Model S on Top Gear?

[Discoducky]

Really? You have that much faith in the honesty of television and this show? I don't believe it for a minute. The driver, after all, can manipulate the track times just by the way he drives. This show is populated by carbon and fossil fuel junkies. There's no way they're going to let an EV have anything approaching a top lap time.

Yes, really, as those lap times are scrutinized as a relative data point and supported by other lap times at other tracks. If TG posts a lap time for Model S it will be legit. The rest of the show is for ratings so anything goes.

Make no mistake, the petrol-heads know this car is the real deal and that the very first iteration may supplant the current TG best luxury performance sedan.

But no on television in general.

 

[Grendal]

Most of this is true, but I agree, Top Gear needs the Model S. They will look pretty irrelevant if they never review the car that everyone else is awarding car of the year.

I don't remember them doing a review of the Volt/Ampera and that is the first car to win Car of the Year and European Car of the Year. It was reviewed by the website but the guys never "had fun" with it.

 

[sublimaze1]

Bottom line: Jeremy doesn't love anything, anywhere, anytime - unless it is from the UK, and then he simply dislikes it. I only watch the show for Captain Slow and the Stig. Okay, Hamster is okay, but only when he is talking about Oliver.

 

[Grendal]

Yes, really, as those lap times are scrutinized as a relative data point and supported by other lap times at other tracks. If TG posts a lap time for Model S it will be legit. The rest of the show is for ratings so anything goes.

Make no mistake, the petrol-heads know this car is the real deal and that the very first iteration may supplant the current TG best luxury performance sedan.

I agree about the lap times. I'm not sure that the Model S would blow away every luxury performance sedan on their track. The Model S isn't a track car and while it will do awesome on the curves and short sprints there are some long straitaways on the track too, with it's limited top speed, the S might lose time there.

 

[darthy001]

+1 as an example of my point about them not caring about other awards. More than once they have done the opposite and made fun of other awards saying they are stupid. European car of the year is the most relevant example there. They make fun of that award almost every year.

Edit: was supposed to quote Grendals response about Volt not beeing reviewed.

 

[PV4EV]

Anyone can hire the Dunsfold "Top Gear" track … so that’s what Ultima did when TG wouldn't review one of their cars, probably because it would obliterate just about every other expensive car on the planet, and cause the likes of Ferrari to withdraw their support …

Very few prestigious hyper cars get below 1m20s, but Ultima managed to get a blistering 1m12s with road tyres on (and 6 seconds quicker than a Veyron!) and an amazing 1m09s with slicks ..

Maybe Tesla Europe should arrange for a Stig (there's one or two "retired" ones out there…) to set a cracking lap in an MSP85 and put it on Youtube before TG get a chance to bugger it up ??!!

The track is only 1.7miles long, so a road going Roadster or a Model S will not go into power-limited mode. An original Roadster 1.5 (?) did a respectable 1m27.2s on a damp track, which would have been nearer 1:23 / 1:24 in the dry, putting it right up there with the best from many other exotic brands.


2 yrs ago I got the chance to belt around the TG track in a Roadster, and surprisingly it held its own against some other so called super cars on the track. It felt kinda sweet given all the Tesla / TG legal stuff going on at the time. Evidence :-

 

[Anzir]

I love Top Gear for what it is -- a buddy show that happens to focus on cars. That being said, I wouldn't want an S in their hands because they (Clarkson mainly) love running jokes, and I don't want Tesla to become one of those. The reviews are purely for entertainment and are not based 100% on facts.

 

[brianman]

No way I'd lend them my car. The impression I get is that they'd brick it on purpose "for entertainment" and I'd be out a vehicle.

 

[vfx]

Maybe Tesla Europe should arrange for a Stig (there's one or two "retired" ones out there…) to set a cracking lap in an MSP85 and put it on Youtube before TG get a chance to bugger it up ??!!...[/B]

Would not be hard. Colin loves Tesla's Roadster.

 

[Grendal]

Colin loves EV's period. He gave a glowing review of the Leaf on Fifth Gear. My favorite review of the Roadster was done on Fifth Gear too. Tiff covers the range display and just drives it. That was a true test of Tesla and removed the range anxiety from the picture.

 

[Yggdrasill]

Maybe Tesla Europe should arrange for a Stig (there's one or two "retired" ones out there…) to set a cracking lap in an MSP85 and put it on Youtube before TG get a chance to bugger it up ??!!

I love this idea!

