Top Gear Races why are there no real ones

Hagiman2000

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Aug 18, 2011
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I started to watch all Top Gear episodes from the beginning and saw some of the Races (Ferrari Against Train, Aston against plane and Mercedes against boat I think). I also watched some of that police reality shows but stopped after 2-3 episodes. Why? Because they are all fake, the TV crew arrives before the police without bluelight and siren. The same problem is with Top Gear races. Do they make them on calculators and than put all the scenes together? They are never real and I hate that. Why they can't be real? Small example: The race with the Mercedes there is a part of the race through Germany and the Autobahn has no speed limit at all. The crew car (I think is some sort of Range Rover) can never ever follow the Merc flat out on a Autobahn. The Merc does 200 mph and the Range Rover lets say 120 mph.

So it es never a race train/plane/boat vs supercar it is always train/plane/boat vs Range Rover (or what ever the TV crew drives), if there is even a race. Am I the only one having a problem with that fake races?
 
Yes, they do "make it on a calculator." Andy Wilman has said in the past that they intentionally plan the race routes to be close so as to be unpredictable. Are you saying you'd prefer for the BBC to be breaking traffic laws left and right to make TV that tiny bit more entertaining for people who'd probably enjoy the Gumball Rally more anyway?
 
Where did I wrote that they should break traffic laws. And it is completely logical that they make a race to Oslo which takes nearly the same time by boat as by car. But they should really race (many cams on the car so that you could cut together some nice footage). The Merc should drive as fast as possible (as the local traffic laws allow) and not as fast as the Range Rover does. At the moment its like doing a Formula 1 qualifying, see the lap times, estimate the tire consumption and say the RedBull is the winner with even running one lap in the race because there could be accidents and drivers could be hurt. I want to see if the boat is really slower and not estimated slower. All that "ohhhhhh no the engine of our power boat is broken we must take the smaller boat" is such a bullshit when you consider that there is not a race at all. May has never ever to run on television because there is no race he can lose. He can take the next bus / plane whatever it doesnt matter. Maybe people who like this Wrestling crap will love such staged races but I don't.
 
Oh, for FSM's sake. Here we go again.

Hagiman, for the record this subject has already been discussed ad nauseam. Since you are new can I suggest using the search before starting new threads?

Mods! MODS! MOOOOODDDDSSS!!!

:nazilock:
 
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What're you on about? Nearly all the footage that isn't in-car/presenter based is recorded after the race is over. They run the race once to figure out the real result, then send the crew back with a camera to get all the 'pretty' bits. When you see those nice shots where a backward-facing camera shows the car moving over into the right hand lane and accelerating there's a crew member driving. There wasn't a monsterously turbocharged Range Rover following the Bugatti Veyron in that race or anything. (Possible exception for the economy run? Not so sure.)

Can't remember the exact quote, but Andy Wilman once said something along the lines of "Everything you see is true, but isn't necessarily real." Sums it up well.
 
I started to watch all Top Gear episodes from the beginning and saw some of the Races (Ferrari Against Train, Aston against plane and Mercedes against boat I think). I also watched some of that police reality shows but stopped after 2-3 episodes. Why? Because they are all fake, the TV crew arrives before the police without bluelight and siren. The same problem is with Top Gear races. Do they make them on calculators and than put all the scenes together? They are never real and I hate that. Why they can't be real? Small example: The race with the Mercedes there is a part of the race through Germany and the Autobahn has no speed limit at all. The crew car (I think is some sort of Range Rover) can never ever follow the Merc flat out on a Autobahn. The Merc does 200 mph and the Range Rover lets say 120 mph.

So it es never a race train/plane/boat vs supercar it is always train/plane/boat vs Range Rover (or what ever the TV crew drives), if there is even a race. Am I the only one having a problem with that fake races?

Here is a fact for you: public roads have speed limits, and even Jeremy has to follow them.
 
