[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
Best episode in the series. Mainly because of the Senna film. And my God, I enjoyed the lack of cocking about!

The only part I didn't like was the Veyron film, because I already knew exactly what it's going to be
 
Best episode in the series. Mainly because of the Senna film. And my God, I enjoyed the lack of cocking about!

The only part I didn't like was the Veyron film, because I already knew exactly what it's going to be
 
A question to F1 fans from the late 80s and early 90s.

As I was watching the Senna film, the cars seemed to be bottoming out on the ground a hell of a lot and sending sparks every which way. The screen shot I grabbed from the film below is one such example:

vlcsnap-2010-07-26-20h59m48s191.png


I'm vaguely remembering something about barge boards and minimum ride heights, but can't really link the two together. Also I see that two pieces of (what I think is) metal are attached below both cars' front wings and causing the sparks.

Did the F1 regulations at the time have something to do with this?
 
Wowzers, Top Gear really is a strange show in some ways. After a couple of I think rubbish episodes, they come out with this! This is why I still follow TG, because I know, at times it can still be the best thing on television. Some years back it used to be the best program easily, now with the unfunny staged bits it isn't so anymore. I feared this season would just sink with the "comedy" bits, but thankfully they improved with this.

The race maybe wasn't the greatest ever, and the way Hammond drove the normal Touareg first, didn't seem to fit in. But still it offered some cool powersliding shots and adrenaline. I think was a good 'opening song'.

The Bugatti-part might've been a bit Deja-Vu, but I loved it. It's just so nice to see James talk about a car liked that, and then see him do 415+ kph. Then the test driver just exploded the whole thing by doing over 430 :shock2: I thought the cinematography, the sheer speed of the car moving and vibrating, and "Godspeed, Captain Slow" etc made it extremely exciting, and just epic.

I was worried about the SIARPC, because it tends to go badly or over the top. This one went well, clearly the stars and JC enjoyed it too. Good JC let them talk, and asked good questions. I'm not crazy of Cruise cause he's a bit of a nut with scientology and etc, but I loved Cameron. She looked great, and just simply was so fantastic. When she showed her bicep muscles, I bloody nearly dropped to the floor :grin: I knew JC would say something in terms of "as good as life gets" when powersliding with her. She was so natural somehow, cursing in the car and being relaxed. They both drove very impressive laps too. (Was surprising to hear how different American english sounded.)

As a big F1-fan, the Senna tribute was very touching. Good to have an insight on him, and to why everyone values him as the best. And yes, I know who Senna was, although I was just a little boy when he died. Plus, it featured Finns own Mika H?kkinen, was nice to see him on TG again. Finnish media doesn't really show him much, so it's nice to see what he's doing and know he hasn't been forgotten.

I'll give this a 9. This wasn't the best episode ever, nor was it like back in '03-'05. It wasn't car-good, it was good with the fun, cool, and feeling/heart-touching side of this show. This was extremely good from modern Top Gear. I hope it would all be like this, (Hollywood stars aren't necessity) and it wouldn't have any silly 'comedy' bits or unnecessary cocking about. This was the best TG episode in a long time.
 
CTFlyer 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 :(
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So they reviewed a normal car (better gearbox, yeay!), a special terrain car, the fastest production car and a formula 1 car. And still people complain they didn't review cars... Poor Andy.

I'd say, if Top Gear wouldn't show the fastest production car in the world, then I'd complain.
 
Senna's segment alone worths a 10.

By the time Senna was racing, and I had the opportunity to watch him race, sunday mornings used to be sacred. Nobody leaves home, nobody goes anywhere. Just to watch him race.

Clarkson said that Senna, for Brazil, was a sporting hero. More than that, he was a guy that each Brazilian could relate to. A legendary driver, with mad skills but at the same time a simple, regular, ordinary guy.

Damn, I missed those sundays....
 
There truly is just NO pleasing everyone. And I don't say that to put down anyone's opinion, sincerely. We like what we like, and it's more often than not a gut feeling that cannot be considered "wrong" or belittled by anyone.

All I know is, I enjoy reading you all, regardless.
 
Well, I guess I'll be another who did not much care for this episode.

I thought Hammond's "race" was bland overall, and the ending was cringe worthy. James' drive in the Veyron was a little fun, but still the same exact thing over again. I always skip over the SIARPC and this was no exception, except that it went on for 16+ minutes. As for the driver tribute, I also skipped through most of that since I didn't care for it, but I wont hold that against the show.

I would give the episode a 5/10. Completely and utterly average overall, with the driver tribute bringing it up from less than average (supposing I cared about it).
 
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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.

The bit in the beginning in the snow was very, very boring.

The bit with the Veyron was boring too. I've seen it all before when they did the same exact thing only slightly slower and with less orange bits. I guess I'm in the camp of "they've already tested the god damn Veyron six times" line of thought.

I just sort of skimmed through the news so I can't really comment on it. I saw something about a fake Porsche covered in gold tin foil as I skimmed through... it made me glad I was skipping it.


