- "That is the worst looking car in the whole world. I'd rather look at one of your dingleberries."
- ―Richard Hammond
Geoff was an electric car made by the Top Gear Team, and the precursor to the Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust. It was powered by an electric engine and two batteries scavenged from a milk float.
Body design resembles to the Jeep but much boxy shape with the lacks of fitting the right gap in headlamp, wheel arch, doors, and windscreen including interior due to taking themselves to build in a short time, by the use of basic tools and lack of air ventilation. Because of the use of aluminum sheet as body exterior it causes for them to directly shines by reflecting sunlight.
Chassis is taken from the TVR Chimera with some components from Land Rover, seating arrangement is similar to McLaren F1 albeit the steering wheel in RHD, a plastic lawn chair instead of car seats, etc. Prior to test, once Richard hopped-in it has an insufficient room between roof and centre passenger seat that can break between his spine and the car's roof, so it went back to garage to compensate for Richard simply by adding a roof box.
The design has a little effect of the downforce without an air duct like any other modern electric cars.
The Eagle i-Thrust features in Series 14, Episode 2 in the main challenge. May did not like how electric cars have "pious names like the Intelligencia". He and Hammond compared it to the Ford Mustang, and Dodge Viper, and ultimately decided on Vixen, but Clarkson christened it as "Geoff".
Adventures[]
On it's shakedown test to the Oxford, their electric car has rather slow acceleration at first they'd cause traffic jams and no little embarrasment to the hosts. In that at one point it was overtaken by running children. It also drove along the A34 – a major road with a speed limit of 70 mph – at its maximum speed of 10 mph with a long line of car behind it. Later, after running out of batteries in the countryside and managing to hold up people even there, the trio pushed the car into a field, where it rolled down a hill and crashed into a tree. After being pronounced dead, Geoff was taken back to the Technology Centre and revamped into the Eagle i-Thrust.
Trivia[]
- The 'roof box' (for Richard), caused for him to shine from sunlight nearly all direction because of it's aluminum sheet exterior.
- It might been resembled that typically found in military tank as turret.
- Every negotiating turn, Richard would swung his body either left or right as the effect of lateral g's, however, their seats has a lack of head support.
- If more power applied once in full accelerate it will swing violently until the seats will promptly to eject and will thrown off if sitted with the defying gravity caused by inertia.
- Geoff has a lower ground clearance as seen in clip makes suitable only in pavement road. Bumps and kerbs will damage the exterior. In front-end still has jigged edges.
- Licence plate is from the taken from TVR Chimera.
- During roadtest it produced noise from electric motor, as they went to Oxford where expected issue has occur.