be driven around the track in anger to see how it competes with other cars on the leaderboard. Well, Jalopnik (http://jalopnik.com/5672084/top-gear-usa-the-stigs-new-track?skyline=true&s=i) is reporting that they obtained the layout of the El Toro test track to be used on the show, and have been kind enough to share.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
I am emphatically proposing that the RTTC road course event be run on the Top Gear USA test track. There are many advantages to this, including:
1) The skill level of the RTTC participants will be widely varied, but the commonality is that nearly of us will be driving dinosaur cars that we insist (read: hope) can keep up with modern machinery. For the talented drivers at the top of the pro-touring heap, being able to compare driver/car to those of a professional driver behind the wheel of varied modern machinery would be invaluable. Could this hobby's mantra finally be validated, or will we be eating some back-to-the-drawing-board humble pie? Running this track would create a lot more buzz and hype for the event, and playing Stig for a day is pretty much every gearhead's dream.
2) The work has been already done! The shows producers undoubtedly took the design of the track layout very seriously. It would be no surprise that they consulted track designers and drivers to lay out a track that would test the full spectrum of a car's abilities and the driver's guts. A pre-determined, well accepted design also stifles some of the complaints that inevitably creep up about configuration. On top of all this, utilizing this track would expedite quite a bit of the work by the RTTC chieftons, freeing their time up for other logistics.
3) A level playing field. I am not sure if the original intention of RTTC 2011 is to run the same configuration as 2010, but track familiarity is a legitimate factor at an amateur event, especially when the drivers get relatively few laps to show their stuff. A new track would clean the slate. In addition, the publicity of the event between now and then would mean that we will all have an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the layout by watching the show, making for better driving come "race" day.
4) Bragging rights. I have read countless times on forums from people who who write "it would be soo cool to be able to drive the TG track." The British Top Gear is literally one of the most popular shows in the world. The fact that we're attempting a spinoff over herE is a daunting yet exciting prospect. If the show blows up to global proportions, it would mean a lot to us all if we could gloat to our buddies outside of the pro-touring scene by pointing to the TV and saying "I drove there!"
That is all! I hope this will work out!
-Steven
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
I am emphatically proposing that the RTTC road course event be run on the Top Gear USA test track. There are many advantages to this, including:
1) The skill level of the RTTC participants will be widely varied, but the commonality is that nearly of us will be driving dinosaur cars that we insist (read: hope) can keep up with modern machinery. For the talented drivers at the top of the pro-touring heap, being able to compare driver/car to those of a professional driver behind the wheel of varied modern machinery would be invaluable. Could this hobby's mantra finally be validated, or will we be eating some back-to-the-drawing-board humble pie? Running this track would create a lot more buzz and hype for the event, and playing Stig for a day is pretty much every gearhead's dream.
2) The work has been already done! The shows producers undoubtedly took the design of the track layout very seriously. It would be no surprise that they consulted track designers and drivers to lay out a track that would test the full spectrum of a car's abilities and the driver's guts. A pre-determined, well accepted design also stifles some of the complaints that inevitably creep up about configuration. On top of all this, utilizing this track would expedite quite a bit of the work by the RTTC chieftons, freeing their time up for other logistics.
3) A level playing field. I am not sure if the original intention of RTTC 2011 is to run the same configuration as 2010, but track familiarity is a legitimate factor at an amateur event, especially when the drivers get relatively few laps to show their stuff. A new track would clean the slate. In addition, the publicity of the event between now and then would mean that we will all have an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the layout by watching the show, making for better driving come "race" day.
4) Bragging rights. I have read countless times on forums from people who who write "it would be soo cool to be able to drive the TG track." The British Top Gear is literally one of the most popular shows in the world. The fact that we're attempting a spinoff over herE is a daunting yet exciting prospect. If the show blows up to global proportions, it would mean a lot to us all if we could gloat to our buddies outside of the pro-touring scene by pointing to the TV and saying "I drove there!"
That is all! I hope this will work out!
-Steven