[15x05] July 25th, 2010

[15x05] July 25th, 2010

  • 10

    Votes: 556 66.8%
  • 9

    Votes: 165 19.8%
  • 8

    Votes: 60 7.2%
  • 7

    Votes: 24 2.9%
  • 6

    Votes: 5 0.6%
  • 5

    Votes: 10 1.2%
  • 4

    Votes: 4 0.5%
  • 3

    Votes: 6 0.7%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1

    Votes: 2 0.2%

  • Total voters
    832
For all of those lauding the lap times for the SIARPC bear in mind that a new car frees up and gets a faster after the first 1500 miles or so. Also they will be learning tyre pressures etc so I would expect the time to drop in the first season fairly fast.

Would be interesting to get a Simon Cowel or JK back and set a time in the C'dee
 
I honestly can't understand why people wouldn't love this episode.. I mean, this is Top Gear at its best!
 
I honestly can't understand why people wouldn't love this episode.. I mean, this is Top Gear at its best!
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.
 
Absolutely brilliant episode, fun, educational, and touching.
 
I liked it a lot, but I had to give it a 7. The bit at the beginning with Hammond seemed very fakey, but was entertaining. The news is always great. The stars this time were well known, very enthusiastic, and managed to get some great times. Even if it seemed like Clarkson was just performing like a monkey to keep the hollywoods from getting miffed, he still did it in top form. The Senna part was very well done but seemed like something from an altogether different show. I had only heard that name once, as I've never watched F1 (although I'd love to but I never get any channel that has it). I'm sure the man was amazing, astounding and wonderful, and after that bit, I'd love to see a whole show just on Senna possibly, but not Top Gear. For Top Gear it seemed a bit boring and felt like it ate up half the episode. I kept telling myself that mebbe there would be one more challenge or some sort of fun or comedy to bring it out, but it just went deeper into this pit of sadness until Clarkson ended it without even a bombshell. Like I said, it was a great piece but it wasn't what I wanted to see out of Top Gear, would have made a great Clarkson full-length special, though.
 
Yawn.

5/10

Touareg bit was OK, news was average.

SAIRPC had movie stars plugging their stuff, and Tom Cruise, so instant skip there.

The Veyron bit was pretty good, but all too similar to the previous "max the Veyron" bit, lap was awesome though.

I don't really care at all about Formula 1, so I kept finding myself skipping during the last section.
 
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I don't even know where to start. This is probably the worst Top Gear episode I have ever watched.

What the hell was that bit about the Touareg? I assumed it was supposed to be a VW commercial. I mean, since when do the sporty kids loose the race? It was incredibly boring.
But when I thought it couldn't get any worse, they rolled out the Veyron. This was exactly the same guy, telling exactly the same story, doing exactly the same stuff at exactly the same place like a couple of series ago.
This was definitely the VW commercial.
But nooo they make it even worse and put this incredibly ugly car on the track and ohhh surprise: It is quickest. Where the hell did this car find about two seconds??? I don't believe this time, not for one second!

It is now obvious that VW paid for the visit of Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.

Speaking of which: They really are bad actors! I mean not even when did they their laps it was just some Hollywood-grinning and that's it.
Cruise was especially uninteresting. I mean don't you have to tell us something interesting (or funny)???
Living in Germany I don't know even know half of the British guests who were on the show over the years but each and every one was so much more entertaining than these two.
Poor Jeremy who had the devil's own job to make this whole interview as non-embarassing as possible. He did as much as he could but and I still love him and the other two but I'm sorry, this show was extremely bad!

The only thing that was worth watching was the Senna film.

To sum it up I can only say: Please dear Top Gear, don't overdo it. Please don't plug in movies or even worse: cars! I can't even remember when Jeremy or any of the others ever really disliked a (new) car.
This show used to be about cars, really funny stuff which at least didn't look like staged, more cars and three absolutely great guys.
The three guys is all which is left. And it seems they have to act all the time too.
Pretty much everything about this show seems to be fake lately.

Which is a shame because I'm still looking forward to every Top Gear episode. Maybe the next one will be better...
 
yeah the siarpc talk was kinda too long

but except that it was perfect
10/10

Liked what Hammond did on his vw in the night LOL
 
I have read most of the comments and appriciate those of you that have shown respect for one of the most incredible human beings to have left us so early.

For the rest of you, know that throughout history, there are certain people that define their sport and make it rise to another level. Just like Michael Jordan was to basketball and Pele was to football, Senna was the most complete driver the world had ever seen.

I was born in Russia during the cold war so F1 was never gonna come to me. But even still we know about Senna and we knew when he died. He was a symbol of his country and proof that one man can achieve the most incredible of things through great determination.

You'd probably understand by now that i am a racing fan. Formula 1 history goes through my head like nothing else. That is why i was so taken by the documentary.

As some have mentioned already, there were a few names that should have appeared on the show as commentarors more than Lewis Hamilton.

Ron Dennis - McLaren chief for everyone of Senna's championships and had to deal with the battle of Prost and Senna first hand.

Frank Williams - Considers Senna to be the best driver he'd ever worked with.

Alain Prost - bitter rival that would ultmatly be one of Senna's friends and one of the men to carry Senna's casket.

Emerson Fittipaldi - Senna's boyhood idol and inspiration.

Professor Sid Wakins - FIA doctor thoughout Senna's career and a dear friend who was on scene to evaluate Senna after the crash.

Bruno Senna - I too find it hard to believe that Hamilton is a bigger fan of Senna than Senna's own nephew. Ayrton even said Bruno was the future.

