The producers of Top Gear love to give the presenters a challenge, and the show in New Zealand was no different. A luminous green Ultima GTR rumbled into the show at the end of the Cool Wall, and Greg Murphy was challenged by Jezza to beat the urban speed limit of 50kph indoors.
The Ultima has held the 0-100-0 world record for years, completed in a staggering 9.3seconds at some wind swept airfield in the middle of nowhere. Our green monster puts out 750bhp, weighs under a ton, and Murph was confident he could get above 50kph within our concrete lined arena.
Hammond’s big question was whether he could slow again before the said concrete stopped him permanently.
The Mole watched Murph refuse to have a cone or mark set down where he should start braking, arguing instead that he’d just ‘give it a go’. Under the pensive gaze of 4,000 audience members and with Hammond ready with the speed gun at the other end of the arena, Greg strapped himself into the idling Ultima GTR.
The Mole must admit he did nibble a small amount of nail as Murph dumped the clutch and dragged two huge black lines across the floor. After an unfeasibly long time (and what sounded like a million revs) Greg locked up all four wheels and slid to a halt inches from the waiting concrete wall, punctuated with a giant blue fireball out of the back of the car.
Hammond showed the rear of the speed gun to the waiting camera, and the crowed went wild. Murph had achieved 68kph inside our dark arena, and successfully smashed the urban limit, and was in fact charging on to the highway limit before the fear of imminent death took hold of his right foot.
It took a moment to realise something was wrong, as the shadow of the Ultima started to lengthen and darken. A huge gout of black smoke bellowed from the Ultima’s roof vent, and suddenly Jeremy was laughing uncontrollably. The audience had been told that it was Top Gear, but Live, and that’s what they got, as the realisation dawned on the crew and audience that the Ultima had spat all of its engine oil out as it left the line, and run a huge black slippery lake all the way across the arena to the ever widening pool under the car.
All stage hands swarmed the area with bags of sawdust and brushes in a desperate attempt to clear the dangerous slick before any more car stunt sequences graced the floor. The presenters went straight into the Top Gear Lap, which bought some time, and finally the floor looked passable (at least from a distance) to The Mole. The remaining three driving sequences in the show were definitely more exciting as result, but The Mole doesn’t think anyone will attempt to break that record in the Ultima again.
First comment
Good ol murph making things fun
Real Ferrari’s at this one or more MR-2s with body kits?
Dear Mole ,
Can we have more on what the hell is going on out there as all we get in the tabloids here is :
KILLER WASP ATTACKS CLARKSON
HAMMOND STANDS ON A BOX IN FILMING
HAMMOND NEEDS LOTS OF MAKE UP
TOP GEAR PRESENTERS IN HELICOPTER BIRD STRIKE MAKE EMERGENCY LANDING
So a bit of a low down would be good and it would stop my browser from having to go to the sun and mirror for info
ty.
According to an Australian newspaper, the “Ferraris” being used on the top Gear roadshow aren’t real Ferraris at all, but Toyota MR2s with some type of bodykit…
http://www.drive.com.au/E ditorial/ArticleDetail.as px?ArticleID=60903&s_rid= theage:rainbowstrip:conte nt2:16-02_topgearferarri0 1
Hmmmmmm
They did that at, like, MPH04 when the Ultima GTR was actually new. I saw it.
They tried to top 40 in a red one (possibly with less bhp) and failed.
ONLY CLARKSON LAUGHS WHEN SOMEONE ”BLOWS UP”
cheesy stig
no worries all as the proud owner of the beast i can advise that it was a cracked fitting on the oil filter mount that gave way . no damage done other than castrol edge 10w-60 oil transfusion .
have a few mods for next year which includes 1000bhp methanol injection and a beer fridge
I was disappointed that the “Ferraris” turned out to be fakes as well. I’m also disappointed that the show I went to seemed to be missing some of the potential “bits”. We didn’t get the 3D helicopter thingy, the Ultima 0-50-0 challenge didn’t happen and the Lotus 211 stayed in the garage.
