Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Stig vs. Lewis Hamilton











I know what you’re thinking, 2 blog posts in one day? You must have gone mad. I suppose the good news is that I haven’t gone mad; the bad news is you probably have since you’re reading this blog.

I found out some pretty monumental information from one of my favorite auto industry blogs, AutoBlog (original name eh?). My favorite auto show Top Gear, will be pitting F1 rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton against Top Gear’s tame racing driver “The Stig”. Before saying what in the blue hell is this all about let me explain a bit.
Top Gear is probably the best automotive information show in the world; it airs on BBC in the UK and features some pretty colorful chaps. They make the show lively, funny, and always have some interesting car to flog on their track or odd challenge that they have to overcome. Those challenges range from finding a Porsche under £2,000 and finding out which one performs the best, racing a Buggati Veyron against a RAF Fighter plane, and one of my favorites making a car into a boat and crossing the English channel.

The baseline tester for all performance tests on the Top Gear track is The Stig and he’s been known to be one quick bloke. He’s always shown in a white racing suit, a white helmet, and he never says a word which makes him all the more mysterious.
Lewis Hamilton on the other hand is a rookie to the F1 circuit coming from a championship year in GP2. GP2 is sort of the minor leagues. Think of it as the Busch series compared to the Nextel Cup for those NASCAR fans. He had a fantastic first year with the McLaren-Mercedes F1 team, almost capturing the driver’s championship which is pretty phenomenal.

So why is this big? Top Gear is a UK show, Lewis Hamilton (a hometown hero in Britain) is probably one of the top 3 drivers in F1 and Top Gear is the auto show to watch. The Stig owns the Top Gear track so it’ll be fun to watch someone try to dethrone him. That’s good racing, period.


Top Gear - Bugatti Veyron vs. RAF Fighter

No comments: