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Top Gear (nee Grand Tour) ends after 22 years

T

TonyJZX

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to put this into perspective Richard Hammond, the youngest started at 32 y.o - he is now 54!

they are literally 'males going their own way'...

Clarkson has the wildly successful series "Clarkson's Farm"

Hammond has his own garage and workshop series.

May as his "Man in Japan or Italy or..." where ever he is around the globe series.

The BBC Top Gear I think still exists, just no one cares what's happening there.
 
TonyJZX said:
The BBC Top Gear I think still exists, just no one cares what's happening there.
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It's not Top Gear but the three presenters. Otherwise the other car shows would not struggle to get viewers. Basically, it was already over for me with the trio when the show moved to Amazon Studios. It was always very scripted, plus there were the running gags and the chemistry between the three presenters. With Amazon the production became even bigger and more glamorous, at least that didn't always suit my taste.

 
Yeh, I never warmed up to the Amazon version and stopped watching after the pilot. The three though were just fantastic prior to that in the original Top Gear.
 
Glad it's done. Terrible show imho. Can't stand Clerkson personally.
Much preferred Fifth Gear with Tiff Needell back in the day. Waay less smugness.
(Plus way more skill and knowledge imparted.)
My 2c.
 
Chr1 said:
Glad it's done. Terrible show imho. Can't stand Clerkson personally.
Much preferred Fifth Gear with Tiff Needell back in the day. Waay less smugness.
(Plus way more skill and knowledge imparted.)
My 2c.
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I've often thought you could simply divide the people of the world into those who find Clarkson hugely entertaining and those who can't stand him. There's a whole back story of 'world view' behind that which goes far further than just liking a TV show.

Regarding TG it was at its best early days when it was still pretending to be a car show, it made the nonsense funnier somehow. Once they gave up on that and just delivered the nonsense direct it didn't work as well. That's why The Grand Tour also didn't work so well I think.
 
I never got bored of Hammond and Clarkson crashing into May's car every time they parked up. But with other people doing it, it just would have been funny once, if that. Only worked due to the dynamic.
 
clarkson plays the belligerent English gammon quite well... to a point he owns a castle and probably hundreds of millions of pounds... and that's just his gut!

i realise Clarkson has some problematic views and he often takes the contrary view becuase that's what he is but that doesnt mean his TV shows are really entertaining

i have no interest in farming but i watched it all at work (my work allows me to watch various crap while I tend to multi million dollar pieces of equipment)

early top gear (say 2004-2012) is amazing tv - they really had lightning in a bottle

i found Amazon's production worse but its still worth watching

but then I like old English shitboxes like Capri V6s, Triumph Stags...
 
I don't particularly "like" Clarkson, but the three of them have chemistry and make me laugh, sometimes a lot, which is more than many so-called comedy shows manage.

I do agree that Tiff seems to be a much nicer person who is totally focused on cars and educating the viewer, but he doesn't get laughs.

Had anyone here read Clarkson's car reviews? They are hilarious!
 
i liked old 5th Gear

i can even remember their names but its a DIFFERENT show - they reviewed common cars you can buy... in the UK!

Tiff Needel I quite like but he has the personality of a race car driver... just like Jason Plato.

Vicki Butler Henderson is a middle aged woman pretending to be 23. But she's ok too.

I also quite liked Johnny Smith and Tom Ford. These two showed some unique enthusiasm for this 'sport' and you can see it in their post 5th Gear careers.

But these guys will never be Top Gear.
 
When Top Gear actually reviewed cars (and bikes) which people had a chance of being able to afford, it was worth watching. They had Tiff Needell, Quentin Wilson, Vikki Butler-Henderson etc on Top Gear and they actually know what they are talking about.
Fifth Gear was built from the scraps and was way better than the Top Gear reboot with Hammond, May and Clarkson, in the kind of way ASR is way better than <insert nonsense audiophile forum of your choice>.
 
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I never fell in love with the grand tour.
As a car enthusiast, the “top gear” series talked about cars, in a fun, irreverent way.
The trips and challenges between different means of transport were beautiful, like the road tests and the particular tests.
The Grand Tour series was basically only focused on the 3 nice conductors.
The car had become a supporting actor.

I must add that in recent years, except for rare cases, the car that we have all learned to love has become in too many cases a tablet with wheels, in short, an appliance. It is difficult to be able to tell something engaging….
 
top gear and whatever is a fantasy type thing for... guys

i always found it funny how Top Gear was a UK institution and yet we know that most people get around in small French hatchbacks... and like the guy above who lives in Italy

I think of Ferrari Lamborghini Maserati and the Alfa Guilia Quadfoglio... but reality is less than this...

I have a Japanese SUV and a Thai built diesel 4x4 light truck... all automatic... this isnt my dream but like I remember why I was younger and driving turbo Japanese sports cars and V8 sport sedans... and so I'm waiting for that day to return...

how fun was a V8 manual rwd car with no electronic safety features like ABS traction control and stability.
 
TonyJZX said:
and so I'm waiting for that day to return...
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there are two of us… having finished sorting out a few family “details”, I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel of something I can finally “drive”…
 
Watched it and enjoyed thinking to myself “I was there….I know where that is,”, could’ve done without the daft stunts that are tired and repetitive by now but it’s the final show so I’ll forgive them. Not looked at my 3/400 pics from 30 years ago for ages so I’ll get them out the cupboard t’morn and have a wee reminisce to myself of a time where I felt invincible at 22, on my own (mostly) for 6 months in Zimbabwe.
 
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ohnoanyway.jpg
 
While I enjoy the show, it probably went on a few years too many. Time to retire.
 
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