sillysi

IMHO watching a race is much more exciting than watching cars go against the clock. Bet Civic Type R owners are scared of going up against Cavaliers & Sierras after watching that LOL.

MATTeL

Was it me or did the Sierra sound like it was about to lose it's engine? The removal of the bumper probably didn't help!

RICH WILD

I totally agree.

What was that woman playing at in that straight line race in the Civic Type R??

That was the worst standing start I have ever seen - Wheelspin City! Did they drag her in from the "New Driver" School or something.

And as for that handling test. The Sierra was WAY faster over the quarter and with 4wd and Lotus working on the suspension it should have raped the Cavalier. But why not?

BECAUSE JASON BLOODY PLATO TOURING CAR DRIVER WAS IN THE CAVALIER.
And where was the Civic? Nowhere.

Plato would have won that race in a shopping trolley.

It was quite funny though, I'll give them that and it's better than the old format of boring cars and group tests like:

The Citroen Saxo VS Lamborghini Diablo VS Ford Transit.

Rich

madras

Why oh why did they only do 2 laps? 4 or 5 would have been much more entertaining, with, I'm sure the possibility of some overtaking and a little more rubbing!

Perhaps, this feature should be expanded into a regular slot, I'm sure the boys at Prodrive would enjoy a low budget battle with Ralliart!

Bring it on!

pete

GazP

I thought it was nice to see a different angle on cars, instead of the "What do you get for your money?" that every car show seems to do these days.

Nezz10

Rich just to point out that the other bloke was acutually a touring car driver aswell.

TBMeech

I'm gonna vote with Squizz, I thought it was a bit poo when they have a crap circuit and then they have an ex touring car driver versus a nobody and on a tight circuit and he just blocks the opponent - scaled down f1 race really

Squizz

Yup Kelvin Burt...He was the other driver (I think he was driving the Elise earlier vs. the Plato in the Bentley)

But surely the point was how could you spend £2K and trounce a Type-R ? Making it a race involving blocking, etc, made it more of a test of the drivers.

I'm all up for interesting groups doing such "Banger Racing", if that's what the aim is!

There's a good idea for a series of programmes, surely? A bit like "Superstars" meets "Scrap Heap Challenge" meets "Changing Rooms".

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

It is a shame that the Lotus and Max Power boys had to put up with such a flawed way of testing their hard work. What a load of old rubbish...pathetic. I agree with many of the earlier comments, perhaps leave the race at the end of the slot for a bit of fun.

I do think motoring programmes are cr*p in the way they evaluate cars.

Top gear - Subaru best drivers car of the year..What about the fantastic new Evo, it didn't get a look in. No real comparisons etc

A few weeks later...
Driven - Evo is the best car, all that bint can say about it is Ohhh Ahhh Ohhh as she drives it... Subaru has understeer and lots of people that play games don't like the look of it so it must be second best.

I still watch motoring progammes cause I love cars, but I have to take them with a pinch of salt, as they just seem to base all their conculsions on Boll*x

Rant mode off
Have a good day
Steve

Jon1T

Well I loved it - brilliant entertainment, which let's face it is what it's there for. Kelvin Burt is a top touring car driver, well up with Plato and they were very evenly matched given that Burt was 2inches from Platos bumper the whole way round. They should defo do more - and Plato is one of the best presenters around - no one can say he doesn't know his stuff.

FiveO

What happened with the Murceilago? Plato goes all the way to Italy to drive the thing then we get 5 minutes max with music played over what is probably the best V12 sound track in the world at the moment.

MATTeL

On the subject of motor programmes - 5th Grear starts on Monday (20:00)... might be interesting to see if Channel 5 has learnt from the mistakes of other programmes!

Sith

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Lambo V12. eugh, ooops, TISSUES please.

P.

SWRTWannabe

How about adjusting the race so that you have to have a pitstop where mechanics have to perform a 15,000 mile service?

Clett

The 'hapless girly' you mention is Amanda Stretton - babe, racing driver and long time channel 4 motor racing commentator. Not just somebody off the street! So I'd say the XR4x4 actually did quite well....

Squizz

I knew Amanda presented the C4 racing stuff...

Hardly fair vs. two touring car drivers though, eh?

MarkJackon

Im with Squizz, cool idea for a programme, Scrapheap Challege is great, The other thing about restoring old cars/planes/boats less so but the idea of teams having a budget to build a racer is COOOOOOL

I remember in one of the mags ,Revs I think, they did a sinmilar feature called Dog's Tour'd where they bout 4 bangers for under a grand and spent a few quid to make them quicker, there was an XJS, XR4, Silvia Turbo and they wrecked the lot, it was a brilliant feature but needed moving pictures to really carry the idea off

Anybody work in TV (Television, Not dressing up in ladies clothes)

MRK

IMHO driven is CRAP, more than Crap. But I didn't realise that Amanda brrmmm brrmmm hubba hubba Stretton was presenting now. I may have to have a look next week, and mute the telly when Penny or that other **** is speaking. Why is Plato amonst such idiots??


