| dbo:abstract
|
- The Top Gear Race to the North was a three-way race held in 2009 between a Jaguar XK120 car, a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle, and railway locomotive 60163 Tornado – a brand new mainline steam engine completed in Britain in 2008. The race saw the car, bike and locomotive, race from London, England, to Edinburgh, Scotland, a journey of around 400 miles (640 km). Eighteen months in the planning, the race was filmed in secret on 25 April 2009, and shown on 21 June 2009 on the UK's top rated motoring programme, Top Gear. Dubbed A1 versus A1, the race involved Tornado, based on the design of the 1949 Peppercorn A1 Class British Railways express passenger locomotives running on the East Coast Main Line, pitted against the 1949 models of Jaguar car and Vincent motorbike, both being restricted to using the A1 primary road, rather than the modern day M1 motorway (because the M1 was not opened until 1959). To decide on who would use which form of transportation for the race the trio would pick out pieces of paper from a hat. Richard Hammond picked first and would ride the Black Shadow motorbike. Jeremy Clarkson picked next, and to the surprise of everyone, especially James May, would travel on board the footplate of Tornado, leaving the Jaguar to May. However, while being introduced to the footplate crew alongside Tornado's representative Graham Bunker, who would be traveling on the footplate of Tornado on the first leg to York and parts of the second leg from Berwick, Clarkson was told to his horror that he would not be driving but would instead be the fireman, in charge of shovelling the coal for the trip - "I'd be shovelling a lot of coal, 8 tons of it". The race was to be the centrepiece of the first episode in the 13th series of Top Gear. No. 60163 Tornado, capable of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) but at the time restricted to 75 miles per hour (120 km/h), broke a number of records for preserved steam locomotive operation in Britain, including the first 'non-stop' all-steam-hauled passenger train from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley in 41 years, and a first for the steam preservation era, the run having last been achieved by Tornado's fellow LNER Pacific type locomotive, No. 4472 Flying Scotsman, on 1 May 1968, a few months before mainline steam on British Railways ceased on 11 August 1968. (en)
|
| rdfs:comment
|
- The Top Gear Race to the North was a three-way race held in 2009 between a Jaguar XK120 car, a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle, and railway locomotive 60163 Tornado – a brand new mainline steam engine completed in Britain in 2008. The race saw the car, bike and locomotive, race from London, England, to Edinburgh, Scotland, a journey of around 400 miles (640 km). Eighteen months in the planning, the race was filmed in secret on 25 April 2009, and shown on 21 June 2009 on the UK's top rated motoring programme, Top Gear. (en)
|
