The End Of An Era: FinalGear.com's Main Site Retired, Forums Will Live On

I'll add my thanks to the pile. Glad we still have the forums, but the links and news on the main page kept me watching TG.

You did a great job keeping us informed! !

Cheers!
 
Oh no.. that's terrible news....... Thanks for the effort guys. I really appreciate it.
 
I remember back in 2003 downloading HTTP links for season 3 episodes on what was the pre-cursor site to Final Gear. I'm happy and proud to say that I've been following this site for such a long time.
 
Lawyers and legal and licencing have to muck everything up. I'd gladly (and I think many of us here would) pay $3.00 an episode the day after it aired to download a full quality, commercial free un-botched, un-hacked, DRM-free file from BBC with all the original music.
 
Thanks for the years of service!
 
Thank you for giving me access to Top Gear for the past 10 years. Living in America, I had no access to the show. Being able to watch this show back when it was never on TV opened my eyes how the automobile is a worldwide culture. I am truly grateful for your work.

Thank you.
 
To be honest, credits goes to all rippers throughout the years, for giving people like me in Hong Kong and others in Far East to enjoy the most up-to-date coverage of latest TG/ FG shows.
Some years ago I did woke up early in the morning (=GMT late night), staying in front of the PC and wait for the release of the torrent, those were the days.

There was some motivations towards BBC overseas pay-channel and local TV stations regarding the popularity of torrents.
Before 2012, at least half-year-delay for BBC Knowledge to show the latest season, not to mention a year delay for the local TV's English channels.
Starting from 2014, BBC Knowledge had managed to get a 3-week-delay of the latest episode, with Chinese subtitles ready (yes, for HK & Taiwan markets).
This is the power of competition. Still, I would have those beautiful 1080i files on my PC, because they are just awesome.
 
<DarthVader>NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</DarthVader>

Seriously, I actually did exclaim almost as long a "No" as Darth did when I loaded up this site and saw the message from Viper. It is truly a sad day in the Top Gear universe. I can't believe I've been a member here for 8 years already and this is the result of a bunch of pencil pushers not understanding how the internet works. I have to agree with everyone else here that without FinalGear, I don't believe that Top Gear would have had the success that it had. It certainly would not have migrated out of the UK nearly as quickly. There would definitely not be a TG US version (well maybe that would have been for the better....jk!) or any of the other syndicated versions of the show.

Thanks to Viper and Quicky, and all the other hard working people that kept this site alive throughout the years, and lets keep this forum going, even if we can't list torrent links anymore. It's still a great community that got shot in the foot by some silly group that refuses to adapt to the changing media market. Also thanks to the hard working rippers that have blessed us with such high quality 1080i rips that it allowed us to see just how white Hamster's teeth can really get, how Jezza has slowly turned into an old wrinkly potato, and James into a greying old spaniel.
 
Just saw this now! :(

Viper, thanks for the good times any way!
 
I knew this would happen very soon as they started to expand the brand and make more money

Oh hey there buddy! :)

Thanks again for all the work you did early on with this site.
 
I knew this would happen very soon as they started to expand the brand and make more money

I still like to think that this was partially due to this site, seeing that it brought TG to all the ends of the earth. Without this site I would never have watched TG and certainly never would have become a fan (or bought any of their DVDs).
 
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Doh!!! Adding my huge, though belated, thanks for the site and contributors as I've just now found out? :(
 
Great site. Helped me spread Top Gear to the world. Once you get someone hooked on the real unedited shows makes it hard to not want to see them. I still tape in on BBC america but the editing really cuts out some of the great bits. Great job Alex over all these years. Now just need to find a place to get the episodes now. I see one aired tonight. Now it's just a huge game instead of one go to place.

Great job all these years. Thank you
 
Wow, first time logging in.. in years. I see this as a minor inconvenience. The Forums are the real heart of this place. The torrent links on the main blog were just there for old times sake. We can all set RSS's up. The pirate bay mirrors are fast enough.

It sort of feels like we have all moved over time to a whole new studio and are being told we can no longer use the old top gear offices..

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Truely sad to see. It was the life source of Top Gear UK in America for many years. Thank you for all the support, time, and energy used to keep the site up. It will always live on in memory.
 
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