Top Gear marks 20 years
Those magnificent men — and women — in their driving machines are back Saturday for a new season of Top Gear, the show’s milestone 20th. That’s the original Top Gear, mind, and not that pallid American imitation. Gear’s gentlemen — and at least one lady — start their engines on a new season with a test of a brand-spanking-new Vauxhall Astra. Life’s Too Short star Warwick Davis, soul-singer Joss Stone and comedian Jimmy Carr are among the semi-celebrities who try to record the fastest lap time in a bid to prove that the Germans and the Brits can indeed work together.
Following the Vauxhall Astra stunt, Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson and James May fly to New Zealand. They’d drive, they’d tell you but, you know, what with the Pacific and all. There they hop inside a Toyota Corolla and race an America’s Cup-certified sailboat across 400 miles of rough terrain.
Four hundred miles of rough terrain — make that 643.74 kilometres — is a lot of wear and tear on a family sedan, but the folks at Toyota will tell you they stand behind their product, even if it is driven by a couple of gear-happy Brits.
Trivia test: Quickly now, how many countries have the steering wheel on the right side, as opposed to the left? Wrong. The World Book says 74 but, as every proper English-speaking person knows, there’s only one that counts: the United Kingdom.
Technically, New Zealand is one of them, but as Clarkson, May and fellow Gear-head Richard Hammond will happily remind you, New Zealanders understand their history, unlike Canada, where they tend to drive suspiciously like Americans.
Via satellite from his home in the U.K., before a recent gathering of reporters in Los Angeles, Clarkson tried to explain Top Gear’s popularity with a worldwide audience, and not just those enlightened souls who drive on the left side of the road.
“I have absolutely no idea, because (Top Gear fans) fall into a number of different categories. You have those who like to see three grown men falling over and catching fire every week. And then you have those who really want to know what the latest Ferrari is like. And then you have those for whom there is just nothing else to do.”
“I really, genuinely have tried to work it out but just can’t, because we’re ugly, we have yellow teeth and none of us can drive very well. We don’t really know anything about cars, either. Well, James does, but he’s very boring about it.”
Top Gear is consistently one of BBC Canada’s highest-rated, most-watched programs — in part, Clarkson suggested, because Americans’ attitude toward Top Gear borders on sheer hatred at times.
“I know there are some hardcore fans in America,” Clarkson said. “Particularly in America, because we see what they write on their websites. And even they hate us, as well. So, yeah, it’s hate pretty much.” (BBC Canada — 6 p.m.)