[09x04] February 18th, 2007

[halllo_fireball]

If I'm honest I'm really disappointed. We defenitly have seen better episodes of Top Gear. The rocket bit was great tough. But the 911 bit really was boring - just compare it to the M5 road test. The turbo test was more like a Fifth Gear test, so the usual Top Gear excitement was missing... Also I can't understand why you couldn't hear the sound of the Brabus for a few seconds. And why didn't they do a top speed run on the runway and why didn't they show camera crane shots of the drifts....

Still Top Gear is great but the last episodes barely offered the excitement of former series.

Jan

[47]

It was a good ep.
The rocket robin crash was spectacular! but it came out too scripted, the crash anyway!

the Turbo is great. Maybe they'll have it again, on the track, so the Stig will have a go!
The chainsaw bit was the best, very funny What was he thinking, bringing a bike to Top Gear, and even puting it on the cool wall?! Good skit.

Can't wait for next week, tractors and Lambos! Maybe it's not the LP640...maybe he'll be driving around the track in a laborghini tractor, LOL

[IceBone]

I bet that thing can do wheelies!

[PeterR]

Originally Posted by halllo_fireball

And why didn't they do a top speed run on the runway and why didn't they show camera crane shots of the drifts....

Top speed run? Their runway is nowhere near long enough to do top speed runs with cars that fast. All they can do is accelerate until they're about to run out of blacktop and slam the brakes. Which is exactly what JC did.

[Fleetfoot]

Jeremy selling his Ford to get a Lambo G! what about that eh..

[AJ888]

Originally Posted by Fleetfoot

Jeremy selling his Ford to get a Lambo G! what about that eh..

That was in TG magazine a while, back. IIRC James was trying to convince him to get one in a bright colour (was it lime green?).

[|ntegr4L]

The episode was excellent. These are the best TG series ever.

[maateuszz89]

The best episode in current series (except USA special, but it doesn't count)
I still think that 9th series is disappointing.
911 turbo review wasn't moving, not to even mention brabus review, it was all routine.
launching the car rocket was funny and interesting, but too long.
The cool wall bit was cool, although it was scripted. Chainsaw
Give us more cars!!!

[zenkidori]

the rocket was fucking AWESOME!

the rest, well, meh.

[WRxb0y]

Just not sure about the plugging of movies and stuff now.
Every week during the Star in the car segment, Jeremy says " We don't normally do plugs...."
And then off he goes and does a plug. Is it the BBC trying to
cover some costs or make extra $$.
I just don't see the need for it.

[leadwood]

Originally Posted by WRxb0y

Just not sure about the plugging of movies and stuff now.
Every week during the Star in the car segment, Jeremy says " We don't normally do plugs...."
And then off he goes and does a plug. Is it the BBC trying to
cover some costs or make extra $$.
I just don't see the need for it.

Folks like Hugh Grant / Simon Pegg / Christian Slater (he was plugging a theatre role last series) would only go on Top Gear if they had something to promote. Otherwise it ends up the same celebrity car nuts appearing again and again. The Beeb don't make any money from it btw, it's a mutual back-scratch thing.

[GT - R]

Finnaly a decent episode in the NEW Series!!!!!!

[Ginger Dan]

Really enjoyed that one!

Now we're settling into the season, past the discussion of Richard's accident, it feels 'business as usual'.

I couldn't believe how well the rocket went up! And only if it had detached...

Pretty awesome explosion though [my bet's on the fact it landed on unexploded stuff, and I'm sticking with it ].

=

Question for you knowledgeable types:

ASSUMING the last bolt did detatch, and ASSUMING the Reliant was flyable, would it have been perfectly feasible for someone to ride in the Reliant [yes, someone with no sense of danger - the Stig for example!]?

Obviously the plan was never to reach space, but would this 'mini flight' have properly worked, given the assumptions?

-

Further question, to the (no doubt thousands!) of space scientist chappies - are the rockets for the space shuttles ESSENTIALLY the same thing as the 'mini' rockets we saw taking the Reliant up, and all the space mad stuff is actually in the shuttle?

[I'm not demaning the rocketeers here - that was fabulous! - but, if we (teh Brits) could build a space-worthy shuttle from bits of two-by-four and old cars, could we have a cheap space program on our hands?]

-

Apologies for the profusion of rocket questions, but I was simply stunned!

-

And yay Top Gear Dog!!!

