Fwd: The Times on TopGear - "Back on track after just a weebit of an accident" | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: A.J. Merrifield (101pdt![]() |
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Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 07:09:32 -0800 (PST) |
Tiff is cool, but VBH is frickin' hot... - A.J.
On 1/31/07, Hunter N. Schultz <hns [at] biosafepanama.com> wrote:
http://gear.viper007bond.com/
Everything you wanted to know about Top Gear and Fifth Gear...
Great site with download links.
Matt Boyd wrote: > What channels is it shown on the states these days? I've got it set on my > ReplayTV (the other DVR) to record at any time, and I've never seen it in > many months.... > > -matt > '85 308 > > > On 1/31/07, Steve Jenkins <steve [at] stevejenkins.com> wrote: > >> I frickin' LOVE that show. Can't wait to see this episode! >> >> I also dig the knock-off Fifth Gear, because Tiff is cool. >> >> Steve >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Dennis Liu [mailto: bigheaddennis [at] gmail.com] >> Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 10:27 AM >> To: Steve Jenkins >> Cc: The FerrariList >> Subject: [Ferrari] The Times on TopGear - "Back on track after just a >> weebit >> of an accident" >> >> >> >> http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22750-2567280,00.html >> >> The Sunday Times January 28, 2007 >> >> Back on track after just a wee bit of an accident >> >> As Top Gear swaggers back tonight, Nicholas Rufford looks at the show that >> put a rocket up genteel TV driving programmes >> >> >> >> Tonight Top Gear returns to television screens featuring an all-new array >> of >> stunts, supercars and celebrities. It's a formula that has attracted >> controversy and helped the show achieve almost cult status in 20 different >> countries; but it wasn't always like that. Launched as a weekly round-up >> of >> motoring news, Top Gear had an inauspicious start in 1977. Then it was a >> rather prim and proper half-hour teatime programme — the television >> equivalent of a knitted twinset. >> >> In classic Auntie style, it featured items on road safety, toured >> factories >> to see how cars were made and politely glossed over the fact that in those >> days Lancias were rust buckets and if you crashed a Mini the engine ended >> up >> in your lap. >> >> A perfectly groomed Angela Rippon, the former BBC news anchorwoman, >> introduced inoffensive items on car care and caravanning holidays. Other >> early presenters included Noel Edmonds and William Woollard from >> Tomorrow's >> World. >> >> Jeremy Clarkson did not become lead presenter until three years after his >> first appearance in 1988 when, as a curly-haired 28-year-old motoring >> journalist, he fronted a piece about customised Rolls-Royces. It took a >> while before he found his style (pregnant pauses, upward inflection for >> dramatic effect, and a cutting humour that shocked a cosy motoring >> industry >> out of its complacency), but when he did, Top Gear was transformed, >> pulling >> in huge audiences with its mix of laddish banter and unabashed love >> >> of fast cars. In the early days Clarkson was joined by Quentin Willson, a >> used car dealer, racing driver Tiff Needell and kittenish Vicki Butler- >> Henderson, later supplanted by Kate Humble. But Clarkson was always the >> main >> attraction. >> >> >> When he left Top Gear in 1999, searching for fresh challenges, audience >> figures fell from 6m to less than 3m and the show was axed in 2001. The >> following year Clarkson, with Andy Wilman, a TV producer and his former
>> schoolmate at Repton in Derbyshire, hit upon the idea of relaunching Top >> Gear in a new format. "Around about that time the BBC was struggling to >> know >> how to use Jeremy," Wilman recalls. "He was being offered awful stuff like >> Britain's Biggest Cushions or the Top 10 Nicest Curry Spices — I forget >> what >> exactly. When Top Gear went off the air we saw an opportunity." >> >> Out went sensible reviews of dull runarounds, in came the Stig, the Cool >> Wall, Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, stunts, capers and supercars. >> Richard >> Hammond joined the show for the first of the relaunched series, along with >> Jason Dawe, a former car salesman and now The Sunday Times's used car >> expert. When James May rejoined the team (he had presented briefly >> following >> Clarkson's departure) they hit on the perfect chemistry — in Wilman's >> words >> "three old dance troupe queens" in a sort of motorised Last of the Summer >> Wine. >> >> Top Gear, which attracts audiences of 4m-5m, was the world's most pirated >> show last year, largely as a result of being posted by fans on YouTube, >> and >> has inspired a string of lookalikes, including Five's revamped Fifth Gear >> and Sky's Vroom Vroom. >> >> Hammond: watching the crash doesn't hurt at all >> >> The most gripping — if terrifying — sequence to be shown in the new Top
