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Top Gear (2002 TV series)

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Top Gear
File:TopGearLogo.jpg
The Top Gear logo
Created byUnknown
StarringJeremy Clarkson
Richard Hammond
James May
The Stig
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of episodesUnknown
Production
Running time60 minutes currently
30 minutes originally
Original release
NetworkBBC
Release1977 –
present
For other uses, see the television series.

Top Gear is a long-running BBC television series about cars and motorsports. The programme completed its seventh series in December 2005 under its current format and is expected to return in Spring 2006. Top Gear is estimated to have over 350 million viewers worldwide, 5 million of which view the programme each week in the UK. [1] There is also Top Gear magazine, a publication produced by the BBC in conjunction with the TV show and sharing some common editors and features between them.

Top Gear is currently hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. The show was relaunched in 2002 with new format, with each programme usually consisting of at least one review of a new car, Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car where a celebrity is interviewed be Clarkson and does a lap around the Top Gear Test Track, the Power Laps segment where the Stig also does a lap around the track with one of the reviewed cars and finally the news, where anything relating to cars is briefly discussed.

History

1977 to 2001

Top Gear started in 1977 and was initially not networked throughout Britain. The show was originally hosted by BBC anchorwoman Angela Rippon. Early presenters also included Noel Edmonds and William Woollard.

Originally, Top Gear was a fairly middle-of-the-road magazine show reviewing new car models and other car-related issues, such as road safety, but saw a massive boost in its audience in the early 1990s when it became a more humorous, controversial, and unashamedly petrolhead-oriented programme, fronted by Jeremy Clarkson. Among Clarkson's contemporary presenters were Quentin Willson, a former used car salesman, Tiff Needell, a racing driver, and Vicki Butler-Henderson, also a racing driver.

Despite enduring criticism that the show was overly macho, encouraged irresponsible driving behaviour, and ignored the environment, under Clarkson's presentation it pulled in huge audiences. It became hugely influential with the motor manufacturers, since a critical word from the Top Gear team could spell disaster in the sales department; this was most memorable in the case of the Ford Ka, whose sales plummeted when Clarkson declared that "it looks like a frog". However, even more critical statements have not affected sales of the Toyota Corolla; and extreme praise did not help the Renault Alpine GTA/A610.

Since the early 1990s, the team has named and shamed the worst (and the best) of the year's new cars in the annual J. D. Power Top 100 survey. This feature is now restricted to the magazine format, and the survey now uses Experian.

After Clarkson left to pursue other aspects of his TV career, the show became more toned down, but still retaining something of its influence. Without Clarkson its audience fell from six million to under three million. Consequently in 2001 the BBC axed the programme. The remaining presenters moved to Five to launch a similar show, Fifth Gear, which continues to this day. After Top Gear's huge success in the mid-1990s, a number of similar programmes were also produced including Channel 4's Driven, ITV's Pulling Power and BBC World India's Wheels.

2002 to today

File:TopGearNews.jpg
James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson during a news segment.

After a period of doing other programmes, Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman pitched a new format for Top Gear to the BBC, who consequently brought it back. The new show was, at one hour long, twice the length of the old Top Gear. Two new presenters were introduced, Richard Hammond and Jason Dawe, before James May replaced Dawe after the first series. The credits also mention the Stig, the show's masked racing driver (whose name derives from Swedish rally legend Stig Blomqvist), although he never speaks a word. From 2002 to 2003, Perry McCarthy was credited with being the Stig, though the presenters themselves have not confirmed this.

The new format show, made at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey, involves a standing studio audience with whom the presenters interact and with whom Clarkson often good-naturedly argues. There is also a "chat show"-type segment where Jeremy talks to a different guest each week and the video of their on-track performance in a Suzuki Liana is viewed (the segment being titled 'Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car'). The show is famed for its outrageous races, for example Clarkson racing the TGV train against Hammond and May from Surrey to Monte Carlo in an Aston Martin DB9, racing a plane from Surrey to Verbier in a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, racing a boat from Heathrow Airport to Oslo in a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. The latest race pitted the 250mph+ Bugatti Veyron against a light aircraft piloted by James May.

A trait exhibited by Top Gear producers is an apparent pathological hatred for caravans. Various stunts have seen caravans destroyed by using them as conkers while suspended from cranes, dropping one onto a Toyota Hi-Lux diesel to prove the truck's indestructibility, and towing one example to the point of aerodynamically-induced structural failure using a powerful Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution saloon in an attempt to set the world record for towing a caravan. Though many of these "tests" are often pointless and silly, they are marvellously entertaining to the audience. Presenter Richard Hammond also uses this treatment of caravans in his show Brainiac: Science Abuse.

