[15x05] July 25th, 2010

[15x05] July 25th, 2010

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  • Total voters
    832
Excellent episode, I enjoyed it all. The tourag race was cool. It appears nobody enjoyed it. I found it interesting to see the two types of vehicles race, not to mention it simply looked spectacular!

I was a fan of Senna back in the early 90s in F1 but did not know about his history. Great film, a wonderful tribute. Also, respect to Lewis Hamilton on taking that car on. 1200bhp! I can only guess what it is like to drive.

SIARPC was fun and shocked my wife. And how annoying that Tom Cruise is also an awesome/lucky driver.

Great stuff. I have enjoyed this series immensely. Some funny stuff, some new cars and some old ones too. I appreciate them showcasing old cars in the way they do (cheap car challenges have never failed to inspire my interest in learning about what made those cars special).
 
Really enjoyed that episode, thought I'd come back here after a long time!

Loved Hammond's race, love Dakar cars there awesome, surprised how well it managed on the snow. Bugatti race scene was awesome, love the orange touches on that car :D

But the Senna tribute was epic, I'm a bit to young to remember Senna when he was racing and it was a pretty awesome tribute.
 
This show was just epic. The Senna film made me goosepumps during all of it's run. I'm not a F1 fan or anything, but I've heard of Senna and I think that this film was a perfect tribute. Thank you Jeremy and the team for such good talent to make these kind of things too!!!
 
The SIARPC segment isn't worth rating - sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's not, but it's not Andy Willman's fault when it isn't, because you can't quite predict, what the guest's going the say. I'm only a bit suspicious about Tom Cruise's lap time - it really didn't seem that quick - what if he agreed to come to Top Gear under the condition, that they'll let him top their leaderboard?

Just to touch on this for a second.

To be clear Mr Cruise annoyed the hell out of me during this segment, with that said, the guy knows how to drive, as hinted at during the interview he has a rather large collection of cars and bikes (and a plane or two) so I was not really surprised to see him set a fast lap, would anyone be surprised if Kay Jay came in and beat his lap time ? I wouldn't, I mean look who he is ahead off right now.

Now selling the top of the leader board for an interview, not going to happen, not because it would be wrong, but because Tom Cruise needs Top Gear more than Top Gear needs him.

Just look at the headlines this guy has managed to create in the last couple of years with his stupid behavior, right now he is out and about doing any show that will take him, to be able get on a world wide show can only be good for him....as long as he doesn't jump on the couch.

I also noticed that a lot of the interview was directed at Cameron.
 
I think this episode is, if you will, the connoisseur's episode: it's not necessarily something you'll show to your friends to get them to start watching the show, nothing blows up, and nothing extravagant happens. But it's one that fans will be watching over and over again for a long, long time.
 
Viewer since the beginning, first time poster because of this episode's ending. For anyone that went Senna? or meh at the ending please read about the man. Anyone over the age of 25 that watched F1 back then will know why this episode was brilliant.

A friend of mine wrote a small note in 2004, thought I'd share.

Jon said:
This Moment in Time?????
??exactly 10 years ago 6:40 pm European time/12:40 pm US Eastern Central Time we lost the greatest F1 driver ever to sit behind the wheel of a racecar.

I couldn?t possibly begin to write anything about him that hasn?t already been said a million times or covered to the smallest detail. We will never know exactly what happened despite the millions of pages of material covering all facets of the crash.

I started following F1 around the time Gilles Villeneuve died and mainly rooted for the red cars and whomever was driving them at the time. I didn?t really have a strong feeling for a particular driver as Ferrari was at the time switching drivers nearly every season. No one made a lasting impression upon me.

One thing was for sure I was no fan of the red and white cars of McLaren. I rooted against them with a vengeance. I did however start to notice a young driver named Ayrton Senna driving for the tiny Lotus team. He seemed blazingly quick over a single lap but at times a bit wild. I remembered reading that as a young F3 racer he had bested reigning world champion Keke Rosberg?s best lap time of the day in a Williams at a 40-lap test at Donington a few years earlier. That day said much about how great a potential Ayrton possessed.

Before I got a chance to really become a fan of his he signed with McLaren. Oh well I thought, I would have to pick another driver to root for??maybe Mansell??

As hard I as I tried to root against McLaren and Senna, he mesmerized me with his speed and talent. He won me over half way through the 1988 season and though I became no McLaren fan, I did become a Senna fan. What struck me most was watching his concentration in qualifying. Other drivers were tightening their belts, checking their safety gear, looking good for the camera shots or motioning to the mechanics for this or that.

