Top Gear (2002–…): Season 15, Episode 5 - Episode #15.5 - full transcript

Richard road tests the new Volkswagen Touareg as well as having race against two snowmobile racers in a customized Volkwagen Touareg (the one used in the Dakar Rally). James tests the new Buggati Veyron Supersport and attempts to take it to its top speed of 258mph. Jeremy documents the life of the legendary racing driver, Ayrton Senna with interviews from racing drivers who raced with him to the those who were huge fans of Ayrton Senna as well as looking back at archive footage from past races to see what made him the greatest racing driver of all time. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are the Stars In A Reasonably Priced Car.

Tonight, Cameron Diaz in
our reasonably priced car.

I repeat, Cameron Diaz in
our reasonably priced car.

Sorry, Stig, totally
BLEEPing it up!

And she's brought Tom Cruise along!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Hello and welcome!

That is later.

That is later.

But now...

we start once again with a letter.

It's from some Swedish youths
and it says, "Dear Top Gear,



"we are some Swedish youths,

"and we've been given the
run of a whole ski resort

"for a weekend.

"Do you a race fancy having?"

Plainly this was a job
for Richard Herring.

This is Riksgransen,

the world's
northernmost ski resort.

120 miles INSIDE the Arctic Circle.

It's so far north that the ski season
doesn't finish here until June,

when the rest of us
are on the beach.

I'm here to defend the honour of the
car against some extreme snowmobilers

who are so extreme they're...
still in bed.

Still, meanwhile, let's meet the car
I've chosen to take them on with.

It's the Volkswagen Touareg.



A big off-roader that for many
years we've... absolutely hated.

We tested it when it first
came out, seven years ago.

And we didn't like a
lot of things about it.

The ride, the gearbox, the fact
you couldn't see out of the back.

We didn't like the
ridiculous thirst,

and we didn't like that
some of the design felt like

they'd done the most
un-German thing possible.

A half-arsed job.

But this is the brand new Touareg.

And already I can report
many improvements.

You can, for instance,
see out of the back.

The ride is much smoother.

The gearbox, the old one changed
according to a geological timescale.

This new eight-speed affair

is a big improvement.

The Touareg also looks more
Golf-like than the old one.

And besides the full
off-road hardware,

standard kit includes sat-nav,
electric leather seats,

climate control, and a
ten-speaker stereo system.

But we've come here to race

so none of that is
important right now.

What is important is
that the new Touareg

weighs 200 kilograms
less than the old one.

Which makes it altogether
more sprightly.

This is a 3.5 litre
V6 turbo diesel.

Cost, L37,000,

0 to 60 in 7.8 seconds,

so it's faster than the old one.

Top speed, 136 mph.

So you're better off there, too.

All in all, I think this is the
machine to take the snowmobilers on

in our big race.

Which, as they're still in
bed playing computer games,

will happen tomorrow.

So, race day.

And I'll confess, I
went to bed last night

full of confidence.

And then, in the middle of the night,
I sort of got cold feet about it.

So I got up, got dressed, came
downstairs, and I made... this.

It's still a Touareg.

But one built to take
on the infamous Dakar.

The toughest rally in the world.

With a carbon fibre
body, bionic suspension,

and a twin-turbo, 300
horsepower, diesel engine,

it can do 130 mph over
just about any terrain.

It's also the first diesel
ever to win the Dakar.

Which is odd, given that I
built it only last night.

But no matter, I think this
is probably the better tool

to see off those snowmobilers,

who have finally emerged.

They are Daniel Bodin and Dan Lang.

Local snowmobile legends

whose racing skills have won them
silver medals at the X-Games.

Best let them get it
out of their system.

'Eventually the teenagers
calm down long enough

'for me to explain the race route

'across the ski resort. '

Right, we're going
to start from here.

Then we're going to move around
here, sweep around there,

down there, then
eventually we'll finish

with a sprint across the ice lake,

end up, finish line,
at the ski shop.

So, that's 12 gruelling
miles down ski slopes,

through forests, and
across frozen water.

Yeah? Happy?

Yeah. Fine with that. OK. Good.

Um... where is here, exactly?

It's up there.

Oooh. Yeah!

ENGINES REV

All right. Fair enough.

Ooh, erm, I guess, 3...
2... 1... go?

Right, come on.

0 to 60 in this, about six seconds.

This thing has more torque
than a Lamborghini Gallardo.

Have they got that? No!

'We plunged out of the
clouds neck and neck. '

I have taken the precaution of
fitting it with studded snow tyres.

Obviously I did that.

Come on! Find grip!

Blimey! Where have they...?

'The snowmobilers promptly vanished

'because whilst I had to
stick to the ski runs,

'they didn't. '

Come on, you've crossed the
desert, you can do this.

'As it turned out, the
Dakar was as fast on snow

'as it would be on sand. '

Oh, yes! That worked!

I thank you!

'So when I hit the lower slopes,

'we were still neck and neck. '

'I then decided to
take a short cut.

'Which went well. '

Oh! Oh!

This is going to cost me time!

Move, move, move!

'Despite my cock-up, I was just ahead
as we entered the forest stage. '

Yee-hah-hah!

Keep up with that, then, boys!