Due to the good viewing figures of the new format show, it also seems to have been awarded an increased budget as there are several expensive experiments and trips into Europe and to America.

Theme tune

Top Gear has used the Allman Brothers Band instrumental hit Jessica as its theme tune for many years, so much so that many viewers may be unaware that the track exists as a separate entity from the show.

Initially the show used part of the original recording of the song, although in recent years (and as of the previous series in 2004) it has used a different recording which has different instruments and is not performed by the original artists. On the August 7 show in 2005, a version of the theme song was recorded (download available) by May using the engine noise of cars including a classic Bugatti, a Mazda RX-8,a Honda S2000, a Fiat Panda and a Ferrari Enzo.

For much of the original series' lifespan, Elton John's instrumental Out Of The Blue (from the Blue Moves album) played over the closing credits.

Awards

In Fall 2005, Top Gear won a 2005 International Emmy in the Non-Scripted Entertainment category. [2] In the episode where the presenters showed the award to the studio audience, Clarkson explained that he was unable to go to New York to receive the award since he was too busy writing the script for that episode.

Criticisms

Top Gear has come under fire on more than one occasion for promoting irresponsible driving [3], causing ecological damage and promoting the use of less fuel efficient cars.

Influence

Top Gear has had a history of playing a role in factoring the sales of some cars. If a car, such as in the case of the Ford Ka, is disliked by the presenters, it is has had a tendency to adversely affect sales. Top Gear also conducts an annual survey (website), in order for people to make recommendations of cars based on their own experiences.

Segments

Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car

Each programme, a celebrity guest is interviewed by Clarkson and also does a lap on the Top Gear test track in a Suzuki Liana. The two slowest laps are held by Terry Wogan and the late Richard Whiteley who were both later beaten by a completely blind man, Bosnia war veteran Billy Baxter.

In one famous incident, actor Michael Gambon spectacularly clipped the final corner, and so the corner was named after him. On another occasion, while practising, singer Lionel Richie lost a front wheel on a fast corner, but kept the car under control. In November 2005, actor Trevor Eve also managed to lose a wheel in pursuit of a potentially record breaking lap. Also in November of 2005, Stephen Ladyman dented the back of the car when he lost control in a practice run and ran backwards into a pile of tyres.

For Christopher Eccleston's lap, Top Gear had to obtain one of the handful of automatic Lianas in the UK because Eccleston explained that he was "only qualified to drive an automatic".

Lap times

  1. 1:46.7 – Ellen MacArthur
  2. 1:46.9 – Jimmy Carr
  3. 1:47.1 – Simon Cowell
  4. 1:47.3 – Ronnie O'Sullivan
  5. 1:47.8 – Ian Wright
  6. 1:47.9 – Chris Evans
  7. 1:47.9 – Rory Bremner
  8. 1:48 – Justin Hawkins
  9. 1:48 – Jodie Kidd
  10. 1:48 – Jay Kay
  11. 1:48 – Paul McKenna
  12. 1:48 – Trevor Eve
  13. 1:48 – Patrick Kielty
  14. 1:48.6 – Rob Brydon
  15. 1:48.8 – Stephen Ladyman
  16. 1:49 – Neil Morrissey
  17. 1:49.6 – Roger Daltrey1
  18. 1:50 – Jeremy Clarkson
  19. 1:50 – Patrick Stewart
  20. 1:50 – Martin Clunes
  21. 1:50 – Gordon Ramsay
  22. 1:50 – Jamie Oliver

1 Track was moist 2 Track was wet 3 Track was very wet


Formula 1 drivers' times

Three Formula 1 drivers have appeared on the show. Clarkson put them in their own class because they are (or were) professional racing drivers, so it wouldn't be equitable to compare their times to the other Stars.

Power Laps

In the Power Laps segment, the Stig completes a lap around the Top Gear test track to gauge the performance of various cars. Over the course of the show, there have only been two stigs which can be differentiated by the color of their jump suit, black (for series 1-2) or white (from series 3, onward). There are two separate lists, one for production cars and one for non-production cars.