But when Ayrton got in the car it?s as if everything around him disappeared. He was in a trance and would stare into space with a cold calculated look of such intensity you had to wonder what was going through his mind. He spoke to no one and his eyes didn?t seem to move. I remember one time, I believe it was at Monza, while he was sitting in the car concentrating, a mechanic approached his car. Before he could get to Senna three other mechanics nearly tackled him to keep him from distracting Senna (perhaps a new mechanic?).

The two or three moments etched in my mind, other than Imola, are of course the most famous moments in Senna?s F1 career. His qualifying performance at Monaco in 1988 is the stuff of legends. Against then world champion Alain Prost, whom everyone in F1 at the time would be measured against, Senna in an equal car annihilated Prost by a second and a half, continually besting each lap with a new lap record. It was from this point on, that GP drivers were no longer measured against Prost, but against Senna.

It wasn?t the actual laps that stuck in my mind but that of Ron Dennis laughing uncontrollably on the pit lane wall (Ron has that permanent smirch etched on his face and this was the first time to this day I have ever seen the man laugh).And the reaction of Prost, at the time the best driver and world champion shaking his head in utter disbelief. (See video clip below with this scene).

The other of course is Donnington and the most famous lap in F1 history. Ayrton went from the middle of the grid to the front in less than one lap in the pouring rain and made Prost look like he was missing three gears on his much superior Williams. Senna won the race with ease that day.

My other, less famous moments were Senna?s performances at Spa, most of them in the rain. I remember seeing video footage of Senna and Mansell coming into Eau Rouge. Mansell clearly backing off and struggling with the car, while Senna looked as if he never lifted and drove the car through Eau Rouge with the tail twitching all the way to the top.

The worst part of that fateful weekend at Imola was that I had no one to talk to about this terrible event. I saw the race on TV live in Germany and had flown back to the states that evening, not knowing until I arrived in the States that he had died.

Of course most of my college friends had never heard of him and he was barely mention in the US press. I just remember being stunned more than anything. I hadn?t seen GV?s death and really only started to tune into F1 at the end of 82 season. How could this happen? No one died in F1? Especially not the greatest driver in F1 history?

To get an idea of the scope of sorrow and shock that was felt around the world, just mention the name Dale Earnhardt to any Nascar fan??..now multiply that effect ten times. That was Senna?s impact all over the world.

The ironic thing is what was found in the shattered remains of Senna's car. They discovered a furled Austrian flag. Aryton Senna had intended to dedicate his 42nd Grand Prix victory to Roland Ratzenberger's memory. This says much about the type of person Ayrton was and what he stood for.

Much debate has been made over Schumacher vs. Senna and I am not here to argue who is greater. Ultimately the records books will say Schumacher and it may be hard in a few years time to argue that he isn?t the greatest F1 driver ever, but I still am not convinced.

I think in the end what separates Schumacher and Senna is the way they went about winning. Schumacher is a more calculated driver. He backs off when in the lead to conserve the car. At Suzuka last year he did what was required of him to win the title. He came in 8th and scored the winning point. That was his goal to secure 8th spot. Senna never had any goal other than 1st place.

At Austria, Barrichello handed Schumacher a victory at the last corner. It still baffles me that Schumacher would accept this outcome. It is well documented that Senna couldn?t handle loosing. But I think he would have been appalled to accept a victory from another driver slowing down in the last few laps. I think to someone like Senna that would be a monumental insult. He wanted to win because he was the best, not because someone else wanted to decide the outcome of a race.

Anything less than a hard fought 1st place was never an option for Senna. He wanted to win no matter what the cost and he wasn?t out to just win, he wanted to annihilate people, especially Prost. He had only one speed and it was 100% at the limit, 100% of the time.

Witness his loss to Prost at Monaco in 88 when he crashed while leading the race by a wide margin. Ron Dennis and McLaren told him to back off and he resisted for many laps but finally gave in and two laps later crashed. He didn?t know how to race at 9/10ths, it was totally foreign to him and it cost him a win. It was the last time he would ever back off.

Senna only knew one way to win and second place to him was the same as finishing last or not finishing at all. He didn?t care about scoring points; all he cared about was winning the race! AND he didn?t want to win by a mere 3 seconds; he wanted to lap the entire field.

Senna never smiled on the podium when he garnered a 2nd or 3rd place finish. To him this was an empty result no different than the wayward backmarker coming in 14th.

Schumacher and others may eventually best all your records, but no one will ever match your level of commitment and tenacity on the racetrack and you willingness to never commit anything less than 100% at the limit. There is a saying ?Live every day like it?s you last day, because one day it will be?? Senna lived his life this way every day!

