[14x03] November 29th, 2009

[AiR]

Who is the guest and what does he do that allow him to buy cars for twelve million pounds?

 

[Dr_Grip]

Yeah, and let?s have Carl Lewis run against Usain Bolt ... I bet that would be epic too ... seeing a retired 50 year old man getting beaten by a 23 year old at the hight of his career ... WOW that would be so great ... and tell us so much!

Sry for the hate, but I disaprove these useless comparissons. You can?t compare a 20+ year old car with it?s modern descendants. Even if you had a factory fresh integrale ... with 100% power and none of the usuall power-loss and wear on every component that happens when a Car is USED or is even just standing around ... it would be a sin to put that kind of stress on a mint classic car ... and only to prove in the end that there has been progress in cars in the last 20 years ...

On top of that, they did old vs. new years ago...

I wished i could see the Gallardo on the track instead.

Now that's a welcome change to the dozens of complaints about "too much tests on the track" we had last series...

 

[Hiro11]

Who is the guest and what does he do that allow him to buy cars for twelve million pounds?

Apparently the most popular radio host in the UK and has been for a while. The highest paid entertainer in the UK for several years running. He made most of his money selling his television production company to the BBC about 10 years ago, though. Hundreds of millions of pounds, apparently.

I'd never heard of him before he bought the 250SWB. Even if I had the money, $12MM seems like stupid money for a car on the face of it. On the other hand, I wonder if it's a good investment, the 250SWB is after all basically the ultimate Ferrari roadster.

 

[Hiro11]

I liked this episode:

Good:
1. Piano encounters Marina never gets old to me.
2. "or now"
3. Lancias. Since I first bought a G1 Wheeljack Transformer at age 9, I've loved Lancias. They have always been completely beautiful cars with a distinct Italian sense of insanity. It also helps that they've never really sold them in any numbers here in the States (adds an air of mystery). The Montecarlo is what the DeLorean should have looked like, the Delta Integrale is still the hottest hot hatch of all time, the Stratos is by far the coolest rally car ever (with the 037 a close second). Even pieces of crap like the Beta were at least pretty good looking for their class. There are tons of amazing Lancias they didn't mention: the D50 is one of the best looking Formula 1 cars of the 50s, the mid-fifites B20 Aurelia GT was a sweet little coupe (amazing looking in person), the kickass Delta S4, the mid-sixties Appia GTs and Flaminias etc.

Bad:
1. Heavy, heavy and obvious scripting. The fake Stratos (Hawk) stuff was completely sandbagged and set-up-to-fail, almost as badly as TG reviewing an American car. Very obvious set-up/knock-down comic timing throughout, the ridiculous airship/airport "crisis" (James would never have been able to get within 20 miles of any airport) etc. It almost seems like Top Gear is just trying too hard these days.
2. Yet another Gallardo variant. We get it: great looking car... that's years old at this point and that absolutely no one can actually buy. Let's review some other stuff, please.
3. New segment a bit draggy (getting nitpicky here..)

All and all, still a solid episode if not close to being one of the best.

 

[Enoch Powell]

Good episode, the caravan zeppelin was great, loved the sound track, "you only live twice" bond film music (my fav bond film) in the air caravan bit and of course "The Pink Floyd". Lancia bored me a little but it was watchable. Evans was the same over paid ginger prick he has always been but thats life. 8/10

 

[David.Yu]

I thought it was a welcome return to form after the appalling relapse that was last week's episode (R8 v ZR1 segment aside).

I was lucky enough to own two Integrales, an 8v then a 16v (well actually I owned both simultaneously for a financially ruinous few months) and still rate them as having one of the best (power) steering set-ups ever.
In fact I only sold the 16v because I was worried I'd kill myself trying to find the limits as they were so high.

The guy who owns the red Evo 2 used on Sunday is an old friend of mine and got me into Integrales in the first place (21 years ago!) and he posted about his experience of lending his pride and joy here: http://www.auto-journals.com/journals/Lancia?model=Integrale&journal=43

Hope you enjoy the story (which contrasts with the Hawk story above slightly...).

 

[w1lhelm]

I liked the episode, especially the airship segment, even thought it was scripted it was funny.

8/10

 

[Kiskaloo]

Bad: Heavy, heavy and obvious (writing)...Very obvious set-up/knock-down comic timing throughout...It almost seems like Top Gear is just trying too hard these days.

I'm inclined to agree on some level. They really seem to be telegraphing the gags this year and it takes away some of my personal enjoyment when it unfolds because I know it's coming. Yes, the piano already on the Marina was a nice touch, but I still knew they'd drop one on it because it's no longer a gag, but is now a schtick. The gag will now be when the piano doesn't drop on the Marina.

Even though most of the challenges and epic races were written out ahead of filming, they didn't feel or come across like they had been. You're automatic "suspension of disbelief" held long enough to allow you to think it was spontaneous, even though when you stepped back and looked at it critically, you knew it couldn't be.

