Tony Pond and the Ultimate Test Drive | Isle of Man TT Challenge

[@rayanehaddad8406]

The men's a legend, you can't deny it.

[@johnbrereton5229]

Tony Ponds record in this standard Rover 800 vitesse stood for 21years which is a testament to both the Rovers prowess and Tony Ponds amazing driving skills.

[@knobrotknobrot]

Maybe because nobody tried again!!

[@johnbrereton5229]

@@knobrotknobrot Yes they did, but it was 21 years before it was broken.

[@knobrotknobrot]

@@johnbrereton5229 no they didn't.

[@johnbrereton5229]

@@knobrotknobrot It sounds like you not only have a Carrot face but sh*t for brains too ! 👈😂😂🤔😂

[@markmcclennan7407]

@@knobrotknobrot yes they did

[@nitrorory]

Pond was a superb driver. He could adapt to on road or off road equally well. The speed he managed to carry in that wallowy barge was immense

[@stonefly514]

Tony Pond . A real BRITISH LEYLAND and AUSTIN ROVER legend. ...remember the ROVER 200 series racing championship?

[@johng9399]

Scary that the Superbike TT this year was won at an AVERAGE speed only 20 mph less than that Rovers max! Progress!

[@danielmarshall4587]

It's "not as fast as the Subaru" bla bla bla..... THANKFULLY. That Rover was pretty much standard so I believe, I'm old enough to remember those cars. The sight of Mr Pond SPANKING that car through the built up areas and then relying on the "dust-bin-lids-for-breaks" to slow down gives me the heeby jeebies. They say the most dangerous component in any car is the nut holding the wheel, and there's a bloke sat next to him talking about it they're both off their rockers and HARDCORE GEEZAS. Awesome vid thanks for posting.

[@skylined5534]

You are correct! I think the only 'modification' it got were uprated tyres... Other than that it was essentially plucked off the assembly line!

[@metalmicky]

Never late for work……..

[@MrAaronb400]

He was mental in any car he drove. Manx rally rover sd1 was hilarious to watch

[@rickydub6950]

What a drive 👏😎

[@terra2805]

If you've ever driven this shape Rover 800 series you immediately understand just how impressive this is. They were extremely fast in a straight line but weren't the best car for cornering with significant understeer. Tony Pond made it look like a walk in the park. The police used this very model, the fastback Vitesse as a pursuit car through the nineties. It really was an impressive car in its day!!

[@marklongwortrh1379]

It's a shame they didn't film it from a helicopter aswell. Would loved to have seen it from the outside.

[@rogerpritchard]

Well, he did have a good, well designed car to start with! The Rover 800 has proved it's worth effortlessly with this record breaking feat ! Other manufacturers should take note what the rover 800 achieved here! Truly the Rover 800 was one of the best! It deserves full credit I think ☺️😉👍🧐🎩

[@scotty197878]

Yes but a Honda engine don’t forget and very similar to the Honda Legend

[@johnbrereton5229]

@@scotty197878 Yes, but only in the early models, this was soon replaced by Rovers own advanced KV6 designed engine that was both lighter and more powerful than the Honda engine.

[@jwh1776]

@@johnbrereton5229 yet failed to make it to America. Plenty of Acuras still on the road over here.

[@johnbrereton5229]

@@jwh1776 Acura's are still being manufactured in North America, so no wonder they are still on the road there.

[@juliehastie9817]

I grew up with these so good rally driving 😺

[@bumpcage]

I remember this car well. Tony did a lot of testing at Gaydon. Trevor Davis (Animal) did most of the fitting work.

[@maxflight777]

“ The back end hanging truly out “ , what a rubbish commentary , that was a front wheel drive car! Understeer, was the order of the day ! Fond memories of Tony Pond, I was lucky enough to meet him at the Tudor Webasto Manx rally (in the post event IOM ballroom. ) What a truly wonderful man. A legend.

[@nickc4518]

Haha I was just thinking exactly the same! I think he was trying to give that Rover 800 sporting credentials that it didn’t deserve.

[@rickydub6950]

Lift off oversteer maybe 😁

[@Jonathan_Doe_]

You can slide a front wheel drive car round a corner you know…

[@feydespiel.]

Getting that back end to slide out in a fwd car is the only way to get the best out of it...Scandinavian flick...then control the slide on the throttle...understeer just slows you down....did it look like he was fkn slow?...

[@TheLRider]

You passed your test yet 😮

[@garydawes9957]

I think the phrase rhymes with clucking bell.

