Top Gear Series (-13-) 15

[marc]

I have not been impressed with this season and stopped watching the last one.

Yes the show is funny and it does make me laugh, but they have run out of ideas.

I loved the Senna part last night, he is my idol after all. But BBC has 3 hours of F1 during Sunday and 3 for the British GP, and I feel it should have been part of that programme and not Top Gear.

I can see why people did not like the Senna part after all it was mainly about that car which Lewis has always wanted to drive. There is a Senna film coming out so I think that is why that part made the show.

 

[Nic]

In terms of the lap times for this week's episode, I feel that Diaz's lap time was believable - I mean, she was very fast and quite aggressive with her style, as well as getting the correct lines.

Cruise, on the other hand, was all over the place. He was out of the lines, wasn't particularly smooth and even cocked up the final corner on two wheels. I struggle to see how his time could have been a whole second faster than Diaz's.

This. Exactly.

To wade in to what has already been a big discussion on twitter/FB (and will prob start an argument here) I found last night's episode a bit dull. I wasn't entertained by the Touareg test, and don't think they really achieved anything that couldn't have been done on the track. The Senna tribute was very interesting (and I'm by no means suggesting it shouldn't have been there), but I felt it was a bit too long. Actually, I wouldn't have even minded it being so long if the rest of the show had been a bit more entertaining.

What I would have done:
The Veyron thing (which was actually pretty good)
Half hour of "Dicking About" (Don't really care what, just something pointless but funny.... £250 to buy a wreck and break the land-speed record for driving backwards while wearing a chicken suit, maybe?)Forged superstars in a reasonably priced car lap times
Senna Tribute

Yes, that would've made me a happy vadge. Oh, and if Neal hadn't overcooked the pizza while watching it, that would've made me happy too.

 

[marc]

The Tom lap did look slow etc but the way he done the last corner was actually very fast due to running on the grass then getting the car on 2 wheels. He near enough straight lined the last corner. Its hard to explain.

The race at the start of the show was pointless and its been done so many times now.

As I said I just think that they have run out of ideas again.

I said last weeks was dull but people seemed to love it

 

[furie]

LOL!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/10764117

I know what you mean though Marc. I'll have to watch the Cruise ending again, but that last corner took Jay Kay about 4 seconds from starting to turn to over the finish line. So if Cruise managed it in under 3 seconds say, then yes - it's a good "line".

Of course, to prove it's true, all the BBC need do is release the entire footage raw

 

[Martyn]

I see no real reason why they'd fake the laps, and the footage can't be trusted anyway, because they film all their laps and then just piece together the best footage. That two-wheeled moment might not have been from his fastest lap for example, and Diaz might not have had tourettes through the entire single lap.

To be fair though, I lost a lot of faith in Andy Wilman, he seems to whinge about "armchair enthusiasts" and their opinions quite a lot and claims that we're wrong, even about some of the more obviously scripted stuff!

 

[furie]

To be fair though, I lost a lot of faith in Andy Wilman, he seems to whinge about "armchair enthusiasts" and their opinions quite a lot and claims that we're wrong, even about some of the more obviously scripted stuff!

I agree generally with you first paragraph, this I totally agree with though.

It's when the program became blindingly "set up" I started to lose interest.

Yes, it was kind of funny to watch Jeremy's camper being pushed off a cliff "accidentally", but it was less funny because you knew it was going to happen the moment they parked up.

It's just "entertainment", and for that reason, giving Diaz and Cruise the top times made for blinding entertainment. If it was true, fair play - it's just that for a show which is clearly about entertainment first, realism second - it puts it all in doubt...

 

[marc]

The things is as well Tom has been trained to drive cars by race car drivers in the the USA and stunt drivers for his films so he is not a complete novice.

I am waiting for the normal fast people to take a turn in the car, then we will see if their laps were good or not.

 

[robbeal]

I can't imagine any reason why Top Gear would choose to 'fake' the lap times. If they were slow, they'd be shown as slow, and Top Gear would normally take the opportunity to rip into a star that big for being a bit crap at something they claimed to be good at. As for Cruise's lap, yeah it was a bit all over the place, but it was on the ragged edge, and that's sometimes the best way to get a fast time, and just because he was on two wheels, it doesn't mean he's going slower.

 

[Dave]

He just gave the Top Gear insurance team another heart attack.

 

[Ian]

Why has nobody mentioned how wide Diaz's mouth is?

 

[furie]

^ No

Erm... I'm not entirely sure where I stand on this whole "Stig going to court" thing, but there's a heartfelt blog entry by one of the producers of Top Gear here:
http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2 ... e-is-ours/

 

[Ian]

I wish Top Gear was on at the moment because I'd love to hear Clarkson do the Stig "some say that he..." introductions.

Even if the Stig is this Collins chap, I don't actually care because when he's on the screen, he is "The Stig", a character, not just some bloke I've never heard of in a white jumpsuit.

 

[Martyn]

Even if the Stig is this Collins chap, I don't actually care because when he's on the screen, he is "The Stig", a character, not just some bloke I've never heard of in a white jumpsuit.

Precisely.

It's stupid that the newspapers revealed it publicly. Especially the way it was written as it was some sort of exclusive.

Anyone who really wanted to know who The Stig was could find out really easily. It's been listed as Ben Collins on Wikipedia for God knows how long.

Pretty much everyone in the motorsport community knows, just because they're interested in that sort of thing. It's quite hard to hide really, especially when things get official.

Stupid media.