Fastest Top Gear guest driver

Did you know that Rowan Atkinson, a.k.a. Mr. Bean, the childish and selfish buffoon who can be seen on TV wearing his trademark tweed jacket and skinny red tie, like us, is a motorsports enthusiast. A petrol-head? Really!  When in character he drives a yellow British Leyland Mini 100 that features many innovative security measures, such as him using a bolt-latch

Rowan at Goodwood in 2009.

and padlock to lock the car or removing he steering wheel instead of the key. Do you remember the scene where Mr. Bean drives his mini while sitting in an armchair strapped to the roof, or the one where he is getting dressed in it.
Oh well, I for one, had many laughs watching his show.
So you can imagine my surprise when I first opened a copy of the Octane Magazine and found out that Rowan Atkinson is a frequent contributor. Same happened yesterday when I stumbled upon a video clip of the famed program Top Gear, in which he got into a Kia (what is the world coming to?) to do a lap on their circuit at Dunsfold Aerodrome, Surrey, UK.

So without further ado, here is the Top Gear video clip

This is the map of the Top Gear track, 1.75 miles long. Track record: the Stig, Ariel Atom V8



For completeness sake, in Octane's 100th edition there is a story about Rowan crashing his McLaren F1 last month on a very wet road in Cambridgeshire, UK. He was relatively unhurt, escaping with a minor shoulder injury, but the car will certainly need repairs to the carbonfiber tub. I guess that what he said in the beginning of the interview is true after all.