Who watches the show 'Top Gear'

[TellurideFJR]

I stumbled onto this show while flipping the channels a few months back and now have it on my record list for Tivo. If you have seen it you know what I am talking about... its hilarious! If you have not seen it you can find it on BBC america but I strongly recommend setting your DVR to record all showings.

Recently they had Lewis Hamilton on the show driving their euro econobox on their test track and he smoked all others (all guests take the same car to the same track and record hot laps). Each show features some reviews of mostly supercars like the Ascari A10 that was on the last show I saw.

They also take more ordinary vehicles and beat the crap out of them in a very comical way. I especially liked the recent episode where they took a BMW diesel and raced in a 24 hour endurance race. Check the sponsor names on the sides Larsen biscuits was on one side and when the door was opened it would spell arse biscuits. The other side was labeled Peniston oils and you can guess what it said with the door opened.

Dont miss another episode, search for it NOW!

 

[wfooshee]

I've actually been able to see EVERY episode since the current hosts started running the show. Well, actually, two are missing from season 3 on a certain nameless server that references torrent files.

It's hilarious, it's irreverent, and it's just gobs of fun. Jumping a car off a ski jump. Playing soccer with 5 cars on a side. Clarkson racing the other two to Norway, he in an SLR, them taking the commercial boats, including a fast hydrofoil.

There's no confusion about where these guys stand in their test results, either.

The Americanized show is cut up pretty severely. They have a news segment our version doesn't get much of, and the interviews with the celebrity in a reasonably priced car segments are chopped pretty badly, too, on the premise that we don't know anything about British culture or current events, and the fact that the American airtime needs more commercials.

 

[RsvlFeej]

Love it when I can sit long enough to watch, but t.v. is mainly background noise at the moment. Have two carpet monkeys for entertainment/distraction.

 

[Crash Cash]

The Americanized show is cut up pretty severely.

Yes, dammit. I've gotten addicted to it since I heard about "the crash that shall not be named" and investigated. Now my cable company has "TV on demand" where you can watch the last half dozen episodes of non-broadcast channels with just one commercial at the start. The episode where Richard "drives" an F1 car for a couple laps? There's a chunk chopped right out of the normal episode where they play "God save the Queen" by revving the F1 car using a laptop. God damn, but an F1 engine can REV! Hell, it's just like MotoGP here, where it's chopped to **** for commercials too.

Clarkson might come across as an opinionated *** (because, well, he is!) but he usually does back up his opinion, and one of the great parts of the show is that whenever one of the guys is full of sh*t, the other two deflate him. They have actual personalities and interactions, and it's not scripted talking heads like U.S. TV. The Stig is pretty good to watch too. Whoever he is, he's got talent.

Plus... dear sweet mother of God, the cars! I'm not a car guy at all but I'd like a spin in some of that stuff, except I'd end up in a tire barrier in pretty short order.

By the way, there's topgear.com, and it's pretty good for wasting a couple of hours on the net. There's also a Top Gear magazine which I found this weekend by accident at a local bookstore, but at $10 an issue it's not worth it, and there's nothing in it that's not on the website.

 

[eg23232]

Top Gear is one of the reasons I love BBC!

Jeremy always has these great quotes. My favorite is when they made their own covertible minivans ("people carriers"). INtroducing his entry he says, "This is the Renault Espace, the best of the people carriers. Which is like saying congratulations you've got syphillis, the best of the sexually transmitted diseases."

Love it.

 

[caryt]

Been watching it for years..on my Star choice receiver..Canadian TV!! When I die I want to come back as one of those guys, best job in the world!

Cary

 

[Bounce]

I have all 10 seasons in AVI format. Sadly, the BBCA version is heavily edited compared to the originals. They have to cut out content to make room for more commercials.

Hamster's wreck in the dragster was scary stuff. In recent interviews he says he thinks he may have come back to the show too quickly afterwards.

 

[jcyuhn]

Anyone see the episode where they were racing RVs on a track? The premise was to cut down on expense and complexity of towing the race car to the track for a weekend of racing. Just drive the RV there, sleep in it, race it, drive it home. I was laughing so hard I actually fell out of my chair. Seriously.

- JimY

 

[Crash Cash]

Hamster's wreck in the dragster was scary stuff. In recent interviews he says he thinks he may have come back to the show too quickly afterwards.

Yeah, wasn't he saying somewhere that he didn't remember filming the entire previous season?

FYI, I also discovered there's yet another TG site at https://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/ I'm trying to find where to buy DVDs and help support the show, but I had to finally break down and ask "how do you do that?" through the "contact us" page. If they tell me "sod off, ya silly american" I guess I'll have to figure out how to install and use a torrent client.

 

[Bounce]

Make sure you get the right DVD for our display format. They use PAL and we use NTSC.

 

[rushes]

There's a chunk chopped right out of the normal episode where they play "God save the Queen" by revving the F1 car using a laptop. God damn, but an F1 engine can REV!

Is this it?

Pretty cool.

 

[LAroo]

Great show which has been on the BBC for as long as I can remember. Richard Hammond, one of the 3 presenters, nearly killed himself a couple of years ago when he crashed a jet-powered off a runway near York at 280mph.

It is one of the best comedies on TV!!

 

[RICLET]

Found it this year,never miss an episode

 

[Tenchi]

I have all 10 seasons in AVI format. Sadly, the BBCA version is heavily edited compared to the originals. They have to cut out content to make room for more commercials.
Hamster's wreck in the dragster was scary stuff. In recent interviews he says he thinks he may have come back to the show too quickly afterwards.

I think we have the same copy. It took me a long, long time to go through that. I still love that in Season 1, Episode 1, the very first segment by Hammond was to test a red light camera. They did, but it took an airstrip and a TVR to beat it at some insane speed. The next best one is the car that's very popular over here, the 5.7L v8 Holden HSV, against the 2.something L Ford Capri... and the Capri kicks it's butt. By a lot.

 

[Bounce]

I have all 10 seasons in AVI format. Sadly, the BBCA version is heavily edited compared to the originals. They have to cut out content to make room for more commercials.
Hamster's wreck in the dragster was scary stuff. In recent interviews he says he thinks he may have come back to the show too quickly afterwards.

I think we have the same copy. It took me a long, long time to go through that. I still love that in Season 1, Episode 1, the very first segment by Hammond was to test a red light camera. They did, but it took an airstrip and a TVR to beat it at some insane speed. The next best one is the car that's very popular over here, the 5.7L v8 Holden HSV, against the 2.something L Ford Capri... and the Capri kicks it's butt. By a lot.

some of their methodology is quesitonable. i can't remember the details exactly but with that one, i remember thinking that they were too narrowly focused on one way to jack the camera and some other ways might be more effective.

but it makes for some of the best tee vee around for a long, long time.

my AVIs work out to 1 DVD per season.

 

[Kaelaria]

The American airing version isn't worth watching once you see the real show.

www.finalgear.com also tracks the other almost as great show, 5th gear.

 

[Tenchi]

some of their methodology is quesitonable. i can't remember the details exactly but with that one, i remember thinking that they were too narrowly focused on one way to jack the camera and some other ways might be more effective.
but it makes for some of the best tee vee around for a long, long time.

my AVIs work out to 1 DVD per season.

Oh I would definitely be agianst using it as factual material, their testing was largely for humerous purposes. But still, I loved watching it and whether it's true or not the idea entertains me greatly .

I'd buy the series. It'd sit right next to my (yet to be acquired) James Bond collection .