'But the teenagers were able to
whizz off between the trees. '

Come on! Where the hell are they?

'Which meant they had the lead as we
reached the final part of the race,

'a six-mile dash across
the frozen lake. '

Ooh, tree.

Come on, come on!

Yes, finally!

I've got the top speed
of best part of 130 mph.

This is where I have the advantage.

'But up ahead, the snowmobilers
could still hit 90 mph.

'So I'd have to give it
everything to close the gap. '

This is where the
race is won or lost.

This thing's got some grip!

I'm just floating over this stuff.

'With less than four miles to go

'the snowmobilers
were still ahead. '

Where are they?!

'But then, joy of joys, the snow
on the ice started to thin out. '

Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Their machines will
have problems on this

because the belts
themselves overheat

running on straight ice, so
they can't give it everything.

'And sure enough, they
started slowing down. '

I'm going to catch them!

That's them! That's them! Oh, yes!

Oh, yes! What do you think of that?
Yee-hah-hah-hah!

'The snow on the
lake thickened again,

'and the snowmobilers
were back in the game.

'But now the Touareg
had the edge. '

That, I think, is the
finish line. That's it!

This thing has conquered
sand and desert,

now it's conquered snow,
mountains and frozen lakes.

I'm going to win!

Yes! Yes!

Ha-ha!

I did it! It's won through!

What a machine!

You've got to be...!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I could've done that.
I could've done that.

What?!

Did you... did you win that?

Yes. Yes, I did. I'll admit they
did finish with a bit more of a...

flourish, thing, there,

but I won.

I'm not really interested
in whether you won or not,

I'm interested in that bit where
they said that their tracks,

on their snowmobiles, got hot,

cos they were running on ice.

Yes. And they told you that?
Yeah, it's the friction.

Ice generates a lot of friction,

so they heat up.

If you slide over
ice in your clothes,

they'll actually burn off you.

Do they also tell you things
like, Jimi Hendrix was in Abba?

No! It's... Did theysay
that a Volvo 244

holds the lap record
at the Nurburgring?

No, stop, it's true, and you know
full well it is. Let's do the news.

No. What I'm going to do is put
a piece of ice down the front

of your trousers, to see if it sets
fire to your gentleman's sausage.

No! I'm not saying ice is hot, just,
it can create a lot of friction!

This is science, and you
don't understand that.

So leave it, it's true.
OK? Yes. Yeah.

Anyway, let's do the news.

Oh, now, hey. This is an
important piece of news.

A lot of people imagine the most
dangerous time of year to drive

is... November, or
perhaps February,

dark nights, fog, ice.

But we were talking about this and
we think THE most dangerous time

to drive a car, is roundabout now.

Sunny skies, light breezes,
girls wearing short skirts.

Dangerous. Very dangerous.

Cos the thing is, you can't notlook.
No. You actually can't.

You can't physically not look.
You have no choice.

There are other things
you can choose not to do.

It's easy not to use your mobile while
driving, easy not to drive after 18 pints
of lager,

but you're driving along and, "
There's a girl, mustn't look...

"I'm looking, I'm looking, I've
crashed, I'm still looking!"

Do you have any idea
what we're on about?

I drove through Soho the
other night, honestly,

you know Linda Blair in the Exorcist?
My head was just...

spinning around! 180 degrees!
Crashing into lampposts,

letterboxes, and other cars!

It's impossible not to!

The thing is, we know
that Germaine Greer

is actually an avid
viewer of Top Gear, and...

Is she? No, she really is.
In your mind.

No, she is!

Anyway, she will be annoyed
about this but the fact is,

what we're trying to say is we
can't help it, it's natural,

I mean, in the last three days I've
nearly had two quite serious accidents...

Even James May is
susceptible to it! Even me!

That's proof! Yeah, but it was
roadworkers he was looking at! Ha-ha!

Actually, do you not think there
is here a case for the burka?

Aaah. Because the problem goes away...
The burka? No. No, honestly.

The burka doesn't work.

Cos I was in a cab in
Piccadilly the other day, OK?

A woman in a full burka crossing
the road in front of the cab,

tripped over the pavement, went head
over heels... Base over apex. Yeah.

And up it came, red
G-string, stockings...

Mate, that did NOT happen!

I promise! I promise!

No! It did! Did you see
thisincident on DVD or pay per view?

The taxi driver will back
me up on that. He will.

He was in the cinema with you?

That never happened.
It did! Never happened.

Next week, Jeremy visits a hospital,
and a nurses top falls off.

In Jeremy's mind.

Now, normally, OK, normally
I wouldn't bring this up.

But Citroen UK has appointed
a new sales director, OK?

And his name is Charles Peugeot.

No, it isn't!

I have photographic
proof, from Citroen,

"Charles Peugeot".
It is! What were they thinking?!

What's his e-mail address going
to be, charles. peugeot@citroen?

So stupid!

Hang on, hang on, what if
there are lots of people

called Charles Peugeot
working at Citroen?

So he ends up being charles...

.. charles. peugeot405.

Sorry, it wasn't worth it.

APPLAUSE DROWNS SPEECH

Hey, now, as we know, there's a
lot of chat around at the moment

about cars that can run on biofuels
or on electricity or on hydrogen.