I asked a very similar question a couple of days ago.
The answer is ,like Bunji said, that in most cases they actually do race. So Jeremy probably was flying down the autobahn.
After the race the crew go back and fill in the gaps with footage of them driving the car from the outside and with scenery.
I was a bit sceptical for a while as well, but this info resolved that for me. Hopefully it does for you too.
 
Where did I wrote that they should break traffic laws. And it is completely logical that they make a race to Oslo which takes nearly the same time by boat as by car. But they should really race (many cams on the car so that you could cut together some nice footage). The Merc should drive as fast as possible (as the local traffic laws allow) and not as fast as the Range Rover does. At the moment its like doing a Formula 1 qualifying, see the lap times, estimate the tire consumption and say the RedBull is the winner with even running one lap in the race because there could be accidents and drivers could be hurt. I want to see if the boat is really slower and not estimated slower. All that "ohhhhhh no the engine of our power boat is broken we must take the smaller boat" is such a bullshit when you consider that there is not a race at all. May has never ever to run on television because there is no race he can lose. He can take the next bus / plane whatever it doesnt matter. Maybe people who like this Wrestling crap will love such staged races but I don't.

Tell you what before posting again (and preferably after your next English lesson!) try re-watching the Cross London Race. Not only does it prove conclusively that Clarkson doesn't always win (as does the race to Scotland in the 1950s) it also disproves any bias towards the car since James in the car came stone dead last.
 
ITS ALL FAKE!!! I KNEW IT!!! The Rover is a supercharged beast and its all shot against a green screen in a studio.

Oh, and Bruce Willis was ALIVE the whole time!

Tell you what before posting again (and preferably after your next English lesson!) try re-watching the Cross London Race. Not only does it prove conclusively that Clarkson doesn't always win (as does the race to Scotland in the 1950s) it also disproves any bias towards the car since James in the car came stone dead last.

Thats was just because it was James in a car. He lost the second they selected him to drive (in the studio with the green screen) ;)
 
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@MWF

I thought Americans were so intolerant as you are in the moment. Of course there are maybe some mistakes in my postings, but on the other hand I'm no native speaker. At least I bothered to learn some other languages, can you say the same? You can use the search by yourself and see that with keywords like "race" = to many results or "staged" you don't get what you are searching for. Thats maybe a result of bad Topic choices from the previous thread starters. Also that is by for the most warm welcome that I have ever received in a forum. Taking your amount of postings in consideration, and the amount of reoccurring questions that have already been answered I can partially understand your reaction.
 
Race from Paris to Ulaanbaatar.
Jeremy in a gwiz, the other 2 in a stealth bomber. Even though the race starts in Paris, the stealth bomber is in Milan and Jimmy and Dicky have to walk to get it.
 
You'll all be telling me next that when a presenter is stranded alone somewhere in the jungle his camera and sound crew aren't really there. Well I'm not listening! *sticks finger in ears* Nyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyahnyah! I can't hear youuuu
 
I just don't understand why it is that hard to see. Do some calculating to figure out how to make the closest race on paper, send presenters out with in car cameras, let race happen as it does, go back and re-film the funny/pretty/cool/etc. bits in a way that looks great on "the tele." Mash it all together and it looks like it was all filmed at once, and is much more enjoyable.
 
Can we say 150, seeing as it's true?


Well they said the cameracrew uses Diesels (or Diseasels?) so it would be 130 mph maximum, realistically they wouldn't go more than 80 with an open bootlid...


Here is a fact for you: public roads have speed limits, and even Jeremy has to follow them.

It was on the Autobahn and as you might have heard in the segment (or somewhere else) it is to a big part unrestricted.



But anyway I always liked the races apart from the Ferrari race which was a bit too much of calculation and editing.
 
Someone lock this dumb thread already.
 
realistically they wouldn't go more than 80 with an open bootlid...

And the geezer with the camera would fall out
 
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