Top Gear Power Laps

Power Laps which The Stig completes a lap around the Top Gear test track to gauge the performance of various cars.

The car raced by the Stig is usually a car that was reviewed by one of the presenters that episode, but sometimes
its a car reviewed from a previous programme. There are two separate lists, one for production cars and one for
non-production cars.

There is a separate unofficial board of times for non-production car times. The qualifications for the normal Power
Lap Board is that the car being tested must be a road-worthy car. For example, the Ariel Atom managed to squeak by onto the Power Lap board only because it could get over a speed bump. The three non-production times include:

1. 0:31.2 BAE Sea Harrier
2. 0:59.0 Renault R24 Formula 1 Car
3. 1:08.6 Aston Martin DBR9

Note: The following laps were clocked with the tested vehicle configured for maximum performance. That is to say, all
adjustable suspensions were set at their most efficient, all gear shift maps were at their most aggressive, and driving
aids such as traction control were deactivated. These lap times do not offer entirely reliable comparisons between
the cars - the conditions are far from controlled.

The Koenigsegg CCX at the top of the board was fitted with a non-standard rear spoiler to provide downforce, after the Stig spun the original version off the track. The Stig allegedly recommended this modification, correctly predicting
that the car would then be the fastest ever round Top Gear's track. Koenigsegg themselves state that the improvement was due to adjustments other than the spoiler. See the Koenigsegg CCX page for details.

A running joke of the segment since the beginning of Series 1 is that the Stig listens to a different style of music or language tape during each run.

1. Top Gear Power Laps Top Gear Website Accessed 2006.11.13 In order to qualify for the power laps board, a car must be road legal, and be a car. For this reason the F1 car (0.59.0), Aston Martin DBR9 (1.08.6), Radical SR3 (1.19.0), and Sea Harrier (0.31.2) do not appear.
2. Top Gear Season 5, Episode 9 2004.12.26 Jeremy Clarkson: ...the test we have for the power board where only road cars can go on is that whether they can go over a speed bump, that you can use them on the road.
3. a b c d e f g Removed from board
4. Top Gear Season 8, Episode 4 2006.05.28. Jeremy Clarkson: "This, 1:20.4, the old Koenigsegg lap, we don't need it anymore." *Throws the time magnet away*
5. a b c (Mildly) moist track (the presenters claim this negatively affects track times by around 2 seconds)
6. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Very wet track (the presenters claim this negatively affects track times by around 6 seconds)
7. a b Top Gear Season 4, Episode 4 2004.05.30. Jeremy Clarkson: "It's only a bit faster than the old one, at 1:30.0. It's actually slower than the OLD Evo VIII FQ...b..300...MR" *Throws the old time magnets away*
8. Top Gear Season 3, Episode 4 2003.11.16
9.
10. "Very Very Very Wet" / Snow and Ice
11. Foggy conditions
12. Top Gear Season 8, Episode 2 2006.05.14 Richard Hammond: You know, I think the only time that the Zonda F is gonna get knocked off the board is when Bugatti finally let us put a Veyron on our track.

Top Gear Power Laps

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