Production car times

File:TopGearStig.jpg
The Stig driving a Zonda-F
  1. 1:18.4 – Pagani Zonda F
  2. 1:18.9 – Maserati MC12
  3. 1.19.0 – Ferrari Enzo
  4. 1:19.5 – Ariel Atom
  5. 1:19.8 – Porsche Carrera GT
  6. 1:20.7 – Ascari KZ1
  7. 1:20.9 – Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
  8. 1:21.9 – Ford GT
  9. 1:22.3 – Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale
  10. 1:22.3 – Porsche Carrera GT3 RS
  11. 1:22.9 – Ferrari 430
  12. 1:23.7 – Lamborghini Murcielago
  13. 1:23.8 – Pagani Zonda
  14. 1:23.9 – Koenigsegg
  15. 1:25.0 – Noble M12
  16. 1:25.8 – Lamborghini Gallardo (wet)
  17. 1:25.9 – Aero 8 GTN
  18. 1:26.0 – Mitsubishi Evo VIII FQ320
  19. 1:26.2 – BMW M5
  20. 1:26.4 – Lotus Exige
  21. 1:26.7 – Porsche Cayman
  22. 1:26.8 – Chevrolet Corvette
  23. 1:26.8 – Ferrari 575M GTC
  24. 1:26.8 – Chevrolet Corvette
  25. 1:26.9 – Mercedes CLS55 AMG
  26. 1:27.1 – Aston Martin Vanquish S
  27. 1:27.2 – Porsche 911 GT3 (wet)
  28. 1:27.3 – Spyker C8
  29. 1:27.5 – TVR 350C
  30. 1:28.0 – BMW M3 CSL
  31. 1:28.2 – Marcos TSO GT2
  32. 1:28.5 – Dodge Viper SRT-10
  33. 1:28.6 – MG SV
  34. 1:28.9 – Porsche 911 Carrera S (very wet)
  35. 1:28.9 – Mitsubishi Evo VIII
  36. 1:29 – Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG
  37. 1:29.0 – BMW Alpine Z8

For comparison, it is interesting to note that the current record lap time for the Suzuki Liana is 1:44.6 by Nigel Mansell.

Non-production car times

  1. 0:31.2 – Sea Harrier
  2. 0:59.0 – Renault F1
  3. 1:08.6 – Aston Martin DBR9

Car of the Year

Each year, the show presents a "Car of the Year" for the best new car in that year. Winners have included:

The Cool Wall

Main article: Cool wall

The cool wall is a board where Jeremy and Richard decide which cars are cool, and which aren't. The groups are Sub Zero, Cool, Uncool, and Seriously Uncool. The Cool Wall isn't based on how good or bad a car is, but how "cool" it is. Initially, part of that coolness rested on the extent to which Clarkson and Hammond believed each car would impress English actress Kristin Scott Thomas. More recently, BBC newsreader Fiona Bruce has replaced Scott Thomas as their notional judge. Being owned by one of the presenters automatically means that the car is uncool (with some exceptions).

The Aston Martin DB9 has been put in a fridge of its own next to the wall as it was deemed just too cool for the wall. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage has also been put in this fridge however a stipulation has been added that it will be removed once any footballer buys one.

In the opposite end, the 2005 BMW 3 Series (E90) was judged to be the first car that was so uncool that the presenters couldn't be bothered to put it on the wall. They described the new 3-Series as being a "lump of car".

Jeremy often puts the cars he likes (or more often doesn't like) at the top of the wall if Richard disagrees with him, so that the strikingly short (compared to Clarkson) Richard cannot reach to change it. For the first time, on the November 27, 2005 programme, Jeremy and Richard came to blows over the placement of a car on the Cool Wall (the BMW M6) and it led to Richard eating part of the picture.

News

The news segment usually follows the initial car review and consists of May discussing new cars, new British laws relating to cars, etc. Clarkson and Hammond will also usually present a piece of news or their opinions of new, unreleased, cars. For a period, Hammond exhibited a humorous obsession with newly published road maps.

Highlights

2002

  • The programme launched a search for the fastest faith, with representatives from different religions, such as ministers of various Christian denominations, a Jewish Rabbi, Buddhist monk, Muslim Imam, etc., each driving a lap of the test track. The winner was the Church of England bishop.
  • A Radical was raced around the track against an aerobatic plane.

2003

  • In May 2003, Richard used a drag racer with a rocket engine to blow up the car he considered to be the worst of all time, the Nissan Sunny. At the end of the show he also used the racer to blow up a caravan.
  • Jeremy tested the Koenigsegg which, with a top speed of 242mph was at the time the world's fastest production car. He couldn't resist a speed run on the test track. The record was 170mph set by the Pagani Zonda. This was smashed, with the Koenigsegg managing 174mph. Jeremy later commented how he felt nervous before the run because engineers from Koenigsegg had asked him if they could put tape around the windscreen. Jeremy thought that the tape was to keep the windscreen from flying off.
  • Using a swimming pool, Richard Hammond showed the dangers of being in a car that is sinking in water; and demonstrated that you should open the car doors as soon as it strikes the water, rather than the perceived wisdom of waiting for the car to fill with water and the pressure to equalize.

