So these photos were taken by some dude..who by accident was present.

Which then presents the question; is this dude present at all power lap tests?

Do we have pictures of set ups and tires of the other cars on the board?

And if not.. do we then call all of this just entertainment and nothing more..

Or do we still take is as science, when there are so many variables from one test to another..while the information is limited to the public.

:S

 

Excellent question. Who is he, why was he there? His Flickr photostream doesn't have any other such groups of photos.

I would imagine we do not. Another excellent question. Perhaps investigation into that would be of interest to the enthusiast public as well.

True as well, another great point. I might suggest that if Top Gear wishes to lend any type of credibility to these types of tests in the future, to at bare minimum note the brand/type of tire used for such tests.

(I'm not sure if Car and Driver notes this information for their similar Lightning Lap or not, I'll have to check.)

For all we know this has happened several times before in the past. In my opinion this stands out as an exceptional case if for no other reason than the degree to which the automotive internet presence was practically messing themselves regarding the time the Huayra ran. It wasn't too long into this thread before some started questioning just how it was possible it ran so much better vs. the McLaren than it had previously. It doesn't really have that big of a power-to-weight advantage. Which leads to an in-depth discussion on tires, and there you go.

Whether you classify it as entertainment or science, or something in between, actually turns out to be inmaterial to a point I made a few pages ago. The Huayra's Power Lap tires were created by intentionally cutting tread into racing compound tires, in a manner to make a casual observer believe they were not racing tires. This implies an intended level of deception by a group of people in business to sell a product, to achieve an end favorable to selling that product.

What are we to ultimately take away from that fact?

 

^I think that they used a special tire to achieve the best lap time..that is pretty evident..

Even though im a SHILL

Now what interests me more is WHY TG would be a part of it, why the STIG would and so on and so forth..
Do they get paid by Pagani? I doubt it..and if they do there are a brands with a shit load more money than Pagani that would be willing to pay.
Or is it so that this is standard practice, whenever there is a lap time from a serious contender they send people along that do various tricks and set ups to make the car perform the best, and TG just allows that.

Whatever it is, it generates great publicity for who ever is on top.
And if it was as cheap or easy as only some tires from Pirelli for Pagani to reach the top..i guess good for them.

PS
Someone asked earlier why the Mclaren people are not crying foul, might be cause this is the way shit goes down.. and they expect to be allowed to make their P1 perform the best by any means when that day comes.

And there is no shame for Mclaren to see the Matchbox (mp412c) being beaten by car that costs as much and is a competitor to the upcoming P1.

Everything is in order.

 

Regarding your court of law assumption...in racing, which is more applicable, if there is any evidence in cheating, it's investigated. Before you say this is Top Gear, then pause an ask yourself why you even made the court of law analogy.

Let me educate you...the Pzero Corsa's that have been shown (the same as the tread style Pirelli (as the evidence shows) cut for Pagani), is a 12 year old design. The new tread that Pagani markets for the Huayra is their latest and greatest Pzero. So, why would they revert to a 12 year old design? Maybe because its simple to cut? The dots on the top of the tire are 100% indicators of slicks, the reason is because there are no treads in the casting. If these were road legal tires, they would have wear bars, not dots. Also, NO road tire has the designation xxx/xxx, they're all xxx/xx.

No one wants to hear about Pagani doing something wrong. But, if they did it shouldn't be skirted over.

Why wouldn't you want to get to the bottom of it? Matt presented significant evidence, not just educated guesses.

 

Another addition to the story! A lot of other press and journalists drove the red Huayra, it was also used as customer test driver.

Did anyone notice the street tyre setup of that car? IMO this is the normal suitable setup which customers are being offered and which is being sold!







MR

 

Well here is a picture from another shoot..with the TG tires on..

We are non the more wiser after these shots:

 

Worth noting the press release from Pagani after the time was set on TG.

Pagani Automobili | News | The Pagani Huayra is the fastest road car ever at the BBC Top Gear Test track

Of particular interest is "Driven by the Stig, the road legal 200+ mph Pagani Huayra, equipped with Pirelli PZero Corsa..."

I guess the point therefore is not did Pagani cheat at a game where there are essentially no written rules. But have Pagani simply outright lied in this press release? If the tyres run on that lap were not Pirelli PZero Corsa then yes they did and that is a poor show.

Would be very interested to see what the Pagani actually could do the lap in as I am sure it would be very admirable and nothing to be ashamed of at all.

 

This thread is already making waves on the interwebs..... TeamSpeed rocks!

 

With all due respect Heartache I think the most important part of that statement is this: "equipped with Pirelli PZero Corsa specifically designed by Pirelli just for the Huayra"

A lot of the discussion on this thread as has been mainly researched by Matt and has centred around weather the tyres are hand cut slicks or genuine street tyres. Also the fact that the tyre sizes are not commonly available.

If we take Pagani's claims at face value then the above statement vindicates them. But I fully accept this is not going to satisfy the sceptics or conspiracy theorists. This argument will no doubt rumble on

 

Keep in mind folks that the Huayra was at Top Gear on two separate occasions -- it was photographed by Rowan Horncastle on Oct. 19 with the tires seen in the first photo, as also seen in the second photo, a (poor) screen grab of a flyover shot when Richard Hammond drove it. The tires clearly have a much different tread pattern, certainly one more resembling the PZero type tread of the type of tires that Pagani tells us Pirelli engineered specifically for the the Huayra.

These fully treaded tires are distinctly different that the ones we have already seen in the similar photo, also taken by Rowan Horncastle. That picture, clearly showing the treadwear indicator dots, was taken on Nov. 2, when it was tested by the Stig for its Power Lap.

Given that the same car was tested on both occasions, why was it necessary to put different tires on it? Why do the Power Lap tires not resemble PZero Corsas as Pagani stated the record lap was set on? Why do those tires not say PZero Corsa?