MY TALBOT SUNBEAM LOTUS on BBC TOP GEAR

The story begins in the Autumn of 1999 when, in an idle moment, I decided to e-mail the BBC with a suggestion - As it was nearly twenty years since the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus Rally cars had won the World Championship why don't you test drive on your program the homologated road version of the car, the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus? I told them a bit about the car I had restored and left it that if they were interested then they could e-mail me. Bit of a daft idea I thought having done it - they must get hundreds of similar e-mails every week - and I thought no more about it.

About a week later, in amongst the usual e-mails, had come a reply from the production department at Top Gear. They thought my idea might be worth exploring and could I get in touch please on a phone number they provided. I called them IMMEDIATELY! We talked about the car and they talked about their ideas for a particular show they wanted it to appear in. We arranged outline details for a shoot on 15th November.

Nearer to the date details of location were finalised (Wroughton Airfield, near Swindon) and it was confirmed that Tiff would be driving the car and that they wanted it for a full day's shooting!

We duly arrived at Wroughton at 9.30am and were met by the crew, director and Tiff. We discussed in detail the schedule of the day, strapped Tiff in, the first of the camera's on, and off he went!

The shooting lasted until dusk. Cameras were mounted on the front wing, rear hatch and outboard on a tripod all attached by suckers to the car. The moving shots of the car were done tracking behind another car with the cameraman strapped into the boot! The final shots taken were the talk-to-camera introduction shots and moving shots of the car coming out of the evening sun. We finished at about 4pm and I drove the car home.

The transmission was on 9th December 1999 and the day's shoot resulted in under four minutes in the actual program.

And did Tiff enjoy the day?..... He LOVED it! We couldn't get him out of the car.

The car ran faultlessly all day and is now definitely run in ready for me to use for sprinting in 2000!

If you join theTalbot Sunbeam Owners Club or the Avenger and Sunbeam Owners Club then you will find out when you can see the car in 2000. If you would like to see it in action then watch this website for more info or visit the Curborough sprint circuit website.

(With special thanks to Malcolm Wood for his great assistance in providing the frame captures from the Top Gear program.)

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