But we wondering, "I wonder if it would be
possible to make a car that ran on cheese
and onion crisps?"

LAUGHTER

Corn beef salad.

And do you know what? We found a
Porsche, or rather, Hammond has,

that can.

This is it. And the first thing
you'll notice is it's covered

in this space-age foil stuff.

Back here, there's this massive
wing, all very traditional Porsche,

but, under here, nothing.

Because this is the
first mid-engine 911.

And what an engine it is.

So right now it's
running on Frosties

and one of those
chocolatey croissant things

and a cup of coffee.
But it could equally run on

fish and chips I had last
night or a big bag of Quavers.

Really anything that
the driver can eat.

OK, first corner coming up.

The good thing about
this, of course,

plenty of time to be
precise about your lines.

CHEERING

It's amazing!

It's absolutely superb.

Fabulous.

It is a completely convincing 911,really,
isn't it?It is. It was made in Austria -

sadly, it is a one-off.
It lives in a museum now.

But it's fabulous and I
did do a whole lap in it.

What was your time?
Well, I did it in...

18 minutes... and 37 seconds!
Yeah! LAUGHTER

CHEERING

It's down here. It's down here.

But I'm proud.

Well done.

Thank you.

Since we're on the
subject of the lap board,

we thought we would take a moment to share
some happy memories of an old friend.

If you look back at all the amazing things
we've done with the Bugatti Veyron...

HE LAUGHS

.. you could be forgiven for thinking
it's the fastest car on the planet.

The fact is, though,
it isn't, you see,

because this car will
do 253 miles per hour,

but there's now a car in America
called the Shelby Ultimate Aero...

.. that will do 256 miles per hour.
So that, officially,

is the world's fastest production
car, not this old knocker.

The Germans are not pleased.

So, behind closed doors,
in the Bugatti skunk works,

they've created this...

It's called the Super Sport.

It's the Veyron's last hurrah and it's
been built with just one purpose...

To be the undisputed fastest
production car ever made.

On this car, the 0-60 time is the same
as it is on the standard Bugatti Veyron -

2.5 seconds. But after that,
all is utterly changed.

0-100 miles per hour now
takes just 4.5 seconds,

which is the same as the 0-60
time of a Porsche 911 GT3.

And this will go on to an alleged
top speed of 258 miles per hour.

Naturally, that means the
Super Sport has more power.

The standard Veyron famously
has 1,000 horsepower.

The Super Sport's version
has 1, 200 horsepower.

So why, you might wonder, does
it need the power of a Golf GTI

added to it, just to do
another five miles per hour?

Well, the reasons are
quite complicated

and I've been barred by the producer
from explaining them properly.

So here instead is the
primary school explanation.

Well, the issue is the air, which has
genuine substance once you're trying to
move through it.

The faster you go, the thicker
the air effectively becomes.

At 100 miles per hour, it's
like aerosol whipped cream,

but at 200 miles per hour, it's
more like a very thick treacle.

And at 250 miles per
hour, it's like...

trying to drive
through a fruitcake.

And cutting through the fruitcake
requires more than just brute force,

which is why this Veyron has
a new super slippery body.

And a new super high price.

Up from L1 million to L1.6 million.

Anyway, big, fast Shelby
American car thingy,

your gauntlet has now been picked up
by the one they call de langsamer -

the Slow One. Captain Slow, to you.

The setting for this judgement day run
is Volkswagen's top-secret test track...

at Ehra-Lessien - a massive complex

built in a former Cold War no-fly
zone near the old East German border.

At its heart is this
13-mile oval-shaped track,

which includes this 5.5-mile
arrow-straight straight.

It's one of very few places on earth where
you can actually max a Bugatti Veyron.

Nothing was left to chance
by the Bugatti boffins.

We even had to wait until
the middle of the day

when the air was at its thinnest before I
was finally given the all-clear to run.

There's one thing making
me slightly apprehensive.

I said, "How long do the tyres
last at 258 miles per hour?"

And they said, "Well, we know how long they
last at 248 miles per hour - it's 37 miles.
"

I said, "Yeah, but what
about 258 miles per hour?"

What they actually said to me was, "Ask an
admiral how deep his submarines can really
go.

"He doesn't know
until they try it. "

As I ventured onto the track, I was quite
glad that they aren't ordinary tyres,

but ones that cost L20,000 a set.

I do feel a nervousness about
that extra five miles per hour.

It takes me beyond the known
borders of car performance.

I'm hanging my ass over the
ragged edge like Chuck Yeager.

Anyway, concentrate.

'The super-accurate
speedo read in kilometres

'so the magic number we'd be looking
for is 414 kilometres per hour. '

If I reach maximum speed, I'll be drinking
fuel at the rate of 1.7 gallons a minute.

The radiators will be sucking
through four tonnes of air an hour.

Just before the 5.5-mile
straight is some steep banking,

which I'd have to enter at
exactly 125 miles per hour.

Then I have to change down as
I pass a series of bollards,

ready to give it the beans
as I come out the other end.

Here we go. Here's the banking.

Here comes the first bollard.

Change down one.

Here's a bollard. Change down two.

Here's a bollard.
Change down three times.

Godspeed, Captain Slow!

Whoa!

Bloody hell, look at
the speed of that!