Simply ignoring Top Gear just gives them an opportunity to make fun of Tesla. Striking first is brilliant. Also, Tesla should make sure Fifth Gear gets a chance to drive one before Top Gear does. Preferably in the US, yesterday.

 

[Discoducky]

Anyone can hire the Dunsfold "Top Gear" track …

Cool! Private track for testing, filming, corporate days training

This does look like TM could do this:

From car testing and filming to driver training and customer workshops, the track can be hired for varying periods at costs that won't puncture your plans.

 

[ToddRLockwood]

Seems to me that the Automobile Magazine YouTube drag race has been worth more to Tesla than a Top Gear appearance would be.

 

[Grendal]

Seems to me that the Automobile Magazine YouTube drag race has been worth more to Tesla than a Top Gear appearance would be.

350 million viewers worldwide means that a favorable Top Gear review would have a larger impact over a YouTube video. I don't actually see the guys doing an outright hit piece on the Model S unless something actually went horribly wrong. If they do a review and nothing goes wrong then I can see them just generically disliking the EV aspect to the car as they did with the Roadster. My gut says they will actually love the car just like it has won over other petrolheads.

Time will tell.

 

[brianman]

I don't actually see the guys doing an outright hit piece on the Model S unless something actually went horribly wrong.

I do. In some circles, it's still "hip" to be "contrarian". Getting attention by finding a reason to show "all these magazine guys calling it car of the year" to be "wrong".

 

[jackie]

I would vote for a Fifth Gear review and to have Sabine Schmitz take a Model S around Nurburgring. (She was the lady that showed Clarkson how to drive the Jaguar around Nurburgring)

 

[darthy001]

I would vote for a Fifth Gear review and to have Sabine Schmitz take a Model S around Nurburgring. (She was the lady that showed Clarkson how to drive the Jaguar around Nurburgring)

Would the Model S make it round the Ring without overheating and going into limp-mode? we are talking at least 8minutes around there I would think.

 

[PV4EV]

Would the Model S make it round the Ring without overheating and going into limp-mode? we are talking at least 8minutes around there I would think.

I'd be amazed if it could put in an 8 min ring lap.

Amongst other things, the Model S was designed as a road car with efficiency in mind, capable of providing occasional bursts of amazing acceleration on the road etc. It does not have all the additional weight and costly engineering needed to keep the motor, pack and electronics cool for sustained track use around a 13/14 mile track, and would most likely not put in an 8 min lap unless its handling is amazing enough to carry high average speeds through all the 175+ corners.

But just like many ICE cars, I suspect that a special track version could be built with beefed up braking, masses off attention given to cooling of the pack, and motor, power wiring, electronics, etc. However, Tesla aren't selling cars based on any racing heritage or pretentions so I doubt they will prove that point.

They are making amazing cars that just happen to be electric and capable of using no fossil fuels, and chargeable from renewable sources like solar, wind, hydro …

 

[jackie]

I'd be amazed if it could put in an 8 min ring lap.

Amongst other things, the Model S was designed as a road car with efficiency in mind, capable of providing occasional bursts of amazing acceleration on the road etc. It does not have all the additional weight and costly engineering needed to keep the motor, pack and electronics cool for sustained track use around a 13/14 mile track, and would most likely not put in an 8 min lap unless its handling is amazing enough to carry high average speeds through all the 175+ corners.

But just like many ICE cars, I suspect that a special track version could be built with beefed up braking, masses off attention given to cooling of the pack, and motor, power wiring, electronics, etc. However, Tesla aren't selling cars based on any racing heritage or pretentions so I doubt they will prove that point.

They are making amazing cars that just happen to be electric and capable of using no fossil fuels, and chargeable from renewable sources like solar, wind, hydro …

I was thinking of the Top Gear episode where they took a standard production Jaguar S-type on the ring and asked Clarkson to do it in under 10 minutes. So not a special car at all.
So are you now saying that the Model S is not capable of driving flat out on country roads for more than 10 minutes ?

 

[darthy001]

I was thinking of the Top Gear episode where they took a standard production Jaguar S-type on the ring and asked Clarkson to do it in under 10 minutes. So not a special car at all.
So are you now saying that the Model S is not capable of driving flat out on country roads for more than 10 minutes ?

According to the M5 vs Model S thread here on TMC it would seem difficult to post anything close to a great lap on the ring in a standard Model S. It simply isnt a racecar. In addition to the potential overheating issues I also think the limited topspeed of the Model S would hurt it on the ring.

A lap around the top gear track is another story.