VBLOG ISYS Top Gear - This weeks VBlog contains presentations from each presenter:
Chris Ward will be uncovering a classic from the UK (Chris was acting and contributing general information in relation to filming techniques to our presentation)
Ricky Brackenbury will be covering bike life (Ricky was acting, editing and pulling together the various digital elements for the presentation)
Phil Madin's segment on essential gadgets (Phil was acting, contributed technical techniques and media standards to our presentation)
Chris Deer stories from the road warrior (Chris was acting, filming and presenting a important filming elements which relate to our topic for our presentation)
Feature presentation on GT250R dueling Classic MG
Reference:
"Top Gear 2014 New Intro" DavcyEntertainment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAe0P... - Viewed 25-10-2015)
A slightly lesser known form of Motorcycle racing aside from the MotoGP is the World Superbike Championship, or WSBK, and its supporting races World Supersport, Superstock 1000 and Superstock 600. These races are carried out over 13 rounds of famous international circuits starting in Australia’s Phillip Island and finishing in Qatar, with 2 races held at each circuit per class.
The WSBK format involves engine capacities of between 750cc and 1200cc depending on the number of cylinders. In this format, the bikes are tuned versions of production bikes, in contrast to the MotoGP in which they race purpose built, million dollar machines. These modifications are fairly limited, as the WSBK aims to remain relatively close to factory to promote manufacturers to develop better technologies for public motorbikes. Main modifications include exhaust work, ECU, suspension, brakes, and some engine parts such as conrods (must be same weight), and porting heads (no welding). The current bikes and manufacturers in the 2015 season are as follows; Kawasaki: ZX10R, Ducati: Panigale R 1199, Aprilia: RSV4 RF, Honda: CBR1000RR, Suzuki: GSXR1000, BMW: S1000RR, MV Agusta: 1000 F4, EBR: 1190RX, Yamaha: YZF-R1. The Superstock 1000 class consists of the same format, with no modifications, racing with stock, factory bikes.
The World Superbike Championship format has similar ruling to the WSBK, aside from engine capacities between 400cc to 750cc which classes the bike as a Supersport. Like with the 1000cc class races, the Superstock 600’s race stock factory bikes, with tires available to the public, and not slick racing tires. The current 2015 season bikes and manufacturers in this class include; Honda: CBR600RR, Kawasaki: ZX6R, MV Agusta: F3 675, Suzuki: GSXR600, Triumph: Daytona 675 and Yamaha: YZF-R6.
Last year in November, Honda unveiled its prototype RC213V-S, a street legal machine that’s “closer to a MotoGP bike than any road-going model ever offered to the public”. And their right. This bike blows away Yamaha’s R1M, which before the RC213V-S was the closest production bike to a proper MotoGP bike, in terms of handling and cornering, as well as suspension and breaking.
The RC213V-S is modeled after the RC213V, Honda Racing Corporation’s current MotoGP bike, with the frame, rear sets, exhaust, swing arm, wheels, suspension and body work being pretty much identical using top of the line items and materials. All of the geometry of the frame is identical to the MotoGP bike, and is setup to be like Marc Marquez’s RC213V. The main differences, besides the road legal items (Number plate, indicators, lights, kickstand) include all the consumable items, such as brakes, which are steel disks, as opposed to ceramic, and engine components. Honda has switched out the pneumatic valves for more conventional coil springs and their seamless shift transmission gearbox for a more traditional one. This along with piston design was done for sensibility reasons, and for longer service interval materials and design, as it wouldn’t make sense to rebuild the bikes components after every few rides.
The price of this bike, when released on July 12nd is sold for $184,000 euros, with the sports package an extra $12,000, which, apart from the carbon pattern fairings, will increase the ~159 bhp bike @ 11,000 rpm to ~215 bhp @ 14,000 rpm. This bike will likely only be sold for this year, and estimated 250 units will be produced by a team of 2-3 specialists at Kumamoto Factory in Japan.
Counting down the number of days till the MotoGP in Phillip Island, where the best riders in the world will battle it out over 27 laps of Australia’s legendary MotoGP track in Phillip Island.