2004

  • Jeremy undertook a challenge to see if he could evade being caught in missile lock from an AH-64D Apache anti-tank helicopter while driving a Lotus Exige.
  • Richard Hammond proved that it was safe to sit in a car struck by the lightning by sitting in Volkswagen Golf in a huge lightning generator.
  • The team participated in two experiments in the form of races to test whether public transport could beat a car. The format is that Richard and James take public transport while Jeremy attempts to beat them in a car. In the first race Richard and James used France's TGV Atlantic trains in an attempt to beat Jeremy to Monte Carlo. Jeremy drove the Aston Martin DB9 and won by a significant margin. In the second race Richard and James attempted to get from London to Verbier in Switzerland using a plane while Jeremy drove there in a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. Jeremy won again but this time only just, passing Richard and James barely 100 metres from their destination.
  • After much practice, Jeremy Clarkson took a Jaguar S-Type Diesel around the Nürburgring in just under ten minutes. His instructor, Sabine Schmitz, promptly took the same car out and did it almost a minute quicker on her first try. When she first heard of Jeremy's time, her reaction was "I could do that in a van", and was given the opportunity to do so in the 2005 season. (She was roughly ten seconds slower in a standard Ford Transit.)

2005

  • The first episode of series 6, Jeremy tested the new Mercedes CLS AMG, Richard and James played football using the new Toyota Aygo and Jeremy took up the gauntlet to see whether a Challenger 2 tank could lock its main cannon onto a Range Rover Sport.
  • In the second episode of series 6, Jeremy tested the Maserati MC12, which costs a staggering £412,000. The team also decided to buy a 2-door coupé each for less than £1,500 that wasn't a Porsche (mirroring a competition they had last series where they had to spend £1,500 to buy a Porsche). They were then set a series of challenges to see which had got the best deal, scoring points for each challenge. The winner turned out to be James, with a Jaguar XJS. Richard bought a BMW 635CSi, while Jeremy went for a Mitsubishi Starion. James, however, decided to give the title to Jeremy if he admitted "I'm a clot and I ruined my car", as he had tried to install a turbo in his Starion that boiled his coolant in a matter of minutes, and ruined his engine. The challenges included trying to get to 140 MPH, having to drive at 30MPH over Belgian cobbles with a bucket of water on their lap, and doing an endurance race on a farm.
  • In the final episode of series 6, Richard tested the Vauxhall Monaro VX-R and was taught how to drift in the same car by D1 Grand Prix driver Yasuyuki Kazama. He also participated in the Pamplona Bull Run in Spain in which he was saved by a participator before the segment which he road tests the Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster.
  • A new world record was set for the number of complete sideways rolls in a car. A stuntman managed to make a Ford Sierra estate complete 6 rolls - and survived.
  • All three presenters created a traffic jam in Paris attempting to leave a car park in a Pagani Zonda, a Ford GT, and a Ferrari F430, the problem was due to the angle of the slope onto the road combined with the low bodies of the cars, the fronts were scraping the ground. James defied his "Captain Slow" nickname and drove the Ferrari F430 faster than Richard in the Pagani Zonda and Jeremy in the Ford GT on a twisting mountain road, all while driving across France in the three aforementioned super cars to reach the Millau Viaduct.
  • On the 11 December, James and Richard once again attempted to beat Jeremy in a race across Europe, using transport other than a car. This time, as James May had earned himself a (almost) fully fledged pilots licence, their chosen mode of transport was a Cessna 182 light aircraft. However, May's license did not cover night-flying, and they were forced to make an early landing and travel the remainder of the journey by Eurostar. Once again, Jeremy won by a whisker (or so it seemed), aided by his 1001bhp Bugatti Veyron super car.
  • The 2005 Top Gear Awards were given to:
    • Biggest Surprise - Audi RS4
    • Ugliest Car - BMW 3 Series
    • Best Car - Bugatti Veyron
    • Best Engine Noise - Aston Martin V8
    • Gas Guzzler - Ford GT
    • Coolest Car - Aston Martin V8 (according to Clarkson), Porsche 911 (according to Hammond)
    • The Golden Cock - James May

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ellen on BBC TWO’S Top Gear." Team Ellen. 2 December 2005. Accessed 28 December 2005.
  2. ^ "BBC picks up two International Emmy Awards." BBC. 23 November 2005. Accessed 28 December 2005.
  3. ^ "'Petrolheads' under attack." BBC. 12 April 2005. Accessed 28 December 2005.
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