Doing 258... 260.. I'm going
faster than I can speak! 300!

320!

That is amazing! It's so stable.
I'm already up to 340.

Bloody Nora!

It's unbelievable! Look how
fast everything's going past!

There's 400.

'In Queen's English, that's
248 miles per hour. '

Come on, come on, come on!

I'm past my old record.

'Now we were into the unknown. '

Slightly twitchy.

Come on! Come on!

Yes! I think I may
have whupped your ass.

Whoo-hoo!

'And the speedo kept climbing. '

417!

HE LAUGHS

HE LAUGHS

Whoo-hoo!

Bloody hell, that was exciting.

CHEERING

Hang on. No, no, wait!

No!

I'm sorry...

Are you seriously suggesting that now we
open the Guinness Book of World Records

and it says, "Fastest man
on earth - James May?"

LAUGHTER Not exactly.

What do you mean, not exactly?
Well, after I'd done my run,

Bugatti sent a test driver out, because
they thought he'd like a crack at it,

and this is what happened.

So there he goes.

He's got to do a run in each
direction and take an average.

There's my old record already gone.

As we can see, the
speedo is still climbing.

There's him celebrating.

I added my congratulations
soon afterwards.

Damn him!

So he obviously did it both w
ays,which you have to do. Yup.

What was his average, then?
431 kilometres per hour.

What's that in Church
of England?267...

Oooh.

In a car with windscreen wipers?
And a CD player!

In a road car? That's staggering.

We ought to find out, really, how
fast this goes round the track.

Anybody want to see that?

Yes!

OK, that, of course, means handing
over to our racing driver.

Some say the Scottish released
him a little bit too soon.

LAUGHTER

And that he spent all
week pushing an effigy

of Rubens Barrichello
through his desk fan.

LAUGHTER

What we know is,
he's called the Stig!

And he's off and just look how fast
that thing fires off the line -

smoking all four tyres.

OK, first corner. Simply flies into
those, almost cartoonishly fast.

Just sensational.

"Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees

And in the midst of
this ferocious speed

still has a stereo to listen to.

Takes it gently round Chicago,
now popping off the limiter,

Hammerhead, air brake goes vertical
generating 0.7G of braking -

same as the actual
brakes of a Fiesta.

50 kilos lighter than the original
Veyron but still a heavy car.

# Staying alive, staying alive... #

Your brain honestly can barely
take in how fast this thing is.

What's really weird is it
hardly makes any noise. Listen!

Just staggering. Two corners to go.

Here we go. Using all the
grip of those 20 grand tyres.

This is the Stig on maximum attack
and there he is, across the line!

CHEERING

So...

Here's the old Veyron 1.18.3.

We're expecting this to bea
little bit faster. Yup.

But is it fast enough...
? Well, look at these.

These are the ones - 17s.
The Gumpert, the Ascari and so on.

Well, this one, the Super
Sport, did it in 1...

.. 16.8.

Oh!

Fastest car ever...

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

.. ever... to go round our track.

Now it's time to put a star
in our reasonably-priced car.

We had a bit of a
problem, if we're honest,

because we had Jedward booked.

LAUGHTER

At the last minute, they pulled out.
So we rang Cameron Diaz...

LAUGHTER

We did. We said, "Would you mind awfully
coming on the show?" She said, "Sure. Love
to.

"But only if I can
bring Tom Cruise. "

LAUGHTER

So, ladies and gentlemen,
here on this...

pokey motoring show
on BBC Two... LAUGHTER

Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise!

CHEERING

How are you? Fine, yourself?
How are you?

CHEERING DROWNS SPEECH

Do have a seat.

Thank you. That's a bitof a reaction!
I know! It was a lot of fun.

Can I just say, what
staggers me is, sitting here,

it's almost like I've been joined by the
genetic blueprint for the human race with
these two.

What do you think?LAUGHTER

In design, in evolution, we'll reach
a point where they look like this.

Cos how do you know...? You embark on
acting when you're in your late teens.

How do you know that
later on in life

you aren't going to become, well...

For instance, Tom, why
don't you have ear hair?

Next time I come on the
show I'll be like this.

And then it'll go at the back...
Curling it and trimming it.

Cos it's not like either of you
have taken care of yourself.

You've broken every bonein your body over
the years. I've broken my nose a couple of
times

and fingers and my
leg and toes, ribs.

And you do your own stunts.

You are proud of the fact that youdo a lot
of jumping up and downand falling off
things. Yeah,

I do most of them.

Do they hurt? Yeah.

LAUGHTER

Yes, some of them REALLY hurt.

And you would have thought you would
have looked in a mirror and thought,

"I'm quite good looking, I'd
better take care of this. "

How many times have you broken yournose?
Well, it started very early, I was 11.

I broke my nose four
times since I was 11.

Four? Yes. Four times. Four times.

BLEEP finds my face.

It just does. Can you say
thaton television here?

OK.

Now, the new movie, Knight And Day,

my kind of film, I have to say.

Everything explodes, lots
of close-ups of Cameron,

and you're funny.

Is this comedy, is this a new...
Obviously not for you. She was so funny.

I've done a few comedies.

You had the gentleman juicein
your hair. Yes, I did.

One of the great comedy
moments of our time.

