What's to come in this season? [MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS]

evans

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Jun 30, 2005
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Well, I just had a look at the montage in there first episode of the series, and it seems that everything there is something we've already seen, except for the Alfa Romero Brera, the Peugeot 207 (which is actually a race-thingy with those silly city-jumper guys), and there's a bit featuring a 6-series BMW as well, but I believe that that one was just showed in the Jaguar XK review as a comparison along with a Mercedes.

So, if we're halfway through the season (or is it only 8 episodes?), what do you think is to come? If you know for a fact that the guys tested some car or filmed somewhere, let us know ;) It's safe, because I put a spoiler-tag in the headline - SO THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO WHINING GIRLS
 
The TG mag has a nice outline of some of the main features coming up...
 
Here's a few things that were going to happen in the season that we haven't seen yet:

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Kit car challenge
Kit cars have been conspicuous by their absence on Top Gear. Well, rejoice stout fingernail breakers, because the Top Gear team is about to join your ranks, as we tasked Jeremy, Richard and James with building a whole Caterham, from scratch, against the clock.

And, to make things more interesting, our boys would be competing against another car-building team comprising Jeremy's wife, Richard's wife and James's girlfriend. Warning: This item may contain strong language, fist fights and scenes of a divorce-related nature.

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On the spot
Yes, our great nation is steeling itself for World Cup fever as our boys go to battle on German soil to the delight of everyone. Well, everyone except Jeremy and James, who think footballers are big girls in Range Rover Sports.

Nonetheless, TG decided to get into the spirit of things by doing our bit for the beautiful game. That's why we'll be delivering the actual centre-spot turf for a World Cup pitch, from the secret location where it's grown, all the way to the stadium where it will form the most important part of the hallowed turf. This is a big job. And also a great way to test boot carpet soil-stain resistance.

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Parkour blimey
If you asked people for their preferred way of getting around a city centre, most would probably say walking or driving. It's not likely you'd hear the answer, 'I like to jump perilously from building to building many metres above street level like some crazed monkey man in a kind of daredevil extreme sport we call Parkour'.

Fortunately, we eventually found someone who did give that answer and immediately roped him into one of our Top Gear races. In this case, our Parkour man has to get across a city in less time than the new Peugeot 207. It's the ultimate test of the new car's urban zippiness. And possibly also the ultimate chance to see a man really, really hurt his ankles.

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It's not rocket science. Oh wait, it is
The climax of this year's Top Gear Winter Olympics special was the spectacular launch of a Mini off a ski-jump. And credit for the car's graceful flight goes to our friends at the British Rocketry Association.

Buoyed by that unlikely success, we asked them what else they could do, and naturally they suggested turning a Reliant Robin into the Space Shuttle.

So, with some light modifications, an unloved three-wheeler was transformed into an accurate replica of a NASA orbiter. Then we bolted rocket motors to the Reliant's belly, winched it onto a launch pad in the middle of an East Anglian airfield and retreated to a safe place. Which ideally would have been New Zealand.

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Dads don't despair
Fatherhood may bring great pride and reward, but with it comes the risk of losing your dignity by driving an MPV. Of course it doesn't have to be this way, as Hammond demonstrates when he assembles three practical family cars that don't make you lose the will to live.

The Focus ST-engined Ford S-Max, AMG-wheeled Mercedes B200T, and the 237bhp Vauxhall Zafira VXR face up to the funky family car challenge. And from the off you'd have to say their designers knew the target market because each comes with a turbo - one small word that is guaranteed to make a dad feel he's getting his mojo back.

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White van man challenge
No series of Top Gear can go by without some kind of foolish car-buying challenge for the presenters. So far they've bought sub-?100 cars, crusty 1980s coupes, inadvisably cheap Porsches and disastrously low-priced supercars. Now they face a more practical task.

Each of them must buy a van, one that works on at least some cylinders and has at least several parts that aren't rusted through, and use it to perform a series of vanly duties. We've got them shifting a variety of heavy loads and roadie-ing for a well-known beat combo. All of which could be a problem for Richard Hammond whose van seems to be a little, erm, small.

