Top Gear - Series 19

[Matra et Alpine]

"entertainment" I think the ep had humour ( maybe not all will get the Britishness of it tho' ) and as noted stunning photography Am surprised the 850R was getting anywhere with the rubber it had .... but as with all TG, plenty of things happen off screen and most of on screen is staged ( eg getting the locals to manhandle the car rather than just another shot of the Scooby dragging it )

[Ferrer]

"entertainment" I think the ep had humour ( maybe not all will get the Britishness of it tho' )

Victorian references were good, if sometime hard to understand.

I'm also quite amazed that the Volvo got anywhere without breaking in half but as you said... how much of it is real?

[RacingManiac]

Yeah I am sure there were copious amount of coercing involved in getting all 3 cars as far as they did....they probably have 3 sets of spare wheels for each cars...They only showed James' car with complete wheel failure, but the Subaru were wearing 16" wheels half way through the 2nd episode....

Dubious of the roadside repair on the Subaru was done with some fabricated parts, but whatever, it was a fun ride.

[jcp123]

Dubious too. It's a show that needs to be taken with a grain of salt anyway though, so I'll give 'em the poetic license.

[Ferrer]

The problem for me wasn't the making up but rather, I failed to see the point.

Have they jumped the shark with this two-part special?

Oh and aby the way, they'll be back in the summer apparently, which is just around the corner.

[jcp123]

I think Top Gear is one of those shows where it's hard to jump the shark. I'm not as much a fan of it as a lot of folks, though, so maybe you see something in that which I don't.

[Matra et Alpine]

If ever there was proof that some shows can jump the shark and continue it was the Reliant Robin rocket

[f6fhellcat13]

James May Destroyed 11 Wheels During Top Gears Range Rover Test

I'm not surprised that they break a lot of cars, but the fact that they destroyed three sets of wheels is pretty extreme.

[NSXType-R]

James May Destroyed 11 Wheels During Top Gears Range Rover Test

I'm not surprised that they break a lot of cars, but the fact that they destroyed three sets of wheels is pretty extreme.

I'm sure they go through quite a few clutches too.

Have you seen some of the driving they do? If I were rich I'd be insane to lend them anything to film with.

[Matra et Alpine]

Long time ago they did worse with an historic C-Type Jag, destroying the tyres and twisting the driveshafts

Definitely if private owner lending them I'd have so many caveats on them, but I guess when a maker like Land Rover is going to get lots of awesome coverage then it is "cheap" PR in the end

[Ferrer]

Definitely if private owner lending them I'd have so many caveats on them, but I guess when a maker like Land Rover is going to get lots of awesome coverage then it is "cheap" PR in the end

Indeed.

The amount of money required to change 11 wheels has to be slightly lower than the amount money required to get similar media coverage to a TopGear road test.

[Matra et Alpine]

I also noted updates that said it was 5 tyres that burst and not wheels "broken"

[RacingManiac]

To be fair to them, the amount of off roading done on that car in that segment was pretty harsh for a low profile road tire SUV....the SUV is probably pretty capable, but the wheel and tire package was the wrong tool for the job...

Still, makes you wonder what other behind the scene thing happens in their filming...I'd expect even more mayhem in that Africa special than what was shown...

[Ferrer]

I also noted updates that said it was 5 tyres that burst and not wheels "broken"

Even if thay had to bring a whole fleet of Range Rovers and then send them to scrapyard after they finished it would still have been worth it for JLR.

To be fair to them, the amount of off roading done on that car in that segment was pretty harsh for a low profile road tire SUV....the SUV is probably pretty capable, but the wheel and tire package was the wrong tool for the job...

Still, makes you wonder what other behind the scene thing happens in their filming...I'd expect even more mayhem in that Africa special than what was shown...

I'm not a serious off-roader so I'm not too bothered, the specials are fine entertainment, and the normal road tests are relatively relevant if you know how to take on them.

But it's true that one wonder's what the level of behind the scenes fakeness involved these days in TopGear.

[pimento]

If if if.. it's true that we don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but to play the devil's advocate those cars are generally known for being at least rather hardy (Nile special cars, that is). It's also fair to assume they were being a bit nicer to them off camera.