Top Gear (2002 TV series)/Power Laps

Once complete, this page aims to be a complete guide cataloguing every known lap completed at the Top Gear Test Track, whether by The Stig, other professional drivers, or even amateur ones.

AlexTGRF's Power Lap Standardisation Guide

Ranks

Three ranks are presented on the left hand side of the table. The first of these is the overall rank, with all lap times considered valid. The second is what Top Gear has historically considered "valid", which are lap times set by The Stig in a car that is road-legal and can clear speed bumps, with those which don't fit this criteria deleted. The third is a retroactive re-classification of certain vehicles, separating them by type.

The reason for the first two existing is largely down to the fault of Jeremy Clarkson, who publicly decreed that the Top Gear Test Track was for regular production cars only with this ruling coming into effect starting from Series 2, Episode 5, although it was not acknowledged until a while thereafter.

This came about because during Series 1, Episode 3 of Top Gear, the Westfield XTR2 set a new lap record around Dunsfold, beating the pace-setting Pagani Zonda by over half a second, a record which it would maintain for much of the series.

However, when the XTR2 couldn't be remotely beaten by any road car on the market at the time, in addition to the latter time being smashed by the Radical SR3 during the series' ninth episode, it was quickly realised that track-day cars had a massive advantage over the considerably more expensive supercars due to the track's low average speed and tight, twisting corners. Mid-way through Series 2, all non track-oriented cars were outlawed from appearing on the Power Lap board, with the Pagani Zonda being handed back the title of being the fastest car around the track.

Later on, this caused further problems. The Ariel Atom, which was previously timed but not added to the lap board due to its track-only nature, was suddenly allowed. The same applied with the Caterham Superlight. Meanwhile other cars, like the earlier XTR2, SR3, and Caparo T1, were disqualified seemingly on arbitrary grounds that these cars could not be used in a daily fashion, "unable to go over speed bumps" to roughly paraphrase Clarkson.

In reality, the reasoning behind this was probably far more simple; Clarkson knew that if lap times set by track-oriented cars were allowed to stand, then the power lap time board would fastly be dominated by them, as was somewhat proven by Series 2, Episode 4 holding a segment where many of these cars set similarly quick lap times. This would render "normal" supercars and sports cars useless.

• R1 refers to eligible Road cars on normal tyres, normal suspension, and no performance upgrades with an unlimited cost.
• R2 refers to eligible Road cars on normal tyres, normal suspension, and no performance upgrades which cost no more than £100,000 brand new, with a tolerance of up to £110,999 list price.
• R3 refers to eligible Road cars on normal tyres, normal suspension, and no performance upgrades which cost no more than £50,000 brand new, with a tolerance of up to £55,999 list price. Most cars tested fit this category.
• R4 refers to eligible Road cars on normal tyres, normal suspension, and no performance upgrades which cost no more than £20,000 brand new, with a tolerance of up to £22,999 list price. The "reasonably-priced" category.
• T refers to track-oriented cars. Cars can be road-legal or non road-legal, stock or modified. The LaFerrari is considered a track-oriented vehicle due to ownership stipulations preventing it from being driven on public roads.
• D refers to diesel-powered vehicles.
• E refers to electric vehicles. Hybrids otherwise fit into the respective RX classes.
• O is the "Open" category, and basically features every other vehicle to have lapped the Top Gear Test Track which may not be a traditional car, or even a car.
• C refers to otherwise road-legal cars used in Top Gear challenges, and are typically slower than what they would have been brand new.

By separating cars in this manner, it allows for fairer comparison between cars of a similar type, as opposed to comparing hot hatches directly against hypercars. Car prices have been determined using reliable sources such as Parkers and contemporary news articles.