I did enjoy the car soccer (NZ won 6-4 over England) and the TG Track Lap was a laugh (we scored 1:39.6 – fastest NZ audience so far). The suitcase/belt-sander/micr o-jetcar race was also well done.
On balance I must say I enjoyed the show but the annoyances did start to mount up.
Where are the blogs from the boys!!!!!
I know the owner of that speed machine:he’s my bro’.Ka pai Tony.Too bad about the oil leak,but why the change in colour from red(at its launch in December 2007)to green? There must be a story there!
re 11.anonymous said….that’s me the bro’-stephen phillips
guys, posted a cheesy thank you on the Irish TGL comments. Busy mammy here so no time to re-write.Hope all well.
Im crap with computers..sorry
is june spring or summer ??? PLZ ANSWER
Charlie Sheen Is The Stig!!!1!!1!
See ‘The Rookie’ for evidence.
Please correct me if i’m wrong but didn’t they do that in 2005-6 with tiff needle and 70mph speed limit??
Or was it 30mph? or 50mph?
If you really want to see a fast ultima check this out
http://www.splitwheel.com /News.asp?NewsID=81
Hong Kong next! Woohoo! ^^
Sounds like all the proper TG mayhem is following our men nicely around the globe! Many Thanks for the blogs – makes it a little easier for the fans who can’t be there!
wow. that has to be unluckily lucky funny stuff that happens. Unscriptted entertainment is always th best
Times must be hard, i saw Richard Hammond doing a kids TV program. How low can you go richard, pushing trollys at Morrisons and now trying your humour out with kids. Its not working mate, stick to your day job!
i think that it is a good website Quit alot of information on some of the links but there is also something that needs added is some colour to mainly make everthing stand out and to put pictures on the links so when the links oipen there could BE a picture on there to make the link good and better and ofcourse -also something that could be added is a welcome note on the website so it can also welcomes diffrent people to the website and ti see what is on it aswell.
hey guys i want to get in touch with the producers of top gear i have a great idear for the show that will blow all the other shows of t.g out of water so can anyone tell how to get in touch with them thenx
Watch this, crazy polish FIAT 126p
well you should do TOP GEAR FOR KIDS ,FOR RED NOSE DAY, WELL WHAT ABOUT IT BOYS FROM ME A SAD OLD LORRY DRIVER OR A L G V DRIVER
robin hood im not any kind of lorry driver
why oh why dont the guys at top gear get the ULTIMA GTR on the show and give it to THE STIG
Justice 4 JK.
I have watched top gear as a mega fan for yrs, would like the team to do profiles on cars for disabled peeps….not the john do that doesnt deserve 1 but for 1’s that cant get help as they are still in hospital and for them to be told, you cant get a car till your home ………..MEGA DILEMA……..incase they die scenario and then at the end of the day they have to wait 22 wks after getting home to get 1 ….NO JUSTICE ..Yes they could keel over after 22 wk wait but they could keel over long after and also long before… friend of a stroke patient
the ultima gtr is a brilliant car, its the fastest accelerating and decelerating production car in the world, 0-60 in like 2.5 seconds and 30-70 in 1.8 seconds! what a brilliant car. top gear should really get it on the track, to see if it could beat all the other cars, like the ultima sports people did, which shows on their website, of them driving around, and beating all the cars, can the stig beat 1.12.80 seconds??? bet he can!
I have just done a 21 day motorcycle tour of Vietnam on a Minsk bike. The mechanic who toured with the gruop I was in, was Lomb, the same mechanic who toured with the Top Gear crew. Imagine my disgust when it was revealed to our group, that the crew from Top Gear threw all the mechanics tools into Ho Lon Bay at the end of filming. The tools were Lomb’s own property that had taken him many years of hard work to accumilate. they were never replaced by the team, or any apology given. We all felt that the Top Gear crew had behaved very shabbily in thier treatment of a fine young man, and avery hard working guy.
Wuold it really hurt the Top Gear people to apologise and replace said tools. I think not
Joan Stanford
joans1@in2net.co.nz