Nils Luehrmann
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2001
- Messages
- 3,513
I was watching the latest episode (#11) of Dream Car Garage on the Speed Channel and had to hit rewind on the DVR a few times as I simply couldn't believe what I was seeing.
In one of the segments one of the hosts, Tom Hnatiw, went for a 'test drive' in Bentley's new Flying Spur luxury sedan, but instead of driving the car as in past shows, he has a chauffer. He makes no mention of who the chauffer is, but when the camera pans over to show a distant profile of him you can clearly see he is not wearing a typical chauffer uniform, but instead is wearing what appears to be a shirt and cap covered with racing logos. Upon closer inspection, and for fellow racing fans, it is clear the logos are for the Ferrari F1 team, and the driver is none other than Michael Schumacher himself!
This also explains why Tom said "Driver, schnell!", as it was obviously a hint that the driver is German, but up until then and well beyond there is no mention of who the driver is or why on earth arguably the greatest race car driver in the history of the sport is behind the wheel of a Bentley sedan on a small little Canadian show.
I kept waiting for them to "spring the surprise", and for the camera to go back onto Schumacher where he would say something and explain why he was there in the first place, but only until the very end of the segment does the host barley mention who the driver is when he says "from Schumpy's seat...", and then the camera finally shoes Schumacker driving, but amazingly says nothing. The segment ends, and not once did Schumacker say anything (and yes, he speaks excellent English), nor did Tom ever mention directly that it was Michael Schumacker, leaving only fans familiar with him to realize exactly who he was.
Truly bizarre!
For non Formula One racing fans (and in the USA that means a lot of people), I would compare this appearance to that of Tiger Woods caddying for some non-pro on a miniature golf course and no one ever mentioning who he was, nor having him speak at all, and show him on camera with only small glimpses on rare occasions.
BTW: If you catch the whole show, be sure to not miss the last segment. It features the other host, Peter Klutt, driving Ron Hadfield's amazing 1955 Chevy Custom Hotrod fitted with a 3,000 hp, 27 liter supercharged Merlin Rolls Royce engine from a WWII P-51. It took several years to finish, and is estimated to have cost more than a million dollars to make. The thing is a monster!
In one of the segments one of the hosts, Tom Hnatiw, went for a 'test drive' in Bentley's new Flying Spur luxury sedan, but instead of driving the car as in past shows, he has a chauffer. He makes no mention of who the chauffer is, but when the camera pans over to show a distant profile of him you can clearly see he is not wearing a typical chauffer uniform, but instead is wearing what appears to be a shirt and cap covered with racing logos. Upon closer inspection, and for fellow racing fans, it is clear the logos are for the Ferrari F1 team, and the driver is none other than Michael Schumacher himself!
This also explains why Tom said "Driver, schnell!", as it was obviously a hint that the driver is German, but up until then and well beyond there is no mention of who the driver is or why on earth arguably the greatest race car driver in the history of the sport is behind the wheel of a Bentley sedan on a small little Canadian show.
I kept waiting for them to "spring the surprise", and for the camera to go back onto Schumacher where he would say something and explain why he was there in the first place, but only until the very end of the segment does the host barley mention who the driver is when he says "from Schumpy's seat...", and then the camera finally shoes Schumacker driving, but amazingly says nothing. The segment ends, and not once did Schumacker say anything (and yes, he speaks excellent English), nor did Tom ever mention directly that it was Michael Schumacker, leaving only fans familiar with him to realize exactly who he was.
Truly bizarre!
For non Formula One racing fans (and in the USA that means a lot of people), I would compare this appearance to that of Tiger Woods caddying for some non-pro on a miniature golf course and no one ever mentioning who he was, nor having him speak at all, and show him on camera with only small glimpses on rare occasions.
BTW: If you catch the whole show, be sure to not miss the last segment. It features the other host, Peter Klutt, driving Ron Hadfield's amazing 1955 Chevy Custom Hotrod fitted with a 3,000 hp, 27 liter supercharged Merlin Rolls Royce engine from a WWII P-51. It took several years to finish, and is estimated to have cost more than a million dollars to make. The thing is a monster!