Presenters of well-known car show take tabloid! on a drive around the Yas Marina Circuit
riving around Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit in a supercar is an unforgettable experience, but imagine being chauffeured around the track by drivers from the world’s most popular car show, in two of the fastest supercars in the world.
Well, that’s exactly what tabloid! got to do last week.
The BBC’s Top Gear was filming parts of season 23 on the capital’s Formula 1 track, which will now exclusively broadcast on Starz Play, an on-demand streaming service. One of the hosts, Chris Harris, and the show’s anonymous driver, The Stig, were on location and invited the media to a driving experience.
The invitation-only event was top secret and major security measures were applied; they went so far as to take away our mobile phones.
LIABILITY CLAUSE
After signing what seemed like an endless number of waivers stating that if I was hurt during the experience no one else was liable, I was given my helmet. The first to drive me around the circuit was Harris, who originally gained fame thanks to his YouTube car show.
Super chilled out, dressed in shorts and a Tshirt, Harris was as down to earth as they come. A few minutes in his presence and you realise that this guy is a walking car encyclopedia.
After the short introductions were over, Harris wasted no time in revving the engine of the Mer- Sarvy Geranpayeh on the road.
cedes AMG GTS, getting out of the track’s pit-lane and flying around the corner. All along he was chatting and even looking at me while speaking, which made me very uncomfortable because I would have much preferred him concentrating on the road.
“So have you been in a supercar before?” Harris asked. I decided the safest answer was, “No, I haven’t.”
I figured shorter answers would keep him from looking away from the road.
We then flew at full speed at a straight part of the track but Harris The Stig and Chris Harris.