The TopGear Thread

[babak]

It seems that there are a few TopGear threads so it may help to have the disscussion in one place.

The Show:
www.bbc.co.uk/topgear

Episode list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Top_Gear_episodes

Top Gear lap times:
http://www.topgear.com/content/tgonb...times/thestig/

Other sites:
www.finalgear.com
www.topgear.com

Torrents at
http://www.mininova.org/sub/224

What's a torrent?
http://www.dessent.net/btfaq/

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1581116
An impressive TopGear compilation. Copy and paste for it to work properly

Also, TopGear is now aired on BBCA.

[qball]

How about when it comes on next here in the U.S.?

[andykeck]

Originally Posted by qball

How about when it comes on next here in the U.S.?

Approximately never.

[aanon4]

And let's not forget the hundreds of Top Gear clips to be found on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...&search=Search

[Mattr762]

I didn't like the version they edited for us Americans. They took out the great British humor so they would offend us. That is one of the many things that makes that show great.

[babak]

Originally Posted by qball

How about when it comes on next here in the U.S.?

Andy is right, we get our jollies through downloading the torrents. The New series is slated for Jan 28th.
If you are commenting on the ones shown on discovery channel I don't expect to see any more of them.

[mikester]

Originally Posted by babak

Andy is right, we get our jollies through downloading the torrents. The New series is slated for Jan 28th.
If you are commenting on the ones shown on discovery channel I don't expect to see any more of them.

And a good thing, too, they were just not as good as the straight stuff you can get off the torrents, IMO.

[Crudson]

Another frequently requested link:

Top Gear lap times: http://www.topgear.com/content/tgonb...times/thestig/

[babak]

Originally Posted by Crudson

Another frequently requested link:

Top Gear lap times: http://www.topgear.com/content/tgonb...times/thestig/

Thanks, added it to the first post.

[Andrikos]

OMG!
This has GOT to be one of the funniest Top Gear episodes I've ever seen.
It had me in stitches and the guys (Jeremy, James and the Hamster) were having so much fun with it they could barely contain themselves.

It all starts with a complaint as to why there are no convertible people carriers (more than 2 seaters) after they "review" a hideously embarassing hot-pink Nissan Micra...

They buy a Renault Espace (Think Dodge Caravan) and they chop the roof off and make their own custom "convertible" top.
But it's not over yet:
To prove the worthiness of their design they have to pass 3 challenges:
1) Speed to 100mph with anything falling off
2) Drive through a Safari wild animal park
3) Drive through an automated car wash

Enjoy!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...top+gear&hl=en

[dododge]

Be sure to also see Clarkson's "interior redesign" of an S-class to include stone flooring, a woodburning stove, and wing-back chairs. Hammond and May attempting to drive the car on the track is one of the funniest things the show has ever done.

season 8 episode 4 (the download site may be down at the moment, though).

[peck555]

[RichS]

Best quote: "The African Lion: 6 tons of muscle and teeth!"

[babak]

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=1581116
copy and paste for it to work properly.

[andykeck]

"3 weeks, 2 days, 4 hours, and 22 minutes until the next season of Top Gear starts on January 28th."

[babak]

Originally Posted by andykeck

"3 weeks, 2 days, 4 hours, and 22 minutes until the next season of Top Gear starts on January 28th."

You know they are going to milk the hamster accident for all it's worth and then some. I can't wait.

[DrJ]

Today is my day off so this thread just became my entertainment for the day.

[OppositeLock]

Update: "3 weeks, 2 days, 1 hour, and 10 minutes until the next season of Top Gear starts on January 28th."

Obviously, I cannot wait to get my weekly TopGear fix...

[Taxcheat]

Babak, you should have mentioned that you linked to a MASSIVE collection of Top Gear videos so people know it's worth it to paste that link.

Your thread is still missing some cool stuff (I think... it's so massive I may have missed them).

1. The 1991 season of Top Gear is on Google. Here's episode one:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...=top+gear+1991

Watching how dull that season is makes it easier to appreciate the genius of the current Top Gear. Also, you can see Clarkson's magic even in the early stuff -- and his afro is hilarious.

2. There's cool Clarkson car-related travel shows on google.

A season of Motorworld, here's the Texas episode:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...son+motorworld

He visits weird places like India, Cuba, Vietnam, Switzerland and Detroit in each individual show.

Clarkson Meets the Neighbours, here's episode 1 of 5:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...eremy+clarkson

In this he visits France, Germany and Spain but the Belgium/Dutch episode is missing. I think it's funny.

I've been downloading these off google and playing them in my Mio GPS unit from ChaseCam. Steps:

1. Go to the google link
2. Click "download" but open the gvp file in notepad or equivalent
3. Grab the url out of it, paste into your browser. This lets you download a clean avi file to your hard drive
4. Run PocketDivxEncoder and resize the video to sideways at 320x240. Cuts them from 160mb to about 80mb for the 25 minute shows.
5. Upload them to a Mio that's been hacked to play video via instructions on mionav.com

Presto. You you have enough Clarkson videos to play any time you're stuck in an airport or waiting for something. Fits in your pocket.

[babak]

TaxCheat,
Thanks for the info. I essentially created this sticky to house the topgear threads and also to make it easier for people to be introduced to it. I'll slowly add to the index post as issues mature and we move on to the next.
Mostly, it would be good to have a spot where we can chat about this great show.