NEW New new new New top gear ON HOLD, RIP?

[hairnet]

ive not watched it live since evans was on it

cannot stand mcguinness

how fkin much for that alfa ffs - lovely but ouch

they missed the 2cv the mach1 the sherpa the tank the mondeo even

 

[HMC]

I should have watched for longer, I grew tired of paddy getting over excited in That Aston and missed the resto mod Alfa as I turned off.

[cort16]

 Even though Alfa holics have being doing it for years I think the mad money the Singer Porsches are making have opened the door to hand crafted cars at crazy pricing. I think a lot of the body is carbon and the suspension bits are made of titanium.

I've enjoyed the series so far. That wall of death they did last series, fuck me you wouldn;t have got me within 100ft of that.

[Bstardchild]

My opinion for the last few years Top Gear has been entertainment first and cars ninety ninth

This season has been very much cars first (with entertainment)

That bloody Alfa - comes very close to a very favorite car of mine

And I really really don't like Fords

[St.Jude]

This is the problem with lockdown, people have more to moan about.

Those chopped Renault 11's are hardly in the realms of car butchery that has happened to the likes of the Morris Marina, Rover SD1, Toyota Hilux. It was a homage to, arguably, one of the most iconic scenes in any film of the làst 100 years.

While the Alfa was pure sex, even at £325k, can we talk about that absolutely ridiculous Aston Martin? For £3,000,000 you can own an Aston Martin that can't be driven on the roads, that comes complete with toy guns you'd find in Poundland? That, for me, was the most offensive thing about last night's Top Gear.

[cort16]

27 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

This is the problem with lockdown, people have more to moan about.

Those chopped Renault 11's are hardly in the realms of car butchery that has happened to the likes of the Morris Marina, Rover SD1, Toyota Hilux. It was a homage to, arguably, one of the most iconic scenes in any film of the làst 100 years.

While the Alfa was pure sex, even at £325k, can we talk about that absolutely ridiculous Aston Martin? For £3,000,000 you can own an Aston Martin that can't be driven on the roads, that comes complete with toy guns you'd find in Poundland? That, for me, was the most offensive thing about last night's Top Gear.

That does a seem a lot. I think you can buy a a restored and upgraded DB5 for a million quid. Does it really cost an extra 2 million to fit a rotating number plate?

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I’m pretty sure most of those DB5s will be road registered , somewhere.  I was talking to somebody at AM Works when they were building the last ‘Cynical  exploitation of Billionaires’  project, the DB4GT. He said they fully expect them to have “ some pretty obscure and exotic” number plates on them when they come back in for a service.

[St.Jude]

I find the way Aston Martin operate fairly embarrassing, well up until Stroll bought them. Every high value manufacturer sells a car based on a heritage.

Ferrari go "we've been building race cars for years and we are very good at it".

Lamborghini go "we build outrageous hypercars because we are too good for Ferrari".

Aston Martin go "a fictional character drives our cars, mostly, if you ignore Pierce Brosnan. Here's a DB5 with toy guns on it for £3 million".

I mean come on, they're better than that.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 hours ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

I’m pretty sure most of those DB5s will be road registered , somewhere.  I was talking to somebody at AM Works when they were building the last ‘Cynical  exploitation of Billionaires’  project, the DB4GT. He said they fully expect them to have “ some pretty obscure and exotic” number plates on them when they come back in for a service.

Possibly Gulf State / Saudi plates, or Russian ones?

[BorniteIdentity]

14 hours ago, MiniMort said:

Noticed quite a lot of people complaining about the production team chopping up R11s for a bit of a laugh. I think it is a bit of a shame because they looked like pretty solid, usable classics but at least they were French imports rather than much more valuable RHD ones

Yeah, I STILL can't get annoyed by it.  At all.  Heaven KNOWS I've tried, but I just can't.

They were all cars available on the open market.  Buyer and seller agreed a price, the transaction was complete.  Anyone who wants to protect the entire species of Renault 11s or anything else must cough up the money and buy them all, or not.  That is the absolute simplicity of it.

