Thursday, October 04, 2012

The Story Behind the Top Gear Caravan Airship

In Top Gear (UK - the only real Top Gear) Series 14, Episode 3 James May and Richard Hammond continue their ongoing war against road-clogging caravans by trying a new technology to remove them from the road.  The idea was to make an airship out of a small caravan.  The aviation minded James May would pilot the airship in a race with Richard Hammond driving a special addition Lamborghini Gallardo.  In the episode James May "accidentally" penetrated the controlled airspace of Norwich International Airport while Richard Hammond chases him from below in a one of the few rear wheel drive modern Lamborghini's.  The footage is wonderful, with cuts of the giant red airship billowing in the wind as it drifts above a landing Q400 and is later intercepted by a police helicopter.



In actuality, the scene was well planned along with the construction of the airship.  It was built and piloted by by Lindstrand Balloons and certified by Britain's CAA.  The story behind the science and construction of building the airship compliment the Top Gear episode perfectly.  Check it out.

3 comments:

Airstream Basecamp said...

Hey man, what's going on? I really miss your posts. You're a huge source of inspiration, hope all is well. jon

Airstream Basecamp said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cloudbase said...

Jon, I'm still here man. I have a ton of material to catch up on. I've been finishing my degree so school has been monopolizing my blogging time. I'll have some stuff up soon...