Things could get messy over on the set of the BBC’s hit television show Top Gear. As everything sits at the moment, the newly nationalized Royal Bank of Scotland is backing a bid to develop the land where the television show’s test track is located. Due to the fact that the English government is fiscally involved with both ventures, it will be interesting to see how they handle things. It is sad to say that soon, there could be no more stars in reasonably priced cars flying through Hammerhead or ridiculously priced machines at speed, hopefully the producers will figure out a way to resolve this.

We here at Top Speed know what it is like to have the fate of your test track in jeopardy. We too have a controlled facility for conducting vehicle evaluations; and although the Top Gear test track was built by Lotus engineers, ours was built by old fashioned construction workers from the era of Miami Vice. This track used to have Porsche 962s and Nissan GTP race cars climbing its painted curbs.

We are talking about back when races were held on city streets and spectators could enjoy the screams of turbocharged engines bouncing off the concrete canyon walls. Racers like Derek Bell, Geoff Brabham, Brian Redman and Miami native Raul Boesel all won at this track for almost a decade starting in the early 1980s. Today, the city is planning a beautification project that will take away our beloved test track, it is only a matter of time before we have to say goodbye, but after all it will be a government project, so at least we won't have to worry about it happening anytime soon.

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