[15x05] July 25th, 2010

[ChrisSRT4]

10/10 The Senna tribute made me cry. Yes I cried to Top Gear.

 

[emission]

The Touareg race: Wonderful! Of course it was scripted. That's the only way to make that beautiful. And it was filmed in my home country...

News: Porsche part, superb! The rest, not so much. Closing hour pub humor.

Veyron SS: Very, very nice and James really deserve these moments of glory. Would have been nice with some sort of explanation of how the test driver was able to squeeze out so much more of it.

SIARPC: Great entertainment value, but I'm not sure I trust the lap times. Not that I doubt that both Tom and Cameron could be the fastest so far, but I just don't trust them, and with the rest of the episode being so good it felt a bit too good to be true.

Senna: Epic. Emotional, respectful, informative.

Just add a bit more car love (such as the Lancia feature) and it would be the perfect show.

9/10

 

[AsterNzeyii]

oh...iono, maybe bc of the overrated hollywood stars. I just watched it again and beginning to think the SIARPC is a bit of a fake to have two records. Clearly Jeremy was all over Mr. Cruise. Praising their good looks etc etc. Iono, just my though.

Hmm, I think you could be right there. But yeah, Top Gear's over the moon with their two SIARPC, and actually I don't care about who holds the record and who doesn't, I see it as a nice and diverting chat

 

[lrh]

The only reason i can think people are down rating it is that they are not true petrolheads

Any true petrolhead would know that the Touareg part was a VW PR exercise, know that James May did not hold the Veyron speed record, know that Cruise/Diaz were only there to promote a film, and already know about Senna and have see far better documentaries about his life and racing. That's why real petrolheads are voting low.

 

[narf]

Any true petrolhead would know that the Touareg part was a VW PR exercise, know that James May did not hold the Veyron speed record, know that Cruise/Diaz were only there to promote a film, and already know about Senna and have see far better documentaries about his life and racing. That's why real petrolheads are voting low.

If stuff you did not know yet is your only motivation for watching Top Gear then I recommend that you stop watching Top Gear.

 

[Aces High]

Any true petrolhead would know that the Touareg part was a VW PR exercise

Do you work at VW occasionally for relieving this information?

know that James May did not hold the Veyron speed record,

Except that James went to Germany not to break the speed record but to publicly verify the fact that it's a faster machine than the SSC as well as being the fastest production car.

know that Cruise/Diaz were only there to promote a film

Sort of agree, but if you didn't skip the whole interview you'd realize they were mainly speaking about other stuff rather than the movie.

and already know about Senna and have see far better documentaries about his life and racing

Well who says you don't know who is Senna, they mentioned about the kids today who probably don't even give a toss about him, so they wanted to bring some history about him to remind some people nowadays that 16 years ago we lost possibly the most skilled and the most fearless F1 driver (Alongside Fangio, of course), besides it only took to squeeze that like in what, 15 minutes, to make such a tearfully beautiful tribute and a reminder that his spirit lives on in almost every F1 nutter, and I'm not even a massive Senna's fan.

I respect opinions nevertheless, but when people decide that this significant episode is worthy for only 1 miserable star is just something miraculously unexplainable.

 

[Icedvovo]

Let me say up front that I have already voted 10/10, so what I'm about to say is not a criticism, just a notion.

The wheels of non-commercial commerce work in mysterious ways. Let me table this series of curious events for your chin-rubbing, eyebrow-raised contemplation.

The other week Fifth Gear briefly showed a specialist Touareg camera car owned by Pursuit Camera Vehicles.
The very same week the TopGear Camaro/Benz film was shot using this exact type of rig. Probably the same vehicle.
The very next week TopGear do a film highlighting the new Touareg.

I put it to the TG Forum Jury that VW are supplying the 'loan' of a Touareg development mule for modification and use as an 'overhead-crane' camera vehicle, in exchange for some happy 'airtime', eg: The Film.

I may be a cynic, but I also believe that there's no such thing as a coincidence in business.

Thank you.

 

[02122]

Well, ya, of course its all about money and advertising. People don't realize this already?

 

[Cobol74]

But they still call a spade a bloody shovel if deserved, do they not?

 

[Pascal]

First off: Hello Forum.

I had mixed feelings about this episode
- I liked the Senna bit, though short I also like the serious Clarkson-documentries
- as stated before the Tuareg Piece was way too obviously staged and had - in my view - neither a comedic nor a "ohhh awesome!"-car moment in it. Sadly it really looked more like an ad for VW.
- again the Veyron part was staggering, couldn't take my eyes of the screen nor speak. Good television to capture the speed in a fashion that really reaches the viewer, too.
- The interview was okay, Diaz was quite sympathetic imho, but Clarkson's not that good in the interviews with "big" stars - or ppl that dont have anything fun to say.

But what bothers me most:
Where can I get that Hoodie Jeremy is wearing during the Senna bit (and has worn before this series)?
If anyone knows the label/designer - do tell.

 

[pink piranhas]

Wow, what a change from last week, a few little niggles here and there but this was a really good one. 9/10, just to give a little room at the top!