 

[kurthest]

Another disappointing episode, but it was a bit better than the last one.
The Lancia segment was great, but I didnt much care for the flying caravan segment.
And I never liked Chris Evans.

TG this season kinda gives me the feeling that the 3 guys are getting tired/bored with it all.
Hoping it will pick up.

Scored it 5/10.

 

[Plissken]

Plissken, are we going to see a new gif for your avatar?

I handle Photoshop as expertly as well... Jeremy Clarkson wields a hammer. So, um... no.

However, I did come up with the idea, for Christmas, of temporarily replacing the piano with a santa hat.

 

[Paul_The_Aussie]

I gave it a 7, ok but not great. The balloon thing was good.
The Lambo review could have been a little more, where was the track time?
The Lancia PT1 segment was ok but the second one was pointless. The great car segment could have been further elaborated, i.e. what cars made Ford great? That would have been more interesting than the kit Lancia.
I didn't bother with the SIARPC.

 

[VigCS]

Great episode! 9/10

 

[flydiscovery]

Even though most of the challenges and epic races were written out ahead of filming, they didn't feel or come across like they had been. You're automatic "suspension of disbelief" held long enough to allow you to think it was spontaneous, even though when you stepped back and looked at it critically, you knew it couldn't be.

This, to me, was the most important reason I liked this episode more than the previous one. +1 and well described. Suspension of disbelief is not easy, certainly not something I'd ever manage successfully. I'm starting to feel like maybe in the beginning there WAS a lot more 'cocking about' that time and now they're moving along through a far more complicated growth and we're bound to get some pains.

 

[Desertship]

Question: Does anyone has some information bout the airship? Tec.specs? Who built it? (Didn't look like a Top Gear invention (smooth Desing and it worked)).

 

[tone76]

A solid 8. They got some of their authenticity back.

The caravan airship was nicely done, carefully treading the fine line between natural cocking about and scripted stuff. I'm not sure if that Lambo counted as a proper car review as such, it seemed like it was used more as a prop for the caravan piece. Still, it was very nicely done.

The Lancia film was wonderful, and the cars themselves were something to behold. When Clarkson opened up the taps on that Fulvia, I just about had a crisis. Yes, there were some obvious jokes (Lancia on fire, yet another Marina being destroyed by a piano etc), but they were genuinely funny and within the context of the piece. The Kit Stratos was interesting.

SIARPC wasn't terrible.

 

[CrzRsn]

I've posted this somewhere before, but it seems relevant to this episode.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58NnJPi6138[/YOUTUBE]

 

[skylock]

http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/12/01/pilot-describes-his-bizarre-flight/

A Shropshire pilot has been talking about his bizarre flight in a caravan airship, for the BBC Top Gear programme.

Chris Sanger-Davies was the expert behind the controls of the huge airship that took to the skies in the latest dig at caravanning by the Top Gear presenters.

The ship of the skies was created by Oswestry?s Lindstrand Balloons and took part in a race to a campsite in a head-to-head with a Lamborghini, driven by Richard Hammond.

While front man James May was filmed piloting the crazy craft, and did take the controls at times, it was Mr Sanger-Davies, who did the tricky manoeuvres and was in the caravan gondola throughout the flight.

The pilot, from Lindstrand Balloons, is one of only a handful in the world licensed to fly an airship.

Read the full story in today?s Shropshire Star.

Anybody get this newspaper?

 

[aaurora]

7/10. This episode would be great for the car lovers - maybe you would have enjoyed this one better than last weeks as last weeks seemed to get such a bad rep although I loved it.

The only Lancia I've ever heard of was the one Jeremy drove around in Africa, so it's not a relevant episode for me, but still enjoyable.

Best bits for me were: copious man touching and Jeremy calling James a queen.

Typical woman bit: Richard looked lovely. It's rare to see him wearing a jacket, and I think it made him look very debonair. His hair is just the right length and he seemed to be in good spirits.

I have an idea, Mr Wilman, if you're reading: James mentioned he would love to build a kit car. Next season, why don't the boys build a proper kit car? They did a great job with the Caterham several moons ago. It could be a short segment shown each episode over the course of the series as obviously a kit car takes a long time to build (300 hours). It could be a serious project, with maybe a 20% ratio of cocking about. I know the boys (well, James) is capable of doing something like this and I would love to see something real and raw for next season.

 

[BlaRo]

http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/12/01/pilot-describes-his-bizarre-flight/

"The pilot, from Lindstrand Balloons, is one of only a handful in the world licensed to fly an airship."

Man, if I was that cool, I would trot out that fact ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME. Starbucks, traffic violations, picking up chicks, no matter what.

"Sir, I'm going to need your license and registration...hold on, this isn't a driver's license! Wait...you can fly an airship? *pause* I'm...speechless. Carry on, sir."

 

[02122]

I liked that Lancia segment, but nobody has made more great cars than Ferrari. It's just a fact. Why was VW so high up on the list?

Anyway... 9/10 for the episode.