Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car

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Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car is a recurring segment on the BBC Two motoring programme Top Gear.

During most programmes, a celebrity — usually of British fame — is interviewed by Jeremy Clarkson. Discussion is normally amusing, and focuses on car-related matters, such as the celebrity's car history. Then Clarkson, the guest and the studio audience watch the guest's fastest lap on the Top Gear test track.

Contents

[edit] Suzuki Liana

For the first seven series of its current incarnation, the car driven was a Suzuki Liana. The car used is stock, except a roll cage and racing seats have been added as safety measures. Each guest first practises with The Stig and is then allowed a number of attempts to make his or her way around the test track in the fastest time. However, the star doesn't learn of his or her lap time until they are interviewed, and guests are often visibly anxious awaiting their results while in the studio. Practice laps, crashes and the drivers' facial expressions are also shown for amusement.

The two slowest laps on the Liana celebrity list are held by Terry Wogan and the late Richard Whiteley, both of whom were beaten by completely blind Bosnia war veteran Billy Baxter, who wrenched the Liana through the track under directions from Clarkson in the passenger seat.

The fastest non-professional driver was Ellen MacArthur, which was particularly impressive as she does not drive much due to her career as a long-distance yachtswoman. Unlike most contenders she made no comments to the camera during her lap.

The Liana endured considerable abuse from the stars when undertaking their laps, often to the delight and amusement of the hosts and the audience. In one famous incident actor Michael Gambon clipped the final corner almost rolling the car. It was done in such a spectacular fashion that the corner was henceforth named "Gambon Corner". When Lionel Richie drove the car, one of the front wheels fell off. Trevor Eve also lost a wheel, invoking Clarkson to coin the term "pulling a Lionel." British transport minister Stephen Ladyman added further injury to the Liana by denting the boot when he lost control during practice and slid backwards into a tyre wall. David Soul managed to destroy the clutch of two Lianas during his time on the show due to his unfamiliarity with manual cars. Christopher Eccleston was the only celebrity to use a Liana with an automatic transmission, because a hesitant Eccleston admitted he was "only qualified to drive an automatic." To accommodate his needs, Top Gear succeeded in borrowing an automatic Liana, of which only 40 existed in the UK. As a reference to his role in Doctor Who, the automatic Liana was shown materialising onto the racing track, with a TARDIS materialisation sound effect played over it.

The Liana has also been modified on several occasions. David Soul's Lianas featured a red police light and a white stripe in reference to his Starsky and Hutch days. Johnny Vegas was provided with 'L' plates as he hadn't passed his driving test at the time. When Justin Hawkins came on the show, the Liana he drove had flame decals pasted on it. Actor Sanjeev Bhaskar had an ornate tissue box placed in the back, as a homage to Asian drivers.

In its service, the Liana covered 1600 laps of the circuit, and its tyres and brakes were changed 400 times.

No secret has been made that there is more than one Liana used on the show (in case of breakages). However, eagle-eyed viewers will, on occasion, spot both Lianas apparently being used during one lap (both GX52 HFN and GU03 WLC).

In July 2005, Formula One driver Damon Hill appeared on the show for the first time as the star. This was kept a surprise to the audience and the viewing public, and when Nigel Mansell came on the show, it was covered up in magazines and on the internet by saying that the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car would be Alan Titchmarsh. All Formula One drivers are put into their own list with regard to lap times because of their exceptional skill level. In addition, the Liana was pulled out from retirement to allow Jenson Button to make a time, and Clarkson noted that the Liana would be pulled out for use by Formula 1 drivers in the future.

For some of the laps more than one person has been present in the car. This was the case for Clarkson's run when he had both Hammond and Dawe in the car. Trinny and Susannah were both in the car for each other's runs. Denise Van Outen was in Johnny Vaughan's when he did his lap, Van Outen never did a lap driving the car. Clarkson was also present as a navigator for Billy Baxter's laps.

