Top Gear ep5, s27: Paddy vs Toyota Supra, and the Lotus 79

RSS_Auto_Poster

Well-known member
Written by TopGear.com
16275.jpg

Supra heavyweightPaddy McGuinness, being a chap of unquestionable taste and judgement, is quite the fan of the old A80 Toyota Supra. So, with a new Supra out, what better excuse to get a nice quiet drive of the Nineties icon? Y"know, one of those nice quiet drives that escalates into a convoy of many, many modified old Supras. And an old 911 Turbo. And a DB7. And a Ferrari 512 TR. One of those nice quiet drives that ends with a thrash around the track in the new Supra, and a good argument with Chris Harris, who is something of a sceptic when it comes to Japan"s newest sports carThat"s why Freddie goes to IcelandFreddie Flintoff. Sporting legend, annoyingly competent at everything he turns his hand to, all-round nice bloke. But, on early impressions at least, an all-round nice bloke with literally no sense of fear. Properly, genuinely concerning lack of self-preservation.Now, obviously there were two possible ways to discover if Freddie had any function left in his fear gland. One, some sort of extensive medical test, probably involving CAT scanners and the like. Two, packing him off to compete in Iceland"s Formula Off Road the maddest, smashiest motorsport on the planet, in which thousand-horsepower trucks race to the top of vertical cliffs to see if he"d flinch at any point. Obviously, we went for Option Two.Harris meets the 79The Lotus 79. Black Beauty. Unquestionably the most stunning F1 car of all time, and, according to Chris Harris, the most important of the bunch. So Top Gear"s answer to Mary Beard dusted off the racing history books, and headed to Lotus"s Norfolk HQ to discover the incredible history of the 79. A story of genius and innovation, of heroism and subterfuge, of victory and tragedy. A story of true racing legends. A story of the most beautiful racecar of them all. And then Lotus asked if Chris would like to have a little drive of itThe final episode in this series features guest star Will Young. Catch it on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer

Date written: 11 Jul 2019

More of this article on the Top gear website

ID: 16275
 
Back
Top