MIAMIRAPTA
Full Access Member
So a few months ago a buddy called me up and asked if I’d be interested in riding with him out to a local Miami drag-strip to be part of a Top Gear USA segment.. Apparently his mechanic had recommended his car (an E39 M5 with some modifications) to a casting agent who was looking for customer's car's from local tuning shops.. of course, he didn't have to ask me twice.
The day before, we detailed and packed up some tools into his car. But at the last minute, I decided screw it, I'd follow him out there with the raptor and see what happened. If worse came to worse I'd leave it sitting in the parking lot.
Got to the site early and there was ZERO security, so I parked right next to the few cars who were already there.. Eventually, cars started piling in and we probably had about 50 lining the drag-way. The production team then arrived and started walking vehicle to vehicle, checking off the list of registered drivers. They arrived at the truck and were hesitant to let me stay at first, but after some persuasion and reminding them that Tanner had one of his own I was able to be added to the list.
We got to meet with the cast of the show for a bit and I gotta say I like them a lot more in person. I've watched the UK version borderline religiously for something like 7 years now but never really got into the US show when it came out. Always felt like they came off as a little awkward and forced. But in person, when theyre not trying to project themselves, theyre actually pretty funny and cool. Rutledge's character always kind of annoyed me but he was genuinely interested in being there and meeting everyone.
Anyways, they shot a couple scenes with us in the back ground, then had us choose another car based on what we thought would be a good race. I had already made friends with a guy with a slightly modded 2013 grand Cherokee SRT8, so naturally, I called him out. Even though the outcome was obvious, we still figured it’d be fun. We ended up being one of the last races of the day and went from a 40mph rolling start. The SRT8 pulled as I expected, but only had about a car length on me by the end of the ¼ mile. I’ve never had the truck on a drag strip and was pretty surprised by how much fun I had. When we got back to the pits everyone said it was one of the more entertaining races of the day. Sadly though, after watching the episode, I realized our run hadn’t made the cut.
However, I did make it into some background shots! #Famous lol
All in all, it was a ton of fun… And the $140 paycheck everyone got was pretty cool too, even though it only really covered my gas for the day haha.
Top Gear America - [04x10] - 2013.11.26 by husyk - Car Videos on StreetFire
The segment shows up at around the 5 minute mark of the 4th section.
The day before, we detailed and packed up some tools into his car. But at the last minute, I decided screw it, I'd follow him out there with the raptor and see what happened. If worse came to worse I'd leave it sitting in the parking lot.
Got to the site early and there was ZERO security, so I parked right next to the few cars who were already there.. Eventually, cars started piling in and we probably had about 50 lining the drag-way. The production team then arrived and started walking vehicle to vehicle, checking off the list of registered drivers. They arrived at the truck and were hesitant to let me stay at first, but after some persuasion and reminding them that Tanner had one of his own I was able to be added to the list.
We got to meet with the cast of the show for a bit and I gotta say I like them a lot more in person. I've watched the UK version borderline religiously for something like 7 years now but never really got into the US show when it came out. Always felt like they came off as a little awkward and forced. But in person, when theyre not trying to project themselves, theyre actually pretty funny and cool. Rutledge's character always kind of annoyed me but he was genuinely interested in being there and meeting everyone.
Anyways, they shot a couple scenes with us in the back ground, then had us choose another car based on what we thought would be a good race. I had already made friends with a guy with a slightly modded 2013 grand Cherokee SRT8, so naturally, I called him out. Even though the outcome was obvious, we still figured it’d be fun. We ended up being one of the last races of the day and went from a 40mph rolling start. The SRT8 pulled as I expected, but only had about a car length on me by the end of the ¼ mile. I’ve never had the truck on a drag strip and was pretty surprised by how much fun I had. When we got back to the pits everyone said it was one of the more entertaining races of the day. Sadly though, after watching the episode, I realized our run hadn’t made the cut.
However, I did make it into some background shots! #Famous lolAll in all, it was a ton of fun… And the $140 paycheck everyone got was pretty cool too, even though it only really covered my gas for the day haha.
Top Gear America - [04x10] - 2013.11.26 by husyk - Car Videos on StreetFire
The segment shows up at around the 5 minute mark of the 4th section.
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