Both Stigs, the original black Stig and the current white Stig have done laps around the track in the Suzuki Liana. Topping the list for the Liana was the second Stig (1:44.4), who took the car out for its last run, during the Episode 2 of Series 8.

[edit] Liana leader board

  1. 1:44.4 – The Stig (II)
  2. 1:44.6 – Nigel Mansell[1]
  3. 1:44.7 – Jenson Button[1]
  4. 1:46.3 – Damon Hill[1]
  5. 1:46.7 – Ellen MacArthur
  6. 1:46.9 – Jimmy Carr
  7. 1:47.1 – Simon Cowell
  8. 1:47.1 – Mark Webber[2][1]
  9. 1:47.3 – Ronnie O'Sullivan
  10. 1:47.8 – Ian Wright
  11. 1:47.9 – Chris Evans
  12. 1:47.9 – Rory Bremner
  13. 1:48.0 – The Stig (I)
  14. 1:48.0 – Justin Hawkins
  15. 1:48.0 – Jodie Kidd
  16. 1:48.0 – Jay Kay
  17. 1:48.0 – Paul McKenna
  18. 1:48.0 – Trevor Eve
  19. 1:48.0 – Patrick Kielty
  20. 1:48.6 – Rob Brydon
  21. 1:48.8 – Stephen Ladyman
  22. 1:49.0 – Neil Morrissey
  23. 1:49.6 – Roger Daltrey[3]
  24. 1:50.0 – Jeremy Clarkson
  1. 1:50.0 – Patrick Stewart
  2. 1:50.0 – Martin Clunes
  3. 1:50.0 – Jamie Oliver
  4. 1:50.0 – Gordon Ramsay
  5. 1:50.0 – Lionel Richie
  6. 1:50.0 – Cliff Richard
  7. 1:50.7 – David Walliams
  8. 1:51.0 – Ranulph Fiennes
  9. 1:51.1 – Timothy Spall
  10. 1:51.2 – Carol Vorderman[3]
  11. 1:51.3 – James Nesbitt
  12. 1:51.4 – Christian Slater
  13. 1:51.5 – Omid Djalili[4]
  14. 1:51.5 – Sanjeev Bhaskar[4]
  15. 1:51.5 – Joanna Lumley
  16. 1:52.0 – David Dimbleby
  17. 1:52.0 – Eddie Izzard
  18. 1:52.0 – Jordan
  19. 1:52.0 – Rick Parfitt
  20. 1:52.4 – Christopher Eccleston[5]
  21. 1:52.7 – Tim Rice
  22. 1:53.0 – Steve Coogan[4]
  23. 1:53.0 – Vinnie Jones
  24. 1:53.2 – Johnny Vaughan
  1. 1:53.3 – Fay Ripley[3]
  2. 1:53.4 – Bill Bailey[4]
  3. 1:53.5 – Jack Dee
  4. 1:54.0 – Alan Davies[4]
  5. 1:54.0 – Stephen Fry[3]
  6. 1:54.0 – Rich Hall
  7. 1:54.0 – Martin Kemp[4]
  8. 1:54.0 – Ross Kemp[4]
  9. 1:54.0 – Tara Palmer-Tomkinson[4]
  10. 1:54.0 – David Soul
  11. 1:54.1 – Trinny Woodall[2]
  12. 1:55.0 – Michael Gambon[4]
  13. 1:55.4 – Geri Halliwell
  14. 1:55.7 – Susannah Constantine[2]
  15. 1:56.0 – Boris Johnson
  16. 1:57.0 – Anne Robinson
  17. 1:57.0 – Jonathan Ross
  18. 1:57.1 – Davina McCall[2]
  19. 1:58.6 – Johnny Vegas[6]
  20. 2:01.0 – Harry Enfield
  21. 2:02.0 – Billy Baxter[7]
  22. 2:03.4 – Terry Wogan
  23. 2:06.0 – Richard Whiteley

[edit] Chevrolet Lacetti

Starting with the eighth series, the Liana replaced by a Chevrolet Lacetti, with a new blank scoreboard. The format was changed so that each star would have five practice laps, and then a final timed lap, with no allowance being given for mishaps.