It didn't take very long
for it to get there either.

It just was a very quick...
LAUGHTER

What I meant was... No...

This is why I love Cameron, I have to tell
you. It's so much fun working with her.

Yeah. No, but I love comedy.
The comedy stuff...

I started with Risky Business and I've
always had comedic elements in different
characters.

I've had some intense films over the years
and I really want to do some comedy now.

We've put a trailer together. OK.
So let's have a look at that.

I want to talk about this guy.

He was some sort of secret agent.

Oh, no, no, no...
Hi, June. Who are you?

This is the guy. I'm the guy.
It's the guy. I'm the guy!

For your own safety,
please stay in the booth.

What are you talking... Stay there,
or I kill myself and then her.

Rodney... Rodney!

Shot you through and through, Nowhere
near the femoral artery. It's all good.

Might even get a promotion. Good?

On your own, your life
expectancy is like here.

With me, it's here.
With me, without me.

On three. Ready? Uh-huh. One...

Sorry, I panicked.
What numberwould you like? Three.

Let's just stick with three.
It's good. OK.

CHEERING

Um...

I'm sorry about this.
You look great in it but the thing is,

in the movie, you restore
muscle cars for a living.

This is pornography. What?

What is it you have to
check in at the airport?

Triple Deuce. A carburetor.
A Triple Deuce carburetor.

Do you find this as well?When girls start
talking about... About cars and engines.

Ohhhhhh...!

Could you say a six-barrel
carburettor for a '66 Vette?

A six-barrel carburetor
for a '66 Vette.

I'm actually having a crisis.

Do you put a lot of effort into
choosing the cars you use in movies?

For example, in this movie, was there a lot
of effort went into the cars that were used?

It's fun. We all sit around
and talk about which cars

and motorcycles. We look at the train
and we line up a bunch of bikes

and we look at the stunts that we're going
to develop, if there's going to be a lot of
jumps.

We used the Ducati on this one.

You were on cobbled streets...

We needed a lighter motorcycle, we needed
something I could hold Cameron around.

That's a stunt I've been wanting
to do for many, many years.

LAUGHTER

Have Cameron, you know...
It's not just you in this,

you were doing your own
stuntsas well. Yes.

There's this great scene where the
GTO, the daddy of muscle cars,

and you're flicking it around allover
the place. It's a lot of fun.

One of the things was, you often see actors
coming on, saying, "Yeah, I did my own
stunts",

so I thought it would be a good ideato say,
"Come on, Cameron,take me out on the track.
" Yeah.

Anybody want to see... I do. AUDIENCE: Yeah.
Let's have a look at this.

This is just about as
good as life gets, really.

It's going. You've got it.

CHEERING

Thank you, Jeremy.

See? You see?

All you've got to do is go
like this and "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Yeah.

How much fun is that?
I was vomiting.

What cars do you drive to the shops in?
What are you everyday cars?

Right now, I mostly... I drive
a lot of motorcycles right now.

Bikes? Recently, a lot
ofmotorcycles. He does.

So what have you got?
Let's run through them.

I have a '34 Indian.
1934, that my wife bought me

that used to belong to Steve
McQueen. There you go.

That's actually it, is it? Yep.

That was Steve McQueen's old Indian? Yeah.
What I'm interested in,

this Virus, it looks the mostincredible
bike I've ever seen. It is incredible.

That bike is beautiful.
Where's it made? Italy.

And you have to be measuredfor
this, do you? Yes.

They do your measurements and
build it to your specifications,

my height and weight
and how I like to ride.

So it's a tailored bike.

Yeah, that's a tailored bike.

Do you like bikes, Cameron?No, I don't.
I ride on the back of them very well.

It's a good way of dealing withthe
paparazzi if you've got... The helmet on.

I wear a helmet when I drive
my Prius You've got a Prius?!

I love the PriusLAUGHTER

So what cars... I thought it wasyour
favourite car. It IS my favourite car.

Is that what you drive in and
out of town? We expect it.

I'm married to my Prius.

Love it.

I discovered you had a Mustang
Celine, the tuned Mustang.

The other Mustang that I'm
interested in of yours is your P-51,

which is a WWll fighter
rather than a car.

I just love... I grew up
and we travelled a lot

and every time we travelled I had a
picture of a Spitfire and a P-51.

As a little boy I'd fall asleep looking
at the pictures of airplanes on my wall

and I always wanted to fly it.

Years later I got my licence
and started flying aerobatics

just to train on taildraggers so
that one day I could fly a P-51.

Have you ever been in those fast jets that
you flew in Top Gun? Yes. You flew in the
F-... 15, yeah.

I flew in the F-14. The Navy one.

I flew also in the F-16 in Korea.
Can I just ask...

This is really embarrassing, because
it's Tom Cruise... Did you puke?

Yes, I did.

I had three flights in one day.

Actually, when you see the film,
some of the shots are in the airplane

and we were doing heavy air combat
manoeuvres. My pilot's name was Bozo

and I had the bag right there,
so I leaned down to fill the bag

and as I leaned down, he
pulled up, went right up.

My head was on the floor and I'm
trying to hit the mic and I'm going

"Mother! Mother!
" My head is banging on the floor,

pulling up...

I finally came up and I
said, "What are you doing?"