The SIARPC segment was almost surreal with those two guests. I mean, they've had big Hollywood stars on before, lots of them, many times, but these two guests are in a slightly different league and then just the fact that there was two of them at once this time added to that feeling. Jeremy fawning over both of them throughout the whole thing put a bit of a dampener on it for me. It was just kind of... hm, how to describe it... icky? Something like that. Made me feel like I needed a shot of whiskey and a cigarette to cleanse myself of all the asskissery. Tom Cruiseses lap was really cool, it was worth it to see him up on two wheels like that.

The Senna film was good but I don't think it was great. I think Senna himself is great but this film wasn't special to me. Just a bunch of stock footage and snippets of information that I already knew about him. I really do not know what all the fuss is about here.
I really would have loved to have seen and heard more of his old car and gotten more insights from Hamilton about what it was like to drive. That part of it seemed rather brief to me.


Overall I'd give the episode a 6 or a 7. It was definitely above average compared to recent episodes but like I said, that's really not saying much.
 
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That was great. What an inconsistent season! From the lame half-ass-ness of last episode to this. I liked all of it.
 
The Senna part was absolutely incredible. I had certainly heard the name, knew how good he was, and knew about his death but I had never really understood it all. I was too young to have ever watched him race, but now I understand it all pretty well. The part that made the film just so good was down to the music and the editing. It really shows Top Gear still has it, even if they dick around most of the time.
 
mike4192 said:
Well, I guess I'll be another who did not much care for this episode.

I thought Hammond's "race" was bland overall, and the ending was cringe worthy. James' drive in the Veyron was a little fun, but still the same exact thing over again. I always skip over the SIARPC and this was no exception, except that it went on for 16+ minutes. As for the driver tribute, I also skipped through most of that since I didn't care for it, but I wont hold that against the show.

I would give the episode a 5/10. Completely and utterly average overall, with the driver tribute bringing it up from less than average (supposing I cared about it).
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I suppose I should let everyone have their opinion. But you cant really legitimately review/rate a show when you seem to have watched only about half of it.
 
I thought Hammond driving the new Touareg was the bad moment of this episode. He just dont have the same kind of presence as the two others, and the piece suffered from it I thought.
I think they are just using him in the wrong way, and they should really work on that. Hammond works much better when he does segments together with one or both of Clarkson/May.

Other than that it was brilliant.

James was brilliant as always, testing the topspeed of the Veyron Supersport.

Allthough I think Tom Cruise is a freakin nutcase, that twowheelie at Gambon corner was sick! And he shows he has been racing before. So fun to watch when these SIARPC actually know how to drive!
Cameron Diaz is just WOW!

So I'm deducting 2 points for Hammonds noninspiring piece, and will score the episode 8/10.
 
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Senna and Veyron film was pretty good, but the other sections were sort of meh.

Am I the only one thinking the interviews are getting crapper and crapper?
 
acabinian said:
A question to F1 fans from the late 80s and early 90s.

As I was watching the Senna film, the cars seemed to be bottoming out on the ground a hell of a lot and sending sparks every which way. The screen shot I grabbed from the film below is one such example:

vlcsnap-2010-07-26-20h59m48s191.png


I'm vaguely remembering something about barge boards and minimum ride heights, but can't really link the two together. Also I see that two pieces of (what I think is) metal are attached below both cars' front wings and causing the sparks.

Did the F1 regulations at the time have something to do with this?
Click to expand...

There are regulations regarding the ride height of the cars now, which were introduced after Senna's accident to try and prevent the car from bottoming out and potentially fouling the steering which is believed to be a factor in the Senna accident.

I dont know about the titanium skid blocks, I dont know what purpose they served other than the fact they look seriously awesome.
 
Its probably the best Top Gear episode ever. Its a combination of road testing/race with the Touareg, a boy's wet dream with the Bugatti Veyron SS, short fun skit with the Porsche, great interview with Cruise and Diaz and to end it all, a tribute to the greatest driver ever.

A complete episode and this episode should be nominated for awards
 
AsterNzeyii said:
I honestly can't understand why people wouldn't love this episode.. I mean, this is Top Gear at its best!
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I think the reasons why some people don't love this episode, is either they are related to people on fifth gear or just try to go against the tide. If you are a TG fan you can't deny that this was one classic episode! So don't bother with those that don't like it....:cool:
 
I don't agree.

People how didn't like this episode (like me) are probably Top Gear Fans for a couple of years and are just bored with all the fake stuff, movie plugging and the endless need to have as many viewers as possible.
They probably faked stuff in the past as well, but it wasn't so damn obvious.
I think in the older series they seemed to do what they liked. And not think about it as much if everyone else likes it too. Which made is simply awesome.

What disturbed me most in this episode was the SIARPC-thing. Anybody who thinks Cameron Diaz or Tom Cruise were natural probably also believes in Santa Claus. I'm sorry but this was just embarrassing!

I would like Top Gear to stop trying to make each series more and more spectacular. I will enjoy TG the most when they simply have fun. Don't overdo it, just do what you like. I'm sure we will appreciate it.
 
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