Senna probably never heard of Vince Lombardi, but I think they shared a lot in common. As Lombardi once said ?Winning isn?t everything, IT?S THE ONLY THING? I think Ayrton would agree.

Some will say that it?s a tragedy that Senna?s fierce determination to win at all costs and his unwillingness to accept defeat may have cost him his life, but I think Senna would rather have died trying to win than live a life of second best. In the end he died doing what he did best, namely driving a grand prix car at 100% maximum in 1st place !!

He led the last lap of his racing career and the last lap of the game of life!!

A few moments ago I said a small prayer for Ayrton and his family. I have this notion that the great man himself, Enzo Ferrari is there as well, and gesturing to Ayrton ??.you know its not too late, you can still finish your career up here???. in a FERRARI!?

I share the same feelings as Jon. I was 13 when the incident happened, saw it on tv and couldn't believe it. As a kid we used to play the old Grand Prix game at school, my driver name was always Senna. I made it a point to make sure I owned every record in that game. I used to find every racing magazine and pour over every article chronicling Senna's weekend. Had pictures on my wall.

My autocross car has a Senna decal on the hood. A reminder every time I get in about the greatest that there was and to believe in the mentality that being second best is not good enough. Its not just about racing, its about life. What's the point if you don't give everything to whatever you do. Modern F1 is all about politics, Senna didn't care if he crashed Prost enroute to a title. But, if push came to shove he'd make sure you were okay. Drivers today are robots, devoid of emotion and yet Senna showed the humanity behind racing drivers. Drivers today are contend getting a big fat paycheck for being 20th. I was reminded this weekend that such drivers still exist, watching Helio grab the steward for taking away a deserving win.

Even cars today are becoming a silhouette of what they were. Too many electronic nannies, I dare to think that no modern F1 driver could run a lap in the 80s turbo monsters. Imagine 20 of them duking it out without any silly team orders.

My apologies for a long first post. Didn't really bother paying attention to the rest of the episode, the ending made up for everything else. In some sense I am miffed at BBC, I've been trying to procure a video of the last part of the episode for my friend who I quoted. No luck, seriously BBC do you realize how cruel that is for those of us living somewhere other than the UK. Said friend's 6 year old son's middle name is Ayrton and they are on vacation and missed the episode. I'll keep searching for a video to send him.

RIP Mr. Senna
 
I liked Hammond's race too. What was there not to like about it?

As far as I can work out, it's one or more of the following:

1) It wasn't filmed in one take using a couple of low-quality handi-cams that represented the state-of-the-art in 2003, therefore it was "scripted"
2) It wasn't a sober, serious car review that had loads of critical commentary, therefore it was "paid advertising for VW"
3) It wasn't that funny of a segment, therefore it was "not like the olden days when they actually were funny"
4) Richard Hammond actually won the race, which is apparently supposed to be impossible on Top Gear
5) People just don't like Richard Hammond's attitude, hand gestures, choice of words, brand of sarcasm, hair style, etc.etc.
 
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At the end of episode, they asked for the audience to stf* and Jeremy didnt use his usual "bombshell" line , he just looked vaguely at camera.

That says it all about the Senna film.
 
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Short of the specials, this is definitely the best episode TG has ever done, and it doesn't even have my favorite segment in it (cheap car challenge).

The Touareg race was fantastic. Beautiful cinematography, and fantastic driving. There's something about a diesel roaring across an ice lake...I could watch that over and over.

News: LMAO. that is all.

The Veyron SS was short but sweet...I love seeing May giggling madly after his run.

SIARPC: Holy crap, Cruise and Diaz are seriously good drivers! I sort of expected it from Cruise, but not from Cameron Diaz.

Senna: I'd have to say this is the finest piece of journalism Clarkson is ever done, and was just a fantastic and moving film altogether.

I think when I get home I'll have to download this again in 1080i.

10/10
 
Simple the Best!

Simple the Best!

Amazing show, great car, great interview, great lap times AND last but not least, AMAZING SENNA FILM!!!!!

Senna always #1!

Like Tina Turner said once: He is Simple the Best!
 
Amazing show, great car, great interview, great lap times AND last but not least, AMAZING SENNA FILM!!!!!

Senna always #1!

Like Tina Turner said once: He is Simple the Best!

Actually, it's simply, but I agree with the sentiment! ;)
 
I decided to cut and post the Senna tribute that the Formula One Decade programme at Speed channel did when they reached the 1994 San Marino grand prix episode.


It doesn't add much, but I thought it was worth seeing both for those of you who are fans and for those of you who are just being introduced to the great Ayrton.
Enjoy
 
One of the greatest episodes aired. They need more Formula 1 in the show. I suspect a certain Jay Kay will be back soon? :p
 
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