[13x01] June 21st, 2009

[enriquesdrj2_8]

It was cute seeing the Lotus spinning around in the grass....imo

[MrBoss]

I voted a 8, I'm with SVB on the big "reveal" , the stig could be a dozen people for all we know. My favorite part was JC's coal fried egg sandwitch.

[Brian]

Fun episode. Non-streetable FXX on the power lap board is odd though.

[Ziggy Shadow-Dust]

It's very amusing, and slightly irritating that the forum should go into meltdown because they found out ONE of the many Stig identities. Of course we got paid back in the end because of all those "Who is the Stig?" threads here. Remember [08x02] when The Stig took the Liana on a send-off lap?

Oh an great news for license payers. Thirty-thousand pounds worth of camera equipment was destroyed by a Stig.

Rest of the episode. Decent Lotus review. The car/bike/train race was epic and much more enjoyable to watch (as a train fan so I'm a little be bias), than the London race. lol that's it.

Quote from Wikipedia.

James May claims that there is a clause in the Stig's contract that should his identity be exposed either through his own willingness or via a member of the Top Gear staff (including the hosts of Top Gear), he has to be fired. Black Stig was let go via this clause; the same clause would apply also to White Stig under the same circumstances.

Does this apply in this case?

[hardcoreep]

This confirms it, 5th gear sucks.

[qaz0101]

The season 13 preview had a lot of T 'n A to look forward to Otherwise, this was a good episode to start off the new season.

[fluke667]

I'm pretty sure that Schumacher isn't allowed to drive any other cars than Ferrari/Fiat on TV while he is still on a Ferrari contract. That's why there was no Liana lap.

[dice]

Originally Posted by Ziggy Shadow-Dust

Does this apply in this case?

I don't think they're especially bound by any law

I loved the episode. Schumi obviously just a stunt but I loved how they portrayed him as loony driver crashing into that camera and all

The soot on Jeremy's face when he arrived at the bar

[braintumor]

absolutely a fantastic beginning, for what seems to be an epic season! (10/10)

and for the chaps who are discussing about who really is the stig, get a life! ... the anonymous testdriver (=stig) idea is a great feature of top gear and i don't really care who it is as long as they have the stig.

Big thx to Andy and the team of top gear for giving us the TV highlight of the week (as always)...

[controlspecimen]

The race was very good, but I did not care at all for some other aspects of the show. First of all, the FXX isn't road legal, the news was terrible, the Lotus review was cut too short, and the fake Stig lap at the end was tacked on and not funny. Why do epic films like the race and screw up the easy parts? Very annoying. I've noticed that the studio segments are very awkward now, especially Hammond for some reason, and today was no exception. I hope they improve the studio bits in the future to suit the excellent prefilmed segments!

[RedAero]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

Any one remember Spinal Tap when they were talking about their Marshal Amp - 11/10 (but as its not on the score board 10!)

The whole evening was wonderful from 07:30 through to the BBC4 prog on James. I loved that U2.

What you meant to say was

"This one goes to 11."

[ahpadt]

9.5/10

I was really hoping that the train would win. Such an awesome piece of engineering.

Also, they broke their own rules about racingcars on the board. The FXX is a 100% racingcar. Where the tail lights go on the normal Enzo, the FXX has the exhaust outlets.

[Mercury]

Very good episode, not one of the best but certainly good TG, and that's saying allot gave it an 8.

I gotta say that when the helmet came off and it was schumi i was so happy we'll get a lap time for him in the Liana but either he was too scared to post a time or he can't due to contract problems with Fiat and Ferrari...I was massively disappointed at that.

The season preview also looked bloody awesome, I don't know why but that Scirocco scene with the background exploding was the one that caught my eye most of all. Can't wait for that one.

All in all, TG is back and I'm happy.

[stecube]

What a great episode!

I enjoyed every bit of it and Schumi was really fun to watch. Sure, he isn't The Stig and how could he, but like said before, I'm sure he was behind the wheel in the FXX.

9/10 only beacuse I'm sure there will be an even greater episode coming up!

[corradoboy]

A bit of a return to form methinks. I'm on record as hating most of S12, and a not a massive fan of S11, but I hope that this marks a turning point. I would still like more car review content, obviously done as only they can, but the race had a feel reminiscent of the DB9 race, and it was a joy to see Tornado running. The Lotus review was average, and might have worked better as a group test against the Cayman and maybe a Noble. The news was a bit disjointed and vague, which is a shame as I nearly always enjoy their banter here. Schuey was good, once they stopped cocking about, but as others have said he should have done a Llianna lap. I believe his Ferrari commitments forbid him from doing anything commercial/entertaining in any other marque. The FXX lap was about what I expected for such a machine. It is after all a pure racing car, and the DBR9 did a 1:08. I agree it probably shouldn't be on the board though.

Would have been a 9 if MS had done an SIARPC lap, the news was funnier and the Lotus review was better. A good 7.

[Cobol74]

Originally Posted by RedAero

What you meant to say was

"This one goes to 11."

Yep - or rather as it does not 10.

Why would anyone give that show 3/10 - there is two of them - how odd (Trolls perhaps)?

/EDIT Trolls no, one of them is Prost264, still very odd.

[ahpadt]

For those who were wondering, this is a Fiat Croma:

[braintumor]

just to add ... great lap of the FXX, what a machine ... and the lotus looks a bit like the tesla

[PettR]

Great episode, and i loved the shots of the train from the helicopter, especially the one where it zoomes out from Jezza.
And I also thougth it was really fun to see his hair getting darker and darker
May is awesome, but i feel like he's a bit too awesome? It's almost like he's "to good" for the show sometimes
And Hammond was acting really weird..

[cookiebun]

Pretty entertaining all in all.
Damn, the finalgear forum crashed! I couldn't get on for a couple of hours.
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