Why does top gear use mph

Nothing like jumping into the deep end of the pool. I knew that the Ultimate Aero was an extremely well-built car, so my expectations were that the Tuatara would have been built with that same build quality. Drivability is also very important to me. I drive all my cars because I never thought as a kid, sweeping floors in the shop, that I would ever own anything like them. Also with the Tuatara, the aero and design work that Jason Castriota did on this car is incredible.

From a performance standpoint, Tom Nelson engine builder is well known for being able to put together a powerplant that will give you power that you want.

So the combination of all of that made sense to me. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Your information will be used in accordance with our privacy policy.

It didn't really matter to me. The car fits in with my collection of American supercars and it satisfies my desire to be able to have a car that I can drive.

If it turns out to be a world record holding car, fantastic; if not, it's a really fast, really cool car that I plan to drive. As a spectator at that event I can't definitively say what went wrong, but I can tell you how I believe we got there.

The car, on paper and to everyone's belief, is capable of hitting a number well in excess of mph. None of us at the time anticipated as a number, which is why you see the shock and exuberance of everyone when that number flashes on the screen when we're looking at it.

But because we had a belief that the car was capable, and we were seeing this come across the screen from the telemetry, we all believed that the car did it. Then when things started to get called into question, it was disappointing. By communicating unverified information when it was not properly authenticated, was a misstep.

I felt terrible about the whole thing, and I felt like it let the car community down. I wanted more control of the information and the accuracy of everything that went on, and the best way for me to do that was to take full possession of the car and be the one in the seat.

That way I could definitively say to anyone that this is what the car did. We started working with Johnny Bohmer, who is based at Kennedy and has a tonne of experience of high-speed runs. He was instrumental in talking to me about the best approaches for driving the car to meet v-max on that particular stretch of runway. He has done hundreds of runs in the mph to mph range.

So Johnny was instrumental in those discussions. From a data logging point of view, Racelogic had two systems of their own running. There were also three Garmins in the car. Then there was the onboard system and the Life Racing system, and then all the additional IMRA timing equipment that Johnny Bohmer has at the facility. And this time, for obvious reasons, we had an independent third-party observer present. I think that for future speed runs it should be a requirement that independent third-party observers are present.

There must be transparency in the process. The first time in December was a bit of a washout, and there were a number of challenges at that time including that the team didn't want me to drive the car. They all wanted Johnny to drive the car because of Johnny's experience and their concern that I didn't have experience, which wasn't accurate at all.

Additionally, there were two things that caused me to want to drive the car. Firstly, I wanted to be able to raise money for charity with the car. That's one of my primary goals, and with the unanswered questions and concerns around that run, I wasn't able to do that. Secondly, I felt that I owed it to the car community to make sure that everyone got it right. I've done some runs at the proving grounds previously.

In the Mosler, I did runs that were actually pretty interesting because the car became pretty unstable at about mph and started oscillating badly — that's a pretty solid pucker factor. And I still do. But my experience is an interesting combination of things. You go all the way back to me working in a shop on cars, building cars with my kids, and understanding the mechanics and the geometry and the set-up of the car, to being part of Ferrari's Corsa Clienti programme, where I've had five seasons of race events and one-on-one training with Ferrari factory drivers at circuits all over the world, be it Spa, the Nurburgring, Monza, Barcelona, Daytona, Hockenheim… Ironically, I believe that I was the only person on the team with a competition race license.

When we went to Kennedy last year we found that the car was actually lifting itself up on its suspension, and taking longer for the aero to replant the car to ideal height. This was because of all the torque the engine was delivering and because I was getting into it so hard out of the hole. So, Jason Castriota did the math and when we returned earlier this year we ran with a change in the ride height, rake and wing angle.

I ran the car in testing with the wing down, which made the car much less stable and required a lot more input from me to keep it pointed in the right direction. But what Jason gave me through the aero he designed was a car that is absolutely stable at those upper speeds — that gave me the confidence to drive the car at those speeds.

Things get quite different, very quickly at those extreme speeds… what did it feel like? Oddly calming. It's sort of a peaceful place because I'm completely present, completely in the moment and aware of everything that I'm doing and everything the car is doing. I don't think my pulse ever elevated above my normal pulse while I was doing it. But that's all about preparation. And if I didn't feel prepared, I would have felt much more uncomfortable. The preparation isn't just preparation for me, it's understanding that the car is prepared, knowing that the tyres are right, that the runway is correct, that the braking is doing what it's supposed to do.

So we did runs at , , , , I actually had a run at were where the door opened in the car… at Now we have cars with proper brakes. So, let's re-watch just how impressive the brakes are on these cars and just how wrong the Highway Code is. I should also point out that there still are some slower and older cars about and people with slower reaction times to consider, which is one of the reasons the code hasn't been amended.

Certain vehicles need speed restrictions because their braking ability is the limiting factor. Factor in our terrible road surfaces. He is off to do a job. Comment meant as fun. In the US the drivers are not capable. Vehicles to absolutely are better than vehicles made 10 years ago even. BUT with many poor and under educated driving it would be a disaster. Add in rush hour traffic, stop and go, and you are left with pointlessly high speed limits.

Kansas is 75 on the western side. When you get to cities it slows back to reality. Same with many other sates. As I have aged I have absolutely slowed. I do not have, what I refer to as "the IT factor", the ability to stay hyper focused to drive at high velocities. So I do not. I now drive in a manner closer to a retiree than anything I'm only 47, yo. But I also no longer have any need to run around like a chicken with my head cut off nor do I travel long distance.

I only drive locally due to disability. I can still focus and drive fast, I love driving fast! My brain got fried from West Nile, meningitis, encephalitis and Guillian-Barre at the same time.

I do my best. There's the reaction time, which is especially important now many cars can cruise with autopilots. And different cars have different braking performances. Not to mention the brakes on the old cars including the classic cars everyone adores are rubbish. And there are heavy vehicles like trucks and coaches. And who brakes with full power all the time? Of course these are just comic relief which we all laugh off as CHM fans, but I hate it when some bigots really take their gags seriously.

S: driving at a safe distance doesn't mean driving slowly. I don't mind going at mph when there's no car ahead but I will reconsider if there's unpredictable traffics ahead.

I do struggle to stay at 70mph on the motorways. The ability to react to a problem, the safety aspect of your vehicle and the technology will all depend on what speed might be suitable for you. So whilst it would be nice Audi drivers are like that too in China.