Again, I've focussed some time and energy trying to get worked up about pianos falling on Morris Marinas.  Nothing.  I can't.  If you buy them instead of someone else, the Pianos can not fall on them.

I didn't watch last night's episode but I did watch DAD cars and thought it was a lovely, tender, moving piece of televisual entertainment.  The BMW was bought from a guy who I seem to remember meeting years ago at a car thing in the East of England.  They'd been looking for one for A YEAR and bought the best they could for £many.  Everyone's a winner in situations like that.  Seller and buyer and viewer.

[Timewaster]

I'm sure somewhere there is a forum of piano enthusiasts wringing their hands about Top Gear landing their precious pianos on some rotten old car. 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

6 minutes ago, Timewaster said:

I'm sure somewhere there is a forum of piano enthusiasts wringing their hands about Top Gear landing their precious pianos on some rotten old car. 

It would have been sacrilege if it had been a Steinway. Any other make, meh.

[BorniteIdentity]

33 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

It would have been sacrilege if it had been a Steinway. Any other make, meh.

A Yamaha grand piano is a fine thing.  Lovely bright sound - nice and sugary.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

48 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

A Yamaha grand piano is a fine thing.  Lovely bright sound - nice and sugary.

Common, though. A grand for the masses, if you like.

Doesn't quite have the grandeur and history of a Steinway.

[motorpunk]

16 hours ago, face said:

That resto-mod Alfa was fucking tremendous. I think it is my fantasy car now. I could have watched Harris drive that for hours.

Missed the show, but that car is my idea of heaven. Lotto win stuff. 

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I've focussed some time and energy trying to get worked up about pianos falling on Morris Marinas.  Nothing.  I can't

I can. The Renaults were at least used for something, as were the Panda and MGF made into limos. Destruction for cheap laffs is bollocks, especially as the joke was decades out of date. See also Hammond smashing up the Allegro estate on GT. I'm glad TG have moved away from that and back to enjoying cars for what they are, be it a Cortina or a Ferarri

[Dick Cheeseburger]

1 minute ago, bunglebus said:

I can. The Renaults were at least used for something, as were the Panda and MGF made into limos. Destruction for cheap laffs is bollocks, especially as the joke was decades out of date. See also Hammond smashing up the Allegro estate on GT. I'm glad TG have moved away from that and back to enjoying cars for what they are, be it a Cortina or a Ferarri

The YT lass with the white BOP Marina continues to receive the occasional joke* on twitter about how her car should have had a piano dropped onto it. Herpes would be more amusing. 

[BorniteIdentity]

1 minute ago, bunglebus said:

Destruction for cheap laffs is bollocks, 

It's not a cheap laugh though is it?  They spent hundreds of pounds on the car - and the show made the BBC Fifty Million Pounds a YEAR.

And why was the joke decades old?  Again, I've never really understood people getting overly protective of cars they didn't design, didn't build, and didn't participate in at all?  It's strangely tribal!  I think the design of this monitor that I'm looking at is quite nice, and minimalist.  But if someone was to say "It's shit, it looks dated and there are better available" I'd not become so angry that I should foam at the mouth.

I just find it quite odd.

[bunglebus]

1 minute ago, BorniteIdentity said:

why was the joke decades old? 

Because they had a long running "BL cars are shit" thing going on. Probably funny in the 80s.

The other reason it annoys me is that if a car has survived 30-40 years, why destroy it? Doesn't matter if it's shit, someone would have appreciated it. Squash a Juke or a something instead

[BorniteIdentity]

Just now, bunglebus said:

Because they had a long running "BL cars are shit" thing going on. Probably funny in the 80s

They were.  They are.  

There are VANISHINGLY small examples of when BMH, BLMC, British Leyland, Leyland Cars, Austin Rover Group, MG Rover or anyone other name that I've forgotten had a genuinely brilliant car on their hands.  When they did they often launched with huge flaws and/or didn't turn a profit.