As a starter for the new car and format, an open day was held for any celebrity who wanted to take part. Seven stars recorded times that day: James Hewitt, who the presenters failed to recognise and called "well spoken man". Comedians Alan Davies and Jimmy Carr, rock stars Rick Wakeman and Justin Hawkins, footballer Les Ferdinand, and actor Trevor Eve who topped the time at 1 minute 47.0 seconds. Jimmy Carr, who held second place in the Liana behind Ellen McArthur, spun out while doing his timed lap and got the slowest time ever around the track at 2 minutes, 8.91 seconds.

On 28 January 2007, Jamie Oliver posted a time of 1:47.70 in melted snow and standing water. Given the rivalry Oliver felt towards fellow celebrity chef and Top Gear driver Gordon Ramsay, Oliver asked that the 4-second allowance normally granted for wet laps be used to put him at the top of the leaderboard "just for a day, please."

Billie Piper posted a time of 1:48.3 but was deemed by The Stig to have failed to complete a lap properly, as she failed to negotiate some corners. The Stig suggested that suggested a three second time penalty, but after Clarkson consulted the audience, it was decided to let the time stand.

[edit] Lacetti leader board

  1. 1:46.3 – Gordon Ramsay
  2. 1:47.0 – Trevor Eve
  3. 1:47.4 – Les Ferdinand
  4. 1:47.6 – James Hewitt
  5. 1:47.7 - Jamie Oliver[8]
  6. 1:47.7 – Hugh Grant
  7. 1:48.0 – Ewan McGregor
  8. 1:48.3 - Billie Piper
  9. 1:48.4 – Justin Hawkins
  10. 1:48.5 - Simon Pegg
  11. 1:50.3 – Michael Gambon
  12. 1:50.3 – Alan Davies
  13. 1:50.9 – Steve Coogan[9]
  14. 1:51.4 – Ray Winstone[9]
  15. 1:54.0 - Kristin Scott Thomas
  16. 1.54.3 – Philip Glenister[4]
  17. 1:55.3 – Rick Wakeman
  18. 2:01:0 – Brian Cox
  19. 2:08.9 – Jimmy Carr

[edit] Gallery

Jimmy Carr in the Lacetti

Michael Gambon in the Liana

Bill Bailey in the Liana

Top Gear's first guest, comedian Harry Enfield

Formula One driver Damon Hill's appearance

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Formula one driver
  2. ^ a b c d Very wet track
  3. ^ a b c d Moist track
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wet track
  5. ^ Automatic licence only
  6. ^ Provisional licence
  7. ^ Blind
  8. ^ Melted snow
  9. ^ a b Hot weather
  • Note on moistness: Aside from driver ability, the Top Gear hosts estimate a wet track as yielding an average time four seconds slower than a dry track surface. "Moist" and "very wet" can be estimated accordingly.

[edit] External links

edit
Top Gear
Top Gear (1977 to 2001) - Top Gear (2002 to present)
Original format presenters
Jason Barlow - Steve Berry - Julia Bradbury - Jeremy Clarkson - Vicki Butler-Henderson - Brendan Coogan - Noel Edmonds - Chris Goffey - Kate Humble

Tony Mason - James May - Tiff Needell - Michele Newman - Angela Rippon - Quentin Willson - William Woollard
Current format presenters
Jeremy Clarkson - Jason Dawe - Richard Hammond - James May - The Stig
Current format episodes and broadcasters
Top Gear Episode List - Top Gear Broadcasters and Video Releases
Current format featured segments
Power Laps - Races - Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car - The Cool Wall - Caravan destruction - Cheap Car Challenges
Spin-offs
Rally Report - Top Gear Motorsport - Stars in Fast Cars - Top Gear of the Pops
Related articles
Top Gear Magazine - Jon Bentley - Fifth Gear
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