Australian version of Top Gear

[pulse]

Of course not, but by the time 'regular Top Gear' is shown on Australian TV it's already a year old anyway.

What I meant by the local stuff is I really don't need to see a review of a Commodore, then an SS Commodore, then the SSV, then the Calais, then a HSV, then a ....... etc.. and I think it'll go that way (albeit maybe not quite to that degree) to appeal to an Australian audience.

[Glopaticki]

Just found this while browsing on the interwebs.

http://www.bhatt.id.au/blog/top-gear...te-and-review/

They say that it'll start after the Olympics and that they'll be a Top Gear Aus Magazine, i just hope its the bias stuff that we get in wheels.

[scathing]

I don't mind seeing an Aussie take on overseas cars, in Aussie conditions. Its not like Top Gear only reviews British cars.

I just hope they manage to capture some of the humour and fun that makes Top Gear so entertaining.

What would be nice is for them to go and show some of the car culture in Australia, and how its not all bad. Clarkson has wandered around with the British equivalent of "hoons" for the Citroen review. It'd be nice to see the Aussie Top Gear covering events like Summernats or Powercruise, as well as general car meets.

Actually, seeing Top Gear at Goodwood would be pretty cool too.

[verysupple]

I dunno about the rest of you Aussies out there but that comment about the Aussie Top Gear having subtitles pissed me off. I mean i love this site and all but come on if they can understand every US accent from the Texan drawl to the 100 mile an hour New York rant how come they can't understand us or even the Kiwis.

[stiggie]

Umm... where was that comment?

I must have missed it.

[verysupple]

Sorry 'bout the vagueness. It was at the end of the "Andy On The Foreign Top Gears And On Us!" post on the main page (June 4th)

[stiggie]

I see it now.

I don't think Viper will have any problems with our accent, but our slang differs a lot more from Amercan slang than it does from British.

[not_who_i_am]

I must admit, i'm not expecting too much from this, because obviously the big european manufacturers (Ferrari, Lamborginhi, Aston Martin) probably wouldnt be too happy about sending their cars over here.. Ah well, at least we've got the Original & Best (Jezza, Hamster & Captain Slow) being shown for the life of the series.. I agree with thompo, if its going to be done here, we should do it right... I suspect SBS are on the right track using people that have a genuine interest in cars, not a bunch of Channel 7,9 Or 10 Rejects... Just think Katrina Rowntree doing TG? Ewwww... Lol..
Anyway, thats my rant & rave..

[stiggie]

They don't have to send their cars over here. They already have cars in dealerships here.

When they launched the show and announced the hosts, the guys showed up in a Ferrari.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by stiggie

When they launched the show and announced the hosts, the guys showed up in a Ferrari.

Do they make 4 seater Ferraris or did someone have the stick shift up their ass?

[stiggie]

I'm not sure which Ferrari they used, so the gearstick arse thing may have happened, but the 612 Scaglietti is a four seater.

[maxsensation]

intresting...i hope these America and Australia top gears dont ruin the original top gear itself

[scathing]

The American and Australian versions are being made independently of the UK's, so I can't see how they'd "ruin" it.

[The Fishman]

Originally Posted by scathing

The American and Australian versions are being made independently of the UK's, so I can't see how they'd "ruin" it.

It can't be too Sydney-centric like most programs are these days. I think it is odds-on that it will be rubbish. It can't be too politically correct like the unwatchable car programs that have been show in the last few years.

I can't be sure of the name but I think it was "The Car Show" on Channel 9, it was more Fifth Gear than Top Gear. I like Fifth Gear but I watch Top Gear for the backdoor shenanigans of May, Hammond and Clarkson. If I want to watch a car program I watch Fifth Gear.

There has to be a lot of cocking around, pranks and practical jokes. No 'Yes men, I love this car because it is sponsored by ...'

For people that know of Newstopia with Shaun Micallif or someone like Merrick and Rosso, their brand of cocking about.

I might be wrong but I just get a bad feeling about it.

[stiggie]

I think we can all agree that "The Car Show" is crap.

Topgear Australia however has been set up in cuonsultation with Andy Wilman, the Executive Producer and guru behing the BBC's version of TopGear.

[SL65]

The Car Show, Test Drive and Drive were all shit. Australia has a horrendous history of so-called motoring programs.

I think the first episode of TGAU should be a "HOW HARD CAN IT BE?!" segment on "Making a PROPER motoring program".

[stiggie]

I'd watch that.

[The Fishman]

Originally Posted by stiggie

I think we can all agree that "The Car Show" is crap.

Topgear Australia however has been set up in cuonsultation with Andy Wilman, the Executive Producer and guru behing the BBC's version of TopGear.

I hope so. I want to see a program that is like TGUK. I don't want a clone. Just something better than The Office US vs The Office UK.

[tone76]

Originally Posted by SL65

Australia has a horrendous history of so-called motoring programs.

Apparently it hasn't always been this way.

In the late 1970s-early 1980s, the ABC had a show called 'Torque' hosted by Peter Wherrett. This was back in the day when there were still genuinely bad cars being made on a regular basis by many manufacturers. By all reports, whilst being quite a dry show in a similar vein to the original TG, Pete had no qualms in tearing into cars that were poor value for money, or were just rubbish. Torque is reportedly the best car show ever produced in Australia. Of course, I was only a little kid at the time this show was on, so I'm going on what older people have told me.

I just wish the ABC (or someone) would make some of the Torque archives available for general consumption so that we can make up our own minds. Who wouldn't want to watch a Sigma vs Bluebird comparison?

[GerFix]

^ Actually, "Torque" first aired in 1973, pre-dating "Top Gear" by a few years ... in fact, I read (or heard) some time ago, that the BBC commissioned "Top Gear" after seeing "Torque".

The program was excellent. Wherrett would bag cars mercilessly in his very comprehensive road tests. He was particularly scathing of handling characteristics and any car that had a difficult to access spare wheel.

After caning the Mitsubishi Sigma, Mitsubishi challenged him to do it better. He did and they actually produced about 1000 Wherrett Sigmas. So Torque was designing cars long before the Top Gear Koenisseggg Spoiler.

It wasn't all road tests either. I remember one episode where they looked at steering characteristics. Wherrett proposed that the ideal was a little bit of initial understeer followed by a little oversteer. They had some device for measuring these and applied it to some road cars to show how bad they were and finally applied it to a formula ford race car ... which turned out to be perfect.

The other Australian Motoring Shows mentioned here are just commercials. Australia has made a decent motoring show; you just have to remember that history didn't start the day you were born.