Time Deductions

As with all power lap tables, there are two. One displays the times as they were set, as it was presented in Top Gear along with other sources, and the other factors in time deductions, of which there are a few:

• Sub-optimal track temperature (hot/cold) results in a single second being deducted.
• Severe fog with lots of moisture in the air results in 1 and a half seconds being deducted. This has no relevance for televised laps, but has been used in circumstances such as the PistonHeads Driving Challenge.
• A damp track with surface water results in 2 seconds being deducted.
• A moist track results in 3 seconds being deducted.
• A generally wet track results in 4 seconds being deducted, particularly if it is raining.
• A very wet track with large amounts of standing water results in 6 seconds being deducted.

These are based on approximations originally calculated by Perry McCarthy back in 2002 and may not be wholly accurate, owing to an individual car's drivetrain and ability to operate in wet conditions. Furthermore, the difference between all four types of wetness is often arbitrary without an exact science behind it, with some laps needing to be retroactively recategorised, with the "Wet" Ferrari 575M Maranello, Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, and Honda NSX-R laps from Series 1 occurring in conditions that would very clearly be considered "Very Wet" in later series due to the cars aquaplaning on the track surface.

Drivers have also been separated by skill level. Based on a lap time from the April 2006 issue of the magazine, it can be estimated that most amateur drivers, and even more proficient drivers otherwise intimately unfamiliar with the layout are around 108% off the pace of The Stig, due to a lap time conducted of the same car, the Volkswagen Golf R32, by an anonymous tester in the April 2006 issue of Top Gear Magazine, The Stig in the February 2007 issue, as well as during Series 7 of Top Gear in the dry. Once adjusted for weather conditions and skill level, the original times go from:

Position	Car	Year	Time	Track Conditions	Source
1	Volkswagen Golf R32	2005	1:30.4	Dry	Series 7, Episode 6
2	Volkswagen Golf R32	2006	1:35.4	Wet	Top Gear #162
3	Volkswagen Golf R32	2005	1:43.0	Wet	Top Gear #151

To:

Position	Car	Year	Time	Track Conditions	Source
1	Volkswagen Golf R32	2005	1:30.4	Dry	Series 7, Episode 6
2	Volkswagen Golf R32	2006	1:31.4	Wet	Top Gear #162
3	Volkswagen Golf R32	2005	1:31.7	Wet	Top Gear #151

This of course does not apply in every situation, particularly with drivers who know their car better, but has been approximated based on the following constants:

• "Normal" cars (i.e. family cars) should have a lap time around 1:45 - 1:55.
• Low-end sports cars, luxury cars, and tuned off-roaders such as Bowlers and Overfinchs should have a lap time around 1:35 - 1:45.
• Middle-end sports cars, lightweight cars, and hot hatches should have a lap time around 1:30 - 1:35.
• High-end sports cars, entry-level supercars, and race homologation specials should have a lap time around 1:25 - 1:30.
• Supercars should have a lap time around 1:20 - 1:25.
• Hypercars should have a lap time under 1:20.

Further Deductions

In instances where the lap time is clearly slower than what the car should be capable of due to the limited skill level of a driver, the times have been tweaked by 108% to make up the deficit as much as possible. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this, here are a few more lap times before and after they were adjusted in this manner, along with "control" lap times previously set by The Stig in identical or otherwise very similar machinery.

Position	Car	Time (Stig)	Time (Amateur)	Track Conditions	Deficit (seconds)
1	Lamborghini Gallardo	1:25.9	1:37.0	Dry/Wet	11.1
2	Subaru Impreza WRX STI WR1/Type-R	1:29.4	1:36.5	Dry	7.1
3	Nissan 350Z	1:31.8	1:39.2	Dry	7.4

And after adjusting to account for weather conditions and lower driver skill:

Position	Car	Time	Deficit (seconds)
1	Lamborghini Gallardo	1:26.1	0.2
2	Subaru Impreza WRX STI Type-R	1:29.4	0.0
3	Nissan 350Z	1:31.8	0.0

A 108% adjustment isn't always completely accurate as some drivers are at an intermediate level, but neither are weather-related time deductions yet those have been relatively accepted.