Series 18 Info/Spoilers from TG Magazine

nickgeorge25

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I just found this blurb about Series 18, posted on Wikipedia. If anybody else has more info from the recent magazine article, please fill us in!!

In the January 2012 edition of Top Gear Magazine, it featured a preview of what to expect in series 18. It included a piece where Richard Hammond drives a NASCAR safety car for a real race, later going on to drive an actual NASCAR race car. The magazine also featured a part of some of the power tests to expect, including Jeremy Clarkson driving a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Edition, a Mercedes SLS AMG Roadster and a Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale. Hammond meanwhile will drive a 2012 BMW M5 F10, and May will have a Vauxhall Corsa Nurburgring Edition. Another feature is going to China to test drive Chinese cars, Italy in 3 super-cars, Lamborghini Aventador, Noble M600 and a McLaren MP4-12C. In the pictures from the January 2012 edition of Top Gear Magazine, the presenters were standing next to a Morgan Three Wheeler, Caterham R500 and a KTM X-BOW which might have something to do with Series 18.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Top_Gear_episodes#Series_Eighteen
 
There is in fact an entire bonus mini-mag "The Inside Guide to the Making of the Worlds Greatest TV Show" (pt. 1 of 2) which contains all of those things.
 
Here's the mini-mag for anyone who doesn't have it. They're big, so open them up full size if you want to read the text.

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Thanks for the scans GingetTom. Juan Pablo Montoya giving Hammond Nascar lessons? This series is shaping up to be pretty damn awesome.
 
Actually it's shaping up to have rather more embarrassing scripted and unfunny cocking about than I would like. :(
 
Actually it's shaping up to have rather more embarrassing scripted and unfunny cocking about than I would like. :(

According to Wilman's column there is plenty to keep us "Final Gear kids" happy, of course only time will tell how true this turns out to be.

If it's a series full of India-esque jokes then Andy's going to have a lynch mob on his hands.
 
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I think that there's fantastic content coming up.

Five power tests, that means that there will probably be one every episode except for the super car road trip.
Then there's a bunch of double-length segments, like the super car road trip and the chase scene shoot.
Then there's James and the Karma, and the Chinese cars thing.

All this content, and there's probably a lot more. The only real "cocking about" I see so far is possibly the chase scene.
 
Tell me about it. I already have the tow rope and I believe he-he is going out this weekend to buy a tree.
 
Actually it's shaping up to have rather more embarrassing scripted and unfunny cocking about than I would like. :(

According to Wilman's column there is plenty to keep us "Final Gear kids" happy, of course only time will tell how true this turns out to be.
I can't decide whether to be hopeful or worried if I'm honest. NASCAR and Roadtrip to Italy show promise, but the Sweeney segment fills me with dread. As much as I like the man, Andy's comment '...times when I was nearly sick with laughing - mostly when Jeremy and Richard were directing the actors.' is the bit that worries me the most. His sense of humour doesn't always translate very well :(


If it's a series full of India-esque jokes then Andy's going to have a lynch mob on his hands.
I have a list of ways in which I plan to punish him...
 
I can't decide whether to be hopeful or worried if I'm honest. NASCAR and Roadtrip to Italy show promise, but the Sweeney segment fills me with dread. As much as I like the man, Andy's comment '...times when I was nearly sick with laughing - mostly when Jeremy and Richard were directing the actors.' is the bit that worries me the most. His sense of humour doesn't always translate very well :(

This. It's why I still want to hear from him on the India episode, to see whether he really thought that it was good or not. If he genuinely thought it was funny and a good episode then we have a serious problem.


Tell me about it. I already have the tow rope and I believe he-he is going out this weekend to buy a tree.
I have a list of ways in which I plan to punish him...
This all sounds very...interesting! :wicked:
 
This all sounds very...interesting! :wicked:
:lmao: I hadn't even seen MWF's post about ropes and trees! As for my list - ropes; almost certainly. Trees? :hmm:
 
Wow, we're that popular that even the show's producer actually made a shout out?
 
I feel like I'm being watched.

I just read Andy Wilman's letter. A two-part tribute to Saab, and a test of the Ferrari FF? Nice!
 
series 18 does sound promising with a really good mix of cars. Just hope like everyone else that there isn't too much painful scripted falling down that will taint the great stuff.
 
I hope that the scripted falling down stuff isn't quite so "in your face" as it was in the India special. And maybe that the as yet unfilmed stuff (in studio) is a tad less scripted.
 
I'm really looking forward to the SAAB feature.
 
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