He says, "Well they don't
call me Bozo for nothing. "

Anyway, obviously, you came here

to see how fast you could driveour
reasonably priced cararound our track.
Absolutely.

You're 33 films, you're 30, I think
this is the peak of your career now.

I'm thinking of maybe
Cameron's lap first of all.

Yeah? Ladies first?
Good idea?AUDIENCE: Yes!

OK, let's have a look.

So we're off, and
that's a good start.

That's a good look.

Here we go.

How do you manage to suit a helmet?

Nobody looks good in a helmet.
She looks good in a helmet.

That's perfect.

Ugh, that's fifth.

These BLEEP English gears.

They're Korean, actually.
To be honest, they're Korean gears.

Sorry, Stig, totally BLEEP it up.

He's never heard that word.
No?He doesn't know it exists.

Now, did you keep it in the lines?

Poetry, in essence.

BLEEP me!

Corner.

BLEEP

Some of this is broadcastable.

Was that flat out through there?

Are you flat out?
You didn'tlift off? It's flat out.

Flat out, and then that's a
beautiful line through there.

The traditional cee'd understeer
and there we are, across the line.

APPLAUSE

Very good.

What is it? What is it?
What is it? What is it?

Tell me, tell me, what is my time? I think
we'll look at Tom's lapfirst, shall we?

Who wants to see Tom's lap?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

TYRES SQUEAL

Nice start.

And coming up now
to the first corner.

That's a serious looking face.

I'm going, "Is this third gear?
"That's what I kept doing.

That's quite an interesting
line through there.

The Formula 1 drivers come out really
wide but Stig thinks that's right.

See if I can get
this to turn right.

Let's have a look. Ooh, that's...

That's a lesson in how to do it.

Now Hammerhead. This is the
hardest corner of the lot.

Did you stay in the
lines like Cameron did?

No. You see, Cameron,
you can grin there.

Now, we're flat out here
all the way to the end.

Nice gearbox

Flat through there.

Yeah, and flat
through the next bit.

That's so much fun. It is good.
This one's really fun too.

And then...

This is awesome.
You got it right that time.

We could have killed you!

CHEERING

What if we'd actually killed you?

I felt the wind come underneath.
I was feathering like a kite.

"I'm on two wheels!"

Thank God you managed to get it backon
all four wheels again. It was great fun.

So what do we think? Fastest man's
a wizard, Rupert Grint at 1:45.5

Slowest in the dry laps is Nick
Robinson, Political Editor for the BBC.

He did it it 1:49.9.
So, Cameron, ladies first.

This is the piece of paper
with the times on it.

Good luck. Thanks, buddy.

Cameron Diaz, you did it in one...

forty...

five...

two. CHEERING

Wow!

Yes!

Well done, you.

Yes!

Now, that's a magnanimous face but, let's
be honest, you're quietly crapping yourself.

Oh, my God. 1:45.2, I doubt.

Oh, just give it over.

Give it over! Give it to him!
Even Tom Cruise leans forward.

"I'm not interested.
I'm not interested. "

Tom Cruise, you did it in one...

forty... OK.

SHE WHISPERS

four. AUDIENCE WHOOPS

CHEERING

You Americans.

APPLAUSE DROWNS SPEECH

When I was on two wheels, I thought,
"I don't know what's going to happen. "

Two wheels is obviously
the fastest way...

You are a man who likes
racing, but that's quick.

When the two wheels
were going through...

I'm not going to come off and
they said, "This is it. "

So I was thinking, "If I
go through on the side,

does the time still count?"

LAUGHTER

It was... That was a
breathtaking thing.

My whole day has just been...
It's been just... Wow.

Such an honour to meet you, Tom.

This was the best day. Cameron, thank
youvery much for making me sick.

What's that? Thank youfor
making me feel sick.

Oh, you are so welcome
Ladies and gentlemen...

Thank you so much. Thank you all.
Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thank you so much.
That was so much fun.

Came to see a show about cars

and you get to see Tom
Cruise and Cameron Diaz.

They're great. Staggering.

Anyway, anyway...
slight change of mood.

Had he lived, Ayrton Senna
would have celebrated

his 50th birthday
earlier this year.

The weird thing is, I was talking
about this to my 14-year-old son,

and he went, "Oh yeah, was he that
racing driver that got killed?"

That makes me feel really old.

I know, it's awful, but the
thing is, I said to him,

"If you'd seen his funeral, you'd
know he was a bit more than that. "

'One of the world's greatest motor
racing drivers, Ayrton Senna,

'has died after a crash... '

'Senna, three times
a world champion,

'suffered massive
head injuries... '

GERMAN COMMENTARY

'A million people lined the
streets of his home city...

'The Brazilian government has called
in full military officers... '

'His home country has declared
three days of mourning. '

I think I was nine years old
and I was racing that weekend

and I just came in from a
heat or a practise session

and my dad was working
away on the car

and I remember him telling me. I remember
going round to the back of the car

and just... balled my eyes out.
At nine years...

I remember it like it was yesterday.
Exactly where I was, what spot.

I could take you there right now.

In Brazil, they remember
Ayrton Senna as a sporting hero

who gave a way millions to
help underprivileged children.

