Yah, saw it was a flashy puff-piece not a 'Race'.. pity.

Post #385,451 by Ashton 1/17/14 7:11:25 PM Reply	Yah, saw it was a flashy puff-piece not a 'Race'.. pity. Dunno about Hammond's rider skillz overall, but he wasn't togged for the weather--and as for so many others, Using the BHP might not have been sane, as in 'tffo'--too fast for owner, that (pre-Smileys!) addendum to many 'Offers for Sale' back in the day, --in The Motorcycle and 'Motorcycling'? (forget that last: there were the Blue'un and the Green'un!) Vrooom shall always be With-us.
Post #385,453 by static 1/17/14 7:30:29 PM Reply	And it had quirks he coudn't get on top of. He even lampshaded this right at the start when he pointed out some of the controls were on opposite sides to modern motorcycles. And the reserve tank switch was such a rookie error - he mustn't be used to that, either. Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #385,461 by Ashton 1/18/14 5:22:58 AM Reply	Heh..'wrong-side' by Japanese layout, only; there's a story: (Now what WAS screwed up way-early were Indian (US) controls), including a backwards twist-grip! that is: you 'closed the throttle' by turning hand CCW==towards-you! ... counter-intutive-you-bet.) Maybe he meant (more likely) that shifting is via right foot. and rear-brake is on the left. The Japanese thought ever-so-"logic"-ally that: both brakes (hand & foot) should be on same side, thus shifting was moved to left-side as they entered the world cycle markets. Because Honda (+ Kawa) aced most other world mfgs' outputs by end of '60s--this became Std. And Bad: [Under: Nothing is ever Simple] What the Brits had Right (sans any 'kinesiology' tests of those days) was a phenom I mentioned here, once: Seems that the brain handles more speedily the cross-wise pairing of RH + LF for braking (something which needs front-to-rear precisely-coordinated braking force) The gear-changing side is immaterial per se, but obv. must be on right: for left foot braking. This has to do, apparently with the brain-wiring at the nexus where motor-decisions are made and that network introduces a certain delay IF: a right foot AND a right hand are given similar tasks (!) Some boffins measured reaction times of the two conventions and the Brit. original--as on Vincent--was measurably quicker to respond to brain-commands. Who'd a THUNK! eh? (I know I Hated-it when I got my first Honda, a 305 cc twin; it felt-Wrong, not because I knew what these boffins deduced much later: but I experienced the ..lag in accommodating smooth 'commands' (though never suspected.. there was a Right/Wrong way! to place braking controls.) TMI to detail, but re Reserve gas: you had a tap on both sides of tank: either one could feed both carbs But it was recommended, for high speeds --that both be opened. If he opened only one? He had a reserve on other side (one side 'saved' more petrol, however, etc.) So given his other cycle experience--sounds as if he hopped on the Vincent from ... many Japanese-mode bikes, had no familiarity ride before beginning this 'race' etc. Not reading brief manual re Reserve options. Sloppy form there. (But these details pale into insignificance with today's transistorized factory-racers and beyond-human power-on-tap.) After all, this was just a soap opera production, not the I.O.M.
Post #385,454 by scoenye 1/17/14 7:49:53 PM Reply	With that bunch you never know... They have a habit of playing up the sharp edges by pretending not to know what they just ran into. Hammond is the only rider among the three, but going by the earlier episode where they were to run the length of Vietnam on two wheels, he's quite a bit better than he let on here.
Post #385,459 by static 1/18/14 1:09:04 AM Reply	The producer has a hand in it. It is know that the producer has a hand in their challenges, possibly guiding results, probably encouraging pranks and certainly picking challenges tilted against the cars they've chosen. On the other hand, it is known that the Clarkson you see in the program is an over-the-top version of himself. Not so sure about the other two. I still think Richard simply bit off more than he could chew with that race. He fell a long way behind when he forgot to switch the reserve tank off - if the film team had reminded him of that it would've been quite a lot closer. Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #385,464 by Another Scott 1/18/14 9:14:25 AM Reply	Yup. One wonders if they purposefully picked days that had rain in the forecast for that episode... It seems like, a lot of the time, the destruction and so forth is just something they know they have to put in, so they do so. I mean, yeah, they have fun with it but it's so over-the-top and predictable these days. In this case - http://en.wikipedia....orth#Authenticity Authenticity[edit] For various reasons, it was not possible to run a historically accurate recreation of how the race would have gone in 1949. Instead, according to Graeme Bunker, the race was "done just for fun and entertainment".[6] A major restriction was Tornado's maximum speed limit of 75 miles per hour (121 km/h), set as a condition of its current main line certification (although the A1 Trust was planning to have Tornado certified to a higher speed over time). The 'Flyers' of the 1950s would have gone on to speeds of 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) and beyond.[2] A further difficulty was due to water troughs having been removed from the rail network, meaning it was not possible to achieve the post war steam timings of 6 and a half hours.[6] According to Steam Railway magazine, if Tornado had been able to use troughs, the train would have won the race easily.[2] On the plus side for the car and bike, they had the speed advantage of not having to travel through towns and villages exactly as the old Great North Road would have, but instead benefitted from the use of modern bypasses, and the faster A1(M) sections of the A1, where it has been upgraded to motorway standards.[6] However, speed restrictions outside of built up areas were only introduced in Britain in 1965. So if this had been in 1949 neither the car or motorbike would have been subject to any speed restrictions for most of the journey.[citation needed] The best thing about Top Gear is the cinematography, IMO. The rest is meh, depending on my mood. Here's a nice page on a '55 Black Shadow - http://www.mctrader....icleid/85888.aspx VincentÂs countless racing and speed record successes underlined the performance of its high-cam, 50-degree V-twin. In fact, attempts to run a 1000cc ClubmanÂs TT in the Isle of Man foundered after just three races because nothing could touch the Vincents Â in the final 1950 edition, only Vincents took part. Nothing else could compete with these bike created by legendary Australian engineer, Phil Irving. Cheers, Scott.
Post #385,473 by static 1/18/14 6:13:01 PM Reply	Yes. It is, after all, and entertainment program. But one that happens to centre on cars. (And three (ageing) enthusiasts who do know their stuff and aren't afraid of looking like berks on international TV. :-) Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #385,479 by Ashton 1/18/14 7:17:14 PM Reply	Wow! nice link; lots of familiars there.. Conway Motors: whence came my spares; from whom I bought my sl.-modified Sprite etc. (And Syd Broomfield there, found me a bed in Shepherds Bush, at start of my Grand-tour.) Surtees' father! George Brown/Nero + Super-Nero and the omnipresent VOC (owners club.) {{sniff}} Brakes: Physics reveals the thermodynamic limits of, even a ventilated 7" drum brake. Turned out that some superior linings appeared, some of us did score the magnesium vented back-plates and that combo made for quite adequate decel --but not indefinitely down-hill at max! natch. Still, merely properly shod and with shoes ground to exact (expanded!) dia. In normal er, hooning--no sweat. There were no disks then (or: they would have been std.) (Going to larger dia was entertained by some of us: too many weight/other consequences nixed that what-if.) I congratulate my parents for spawning moi, timed just-right to partake of these machines which were 'Adventurous' merely to gaze-at ... while-parked. Pur sang ergonomics before the word got coined. (And I thank Cthulhu for overlooking His several opportunities to queer-the-dice and gain fresh fodder.) Vroooom

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