The iconic 4.445 km asphalt road racing track has 12 turns and has the highest average speed of any circuit of the MotoGP calendar (182.1 km/h by Lorenzo, 2013). With very fast flowing and very fluid corners, the riders can really push their corner speeds and provide some very spectacular high speed racing. Track width of 13m, and longest straight 900m long, where riders easily reach speeds over 300km/h. The 16th circuit on the 18 circuit calendar for the 2015 MotoGP season.
This MotoGP season, Movistar Yamaha teammates Jorge Lorenzo and current season points leader Valentino Rossi will battle it out to see who will gain the most points for the championship, only 14 points between them, and last years world champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) currently in third place championship standings, only 79 points behind Rossi, needing to take the win at Phillip Island to have a chance and stay in the game for the championship or secure his Podium standing this season.
Top gear has always had their Enigmatic, mute persona and racing driver, The Stig. Many have asked the question, “Who is the Stig?”, but when it comes to bikes, I want to ask the question “Who is the Ghost Rider”. The Ghost Rider is a mysterious man who is clad in black riding leathers, similarly to the Stig in his white race suit, who resides in Sweden. He is notoriously known for performing illegal maneuvers at very high speeds on public roads.
The Ghost Rider has released 6 DVD’s for entertainment and showcasing some of his shenanigans with his first DVD released in 2002, “Ghost Rider: The Final Ride” and his latest “Ghost Rider 6.66: What the F***” released in 2012.
Some of the Ghost Rider’s notable exploits include the Uppsala run (From Stockholm to Uppsala) in 14m 53s, The Paris Peripherique (Ring road in Paris) in 9m 57s (As tribute to a French street racer “Le Prince Noir “Black Prince”) and from Rotterdam to Amsterdam in the Netherlands in 20m 32s.
Like the Stig, the identity of the Ghost rider was also revealed as Ex racer, stunt rider and mechanic Patrik Furstenhoff, a man who fits the bill and also has the Guinness World Record for the fastest wheelie at 346 km/h on his 499bhp (372 kW) Turbo Suzuki Hayabusa.
In years to come historians will divide time thusly: the dark ages and the era of Top Gear. Whilst we shudder to think how society coped without Jezza and the gang here are some things you probably didn't know about the show which launched a thousand hatchbacks
Although we have Jeremy Clarkson to thank for helping to revive Top Gear in 2002, it was pretty much his fault it was axed in the first place. When he left the show in 1999 to broaden his TV career, the audience fell from six million to under three million and it was soon consigned to the scrap yard.
Ok, we know there are urban legends like Jamie Lee Curtis being born a man and Piers Morgan being a human but this one is actually true. The early presenters of Top Gear, when it was attached to Auntie institution Pebble Mill, included Noel Edmonds and Angela Rippon. Noel Edmonds presented Top Gear – the idea is such a dangerous nugget of telly trivia you mustn't look at it directly. It's like discovering Cilla Black invented satellite dishes.
You might be surprised to know that the presenters don't get any free cars. The Top Gear team work closely with car companies in order to select which vehicles are featured on the show, but strict BBC regulations mean that Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have to buy their cars from dealers, like us mere mortals.
One of the most exciting features of Top Gear is the track, so terrifying at points it's a wonder any of the guest drivers go back to their day jobs. And it's no wonder it can scare the bejesus out of our plucky celebs while testing a motor to its limits – it wasn't just thrown together by the lads one afternoon in between a pint and a pie. The team at Lotus helped design it to be the most fiendish test you can endure in a car since Chris Moyles' drivetime show.
The most extreme example of the Top Gear team's opinions affecting car sales was the Ford Ka. Sales plummeted when Clarkson decided that it "looked like a frog". On the other hand, even more damning statements have not affected sales of the Toyota Corolla and heaps of praise from the team didn't help the Alpine Renault A610.
Jeremy Clarkson's motormouth may have got him into trouble over the years, whether slightly implying that lorry drivers kill prostitutes or subtly referring to a car as a bit ginger beer. But one thing he's not done, for all his tomfoolery, high-speed and daredevilry, is clock up points on his licence. That's right, Jeremy Clarkson has a clean licence. It's like finding out Mick Jagger's a virgin, isn't it?
