Top Gear Speed Camera test

ButcherOfNog

they proved that if you pass them fast enough, they can't detect you

admittedly they were doing 170mph+ in a TVR on a test track in order to achieve this, interesting none the less. I wonder at what speed do they stop working? They failed to reach high enough speeds in a Civic R-Type and in a much faster Merc.

yop

I have the rockets ordered for the motor!!!


Mental speed alright, 179 to be precise!! Some motor, what would the insurance be on it!!

ando

I always wondered how that japanise bloke got away with driving 200mph in his ferrari !!!!! (he only got caught because he made a recording of it himself by camcorder)

mike65

The AMG merc was doing about 150 and the TVR 179 so somewhere in between!

Anyone know of a two mile empty straight with speed cameras?

Mike.

DiscoStu

there is one at the end of the maynooth bypass heading into lucan. its a real long straight but the camera is on a slight bend, a little too slight to go 170mph though.

Gerry

Nah, theres traffic joining the dual carriageway there, and you can't see around the corner ( because of the bridge as you come from maynooth, and the hill + slight turn after the bridge) , which means it would only be "safe" if you knew the road was empty. I have heard of someone doing 160mph on the maynooth bypass. If you go the other way, towards kilcock, there are slight bends, which are pretty cool at 135 mph

In other news, has anyone actually been caught by that camera? I think its out of film most of the time, as someone I know came along the maynooth bypass at about 95, around that bend, the speed camera flashed but never got a ticket in the post. They also did something similar on the swords - airport road on the same night, but nothing came of that either

Kali

hmm it was a tvr tuscan s.. that thing'll probably reach 170 in about the time its taken me to write this sentence... and top speed is just under the 200 mark.

Only about 15% of cameras in this country have film at any one time... simply because when the film is taken out every shot has to be gone through by hand to be double-checked (I'd presume) and processed.

DMC

The traffic camera out of action (see the other thread) going from Dunshaughlin to Dublin is at the end of a 2 mile continous stretch, albeit with a slight dip and a slight bend at the end just before the camera, but it would be a nasty bend at 180mph!

DiscoStu

Originally posted by Gerry
.......which means it would only be "safe" if you knew the road was empty...............

Safe? 170mph, Safe?

Gerry

Well notice the quotes around safe.

chernobyl

Originally posted by Kali
hmm it was a tvr tuscan s.. that thing'll probably reach 170 in about the time its taken me to write this sentence... and top speed is just under the 200 mark.

I have never seen Jeremy Clarkson driving a Speed 12...why not?
I mean, on the same show where they race a Zonda and apparently he's friends with the owner of TVR.

A Tuscan is nice, but a Speed 12 is animal..

Please test one Jeremy...please.

Kali

They raced a Zonda? ouch wonder what they're journo insurance was to cover that beast.. (considering it starts at about UK£300k)
Sure it wasnt a Noble M12 GTO?

afaik even Top Gear magazine hasn't driven the Speed 12 (and ive a hella lot of backissues)... maybe they're just too hard to come by in road-spec (cos I've seen a few british gt models testin in the uk)

chernobyl

Kali my man, they raced:


this versus this and the Zonda won easily.

Very impressive car.

Samson

Originally posted by Gerry
In other news, has anyone actually been caught by that camera? I think its out of film most of the time, as someone I know came along the maynooth bypass at about 95, around that bend, the speed camera flashed but never got a ticket in the post. They also did something similar on the swords - airport road on the same night, but nothing came of that either

Yes.
Never been done by it myself but it is definitely one of the "active" cameras.

Slutmonkey57b

Both the Zonda and the Lambo were covered in Clarkson's Sunday Times column about 3 weeks ago. So it looks like if you want to watch top gear, read the ST and switch off the telly.

Though I have to say I like what they've changed about the show. No more motorbike nerds. The whole thing looks like a response to concerns raised at the end of the last series about the obsession with speeds considering the amount of money governments are throwing into safe driving campaigns.

sceptre

Originally posted by Slutmonkey57b
So it looks like if you want to watch top gear, read the ST and switch off the telly.

Clarkson's ST column is well worth-reading. Sarcastic as ever.

chernobyl

"Im too gay for the TVR Tuscan"

He actually described the Zonda as the only genuine super car on the road today.

/Jeremy: check the Speed 12 laddy!

rymus

Originally posted by Slutmonkey57b
No more motorbike nerds.

Now theres a quote that could get you very badly beaten up if you said it to anyone else than your boy racer friends.


As for beating the speed cameras and what speed is required to do so... you'd have to be past (or at least have the front of your car past) the viewable range of the lens by the time the camera decides youre speeding. Add to that the speed of the shutter on the camera... probably anything from 1/500 to 1/2000 of a second. So yes you'd have to be travelling pretty damn fast!

Chimaera

The original Speed 12 never actually made it as a road car. The road car they developed was based on the Cerbera, and called (oddly enough ) the Cerbera Speed 12. Dunno if they've actually sold any of them yet though, and TVR get grumpy about letting journalists drive their cars every so often.