Top Gear

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Image:Topgear.jpg
This article is about the television series. For other uses, see Top Gear (disambiguation).

Top Gear is a long-running BBC television series about cars and motorsport.

Contents

1977 to 2001

When it started in 1977, it was initially not networked throughout Britain, hosted by BBC anchorwoman Angela Rippon. Early presenters included Noel Edmonds and William Woollard.

Originally a fairly middle-of-the-road magazine show reviewing new car models and other car-related issues, such as road safety, it saw a massive boost in its audience in the early 1990s when it became more humorous, controversial, and unashamedly petrolhead-oriented programme, fronted by Jeremy Clarkson. Among Clarkson's contemporary presenters were Quentin Willson, a former used car salesman, Tiff Needell, a keen racing driver, and Vicki Butler-Henderson, also a racing driver.

Despite enduring criticism that the show was overly macho, encouraged irresponsible driving behaviour, and ignored the environment, under Clarkson's presentation it pulled in huge audiences. It became hugely influential with the motor manufacturers, since a critical word from the Top Gear team can spell disaster in the sales department; this was most memorable in the case of the Ford Ka, whose sales plummeted when Clarkson declared that "it looks like a frog". However, even more critical statements have not affected sales of the Toyota Corolla; and praise did not help the Alpine Renault A610.

Every year since the early 1990s, the team has named and shamed the worst (and the best) of the year's new cars in the J. D. Power Top 100 survey.

After Clarkson left to pursue other aspects of his TV career, the show became more toned down, but still retaining something of its influence. Without Clarkson its audience fell from six million to under three million.

Consequently, in 2001 the BBC axed the program. In 2002, the show's presenters moved to Channel Five with a virtually identical show called 5th Gear.

2002 to Today

After a period of doing other programmes, Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman pitched a new format for Top Gear to the BBC, who consequently brought it back. Two new presenters were introduced, Richard Hammond and Jason Dawe, before James May replaced Dawe after the first series. The credits also mention The Stig as a presenter, although he never speaks a word. From 2002 to 2003, Perry McCarthy is credited with being the Stig, though the presenters themselves have not confirmed this.

The new format show, made at Dunsfold Park in Surrey, involves a standing studio audience with whom the presenters interact and with whom Clarkson often good-naturedly argues. There is also a "chat show"-type segment where Jeremy talks to a different guest each week and the video of their on-track performance in a Suzuki Liana is viewed (the segment being titled 'Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car'). The show is famed for its outrageous races, for example Clarkson racing the TGV train against Hammond and May from Surrey to Monte Carlo in an Aston Martin DB9, racing a plane from Surrey to Verbier in a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, racing a boat from Heathrow Airport to Oslo in a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.

A trait exhibited by Top Gear producers is an apparent pathological hatred for caravans. Various stunts have seen caravans destroyed by using them as conkers while suspended from cranes, dropping one onto a Toyota Hi-Lux diesel to prove the truck's indestructibility, and towing one example to the point of aerodynamically-induced structural failure using a powerful Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution saloon in an attempt to set the world record for towing a caravan. Though many of these "tests" are often pointless and silly, they are marvellously entertaining to the audience. Presenter Richard Hammond carried this treatment of caravans over to his show Brainiac: Science Abuse.

The sixth series of Top Gear began on May 22, 2005.

Due to the good viewing figures of the new format show, it also seems to have been awarded an increased budget as there are several expensive experiments and trips into Europe and to America.

In May 2005 Discovery Channel in the US started showing a modified version of the relaunched show .

North American Versions

As of May 2005, Top Gear has been shown in North America on the Discovery Channel. The American format is different from the British format, with the news and talk show segments cut to make room for commercials. The show consists of old stories from the British version shown with the studio segments specially recorded for the North American viewers, even though it still is on the same set with the same hosts of the British version.

Currently the North American version is no longer being produced for Discovery Channel. The show no longer has a link on the Discovery Channel's website.[1][2] The sudden "pulling" of the show sent an odd questionmark on many fans minds.

Early speculation was that Discovery pulled the show due to an article Jeremy Clarkson wrote for the Sun Newspaper on September 10, 2005. When fans sent in their protests about the shows "cancelation" to Discovery due to this reasoning, Discovery posted this reason in their e-mails to them:

"The "Top Gear" show was not "taken off the air" but rather ran its pattern. It is being revamped for a U.S. audience and will return later this year. Look for it in December.

How the Americanization of this show is to be seen.

For Canadian viewers, BBC Canada has announced that they will soon start broadcasting the original, uncut episodes of the show originally shown on BBC2 in the UK.

Imitators

After its huge success in the mid-1990s, a number of similar programs were produced. These include Channel 4's Driven, ITV's Pulling Power and BBC World India's Wheels.

When the show was axed in 2001, the show's then current presenters began a near identical show on Channel Five called Fifth Gear.

Theme Tune

Top Gear has used the Allman Brothers Band instrumental hit Jessica as its theme tune for many years, so much so that many viewers are unaware that the track exists as a separate entity from the show. Originally the show used part of the original recording of the song, although in recent years (and as of the previous series in 2004) it has used a different recording which has different instruments and is not performed by the original artists. On the August 7th show in 2005, a version of the theme song was recorded using the engine noise of cars including a classic Bugatti, a Fiat Panda and a Ferrari Enzo.

