Racing motorhomes

[Chopper Scott]

Watch until the end. What a sink faucet!!! I had tears from laughing.......

Motorhome racing

[bevans6]

They raced buses to determine the best bus for London transit once.  Couple of bendy buses, etc, and it took them about four tries to put the double decker on it's side, they had to drive it off a ledge.  Well worth finding!  They raced a bunch of airport tarmac vehicles once, including one of those trains of luggage carts.  the fire truck won, after spraying everyone with water  to lighten up.  It took them a couple of tries to put the catering truck on it's side after they lifted the body up to full "load an aircraft" height. 

I am a big fan of the show, we get it every night at 5 pm.  reruns, obviously.  Last night they had Ken Block driving  a rally car all around an air port, there was one astounding shot of the car and a motorcycle jumping a bridge 30 feet in the air, slow motion, and an air force transport plane directly in shot on a landing run.  Absolutely astounding cinematography for a one hour TV show.  They had the shot from two angles so you could tell it was real, not photoshopped.

Best car show made, in my opinion.

Brian

[Jeremy]

As it happens I saw the latest Top Gear show just an hour ago (the one with the Skoda Yeti - I've no idea if you get the new shows at the same time over there). Anyway, the 'ball chasing' scene with the big dog and the small dog was beautifully done, and very funny.

As you say, they really go the extra mile to craft the shows together. What particularly amazes me is the power they seem to have to be able to actually organise some of their ridiculous stunt ideas - such as when their Ford Fiesta test involved putting it on a landing craft and taking part in what looked to be a serious and genuine Army & Air Force beach-assault exercise.

Jeremy

[Barn Owl]

What particularly amazes me is the power they seem to have to be able to actually organise some of their ridiculous stunt ideas

Yea, like this Reliant Robin space shuttle:

Top Gear - Reliant Robin space shuttle

[bevans6]

i think the show, through the BBC, has a strong link to the British armed forces, and they use it almost as a recruiting aid.  They get all sorts of stuff, like a helicopter gun ship to chase a Lotus around and try to shoot it, a Harrier to have a race with a Bugatti Veyron  (fighter jet took off and went a mile straight up and back down, while the Veryon went out the runway and turned around and came back), a tank to chase Jeremy all over a proving ground trying to shoot him in a drug dealers confiscated car, etc.  It's the quality of how they do it that astounds me.

Of course the two show series on how they tried to kill a Toyota HiLux is classic as well.

Brian

[Jeremy]

And the one where they sent a nitrous-injected Jaguar down the length of an aircraft carrier, up the ramp at the end and into the sea.

Oh well - no doubt both the BBC and armed forces feel equally relaxed about wasting taxpayer's money on such frivolities. (Actually, I expect Top Gear represents a huge income stream for the BBC, what with syndicating the show around the world and, all the spins-off from magazines, books, games, DVDs and other merchandising).

Jeremy

[RottenBob]

I loved this motorhome race!! It certainly shows the great structural integrity (ha-ha) of the standard S&S machine and highlights one of the many reasons we all drive buses. Top Gear is always incredibly entertaining and they have the best toys! New this season is also an American version; good, but not as good as the original British version (although my darling wife would disagree).

[Iceni John]

I agree.   It's the funniest thing on TV (apart from The Simpsons . . .), not least of all because of the interactions between the three completely disparate presenters.   Jeremy Clarkson is a true Homer Simpson, an oafish boor who delights in non-PC utterances at everyone else's expense.   How can anyone not feel sorry for Richard Hammond, always the subject of Jeremy's derision?   James May is my favorite:  unassuming, under-appreciated, but ultimately the most perceptive of them all.   I think of Top Gear as another The Last Of The Summer Wine  -  three men recreating their lost youth and having some harmless fun, albeit with some very expensive toys.

Who can forget Jeremy in the Ariel Atom, his jowls flapping like a bloodhound hanging out a car window?   Or James, the Captain Slow who gets lost going around a race track, driving a Bugatti Veyron at 250-plus MPH?   Or the three of them riding a motley collection of motorbikes through Vietnam, or going across Africa in three old bangers, or driving through the Peruvian rain forest and over the Andes.   Wonderful.

John

[challenger440]

I laughed until I hurt myself watching the Robin Reliant show.   My gosh those cars were horrible. 
  I produce videos for a living and yes their production values are incredible. 
  The Robin space shuttle was truly fantastic.  I really wished the explosive bolts would have worked.

  Watching the S & S go around the track was...educational.
jm

[belfert]

Did anyone notice that the majority of the motorhomes were left hand drive even though they are in Great Britain?  It appears several of them were probably imported from the USA.

Is the supposedly new Top Gear show on History Channel now the same as the British show or is it is a different show for the USA market?  The host seems to be different from the Top Gear episodes from Britain.

[Iceni John]

History Channel's version of Top Gear is a pale imitator of the original, utterly lacking any wit and self-deprecating humor and with three presenters who collectively muster less personality and charisma than the Stig.   There's no spark of originality, and their rehashed versions of the original escapades seem flat and uninvolving.   Very disappointing.   It's just another example of a pointless remake.

What's next?   Maybe an Indian Top Gear, featuring road tests of the latest bullock cart, and inviting guest swamis and gurus to race Tuk-Tuks around New Delhi's Connaught Circle in the rush hour.   I guess the Stig would have to wear a full-face turban and a Ghandi loincloth.   (Now that would be worth watching.)

John

[Chopper Scott]

That sounds like what Ice Road Truckers did John!!!

[Jeremy]

Did anyone notice that the majority of the motorhomes were left hand drive even though they are in Great Britain?  It appears several of them were probably imported from the USA.

Belfert: As the resident rocketry expert I was hoping for an analysis of the Space Shuttle attempt!

Regarding the left-hand-drive motorhomes - a couple of the vehicles in the film are obviously American, but not because they are left-hand-drive. The whole of the rest of Europe uses left-hand-drive vehicles - in fact, as far as I can think, Britain is one of only three countries in the whole world that use right-hand-drive (the other two being Japan & Australia).

There are plenty of American RVs in the UK, by the way. There are three Class 'A's and an Airstream living just on my street. And I have a Chevy dayvan myself.

Jeremy

[belfert]

Belfert: As the resident rocketry expert I was hoping for an analysis of the Space Shuttle attempt!

I've never seen that episode of Top Gear.  I have only seen a very few episodes.

Not all of the left hand drive motorhomes were American.  GM sells Chevy vehicles worldwide.  Many of them are even models they don't even sell in the USA.

[Kiwi55]

" in fact, as far as I can think, Britain is one of only three countries in the whole world that use right-hand-drive (the other two being Japan & Australia)."


Approximatly 1/3 of the worlds countries drive on the left (right hand drive) New Zealand. South Africa, Jamica etc