[11x06] July 27th, 2008

[Nipp3]

I'm sorry if this subject is already talked through but...

That 1/4 mile dragrace.. It just made me so angry that I'v started to think top gear as a comedy show, not so much of a carshow..

9ff gt9 averages 2.5s --> 60 mph and Sabine sure knows how to launch.. AND IT LOST TO A vette that averages 3.5s --> 60 mph...
Thats what I call bullshit
Supercharged ariel 2.7s --> 60 mph so 9ff would have whooped this ass too..

Top gear has started to suck..

[stevanford1]

Originally Posted by Nipp3

I'm sorry if this subject is already talked through but...

That 1/4 mile dragrace.. It just made me so angry that I'v started to think top gear as a comedy show, not so much of a carshow..
9ff gt9 averages 2.5s --> 60 mph and Sabine sure knows how to launch.. AND IT LOST TO A vette that averages 3.5s --> 60 mph...
Thats what I call bullshit
Supercharged ariel 2.7s --> 60 mph so 9ff would have whooped this ass too..

Top gear has started to suck..

Really no one would have ever thought... /sarcasm
Fifth gear is coming in two weeks watch that.

[controlspecimen]

Originally Posted by halllo_fireball

I really can't get it, how people say it was an epic, or even the best episode ever and the best series ever... Come on, there have been better episodes and better series! Just because it's Top Gear it hasn't to be automatically the best (same as Fifth Gear doesn't have to be automatically the worst ) - hmmm sorry, it actually has to be automatically the best

This series was a good one, but there were clearly some bits, especially in the first episodes, that could have been better. On the other hand they really showed off epic stuff (Bentley Brooklands).
As for best episode: How can an episode with an average May beginning, a very nice, but not epic Hamster test and a challenge with mostly predictable outcome be the best ever made??? That is actually an assault on all the epic episodes we have seen in the past! Just think of the Alfa segment, or the amphibious cars.

I won't say, that this was a really bad episode but it clearly WAS NOT THE BEST EPISODE!

PS: And yes, the race wasn't fair or anything ... which doesn't matter! But please feel free to write your theories down, how Tim could have won this race. Maybe they should have put on some nitros or put some rockets on it - in good old Top Gear tradition However, the easiest would be to change the script

Agreed! The James review was fine but nothing amazing, Hammond's review was prefectly pleasant but again not anything special, and the German thing was clearly forced and staged in many places. Not that this was a bad episode, but come on, people! I think James' look of complete embarasment when Hammond flipped out on the German fella summed this one up for me.

However, there is a very very large contingent of the audience which views the caravanning episode as the pinnacle of Top Gear excellence, and I would say the opposite, so I can understand the love for this episode.

[Censport]

Originally Posted by der_jackal

I'm sorry, am I missing something here? Are you really arguing that it was a "real" race?

I'm arguing that it certainly could have been a real race.

You can take a couple of of mis-matched race cars, unload them at a random track, adjust only the tire pressures, put in a couple of random experienced racing drivers... and only the people who have never built, set up, or driven race cars will expect the results to be decided by which car has more horsepower on paper.

And until Wilman or someone else from the show comes forth to say that each car was set up (springs, shocks, swaybars, alignment, brake bias, gearing, fuel level, etc.) for that track, I have a valid argument.

Originally Posted by controlspecimen

Agreed! The James review was fine but nothing amazing,

I was hoping to see more of James's opinions on Japanese cars in general, but I realize it's not The James May show. Perhaps he can be talked into returning to Japan as part of a separate series on the world's cars and bikes. I remember he was quite bemused on his trip to Damascus as well. Just think of it: James May's World of Motors. I think it has a nice ring to it.

[Laba]

Originally Posted by Nipp3

I'm sorry if this subject is already talked through but...

That 1/4 mile dragrace.. It just made me so angry that I'v started to think top gear as a comedy show, not so much of a carshow..

9ff gt9 averages 2.5s --> 60 mph and Sabine sure knows how to launch.. AND IT LOST TO A vette that averages 3.5s --> 60 mph...
Thats what I call bullshit
Supercharged ariel 2.7s --> 60 mph so 9ff would have whooped this ass too..

Top gear has started to suck..

That 9ff GT9 does 4,2s to 62mph. link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/dri...cle3334657.ece
EVO only managed to get 5,2s out of the GT9 http://www.evo.co.uk/features/featur...5/9ff_gt9.html
Basically it has no traction

And the Vette was a Callaway that is supercharged. It has 580 HP it has. And it shouln't have a problem doing 0-62mph in 3,3s as their site says.

I think James should've been in a Koenigsegg or Spyker

[Momo63]

Originally Posted by Nipp3

I'm sorry if this subject is already talked through but...

That 1/4 mile dragrace.. It just made me so angry that I'v started to think top gear as a comedy show, not so much of a carshow..

9ff gt9 averages 2.5s --> 60 mph and Sabine sure knows how to launch.. AND IT LOST TO A vette that averages 3.5s --> 60 mph...
Thats what I call bullshit
Supercharged ariel 2.7s --> 60 mph so 9ff would have whooped this ass too..

Top gear has started to suck..

*head desk*

[Vixen]

Brilliant episode! JK looked a bit too pleased to be top though....

[johnmorrow]

Look, regardless of 0-60 times, staged or not... Its still quite possibly the best TV ive seen since.... well maybe the last season of "The Office" (US). Tons of laughs (JK, James' Japanese, Jeremy's helmet) and tons of tension (JK's lap time, Gumpert's time, the entire UK vs. Germany bit).