M

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Lambo V12. eugh, ooops, TISSUES please. "

I read a while back that the bloke who designed the new lambo went to see the guys who were responsible for the engine. the chief engine bloke (full technical name) says to the designer. "Is the engine cover ready yet?" The designer says "It all ready, the whole bodyshell" "yes, that's what I mean the engine cover!"

I liked it anyway

Squizz

I wanna swap my Impreza Turbo(MY99), for a Legacy Turbo (MY92?). Then I can de-cat the thing...Strip out the rear sear seats, replace the fronts with lighter ones, etc, etc...

We bought a similar Legacy recently for my fiancee', Karen. It's just too damn good to bugger about with!

At least I wouldn't worry about track-cover for such a car, and I'd have fun getting cheap 2nd hand Impreza bits for it - As we have done for our other one.

PLUS - I'd have loadsa cash left to pay off some debts!!

Richie1

HAHAHAHAHA power to the Griffen !!!

Knew this would prompt some discussion on here LOL

I think you're not giving the Civic driver some credit. Those £350 or so cars were exhanging paintwork in that race. You really see Honda giving the go-ahead for doing that with the brand new Civic ?? Gte a grip


As for this comment -

Your point being ?? His BTCC "mate" was driving the Sierra so whats going on here ??

There is a good quote I like from a famous racing driver (forget who) that says -

I think this was proved really well here.

I guess you could say its a bit unfair tho as Plato ruled the BTCC for a good few years in a Cavalier GSi so it was like riding a bike with the SRi


You can have all the power you want but if you cant handle it then you're still screwed

RICH WILD

My point being....exactly what YOU just said

"Jason Plato has dominated the BTCC" in Vauxhalls and was in a slower car with only £80 lowering springs fitted whereas the other chap had a quicker car with a £300+ quid suspension package yet he still lost. Why? Because Plato was the best driver as I said in the first place and it is I agree 90% driver 10% car LOL.

Given more equal drivers the Sierra should really have won with more power, 4wd and better suspension.

And as for the Civic, that should have been so far in front (if they'd put anyone decent at the wheel) that they shouldn't have had to worry about the bleedin' paintwork. so I don't think there's any need for comments like "Get a Grip".

Thought we were supposed to be mates on here?

Rich

Jon1T

Peeps are taking things far to seriously - it's a laugh, it's a bit of fun, any everyone's like 'they didn't conduct the timing test on calibrated timing equipment on a MIRA approved test track, with a median of 295 laps allowing for humidity. Jeez - why does no-one moan about F1 which is the most boring bag o sh*te ever. I'd rather watch an hour of BTCC drivers tooling round in knackered old cars... hang on now there's an idea....

millband

Don't forget there weight difference between the Sierra (all that 4x4 gubbins) and the Cav, and the fact that they were both well past their sell-by date to start with. There's no telling what bhp they were actually putting out, even after mods - maybe the Sierra wasn't the most powerful on the day.

The point being its all a bit of a laugh really, and I thought Driven was pretty damn good for a mainstream car show. I can't really understand why everyone on this board is so hard on it - come on, they've got to appeal to a wider audience than just us...

Steve

skiddusmarkus

I thought it was a good laugh-not many driving shows would let them deliberately bump each other.I still think the Xr4i should have won though,it had semi slicks,4x4,more power etc etc etc

Nick L

The fact that the Civic didn't do too well may be something to do with the fact that it is a brand spanking new motor versus to **** heaps that no one gives two hoots about. I know if I was Honda I would have told them if they bashed it they could stump up the lolly to repair it.
Plus whatever her name is said at the start that she planned to keep out of the way. I didn't realise she meant stay half a mile behind.
Still its not put me off getting a Type R when the Scooby goes back. Max'd Siera's and Cavaliers aren't really my thing anymore.
And if I could afford to keep a Scooby I definately wouldn't entertain a different choice.

ADP

I seem to remember Plato beeing the key factor to the Civic Type R beating the S2K round the track too, for goodness sake the guy spends his life thrashing around in fwd/any cars. As someone else said, he would have won in a shopping trolly

cletterridge

The reason Plato won was because he got into the first corner first. Looked like a tight track, so no way the sierra would have managed to get through unless it was massively faster/better on the brakes. Having said that it was easily fast enough to take wide lines and still kiss the back bumper of the Vauxhaull all the way. And Amanda? She just wasn't trying!

Squizz

I don't disagree that it was entertaining. Just wasn't a fair comparison.

I was really interested to see how the cars would do against each other. The XR4x4 should have gained on grip and torque, but lost out due to weight and drivetrain losses, etc. The Opposite of the Cavalier, etc, etc...

What we got instead was some likely lads having a **** about!

Jeff Wiltshire

Ok guys....The reason the Civic lost was that Honda would not be impressed if their press fleet car came back with large bits missing 'cos Plato/Burt had played Touring Cars with it....

Kelvin Burt is an excellent driver who used to drive for Volvo (I think) in BTCC & now drives Sports Cars. I think (I may be wrong here) that he was British F3 champion and tested for a number of F1 teams.

Jeff