Elsewhere in the world, though,
we remember him best for this...

'And Senna goes through. '

'Senna goes through again!'

Ayrton Senna did race in Formula 1

from 1984- to his death
at Imola in 1994.

'Ayrton Senna wins at Monaco. '

In that time, he won the world
championship three times.

The figures suggest that
Schumacher and Fangio were better,

but the people who know,
they tell a different story.

I think, Senna, I would
put him in number one.

For me, Senna is number one.

For me, he was number one.

I would Ayrton Senna as number one.

For me, Ayrton Senna
undoubtedly was the number one.

I would put him number one.
He was the greatest driver.

If you ask me, I put Senna
as well in number one.

Martin Brundle, who races against
the Brazilian for 11 years,

is well qualified
to explain why Senna

was the ultimate drivers driver.

He had a God given talent that I
haven't witnessed anywhere else.

I sixth sense of where the grip was
before he turned into a corner.

If you look at this Lotus, even
when it's going in a straight line,

it is dancing.
Absolutely. And there.

You look at these and you
think, I can't do that.

I think Senna has the ability

to be able to drive
completely on the limit.

Some of the laps he did, we
know were, were unbelievable.

And this is just...
This is manic. Look at this.

How he reads those two guys,
he's absolutely on it, isn't he?

This is... Look at that.

'Senna was so good at banzai
last minute qualifying laps

'that in his Formula 1 career, he
won an incredible 65 poll positions.

Had had this gift to
just go and find...

We could all find a tenth or two,

the really great drivers could
go and find half a second

or three quarters of a second.

'Ayrton Senna... '

However, Senna could do
even better than that.

In Monaco in 1988, he out qualified
his teammate, the great Alain Prost,

by a scarcely believable
one and a half seconds.

Nobody, in the end, wanted
to spoil Senna's poll lap.

When you saw the day-glow McLaren

and the very bright
helmet of Ayrton Senna,

he would come through and we
literally jumped out of the way.

You didn't want to be the one
they talked about as having

blown the lap that the whole
of the Grand Prix venue

was looking forward to.

'But it wasn't just out and out
speed that made Senna special. '

He was so good because he was
working so hard on details.

I brought the car
also there and there,

but he went in the fine details.

That's why he was fantastic.

The worst is here.
The worst is the second chicane.

Beneath the first chicane.

But it is because the asphalt goes
like this in the third chicane

and it's like this. In the second
chicane it's, you're coming bumpy.

If I think back to when
I was his test driver

at the beginning of the '94 season,

after the second day he had a small
incident and tweaked his neck

and that was it. The test was
over as far as he was concerned.

Er, I came in the following day
and he was there! I thought,

"OK, "he must have made
a miraculous recovery,"

but in fact he was just there to
listen to what I was saying to

the engineers, to work out whether
he could trust my feedback.

When I compare that being
Nigel Mansell's test driver,

he would set a lap time and then he
would bugger off to the golf course.

Another weapon in Senna's armoury
was his utter ruthlessness.

'Prost having a look, Senna
driving him into the pit wall. '

'Schumacher trying
to take Ayrton Senna.

'Let's see if the
Brazilian moves across.

'Indeed he did. '

He often used to put us in a position, erm,
that you were going to have an accident

and he would leave it
up to you to decide

whether to have that
accident or not.

Martin experienced this
psychological warfare first of all

when racing against
Senna in Formula 3.

Look, I've got a great big lead
here and he launches in from nowhere

and then... parks on my shoulder.

I couldn't get out of the car until
they lifted his car off the top of mine.

When he wanted to overtake, he'd go on
the inside and put the car in a place...

If you tried to take the corner,
you're going to hit him. Yes.

He would put you in a compromising position
and leave you to make that decision.

And if you didn't run into to him,
psychologically you're buried and finished.

He would then know that every time after
that it showed your wheel, you'll jump out
of the way.

'He's got Mansell all over him.
He has no reason to stay out... '

'Even the giants from Senna's
era respected his toughness. '

I don't think there was any qualifying
session or any race he went into the wasn't
prepared

to put it on the line.

'All over the back, he's having a
look and he's inside Mansell. '

He was the toughest driver and
the most ferocious driver to, um,

protect his area or space.

'Senna - all his skills involved.

'He's got a much, much slower car
and clapped out tires on his car.

'Mansell's got fresh rubber on.
All the grip in the world.

'Blocking away and sliding a lot.
Senna's knocking it down. '

'Mansell weaving this way and that
way, but Senna won't let him past.

'He's got the racing line
and he's going to keep it. '

This will to win reached it's peak
at the Japanese Grand Prix in 1990.

Here, Senna would be world
champion providing his arch rival,

Alain Prost, now at
Ferrari, failed to finish.

So, at the first corner, he made
sure Prost failed to finish.

'Alain Prost has
taken the advantage,

'Senna is trying to go
through on the inside,

'and it's happened immediately!
This is amazing!

'Senna goes off at
the first corner. '

'Yes, and that makes Ayrton Senna
world champion this year. '

He doesn't even try to break?
No, no, no. At that point...

when they are back there, Senna,
if he wanted to stay in the race,

you'd have seen two puffs of
blue smoke from his front tires.

That gap was always
going to disappear.

He was driving into a
disappearing wedge.

