Google has Street Viewed the Top Gear test track

Track can now be viewed like any road

Christopher Hooton
Thursday 23 January 2014 13:35 GMT
Comments
Top Gear track gets the Street View treatment
Top Gear track gets the Street View treatment (BBC)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Type 'Top Gear test track' into Google Maps, hover the little orange man over the circuit and you can Street View it like you would any road, with The Stig making a cameo on the back straight.

Google visited the figure-of-eight track at Dunsfold Aerodrome, Surrey, which has long been the site of choice for the motoring show's car tests, with one of its Street View cars in order to capture it as The Stig sped round in a Mercedes.

"From anywhere on the planet, Top Gear’s millions of followers can now explore the official track from the show with some spectacular shots, thanks to Google Street View technology," Duncan Gray, Top Gear’s Commercial Director, BBC Worldwide said. "We did have to tell The Stig to slow down a couple of times though.”

A special camera is used to capture environments for Google Street View (Picture: BBC)
A special camera is used to capture environments for Google Street View (Picture: BBC)

This is not the first time Google has taken Street View off-road in its relentless bid to photograph absolutely everything, previously fitting a camera to its operations manager's back and sending him out to capture the Grand Canyon and using a boat to snap the Thames.

"At Google, we’re used to life in the fast lane, so we were thrilled to ride alongside the infamous Stig and capture imagery of what has become a British — and indeed global — institution for automobile fans," Ulf Spitzer, Street View Program Manager, Google commented.

Top Gear is back for for a new series on Sunday 2nd February, with Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond all set to return.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in