Top Gear's come a long way from those dark, dismal days when the Beeb pulled the plug on it. So far, in fact, that as well as countless awards and a devoted worldwide audience the waiting list to get in and see the filming of the show is now somewhere in the region of one to two years. That's about the same time frame as it'd take Jimmy Carr to get round the track again.
The height difference between Clarkson and Hammond is obviously a bit of a running gag - but do you know the total distance between the fellow Yorkshiremen? You do now - an impressive nine inches.
One incident that took the wind of the lads' sails was Richard Hammond's terrifying high-speed smash while travelling at nearly 300mph in a Dragster. Luckily the Hamster was soon back up and running, but the outpouring of support didn't just go to show how popular the show is – it also raised the whopping sum of £230,000 for air ambulances. Well, £230,001 if you include Clarkson and May's contribution.
Are you tired of playing air-guitar to the theme tune while wondering 'what is this song, and how can I obtain more of it, perhaps on some sort of portable device?' Help is at hand – the theme tune to Top Gear is 'Jessica' by rawk dudes The Allman Brothers. The seven minute instrumental, from their album Brothers and Sisters, was a hit for the group in 1973. Top Gear initially used part of the original recording, but has since recorded its own version. Whack it on next time you're in a car and literally any journey, however mundane, will become 82% cooler. You may find yourself wearing more mixed denim than usual though.
The bulk of the field for this year’s Mount Panorama classic is made up of the 25 fulltime competitors in the 2015 championship, with the addition of two wildcard entries for brothers Aaren and Drew Russell, and the all-female crew of Renee Gracie and IndyCar racer Simona de Silvestro.
Silvestro’s entry means five international drivers will take part in this year’s race, joining fellow IndyCar racer Sebastien Bourdais, sports car stars Oliver Gavin and Alex Buncombe, and V8 refugee Alex Premat.
Holden once again dominates the entry list with VF Commodores making up almost half the grid (13), with cars from Ford (6), Nissan (4), Volvo (2) and Erebus (2) completing the roster.
As with recent years, the race will form the second leg of the three-race Pirtek Enduro Cup as well as being the 10th event of the 2015 V8 Supercars championship.
Prodrive Racing Australia has the runs on the board in the championship to date and heads to Bathurst following an impressive one-two finish at the Sandown 500.
Mark Winterbottom/Steve Owen came out on top of Chaz Mostert/Cameron Waters at the Victorian venue, but the intra-team battle can be expected to be as hot as ever on the Mountain.
Prodrive’s third entry of David Reynolds/Dean Canto is also expected to be well in contention, with both drivers hungry to improve on their second place finish from 2012.
Outside of Whincup/Dumbrell, Tekno’s Shane van Gisbergen/Jonathon Webb combination and the second Red Bull entry of Craig Lowndes/Steven Richards loom as Holden’s strongest contenders.
Betting markets have Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell as the favourite, but who do you think will take out this year’s Great Race?
Defending champion Chaz Mostert was airlifted to hospital on Friday after suffering a fractured leg and wrist in a spectacular crash in Bathurst 1000 qualifying.
Officials said seven people were involved in the incident, with three suffering minor injuries. Two suffered minor complaints and one was taken by ambulance to Orange Hospital with a chest injury.
"V8 Supercars can now confirm that seven officials were involved in the incident with driver Chaz Mostert during qualifying," a statement said. "Four were not injured, two were treated at the circuit medical centre for minor injures and one was taken to hospital in a stable condition.
"Earlier Chaz Mostert was airlifted to Orange hospital with a fractured left femur and fractured left wrist. "He was conscious and spoke with his family prior to departure."
Track action was halted for the day after the incident.
Video of the incident in question.
The V8 supercars have a long and exciting history in Australia. It has become the premier touring car championship in Australia, now featuring cars from all over the world competing for the title.
The Supercars started life as the Australian Touring Car Championships and were decided by a single race race from 1960 to 1968. From 1969 onwards it has been determined by a series. From 1995 to 2012 it was solely the domain of the legendary Holden vs Ford battle.
Its title changed from the traditional 'Australia Touring Car Championship' to the 'Shell Championship Series' in 1999. In 2003 the series became known as the 'V8 Supercars Championship Series' and in 2011 this was simplfied to the 'V8 Supercars Championship'.