After the crash, he showed
absolutely no contrition.

When there is a gap, you
either commit yourself,

as a professional racing driver
that is designed to win races,

or you come second or you
come third or you come fifth.

I am not designed to come third,
fourth or fifth. I race to win.

If you no longer go
for a gap that exists,

you're no longer a racing driver.

Strangely, Senna had a big heart.

He was a devote Christian capable
of extraordinary compassion.

When fellow racing driver
Erik Comas crashed in 1992,

Senna stopped and risked his own life
running across the track to help.

That's the paradox of
Ayrton Senna, isn't it.

In that he was clearly a
fantastic human being.

And he cared about people in Brazil,
he cared about racing drivers.

I mean he was mortally hurt when
Ratzenberger died the day before he died.

But then he would crash Alain Prost off the
race track and put both their lives at risk.

As a man, Ayrton Senna
was hard to fathom,

but when it rained it was easy
to spot his talents as a driver.

'And Senna is a wet
weather master!'

This is Donnington in 1993.

The track is wet and Senna, in an inferior
McLaren, is in trouble at the start.

'Coming up well Senna is crowded
out and down to fifth position.

'Wendliger is up into third
place ahead of Schumacher

'Prost leads, Hill second, and Ayrton Senna
is up to fourth position ahead of
Schumacher.

'Challenging Wendliger as they go round the
right-hander into the old hairpin. Senna is
up to third.

'A quite brilliant couple
of corners by Ayrton Senna.

'Tremendous stuff. He muscled his way
back into the contention at Redgate.

'He's going inside Damon Hill and
Senna into second place already. '

'So, two retirements already...
and Senna goes through into the lead!

'He's past Alain Prost so...
' And that was it.

One lap, fifth to first. Yeah.

If you want to have 40 seconds of, what is
Ayrton Senna the racing driver all about?

There it is in a nutshell. Yeah.

After the race, though,
he was completely calm.

Driving with slicks in damp
and really slippery conditions

was... was tremendous.

Conditions like this is gambling and
it's taking chances that pays off

and I think we gambled good.

Of course you have to remember that
Senna was doing his gambling in cars

that were like wild
ferocious animals.

This McLaren MP44, in
which he won eight races

and his first world championship,
had very little down force,

a manual gear box and
1,200 horse power.

450 more than the F1 cars of today.

It is the last of the
turbo charged monsters.

One of the greatest
racing cars ever made.

And today, it's going
to rumble again

in the hands of Senna's
number one fan.

I'm nervous.

There it is. Wooooo!

I can't believe that, um...
Oh, jeez...

LEWIS GIGGLES

You've just got back from the Canadian
Grand Prix this morning? Yeah.

I couldn't sleep. Really?
I slept like an hour or so on the flight.

I couldn't get to sleep...
Cos you get to drive Senna's MP4?

I just can't imagine what
it's going to be like.

I just have this...
I have this sound in my head

of the car roaring and going through
Monaco streets when he's one handed.

I'm going to go one handed and see what
it's like round one of the corners.

Let's go, let's go. Can I go?

ENGINE ROARS

LAUGHS GLEEFULLY

Ooh, it's BLEEP.

LAUGHS EXCITEDLY

Woo-hoo-hoo!

Oh, yeah! Whoa-ho-ho-ho, my God!

The racing back in the mid '80s
was, I mean there's an incredible

scene with Nelson Pike overtaking
Senna on full opposite lock.

Very little in the way of safety,

very little in the way
of aerodynamic grip.

Manual gearboxes,
1,200 horse power.

Yeah, and the cockpit, you
could almost punch through it.

So you think, jeez, you're
driving around at those speeds,

your wheel falls off, the mechanic
makes a mistake, you're dead.

It's phenomenal and I
can't even contemplate

what it would have
been like, but, er...

So that's why I think you have even more
respect for the guys that did it back then.

You had to be, back
in the '80s... Crazy.

You know, you've got your
Mansells, Pikes, Prost...

The drivers were... It's justthe right
time... incredible and you think that
shining out

from all of those drivers
in that great era...

Yep... Senna rose to the top.
Senna rose to the top.

I don't want to go in.
Let's do another lap!

I loved the fact that he would fight
for what he truly believed in.

It's just everything! He puts
everything into getting that lap

and he had no fear.
That's what I loved about it.

I love this car!

I love it.

Come on.

LEWIS SIGHS That's amazing.

Oh, it' so much... It's nothing
like the car I drive nowadays.

But just to know the commitment and
to get used to driving this car

on the limit, I just...
I just couldn't imagine it, man.

It's one of the best
days of my life.

I just feel so blessed, you know.

I dreamed my whole life
of driving that car.

My whole, my whole life.

I just, er, just ticked
off one of my dreams.

I'll be honest with you,
I was never a Senna fan.

I always thought Gilles Villeneuve

was the greatest racing
driver of them all, but...

to make this film, I've watched
hours and hours and hours of footage

and the thing is, Villeneuve was
spectacular on a number of occasions...

Senna, he was spectacular every
single time he got in a car.

There's an amazing film
coming out in the next year

and I urge you all to go and see it.
It's fantastic.

But for now, goodnight.

E- mail subtitling@bbc. co. uk