I could knit pick at some things, (as it seems hardcore fans feel obligated to do so) but overall I feel very lucky to have seen such a well done show.

Andy Willman /James May, if you are reading:

THANK YOU
THANK YOU
THANK YOU

I've watched EVERY TG episode since season 1 (pre-James) at least twice, and think this last season was tops.

Keep doing what you're doing, and keep changing it.

[MacGuffin]

Originally Posted by Arctor

Why over analyze it?

Well, that's just a reflex action to those who look at it rather uncritical and credulous

I knew before I watched the episode, that the British were probably going to cheat and/or pulling out dirty tricks I have seen enough of Jeremy Clarkson and Top Gear to afford myself being sure about that

Actually I have seen almost everything of them at least twice. Jeez, I'm a Top Gear addict.

[MacGuffin]

Originally Posted by idk

This statement on that page... is soooooooooo i dont find a word... German car shows are crap... The dialogs sound terribly staged, the sound edit is shit (too much cracking noises and other acoustical "dirt" like steps. The camera is shit too because of too less movement and no filters and i guess many things more i can not exactly point out

The problem is this:

If the BBC stages a show that polarizes and and provokes criticism, they will just shrug if off, apologize every now and then for a too bold gaffe and otherwise just shrug off the critics as being small-minded and humorless, while making fun of them.

If a German public TV station would stage a show like Top Gear, the outcry of the self-acclaimed world savers, the professional shocked ones, the politically over-correct German press and last but not least backbenchers in the local and federal parliaments would start such an avalanche of feigned outrage, that soon such a program would be cancelled, no matter how many people are watching it. Being a petrolhead in Germany is completely politically incorrect, because they are automatically associated with reckless driving (which is of course complete and utter rubbish).

So the few really cool TV presenters we have in Germany (you can count them on one hand) would rather nibble their arms off, than presenting an enthusiastic car show, because it would mark the end to their careers.

Germany as a whole is simply too uncool to make a great show like Top Gear.

That is the sad and bitter truth.

[wookiewacker]

i noticed when watching the second time that sabine had a big dent in the side of her mini, i wonder how that happened

[Seasonone]

Originally Posted by Censport

So a car geared for top end wouldn't have any disadvantage to a car geared for American roads in a race of 1,320 feet.

It's not geared to hit 300 or any other amazingly high # it's still in koenigsegg territory. Even without the best gearing those #'s should be enough, and it's not like the c16 is geared like you claim it is. Top speed is still 210mph... far above perfect 1/4 mile gearing.

Even with shitty gearing a good driver (which she is suppose to be) would get to mid to low 10's, faster than bad hip clarkson in a car that is lucky to break 10's.


The extra power and less weight is a bigger advantage than 40mph gearing is a disadvantage.

[jasonof2000]

Originally Posted by stevanford1

1966- England beat West Germany to win world cup.

Happened in 1966 and they are STILL bragging about it? That actually sounds a bit pathetic.

Jutland- was a WW1 battle. (i think)

Yeah, the only major sea battle of WW1, ended in a tie. Proved that all the armor in the world is worthless if your gunnery skills suck donkey balls.

[der_jackal]

Originally Posted by jasonof2000

Happened in 1966 and they are STILL bragging about it? That actually sounds a bit pathetic.

It's the last time they won the World Cup...









or really anything in international football.

[liquide]

Originally Posted by jonathan102

best episode ever.
and i gotta say brilliant driving by James *cough*.
nice tactics by Jeremy. haha

i dont really get that address thing..

the rest has been mentioned, 1966 football, el alamein, jutland...
london we 1 -> make believe postcode, pronounced we won... i love it...

[the Interceptor]

Originally Posted by MacGuffin

Germany as a whole is simply too uncool to make a great show like Top Gear.

That is the sad and bitter truth.

On another note: did anybody else (sorry, didn't read the whole thread) miss the rest of the Germany vs. England challenge? I mean they had a chart with points on it, but they never showed the final result. Or did the final race that was won by James *ahem* mean that the TG crew won the challenge? I mean the whole challenge sure was great fun to watch, but it seemed to be edited quite heavily to me.

[Censport]

Originally Posted by Seasonone

It's not geared to hit 300 or any other amazingly high # it's still in koenigsegg territory. Even without the best gearing those #'s should be enough, and it's not like the c16 is geared like you claim it is. Top speed is still 210mph... far above perfect 1/4 mile gearing.

I don't know about you, but I consider 250+ to be "amazingly high", and it's designed to challenge the Veyron.

Even with shitty gearing a good driver (which she is suppose to be) would get to mid to low 10's, faster than bad hip clarkson in a car that is lucky to break 10's.

The extra power and less weight is a bigger advantage than 40mph gearing is a disadvantage.

I couldn't find any 1/4-mile times for the 9ff GT9, but the 0-60 ranges from the high 3's to the low 4's (depending on the tester), while the C16 varies from 3.3 to 3.5, and has a top speed of "only" 206. Any drag racer will tell you that the majority of 1/4-mile races are won in the first 50 feet.

Advantage: Callaway.

[MacGuffin]

Originally Posted by the Interceptor

did anybody else (sorry, didn't read the whole thread) miss the rest of the Germany vs. England challenge? I mean they had a chart with points on it, but they never showed the final result. Or did the final race that was won by James *ahem* mean that the TG crew won the challenge? I mean the whole challenge sure was great fun to watch, but it seemed to be edited quite heavily to me.

Was also one of my points. They could have made a proper ending by cutting out some scenes of Jay Kay dancing around like a madman