Gaz6002 Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 I do know of somebody who lives in the same village as he does and has frequently had drinks in the local pub with him. My friend is a racing driver (although not a famous one ), and as an experienced racing driver he knows a lot about cars.... and he once told me about Clarkson. He told me that he knew MUCH more than what he lets on. The idea of the Top Gear show is to try and be on a level playing field with the AVERAGE public viewer. Therefore all the techy geeky stuff about cars is brushed over with intentional ignorance. So he will give out the effect that they are gooning around only giving out information which the average public viewer would be interested in. And I think it has worked a treat. Top Gear is one of the most viewed shows on british TV. The 'new' format which now gives a more 'lounge discussion' approach to the latest happenings in the car world has been a big success. 5th gear tried to immitate it with a 'cafe discussion' approach from the ace cafe. (But the presenters on that show just do not work). But it is no lie that Clarkson can drive and he does know about the motors he drives. The apparent lack of knowledge and 'know how' is a put on show he does for Top Gear to keep himself comparable to the average viewer. (Same goes for the rest of the TG presenter team). And this also allows the show to add comedy factor to its features. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSoop Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 It's simple dear boy It just wouldn't be TG, it would come across more like The Open University- Yawn. Week 1) How a 4 stroke engine works... week 2) How a 4 stroke engine works... . . . . week 8) How a 4 stroke....you get the idea. Many engineers as bright as they are, would just be awfully dull doing a piece to camera. What they would say (too technical) how they say it (in a monotonous & dreary voice) Clarkson's writing is particularly good in a page turning and humorous kind of way- and it comes across on camera very well IMHO Well you are right there but Hammond is quite funny and he has an idea about technology and mechanical workings... James May is well, James May...and is the intelligent but boring presenter... Clarkson is just Clarkson... It's the way he slaggs a car off but doesn't appreciate the way it works, you just would of thought doing road testing on different cars, he would have an idea how something like that works... Do you remember ages ago when Carol Vorderman was on the show?? She asked him how an engine, supercharger and a Turbo works...he couldn't answer any of them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSoop Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 I do know of somebody who lives in the same village as he does and has frequently had drinks in the local pub with him. My friend is a racing driver (although not a famous one ), and as an experienced racing driver he knows a lot about cars.... and he once told me about Clarkson. He told me that he knew MUCH more than what he lets on. The idea of the Top Gear show is to try and be on a level playing field with the AVERAGE public viewer. Therefore all the techy geeky stuff about cars is brushed over with intentional ignorance. So he will give out the effect that they are gooning around only giving out information which the average public viewer would be interested in. And I think it has worked a treat. Top Gear is one of the most viewed shows on british TV. The 'new' format which now gives a more 'lounge discussion' approach to the latest happenings in the car world has been a big success. 5th gear tried to immitate it with a 'cafe discussion' approach from the ace cafe. (But the presenters on that show just do not work). But it is no lie that Clarkson can drive and he does know about the motors he drives. The apparent lack of knowledge and 'know how' is a put on show he does for Top Gear to keep himself comparable to the average viewer. (Same goes for the rest of the TG presenter team). And this also allows the show to add comedy factor to its features. Wow, that is suprising, it's like that episode with that odd Subaru thing, he looked genuinly perplexed when that technician was explaining to him how the diff works etc... If he does know more than he's letting on then well fair play to him... It just doesn't appear that way at all on TV... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miko_supra Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Agreed, all clarkson is doing is getting to the knowledge level of his target audience...There could be a chance the supra might be on it in the future, they've had the 300zx and rx7 on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveK Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 This thread is based on the myth that : single turbo supra is faster than therefore it's a better car. Do you really think most people who can afford £100K+ cars only bought them because they didn't realise the Supra was so good? Do you think they care that a single Supra might be faster? Do you think Joe Public cares that a 15 year old car is fast? About the only people who would care that a Supra was on there are (some of) the people on this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 I agree with most of the replies here. Top Gear simply doesn't "do" old and/or modified cars, unless they're driving them across Africa with no mecahnical stops allowed as some sort of experiment. It's not where they pitch themselves. It's been discussed here before, but TG stopped being about technical information ages ago. It's primarily "Lads' TV" now, shiny new cars being booted round a track, and stunts involving who can get from Vladivostok to London first: Clarkson in an Audi or May & Hammond in an Aeroflot. PS for today only: liking the Halloween buttons, although the edit/quote/etc buttons look more like gingerbread men than ghosts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazboy Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 If they did, who is going to lend them a car for the afternoon? Mint, 100% stock Supras with trusting owners willing to let their P&J be thrashed around a track do not grow on trees. Just finding such a combination probably rules the idea out anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adzys straight6 Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 (edited) does anyone recall a top gear where they got a modified car car to race a classic race car...well kinda. In typical top gear fashion they picked the most redicious 306 modded car with 20k worth of ICE vs an austin healy which weighed er....nothing. I think it would be more interesting if top gear picked any car they wanted and asked the public to race it...the envy supra or cowboys beebops would be very interesting against the veyron!! Edited October 31, 2008 by Adzys straight6 (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedM Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 This thread is based on the myth that : single turbo supra is faster than therefore it's a better car. Do you really think most people who can afford £100K+ cars only bought them because they didn't realise the Supra was so good? Do you think they care that a single Supra might be faster? Do you think Joe Public cares that a 15 year old car is fast? About the only people who would care that a Supra was on there are (some of) the people on this forum. Crikey! Imagine the fallout if I'd said that!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogmaw Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 To all those people who are suggesting a race Supra vs Veyron - forget it. You only have to watch JamieP's video to see why! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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