Gerhard Berger - teammate of Senna at McLaren and one of Senna's best friends. Berger retired from the Imola race as soon as he was told on the radio that Senna was gone.

Gordon Murray. Yes, the man that designed the McLaren F1 supercar also designed the MP4/4. In fact, it was at the airport after the 1988 Italian GP (the only race the MP4/4 ever lost), when Ron Dennis and Gordon Murray first spoke about a McLaren supercar. I'd love to hear the great man's say on Senna.

Murray Walker - was there to comment on Senna's life for all of us. His words mean so much to those of us that know.

In all honesty, there are so many more people the Senna touched and inspired. I really wish Rubens Barricello (who was in hospital when Senna passed due to another horrific crash that started the "black weekend.") could have said more.

And finally, Michael.

Michael Schumacher loss in Senna's death was a chance to prove himself. Michael broke down in tears on the podium of the 2000 Italian GP when he tied Senna for wins. I have always seen that podium in another way. It's like he feels that he wishes he was challenged by Senna for the ones after Imola.


Thanks.
 
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What the hell was that bit about the Touareg? I assumed it was supposed to be a VW commercial.

If you aren't interested in the Dakar Rally, then I suppose the race probably wouldn't be that interesting. But, hey, you know what? This is all a completely normal thing that Top Gear does -- expositions on specialty races and special cars. They've done this since the beginning and they're going to continue to do it.

But when I thought it couldn't get any worse, they rolled out the Veyron. This was exactly the same guy, telling exactly the same story, doing exactly the same stuff at exactly the same place like a couple of series ago.

That last film was made about four years ago, fully half the life of Top Gear has passed since then.

I think part of their motivation to do this was to do a better job of filming it. The HD camera work, especially in-car, made this a lot more watchable.

But nooo they make it even worse and put this incredibly ugly car on the track and ohhh surprise: It is quickest. Where the hell did this car find about two seconds??? I don't believe this time, not for one second!

It probably found those two seconds in the fact that its mid-range speed is significantly improved over the original Veyron due to the reduced weight and improved aerodynamics.

That and it was probably driven by a different person than last time -- the Stig is more than one guy, after all.
 
So we've reached the point where everyone is stupendously applauding a studio episode of Top Gear that doesn't have a hint of a car review :(

Great entertainment for sure, but certainly not "classic Top Gear" as some people have said?!
 
So we've reached the point where everyone is stupendously applauding a studio episode of Top Gear that doesn't have a hint of a car review :(

Great entertainment for sure, but certainly not "classic Top Gear" as some people have said?!

You hit the nail on the head. What car do I know more about as a result of this episode?
 
This was my least favorite episode so far.

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Tom is an idiot and Cameron looks exactly like an old neighbor of mine. It was a dude.

I kept waiting for the Veyron SS bit to get my adrenaline going like the last time James took a Veyron up to top speed but it never happened. I think the editing is what killed this.

Touareg, hhmmm... Toerag segment was alright but it felt rushed.
 
I have read most of the comments and appriciate those of you that have shown respect for one of the most incredible human beings to have left us so early.

For the rest of you, know that throughout history, there are certain people that define their sport and make it rise to another level. Just like Michael Jordan was to basketball and Pele was to football, Senna was the most complete driver the world had ever seen...

Amazing. +1
 
Amazing Episode.

The only reason i can think people are down rating it is that they are not true petrolheads and only jumped on Top Gear about season 10 and watch it for the comedy. This episode was one of the best episodes ever, and it wasn't for the cocking about, or the comedy, it was for all the reasons that most of us like cars in the first place.
 
So we've reached the point where everyone is stupendously applauding a studio episode of Top Gear that doesn't have a hint of a car review :(

Eh? They reviewed the VW Touareg and the Bugatti Veyron Supersport.

What do you want them to do? Review sensible hatchbacks every week? They do that on the web site and in the magazine.... this is the sort of thing guys like Piers Morgan or Tom Ford can knock out in a day with the help of a photograpeher and a researcher, and they can stuff a lot more useful buying information into print. There's really no need to wind up a 15-person production team for something like that.
 
Toerag part was just boring, news nonexistant (as usual, but not in a good way), CIARPC was utter shite due to rubbish hollywood stars made even worse byt the prolonging of the whole endeavour, the Veyron part was just a repetition of things past and the Senna bit... well, sort of out of it's place here. All in all, perhaps the worst episode since season 1. No, wait, it actually was.
 
As someone mentioned earlier, this is probably the best episode since Series 12 and one of the strongest ones in the entire series. The Touareg segment wasn't the most exciting piece but I never hold high hopes for these kinds of races. And the Senna dedication was truly brilliant.
 
Toerag part was just boring, news nonexistant (as usual, but not in a good way), CIARPC was utter shite due to rubbish hollywood stars made even worse byt the prolonging of the whole endeavour, the Veyron part was just a repetition of things past and the Senna bit... well, sort of out of it's place here. All in all, perhaps the worst episode since season 1. No, wait, it actually was.

I'm just not sure about this particular review. Worse than ALL the episodes of series 1?

/sigh

Granted, I completely trashed the last episode but went way too far with it.

But, I've watched this episode at least 4 times already. I can find faults with Hammond's race film or James's Veyron SS film, but, overall, that was the best 60 minutes of Top Gear that I've seen in the last few series. The reasons have already been documented by most other posts.

This episode shows what the guys can do when they're themselves.
 
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