[@Spartanm333]

Tony Pond is a legend, much respect, tamed the 6R4 which was an unruly beast. In terms of this car, the 800 series, the basic design was in conjunction with Honda, so not a bad start and the 2.7 ltr 6 cylinder engine Honda as well. So far so good. Unfortunately Rover shot themselves in the foot (again) by insisting on putting a turbo-charged version of the K4 engine into the car as the Vitesse Sport. This engine already infamous for warped heads, leaking coolant and inevitable re-builds was utterly unreliable - as an example, two exploded on a Rover VIP day I attended to launch the car... I mean no amount of free strawberries and cream are going to rescue that pitch. The car was doomed as a fast executive express and a pale ghost of the Rover 3500 V8 Vitesse it was supposed to be replacing. Incidentally, when the Chinese bought the Rover plant, stock and tooling out in 2006 following bankruptcy (sans the MGZS / 45 which was part Honda copyright), it took them short time to fix the K-series engine issues, re-releasing it as the N-series in the Roewe cars. So much for British engineering v Chinese... in reality, the Chinese are very good at de-constructing product, improving it and making it cheaper to produce... you could say, it is their speciality. My own take on the K4 debacle is that it was a deliberate corporate decision not to fix the faults... because Rover knew that the majority of customers would take the cars back to a Rover dealer for the specialised parts and repair - thereby creating a steady additional income stream... for years. This might sound crazy today, but back in the day car reliability and reputations were not under the microscope as they are today... no social media for example. And as another example, I bought a 2005 MG ZS180 V6 in 2007 (after the crash for £6,000 - retail 18K) and it had no under seal whatsoever, a boot lining without any clips to hold it in place and a cheap as chips exhaust already blowing . I rectified the issues ( thank you Tony Banks, Leeds) with a full under body and stainless cat-back, later added a cold air feed, carbon box and viper filter to replace the inlet restrictor. Changed the brakes for big disc Mintex, added fully synthetic oil and reset the engine management to run at 192 BHP. With a few other tweaks it remained a decent car for over 15 years. Rare now as any kind of bump and the insurers will write them off.

[@williamwoods8022]

Rubbish! The Rover 800 NEVER had a K-Series engine fitted to it. They had the excellent M and then T-Series that did NOT have head gasket problems. Also not every K-Series engine had head gasket problems - my friend owned a 2001 MG ZS 1.8 from new up until a few years ago that NEVER had any problem with the head gasket and it was also a very reliable car - plenty of other owners commenting online about how their K-Series Rovers have not had any problems with head gaskets etc and their cars have done high mileages as well. Yes there weer problems with many of these engines especially when they were not maintained correctly with lazy people who NEVER checked coolant levels etc. The big problem was MG Rover cheapening these engines like everything else in their cars because they were struggling for money using plastic dowels etc in these engines and cheaper head gaskets etc which yes the Chinese with lots more money solved when they bought the assets and rights to The MG Rover brand and engines etc. Simple problem to sort right these days. Plenty of other manufacturers have head gasket issues with some of their engines including Honda and Toyota etc but you don't hear people going on about them.

[@philtowle4683]

Why has this only got 12 comments? Came here after hubnut's comments.

[@briancatt]

Because its only half a lap, perhaps. No mountain where it matters, Creg-ny-Baa, etc.

[@Graham-rc1cp]

I’ve got this on both VHS and DVD

[@tonytonev7343]

Could you please answer the question... The car in the video is fitted with the stock engine for the 800 Vitesse, correct? I mean, with the engine that is installed in the production 800 Vitesse.

[@dukevideo]

The car in this video was a standard production Rover 827 Vitesse.

[@tonytonev7343]

@@dukevideo It can be seen that it develops over 240, and according to the catalog this car cannot develop more than 215 km/h ...

[@davoXsr900]

​@@tonytonev7343I had the 827 Vitesse and yes it was faster than what the book said, 145mph on the clock then the head gasket blew 🤕.

[@stevedrakes7223]

An incredible driver on tarmac and in the forests. Still have a photo of my late girlfriend talking to him during the Lombard Rally over 40 years ago. Definitely a legend.

[@ianhill20101]

Fairplay the late great was pushing that rover a gooden.

[@feydespiel.]

Truly an amazing driver....but i still wouldn't be a passenger!.....

[@metalmicky]

Didn’t he send to live on the island ?

[@autocar1964]

I still think this is the more impressive run, when compared with Mark Higgins'. Total Legend.

[@flemmingsorensen5470]

WOW !!!

[@nitrorory]

Has anyone got the whole lap ?

[@dukevideo]

www.dukevideo.com/prd3667/TT-Challenge-DVD

[@rovercoupe7104]

Incredible. M.

[@keithhope2598]

Wow. Legend.

[@simonh870]

I had a Rover 827 vitesse, and I would suggest that this car wasn't standard as my one was horrendous to try and drive quickly. Too much body roll, too much understeer and zero steering feel.

[@yolandalindsay8368]

A tRue Talent. PounDinGly Smooth & NeveR Disappointing. 0ne of the UK's Finest & Friendly Racers [past] OR present.