Bit disingenuous surely? Chosen cars careful to beat, inc a 12 year old M3! There are 60 plus cars gone quicker, including a ford GT that did it in 7:40.6 so maybe one in article was slow driver. For example Clarkson drives a lot of cars very fast, and does respectable laps, but try as he might he couldn't match Sabines time. This sort of thing only makes real sense if it's same driver. Still bloody fast Honda though, not saying otherwise. And it did take very special cars to beat that. Wonder what the new focus Rs will do, the test mules were no where near that time.
saxman99,
Mar 5, 6:08pm
Your Civic might be .000001s faster than my old M3CSL, but, somehow, I just don't care.
tamarillo,
Mar 5, 6:27pm
Now I'm jealous.
saxman99,
Mar 5, 6:50pm
Ah. Wasn't being literal. I suppose what I meant was "If I, or anyone else, owned an M3CSL, we wouldn't be concerned that there was a new kind of Civic that might be a fraction of a millisecond quicker around a track in Germany."
richardmayes,
Mar 5, 6:55pm
I think the message is intended for potential Civic buyers, not for potential BMW buyers!
richardmayes,
Mar 5, 6:58pm
When people get all defensive of their pride & joy, while simultaneously pretending not to care, you know someone somewhere has struck a nerve.
What race are we trying to win here, anyway?
It's a lot more fun driving a slow car quickly.
craigs_workshop,
Mar 5, 8:16pm
hah! - his opinion of what is fast & good comes from other drivers, rather than his own efforts.
tmenz,
Mar 5, 8:29pm
What's it like 4 up and towing a trailer full of builder's mix?
tamarillo,
Mar 5, 8:59pm
Eh? He's one of the most self opionated people in industry, drives and has owned some of the greats inc the ford gt40. He often dares to totally disagree with his peers. Where do you get that impression from!
tamarillo,
Mar 5, 8:59pm
Better than a supercar.
bwg11,
Mar 5, 9:07pm
Unfair. The Honda was "pre-production", wait and see what the production versions do. The Beemer was 2002, there has been a lot of tyre development since then.
nightboss,
Mar 6, 12:37am
I disagree, the OP used proper English.
If pitching to potential Civic buyers OP would have used text speak.
socram,
Mar 6, 2:40pm
So true! I used to get a huge kick, pedal to the metal in 1,000cc Mini Coopers or a modified 1300cc Cooper S on the UK's back roads. My modern Cooper S beats them hands down for ability on all counts, but isn't as much fun, as the pedal is never to the metal.
saxman99,
Mar 6, 3:03pm
Keep trying.
timmo1,
Mar 6, 4:13pm
haha it was a thread title title designed to get peoples backs up. Still, very impressive for a FWD car, even if it is pre-production (not a concept, pre production so only very minor detail changes to be made. most of which would only make it faster. Unsure what tires they ran which makes a huge difference obviously).
I don't agree Clarkson can drive though. See Chris Harris' videos if you want proper motoring journalism from a guy that can drive IMO.
richardmayes,
Mar 6, 5:25pm
Jackie Stewart made some VERY disparaging remarks about Clarkson's driving, on the episode of TG where he's helping James May get a good lap time in some sort of TVR convertible.
tamarillo,
Mar 6, 6:04pm
Clarkson not a race driver sure, but used to damn fast cars both borrowed, tested, and owned, which was point, I think! Someone back there claimed he simply nicks his opinions on cars, and that couldn't be further from truth.
Any how's, yes love Chris Harris videos, and yes he'd trash Clarkson easy. But then so would ex TG presenter TIff Nedell.
timmo1,
May 13, 8:16am
The thing I like about Chris Harris is that a) he can drive b) he understands the mechanical aspects of a car c) can communicate intelligently about it.
Clarkson doesn't have a clue apart from the 'brochure' basics (i.e. 'Flappy paddle', 'torques' etc). or at least that's how he comes across: Lowest common denominator stuff. Great for making a wide appealing show, not so great if you want to get a bit in depth about a car that you'll probably never drive/own but still have an interest in the state of the craft.
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