Segments

Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car

This is a section in the show where a celebrity guest does a lap of the Top Gear track in a Suzuki Liana.

Currently, the top ten celebrity laps are:

The two slowest laps are held by the late TV presenter Richard Whiteley with 2:06.0s and Broadcaster Terry Wogan with 2:04s. They were later humourously beaten by a completely blind man, Bosnia war veteran Billy Baxter, with a time of 2:02s. In June 2005, former Formula 1 racing driver Damon Hill took the lead with a time of 1:46.3s, but his time was recorded separately from other celebrities since he was a former F1 driver, and there is now a separate board for such drivers.

In one famous incident, actor Michael Gambon spectacularly clipped the final corner, following which the corner was named after him. On another occasion, while practicing, ex-Commodores singer Lionel Richie lost a front wheel on a fast corner, but kept the car under control.

Power Laps

This is the current list of power laps, or laps where a car is driven round the track by The Stig are held by:

Car of the Year

Each year, the show presents a "Car of the Year" for the best new car in that year. Winners have included:

The Cool Wall

Main article: see Cool wall

The cool wall is a board where Jeremy and Richard decide which cars are cool, and which aren't. The groups are Sub Zero, Cool, Uncool, and Seriously Uncool. The Aston Martin DB9 has been put in a fridge of it's own next to the wall as it was deemed just too cool for the wall. Jeremy often puts the cars he likes (or more often doesn't like) at the top if Richard disagrees with him, so that Richard cannot reach to move it.

Highlights

2002

  • The programme launched a search for the fastest faith, with representatives from different religions each driving a lap of the test track. The winner was the Church of England.
  • A Radical was raced around the track against an aerobatic plane.

2003

  • In May 2003, Richard used a drag racer with a rocket engine to blow up the car he considered to be the worst of all time, the Nissan Sunny. At the end of the show he also used the racer to blow up a caravan.
  • Jeremy tested the Koenigsegg which, with a top speed of 255mph is the world's fastest production car. He couldn't resist a speed run on the test track. The record was 170mph set by the Pagani Zonda. This was smashed, with the Koenigsegg managing 174mph. Jeremy later commented how he felt nervous before the run because engineers from Koenigsegg had asked him if they could put tape around the windscreen. Jeremy thought that the tape was to keep the windscreen from flying off.
  • Supermodel Jodie Kidd managed to knock Jay Kay off the top spot of the celebrity laps. He had been there since the second ever programme.
  • Richard Hammond demonstrated the dangers of being in a car which is sinking in water.

2004

  • Richard Hammond proved that it was safe to sit in a car struck by the lightning by sitting in Volkswagen Golf in a huge lightning generator.
  • The team participated in two experiments in the form of races to test whether public transport could beat a car. The format is that Richard and James take public transport while Jeremy attempts to beat them in a car. In the first race Richard and James used France's TGV Atlantic trains in an attempt to beat Jeremy to Monte Carlo. Jeremy drove the Aston Martin DB9 and won by a significant margin. In the second race Richard and James attempted to get from London to Verbier in Switzerland using a plane while Jeremy drove there in a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. Jeremy won again but this time only just, passing Richard and James barely 100 metres from their destination.
  • After much practice, Jeremy Clarkson took a Jaguar S-Type Diesel around the Nürburgring in just under ten minutes. His instructor, Sabine Schmitz, promptly took the same car out and did it almost a minute quicker on her first try. When she first heard of Jeremy's time, her reaction was "I could do that in a van", and was given the opportunity to do so in the 2005 season. (She was roughly ten seconds slower in a standard Ford Transit.)

2005

  • In the second episode of series 6, Jeremy tested the Maserati MC12, which costs a staggering £412,000. The team also decided to buy a 2-door coupe each for less than £1,500 that wasn't a Porsche (mirroring a competition they had last series where they had to spend £1,500 to buy a Porsche). They were then set a series of challenges to see which had got the best deal, scoring points for each challenge. The winner turned out to be James, with a Jaguar XJS. Richard bought a BMW 635CSi, while Jeremy went for a Mitsubishi Starion. The challenges included trying to get to 140 MPH, having to drive at 30MPH over Belgian cobbles with a bucket of water on their lap, and doing an endurance race on a farm.
  • Jeremy announced that his participation in the next series will be severely limited for medical reasons (2 slipped discs), and he cannot record any driving segments, under medical advice. It was hinted that this role may be filled by Sabine Schmitz, who had a great deal of fun at Jeremy's expense at the Nürburgring in 2004.
  • A new world record was set for the number of complete sideways rolls in a car. A stuntman managed to make a Ford Sierra estate complete 6 rolls - and survived.
  • Mark Webber became the second F1 driver to drive the Liana around the (very wet) Top Gear track for the F1 Drivers Board in 1m 47.1. Notably, like Damon Hill, he took the first corner differently from the Stig. It should be noted however that there has never been any footage of the Stig in the Liana aired on the show, so it's still impossible to be sure that Webber or Hill isn't the Stig.

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Top_Gear.html"


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