2013 was the first year for the Car of the Future (COTF). These new cars are lighter, more economical, have increased agility and are highly competitive. They make better racing which ultimately makes for a better sport and a more attractive product.
The Ford vs Holden battleground of the last 20 years has been supplemented by new manufacturers and investors in Nissan, the Erebus Motorsport entry running Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG V8 Supercars and Volvo Polestar Racing with two Volvo S60s.
As the Top Gear trio sign off, here's a look back at some of Clarkson's motoring best bits.
That's it, Top Gear as we know it, is done and dusted. That means no more James May, no more Richard Hammond and no more Jeremy Clarkson.
The end of the show, in its current form, follows the much-discussed "fracas" between Clarkson and a producer. Chris Evans – of radio and TFI Friday fame, not Captain America – will now take over, as rumours rumble on that the original trio have another car-focused project up their sleeve.
But while plenty will remember the various controversies Clarkson's been involved in over the course of the long-running series, there'll be many who will miss the antics of the motor-mouth petrol head. Here's a selection of his best bits...
Test-driving his own creation – the P45
"Some say Jeremy Clarkson is actually a transformer..." The host embarks on an error-filled trip to London in his self-designed smallest car in the world, the P45.
Failing miserably behind the wheel of a hover van
A staged wind up, naturally, but Clarkson certainly causes chaos with just a bit of water.
Glamming up
The Top Gear team make their way across Vietnam on motorbikes. Take a look at Clarkson’s outfit. Austin Powers eat your heart out...
"Driving nirvana" courtesy of the Ariel Atom
If you had any doubt that Clarkson was driving this high performance sports car rather fast, let his face be the proof.
Getting the giggles
Clarkson can’t contain his laughter when James May arrives with a bashed up caravan. Team spirit 101.
Who doesn’t want a multi-storey caravan?
This time it was Hammond and May's turn to laugh hysterically at their co-host.
Getting an icy dunking
It's like a ‘how to’ guide to polar survival
Making Gambon a "household name"
Way back in series 1, Michael Gambon’s flying efforts on the final corner of the test track saw it forever dubbed ‘Gambon Corner’. Apparently Clarkson’s made Gambon quite the “butch” man after his efforts as a Star in a Reasonably Priced Car and Judi Dench really rather fancies him…
The Jeremy Clarkson guide to answering a brief
Why wouldn’t a “work harder, get a car” campaign encourage cycling, eh?
In this post i'll be going through manufacturers techniques and gizmos for getting us from a-b-c-d-e at an economic rate, I'll identify which ones do what they say they will and help you identify the manufacturers which expect you to take the scenic route.
The Start-stop system
In 2001 the US government queried Honda as some of their vehicles were "Lurching" forward after being stationary.
The technology has been since the 1960s but has only had a bigger impact after the general fuel economy of the automobile has been optimized to present a large enough benefit. A start stop system / engine will go into a standby state where the combustion engine is no longer turning or burning fuel. The benefits for places where traffic is predominantly stationary are potentially great, for air quality and the drivers pocket (with an average 10% savings possible. See the video for Mike Duhaime, director at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Source: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
Electric car
The benefits of a car which does not need fossil fuels are plain, the resource which fuels it is not necessarily going to run out before we have discovered an alternative. How the electric car is powered, should it have a battery and how the wheels are turned are all questions which are the reason for many new jobs in the automotive industry.
While there was a time in the early 19th century when electric cars were the bigger brother to fossil fuel cars, they were eventually out muscled and laid dormant for just under a century, when the global warming light was flashing, re-emerged as a opportunity for new growth and solutions for anthropogenic problems.
Would the person who hired you catch the bus with you if it meant they could save money and get from a-e faster? There are benefits and vices for both sides, one side has the government at its back while the other side had international corporations at its back.
Engines are the most important parts of any form of transport, whether the vehicle gets 1 person or 62 people from a-e is irrelevant in the eyes of a car manufacturer, Toyota and Renault have identified this opportunity and expanded their market base to a much steadier market with a greater profit.
Ethanol is not only becoming standard, but also the only option in some countries, manufacturers are beginning to see opportunities, over their competitors, which are exposed by this predicament.