>> Gear >> series will be the one that kicks the show off: footage of the near-300mph >> crash that almost killed Richard Hammond. >> >> The programme has taken the decision to broadcast in full the final run
>> that >> ended in disaster. In the immediate aftermath of the crash it would have >> been inconceivable for the BBC to show the tape, and it is testament to >> Hammond's remarkable recovery that it feels able to do so now — just four >> months on. >> >> Hammond has no qualms about showing the crash that almost cost him his >> life. >> "If it didn't kill me at the time, it wouldn't kill me just watching it. >> But >> to see the car, track, and details like the crash helmet that saved my >> life >> and the harness that stopped me being smashed to pieces took my breath >> away," he said. >> >> The presenter's memories of the incident are sketchy at best: he remembers >> setting off on the run, then waking up in hospital. However, his reactions >> inside the cockpit have been likened to those of a jet pilot. As the tyre >> broke apart, causing the car to veer to the right, Hammond immediately >> applied opposite lock on the steering wheel, holding the car for vital >> milliseconds before the car left the runway. >> >> The analogy is not far off, according to Wing Commander Rob Adlam, an RAF >> Harrier pilot: "When I saw the pictures I thought, 'That's gone, that tyre >> has exploded, he's going the wrong way and there is nothing he can do >> about >> it.' There is only so much you can do in the finite amount of time between >> something going wrong and an accident happening." >> >> Some have claimed Hammond didn't take the right evasive action, but it is >> questionable whether anyone could have avoided this crash. >> >> "Richard was strapped to a firework," said Perry McCarthy, the former >> Formula One racing driver who played the original Stig in Top Gear. "I >> don't >> know what happened but I can tell you that even with the amount of racing >> experience that I or any other racing driver has, if something went wrong >> with the car we would not be able to do anything about it either." >> >> According to McCarthy, the moments leading up to a crash are the most >> frightening. "It's not all over in seconds — it's faster than that. Your >> brain is recognising that you are coming up to a wall or whatever at >> 200mph, >> so you know you haven't terribly long and you are trying to make a plan; >> there is a microprocess going on in your brain as you try to fight it >> using >> all the skills that you have, but at the same time there is 1% of you >> thinking, 'This is going to hurt, this could be goodnight'." >> >> Jeremy Clarkson >> >> Nickname Jezza >> Top Gear history Presenter from 1989-1999 then from 2002 >> Before Top Gear Travelling salesman selling Paddington Bear toys for his >> parents' company, journalist on the Rotherham Advertiser >> Lives Oxfordshire with wife Francie and their three children >> Favourite cars Bugatti Veyron, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, Rolls-Royce >> Phantom >> Look Jacket, deck shoes and Levi's 501 jeans. Drapers, magazine to the >> fashion industry, blamed "the Jeremy effect" for poor denim sales in the >> late 1990s >> Driving style Opinionated. Clarkson's daughter Emily complained in a >> Sunday >> Times article of Coke cans in the footwells and constant gripes about >> roadworks, "the colour of somebody else's Ferrari" and buses >> Best lines (On the Smart Roadster) "In fact, it has exactly the same top >> speed as Henry VIII"; (On the Koenigsegg CCX) "It sounds like the Norse >> god >> of thunder gargling a hammer"; (About the Porsche 911) "Well, this isn't >> so >> much a car, more a place where a fat, balding, middle-aged man can go off >> and have his mid-life crisis ... I liked it a lot"; "Speed has never >> killed >> anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary, that's what gets you, that's the >> killer" >> Did you know? Is the great-great-great grandson of John Kilner >> (1792-1857), >> who invented the Kilner jar. Is learning to play the drums. Was one of