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We're all going on a miserable holiday
TG is not famed for its love of caravans. All that holding up traffic and spoiling other people's views and then spending the weekend trudging to the shower block with a loo roll under your arm. But if you can't beat them, maybe it's time to join them, at least for one Bank Holiday.

So it was that the three presenters ended up on their own miserable odyssey. What's it like being the one at the front of a 15-mile tailback? What's it like having your home strapped behind you like a massive fiberglass snail? And what's it like being stuck in a confined space with James May, winner of the 2005 BAFTA for most flatulent man on television?

evans said:
silly city-jumper guys
Le Parkour? C'est tres bien!

Yes, I suck at French.
 
How come you know what's so much details about what's going on next on TG ? :eek:
Did you do the drawings ?

PS : what is "Parkour" supposed to stand for ? ;)
 
Paul_e said:
How come you know what's so much details about what's going on next on TG? :eek:hmy:

Thats all taken from the latest edition of TopGear magazine. You can get a mag scan off one of the FTP sites, i think.
 
SL65AMG~V12~612BHP!!!!!!! said:
Who is she? The Queen :lol:

Yeah I'm also very intruigued to see what she looks like. :unsure:
 
Well, I'm really looking forward to the Caterham-challenge, and the WC-challenge as well :D

Oddly enough, it's Captain Slow that's going to race the 207 against the Parkour guys, and it's Captain Slow that's reviewing the stylish Brera.
 
evans said:
Well, I'm really looking forward to the Caterham-challenge, and the WC-challenge as well :D

Oddly enough, it's Captain Slow that's going to race the 207 against the Parkour guys, and it's Captain Slow that's reviewing the stylish Brera.
He's Captain Fast after his tuition from Jackie Stewart.
 
James said in his column today that he lives with his girlfriend http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main

I didn't think he did as he is always going on about leading a bachelor lifestyle. But this is one of his best pieces of writing so you guys should read it.
 
Don't get your hopes up about James May reviewing the Brera... look at the front grille in the montage: that's an Alfa 159, not a Brera :)

(I'm such a sad Alfaholic :lol:)
 
Evo7 said:
James said in his column today that he lives with his girlfriend http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main

I didn't think he did as he is always going on about leading a bachelor lifestyle. But this is one of his best pieces of writing so you guys should read it.
It is a good article this week. Quite funny really.
 
flamingice said:
Here's a few things that were going to happen in the season that we haven't seen yet:

main.jpg

Kit car challenge
Kit cars have been conspicuous by their absence on Top Gear. Well, rejoice stout fingernail breakers, because the Top Gear team is about to join your ranks, as we tasked Jeremy, Richard and James with building a whole Caterham, from scratch, against the clock.

FINALLY! As a kit-car aficionado, I must say that I am very glad to see this. Kit-cars are the ultimate form of self-expression & customization for a gear head. :thumbsup:
 
MacGeek said:
Don't get your hopes up about James May reviewing the Brera... look at the front grille in the montage: that's an Alfa 159, not a Brera :)

(I'm such a sad Alfaholic :lol:)
My bad mate, "blinded" by the lights :p
Welcome to the forums by the way 8)
 
Is any of the TG guys gonna test The Alfa Brera Roadster?
 
Evo7 said:
James said in his column today that he lives with his girlfriend http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main

I didn't think he did as he is always going on about leading a bachelor lifestyle. But this is one of his best pieces of writing so you guys should read it.

Hmmm, why does the same article read ...

Now I have always regarded any form of cohabitation as rather unnatural, and balked at those tiresome conventions of domesticity that manifest themselves in a mealy-mouthed desire for co-ordinated housewares.

BTW: Parkour is aka freerunning.
 
Great info! Can't wait...

I think that White van man challenge will be great. And I am curious about Reliant Robin Space Shuttle... :thumbsup:
 
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