[teeb]

Originally Posted by Ginger Dan

Further question, to the (no doubt thousands!) of space scientist chappies - are the rockets for the space shuttles ESSENTIALLY the same thing as the 'mini' rockets we saw taking the Reliant up, and all the space mad stuff is actually in the shuttle?

[I'm not demaning the rocketeers here - that was fabulous! - but, if we (teh Brits) could build a space-worthy shuttle from bits of two-by-four and old cars, could we have a cheap space program on our hands?]

The rockets for the space shuttle are the same shape, yes. That's about it. The Top Gear rockets were powered by nitrogen and rubber, if I recall right. And they had rockets on the large central fuel tank.

In the real space shuttle, the central fuel tank doesn't have any rockets of it's own; just the two SRBs help boost the shuttle into orbit.


As for putting someone inside...Bear in mind that the Robin's weight had been reduced to a third what it originally was. Adding a person, and all the safety stuff any sane person would want along with a real person - an ejector seat, for example, would add much more weight.

I think the problem is the Robin's inherent inability to be plane-like. Planes are designed from scratch to be as aerodynamic as possible. Reliant Robins aren't. Which is why it's very hard to fly one [!]. Thus, very unpredictable. And, I suspect, once it was flying, it'd handle like a barge.

So the main problems with manned Robin flight are the absurd level of dangers; and the fact that Robins aren't designed for any kind of real flying.

But if you did have enough money to waste, I suppose you could.


I'm surprised myself that they didn't try and use the Robin's main parachute as soon as it started to plummet. Ah well, the things we think of with hindsight...

[Law]

Originally Posted by Henk

I think Jeremy just thinks/realises, that the audience is not as knowledgable as he is.

Some are, some are not. But that is no reason to sat "1000 torques". Not very informative. Either go "a lot of torque" or if he is going to say a number, he should say the unit too otherwise it's useless.

[Eau de Jambanne]

A great episode as always. But I feel queasy everytime Jeremy says 500/1001/whatever torques. There's a strange urge to reach towards the monitor and strangle him.

[wikkedsnaab]

That was just a great episode, Top Gear back to its usual best. I'm unsure if the Reliant Robin Shuttle beats the Amphibious cars ep but it goes close. Certainly it's taken the art of 'arse-ing about' to very high and explosive levels. I was really disappointed the car didn't detach from the big rocket... I didn't give the Robin much of a chance to land softly but it would have been highlarious watching the RC plane guy struggling to get control as it fell out of the sky. Still, it looked bloody grand as it launched.

My only concern is that Top Gear blew (up) too much of their budget this season on this one stunt and the rest of the series will be not quite as grand! All up they must have spent hundreds of thousands of quid... or more. Still, in terms of British pride, seeing one of your cars strapped to the side of rockets and being sent skyward has to be worth serious kudos.

Rest of the show was good too... 911 Turbo is an awesome car though it was a real shame they didn't do a lap time, I reckon it would be in the 1:23 or higher area. That crazy Merc clearly needs TC work as it wobbles around like a Tarago. While it is kinda funny when Jezza dumbs down the technical terms I think it is fair to say many of us do actually want to know what it is in foot-pounds or Newton-metres so we can make comparisons.

The chainsaw bit was pretty awesome, though i'm not sure how pre-planned that was (outside of Jeremy putting a chainsaw nearby) as Health and Safety would have chucked a fit over the use of a live chainsaw without safety gear (nor proper training, Jezza should have kept his arms out straight when cutting otherwise he could have had the bar flip into his forehead if it kicked back) or near 300 members of the public.

I agree with the celeb plugging thing too.... I thought Simon was awesome and am actually now wanting to see the movie when it comes out, but really such stuff needs to be kept to a minimum (no trailers) so there's time to go through their car history...

Otherwise, lovely. Clarkson, Hammond and May should be awarded the Nobel Prize for Automotive Entertainment.

[Wing Nut]

A truly brilliant show especially thanks to the Robin's first (and I hope not last!) sub-orbital flight. Did I see someone in the distance standing next to a little yellow Mini with a big satellite dish on the roof? Maybe not, but Mr Bean would have been chuckling with glee

[TJP]

The ep. was very good...enjoyed the robin rocket!

The car reviews were a bit light on info,however this is the norm for Top Gear.

One thing...I wish Jeremy would say torque instead of torques. He sounds like the voice-over guy on the BMI videos (who always says horsepowers).

[xj220]

I think they do the plugs because they need money for such crazy stunts (shuttle). Either way, the best plug that they did was for the Enzo and the guy from Pink Floyd (I think that's who it was). Unfortunately, there they were making a joke of it then, and now they've become it.