the >> passengers on Concorde's last flight when he paraphrased Neil Armstrong to >> describe the demise of the supersonic plane: "This is one small step for a >> man, but one huge leap backwards for mankind." Also appeared as the voice >> of >> Harv, Lightning McQueen's agent, in the Disney Pixar animation Cars. >> Passed >> his driving test in his grandfather's Bentley >> >> James May >> >> Nickname Captain Slow and the Other Bloke from Top Gear >> Top Gear history Presented in 1999 then rejoined in 2003 >> Before Top Gear Subeditor on The Engineer then on Autocar, presented >> Driven >> on Channel 4 in 1998 >> Lives West London, with his cat Fusker >> Favourite cars Bentley T2, Rolls-Royce Corniche, Fiat Panda Dishevelled
>> geography teacher/tousle-haired squire >> Look Driving style Slow – although others have dubbed it "stately". Claims >> to practise "Christian motoring" >> Best lines (On the Honda Element) "Would the Element be a car for people >> who >> like hip-hop, or for people waiting for a hip op?"; "And now, the car >> every >> footballer's wife's hairdresser's masseuse has been waiting for: the new >> Mercedes SLK"; "I still think I'm better at writing than TV presenting. >> I'm >> only all right on the TV because I'm a bit hopeless, but people seem to >> quite like that" >> Did you know? He is licensed to fly a light aircraft. Plays the piano and >> studied music at Lancaster University. Was sacked from Autocar after he >> spelt out a hidden message (about how tedious a production task was) in a >> magazine supplement he was subediting and readers phoned in thinking they >> had won a prize >> >> Richard Hammond >> >> Nickname The Hamster >> Top Gear history Joined in 2002 >> Before Top Gear Barman and "chicken chaser" at a chicken farm. Began >> broadcasting career at BBC Radio York >> Lives Gloucestershire with his wife Mindy and their two young daughters >> Favourite cars Porsche 911, original Dodge Charger >> Look Spiky-haired, sparkly-toothed housewives' favourite >> Driving style Nippy/jet-propelled >> Best lines (During the Lillehammer bobsleigh run) "Apparently it hits Gs >> in >> some of those corners down there. The driver's told me that he's been >> doing >> this for six years and he's 3cm shorter. I can't afford to lose 3cm!"; >> "Unless I have been sorely misinformed, supermodels are powerless to 6½ >> resist a man with illuminated doorsills"; "I have not had my teeth >> whitened" >> (repeatedly, in response to Clarkson's jibes) >> Did you know? Has three horses, four dogs, two cats, a rabbit and handful >> of >> chickens. Presents Cruft's on the BBC. Is 5ft 7in tall. When he had to >> work >> on Mindy's birthday in 2005 he arranged for her dream bike, a >> Harley-Davidson Sportster, to be delivered to their house. Following his >> jet >> car accident he developed a brief passion for Lego >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> _________________________________________________________________ >> To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options, please visit: >> >> http://lists.ferrarilist.com/mailman/options/ferrari/steve%40stevejenkins.co >> m >> >> Sponsored by BidNip.com eBay Auction Sniper >> >> _________________________________________________________________ >> To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options, please visit: >> >> http://lists.ferrarilist.com/mailman/options/ferrari/ferrari308driver%40gmail.com
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The Times on TopGear - "Back on track after just a wee bit of an accident" Dennis Liu, January 31 2007
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Re: The Times on TopGear - "Back on track after just a weebit of an accident" Steve Jenkins, January 31 2007
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Re: The Times on TopGear - "Back on track after just a weebit of an accident" Matt Boyd, January 31 2007
- Re: The Times on TopGear - "Back on track after just a weebit of an accident" Hunter N. Schultz, January 31 2007
- Message not available
- Fwd: The Times on TopGear - "Back on track after just a weebit of an accident" A.J. Merrifield, February 1 2007
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Re: The Times on TopGear - "Back on track after just a weebit of an accident" Matt Boyd, January 31 2007
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Re: The Times on TopGear - "Back on track after just a weebit of an accident" Steve Jenkins, January 31 2007
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