With apologies to Forrest Gump:
TG is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. (And for me, that's what makes it great.)

 

[ChevyCobb]

I thought it was an OK episode. It was probably the best episode of the ones I've seen of this season although that's not saying much because the other episodes have been complete and utter dogshit.

Just curious here. If you dislike the show so much as to call the other episodes dogshit...why do you keep watching it? To take notes during the entire hour and post them on the internet?

 

[dogrob]

Just curious here. If you dislike the show so much as to call the other episodes dogshit...why do you keep watching it? To take notes during the entire hour and post them on the internet?

Exactly this is one of the downsides of the great wide interweb, whether it be Top Gear, Films, Music actually the list is endless there are people who nit pick which is there right, I often use reviews be it for Music, Books, Films but at the end of the day what counts is what the thing does to me not somebody else as we are all different.

Whatever happened to watching Top Gear for fun, for entertainment, for switching off for 60 minutes in a world where there are no worries, a little me time ?????

 

[Crash]

Overall a really great ep. Especially enjoyed the Veyron and Senna pieces. 9/10 for me.

Two thoughts on the Senna bit: 1. I don't get it why JC makes this distinction between Villeneuve and Senna in his final statement ("...never been a Senna fan, always thought, Villeneuve was the greatest etc..."). It makes no sense to me because Villeneuve died in 1982 and Senna came to F1 in 1984, so they were in completely different eras and each of them was the greatest driver in his era and I think neither of them (add Schumacher, Fangio, the lot to that list) could be named the greatest driver of all time because literally they can't be compared. 2. The film that JC mentions in the end: Could it be this one? Can somebody shed some more light on it?

 

[Aces High]

The film that JC mentions in the end: Could it be this one? Can somebody shed some more light on it?

Directed by Asif Kapadia. So, yup it is that movie Jezza was talking about.

 

[CD82]

Would have been nice with some sort of explanation of how the test driver was able to squeeze out so much more of it.

I guess the test driver built up more speed before getting to the straight and pushed the pedal like his life was depending on it... whilst James May was told to do "only" 200 km/h in the bend leading to the straight and perhaps was a little bit more careful with the throttle.

 

[Austere]

Just curious here. If you dislike the show so much as to call the other episodes dogshit...why do you keep watching it?

Part of the reason is habit; I've just been watching it for so long now. An other part of the reason is that I still hope against hope that it will go back to being good again and I guess I don't want to miss it if it happens. Then there's the fact that I'm a member here at Final Gear and the release of a new episode of Top Gear is kind of a big deal and sort of hard for me to avoid and resist and that was true of this week especially, after I read all the comments here that were all so favorable.

To take notes during the entire hour and post them on the internet?

No, those other reasons I listed are the main reasons. I do get something out of writing things on the interent but so does everyone else here...

 

[acabinian]

Refueling was banned in F1 between the 1984 and 1993 seasons. This meant the cars started the race full of fuel and were very heavy. This loaded up the suspension much worse than the cars of the 2010+ season. During those times, there was no minimum ride height. The principle that air moves faster through a smaller medium is well known. The F1 aero boys took advantage of this by making the smallest gap possible between the car and ground. This created more suction and obviously downforce. The cars were so close to the ground that at speed or on ruff circuits they would bottom out. Check pics of the compression at Spa's Eau-Rouge corner from those days. The teams didn't want the ground scraping away at the engine or carbon bits so they placed skid bars under certain points on the cars. These made the sparks. In 1994,the FIA introduced a wooden legality plank that was placed under the car and had to measure a certain amount after the race in order for the car to pass Parc Ferme. The plank is still with us.

Ah, OK, makes sense. I take that ground effect aerodynamics is what you're talking about here. Was that ever banned in the Technical Regulations or do we still have that today to some extent?

Also, I hope that someday, F1 will go back to small capacity, high-boost turbocharged engines with no limits on horsepower and reduce reliance on aerodynamic grip for cornering speed. I follow F1 but would become an even bigger fan if the racing was anywhere close to the late 80s. Put the onus on the drivers to take risks and use their skill to win races.

Probably a pipe dream, to be honest, but who knows, anything could happen.

 

[vikiradTG2007]

Ah, OK, makes sense. I take that ground effect aerodynamics is what you're talking about here. Was that ever banned in the Technical Regulations or do we still have that today to some extent?

No, Senna never raced in the era of ground-effect cars, side skirts (which enabled ground effect all over the length of the car) were banned at the end of 1982. Limited ground effect in the form of rear diffusers is still allowed to this day, but ever-more-restricted in terms of size.

 

[Spectre]

No, Senna never raced in the era of ground-effect cars, side skirts (which enabled ground effect all over the length of the car) were banned at the end of 1982. Limited ground effect in the form of rear diffusers is still allowed to this day, but ever-more-restricted in terms of size.

FIA has hated ground effect cars ever since that evil Texas genius Jim Hall invented this (and indeed that whole line of cars, as well as much of what makes up modern F1 racers):