I own one.  But I don't deny they are shit.  I just get hugely frustrated by the "OH WELL WE MUST ADOPT THE OPPOSITE STANCE TO CLARKSON LOL".  You can still be a fan of shit old cars AND acknowledge them as such.

 

[garbaldy]

1 hour ago, BorniteIdentity said:

You can still be a fan of shit old cars AND acknowledge them as such.

 

Which is exactly what i always thought this forum was about.

[St.Jude]

3 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Again, I've focussed some time and energy trying to get worked up about pianos falling on Morris Marinas. 

My friend saved the last one Clarkson dropped a piano on, the black one that they used for The Grand Tour.

So they don't all die. 

[R1152]

5 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Common, though. A grand for the masses, if you like.

Doesn't quite have the grandeur and history of a Steinway.

Bechstein?

[face]

7 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Steinway

 

[MiniMort]

7 hours ago, Timewaster said:

I'm sure somewhere there is a forum of piano enthusiasts winging their hands about Top Gear landing their precious pianos on some rotten old car. 

I like to think in a parallel universe there's a How Many Left for remaining pianos in Britain. Don't ask how you'd figure that one out though... 

[Cheezey]

On 3/21/2021 at 10:05 PM, face said:

Im sure I’m wrong, but I also don’t fully believe those two are actually at the wheel at certain points of some of the sketches. Perhaps I’m just too sceptical.

There were some clever cuts of Paddy in the car starting to apply a tiny bit of opposite lock then cutting to an external shot of a full on power slide. 
It was the same with the old presenters and can still spot it on the Grand Tour. Low angles so you can’t see the driver. There was an old Top Gear test with a grey M3. There was a great power slide shot but the windows had obviously been tinted in post production editing to hide that it wasn’t Clarkson. 
Shows how cinematic they want it, getting stunt drivers in to make the star look good. 

[Alusilber]

Bit disappointed there wasn't more of a tribute to the late Sabine than one still at the end.

[666jjp]

5 hours ago, Alusilber said:

Bit disappointed there wasn't more of a tribute to the late Sabine than one still at the end.

surely they could have spared two minutes

[Noel Tidybeard]

but Sabine was still alive when the show was recorded

[captain_70s]

On 3/22/2021 at 2:22 PM, BorniteIdentity said:

It's strangely tribal!  I think the design of this monitor that I'm looking at is quite nice, and minimalist.  But if someone was to say "It's shit, it looks dated and there are better available" I'd not become so angry that I should foam at the mouth.

 

On 3/22/2021 at 2:20 PM, Dick Longbridge said:

The YT lass with the white BOP Marina continues to receive the occasional joke* on twitter about how her car should have had a piano dropped onto it. Herpes would be more amusing. 

This is the difference, and the use of the term "tribal" is apt. TG has/had a massive audience and people take what they say as a gospel, it introduced a whole new generation to the concept the BL cars are shit and that the people who bother preserving them are stupid. Plenty of those folk are happy to tell you online or in person and it get's fairly tiring and TG played a considerable part in it. If you want examples of tribalism try saying BL cars aren't actually as bad as being forced to drink sulphuric acid.

Much like the recent "Dad cars" bit. It only happened because the cars in question are currently fashionable to own, it's nostalgia that's allowed to happen and be celebrated.  Much like the Grand Tour bit where May and Clarkson gush about their Dad's Cortinas and then Hammond beats up an Allegro with a baseball bat. 

A car enthusiast's car is an extension of themselves to a certain extent, and when the most popular motoring show in the world turns around and says "people who like X car are tasteless, stupid cretins and to that end we're going to go out of our way to antagonise them because it's funny and really if they don't like it they should be less shit" it has a profoundly negative effect. I'm lucky, I own a BL car that was largely inoffensive/unknown, so I usually only get grief from the few who actually know what it is rather than the thousands of general public who seem to think Morris Marina ownership places the owner somewhere between tax evasion and collecting child porn on the morality scale.