VIDEO: Drew Barrymore hits the Leno track in the Focus BEV
Drew Barrymore drives the Focus BEV - Click above to watch the video after the break
Jay Leno closed out the first week of his new show with the premier of the Green Car Challenge. The first celebrity to get behind the wheel was the marvelous Drew Barrymore who was on plugging her new movie (which just happens to have been shot here in Ypsilanti last fall). As it turned out, the challenge was not quite what Top Gear fans have come to expect from the celebrity in a reasonably priced car segment. The new Focus BEV looks like it could easily outdo the Chevy Lacetti used on Top Gear, but the track looks really lame. It's basically just a 40,000 square foot parking lot with the edges of the track painted on the pavement so that running off has no consequence unless you hit the outer wall.
Drivers get two laps with Al Gore and Ed Begley popping out into the track on the second go around. Drivers have to avoid the obstacles or they get a penalty. Unlike on TG where the stars tend to dress a bit more casually when they race, Drew was dressed in more typical Hollywood style. Fortunately the single-speed electric Focus doesn't need any shifting so the high heels didn't seem to hinder Barrymore very much. Check out the video after the jump.
[Source: Jay Leno Show]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rtshinn 1:07PM (9/20/2009)
She's cute as a button.
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Chris M 5:04PM (9/20/2009)
She was sweet, very nice, and a good driver, too. Granted, she probably wouldn't win an Indy 500 race, but she drove well, didn't hit any obstacles, and wasn't distracted by the Streamers or the Pingpong ball cannon.
The car performed well, too.
Joe 1:54PM (9/20/2009)
This was such a let down. Could have been so much better.
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Tohe 2:24PM (9/20/2009)
Yeah it was pretty bad. A more race focused track with good action shoots and good narration would have made all the difference in the world. I won't blame Ford if they decide to pull out of the Leno Green Car Challenge. What a joke.
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Bill 3:16PM (9/20/2009)
I'm pretty sure an electric golf cart could've set the same time on that joke of a track. An electric go-cart (like those raced at a similarly-sized indoor track near me) probably would've blown it away.
That is not going to sell any electric cars. People are going to think they built the tiny track just for the electric car so it wouldn't look slow.
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Epyx 3:27PM (9/20/2009)
This is a marketing stunt and nothing more. Jay is probably as disapointed as anyone. I bet he wanted real cars racing a real track but NBC said no unless it is greened up. I am sure Ford is all over the green wash marketing as well.
This is a clear example of why Top Gear is only viable on a netowork like the BBC, not supporting ad revenue. NBC is using the whole segment to wash the netowrk in GE Ecomgination, green goodness. Ford is on board for the same reason.
The whole thing is sort of a joke as a track race but a very good publicity/marketing stunt.
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Dan Frederiksen 6:14PM (9/21/2009)
that's not the case. Jay is so big now that he decides what happens. I have little doubt that electric cars was Jay's idea. but they could use Tesla's instead
Nozferat 4:23PM (9/20/2009)
Is it any wonder why people don't take alternative energy vehicles seriously?
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Lad 6:46PM (9/20/2009)
Had they used the Top Gear model for this segment of the show, they would have people waiting for the Friday night show. The difference is like comparing a major golf tournament to miniature golf. Setting the Ford up for a race track was a waste of funding, a golf cart would do the job.
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Wave54 6:42PM (9/22/2009)
I agree totally -- that track made me think of a miniature golf course. All that's missing is the spinning windmill. A major disappointment compared to Top Gear that actually challenges each driver at the upper limit of that very pedestrian Chevy Lacetti.
jpm 8:25PM (9/20/2009)
She did good. Pretty cheesy show concept though. Although cool to see an EV on a (mainstream?) show.
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hircus 11:00PM (9/20/2009)
Such a let-down from Jay Leno. He is such a car enthusiast there are rumors that he'd be hosting the American edition of Top Gear, but what's this scalectric track? When I heard about the "parking lot" description I thought of the Vegas 1982 F1 race, but I could not imagine it'd be *this* bad!
Shame, Leno, shame. On a proper track, you could even demonstrate this Focus BEV against a normal Focus and show off the extra traction. But this? The car did not even accelerate beyond, what, 30 mph?
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Nick From Montreal 7:14AM (9/21/2009)
Relax guys. The Leno production team build the track in the back of their studio. They didn't want to go in the middle of nowhere and work from trailers like the Top Gear team does.
Plus, most of the US public doesn't watch Top Gear on a regular basis, so for them it's all new and there's no let down.
Hopefully, rating permitting, they'll move that segment to a real race track facility around L.A.
We need as many EVs on prime time TV as possible so the general public knows that they are *fun*, fast, capable and soon to be available.
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scooby074 7:30AM (9/21/2009)
I had such high hopes, yet they turned it into a cartoon-ish farce.. I mean streamers and cardboard cutouts? Parking lot for a "track"? And Leno's supposed to be a TG fan, hardly, it seems.
I do like the green electric idea, an interesting take and could prove that electric is ready for prime time (literally), but the joke like nature of the course destroys that possibility for me. I wont go out of my way to watch another GGC segment.
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Okki 8:42AM (9/21/2009)
The track is WAYYYYYYyyyyy lame! If they are using what amounts to a go-cart track, maybe Jay should get a Formula Zero go-cart and let them race in that....at least the golf balls and streamers would make half an obstacle in that case.
Very dissapointing. Maybe if they moved the event to an actual race-track....
I like the Euro Focus though... Ford should bring the RS here.
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Chris 9:04AM (9/21/2009)
This was awful. Sooooo boring. Just put them on a real track. The lines the driver can ignore, there are no good straightaways, the turns are well ignored or lack challenge, and the whole pomp-n-circumstance could go away. Really Al Gore and Ed Bagley Jr..??? Jay TRYING to be funny. hahaha. so crazy Jay. Way to ruin what could've been an EV version of the TopGear segment - which you tried so hard to rip off but screwed up during some show "brainstorming" to bring us this lame version. #FAIL
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Snowdog 3:53PM (9/21/2009)
Is this video supposed to play outside USA? I just get spinning circle. I guess I will check Hulu Canada (AKA Bittorrent).
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