Top Gear

[Ashmada]

She is.

I'm guess that means getting old. Starting to fantasize on celebs (slightly) younger than me.

[Nitsuki]

Lol, and we were all lead to believe her lap time was awesome and she was the slowest dry lap.

That entire last episode was funny as hell as always. God i need to meet those guys before i die, definitely one of my life dreams since i started watching top gear.

[Shojin]

You mean before they die. Clarkson is pushing 51 this year and May isn't too far behind him.

[ZarakiKujata]

Well two of them have also been hospitalized from this show's stunts soo I think death is definitely an issue.

[Pharaun]

In all honesty I'm surprised that one of them hasn't been killed by now with all the crazy stuff they do. I know they take every precaution, but still...

Totally changing subjects, I was watching some of the older episodes again and I just happened to watch the one where Jeremy reviewed the tiny Peel P50 and did it by driving it around the BBC offices, shit was hilarious. The part where he was in the elevator with Fiona Bruce was just amazing.

[Omniyoji]

Yeah Fiona Bruce is amazing

[Eliseos]

Really enjoyed the episode from today, especially the film about the lunar rover. Now to wait for June

[Tajin]

Amazing episode.

[Pharaun]

I really enjoyed the episode, watching James driving the Moon Buggy 2.0 was hilariously awesome. I can't believe this season is over already...June can't come soon enough.

[TummieGaruda]

Looks like Top Gear is being sued by Tesla for rigging the car during testing which made the car look bad.
Funny thing is though while it was staged, I think it was done so to prove a point about electric cars and the fact that they aren't off the grid, and that it takes a long time to charge.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-car-test.html

[Eliseos]

Not making enough money with selling our cars, so let's make money by suing people saying bad things about them.

Plus I'm pretty sure everyone knows Clarkson's stance on electrics. Maybe Toyota will join the suit, with part of it requiring Clarkson to purchase a Prius.

[ZarakiKujata]

Kind of funny though. Clarkson is not partial in the tests?

*GASP*

[Pharaun]

Wow, someone at Tesla still has a raging case of the Mads over that review.

[Omniyoji]

Not making enough money with selling our cars, so let's make money by suing people saying bad things about them.

Yeah, sounds like a case of the butthurt.

[ZarakiKujata]

2 years from now when the Mexican car maker wakes up from his siesta and sees what Top Gear said I guess we can expect a law suit from them too?

[Misterjingles]

Looks like Top Gear is being sued by Tesla for rigging the car during testing which made the car look bad.
Funny thing is though while it was staged, I think it was done so to prove a point about electric cars and the fact that they aren't off the grid, and that it takes a long time to charge.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-car-test.html

Executive producer Andy Wilman on this via http://transmission.blogs.topgear.co...-legal-action/

You may know that Tesla has issued a writ against Top Gear for defamation and malicious falsehood over the road test that we broadcast of the Tesla Roadster in December 2008. The normal procedure for the BBC in a legal case is to acknowledge receipt of the other party’s claim, and then say no more and get on with preparing its defence for court.

Tesla, however, doesn’t seem content to wait for the legal eagles to settle matters. On the contrary, it’s been very busy promoting its side of the argument through the media. Why even last night the Top Gear office accidentally received an email sent from a Public Relations firm to The One Show, asking if it would like to have the Tesla spokesperson on their programme to talk about the case. It says: “PHA Media represent Tesla and this could make for a fantastic interview.” And the PHA man’s not finished there. “The presenters could have some fun with this.” He adds. “Matt and Alex could even take the Tesla for a spin and test it out, reaffirming its virtues?” Plenty of respect for editorial independence in that last line there and I wish the chaps from PHA Media all the best in their crusade.

However, back to Top Gear, and yes, normally we would follow the pre-legal etiquette of keeping schtum until we get our day in court, but since the other side are being quite noisy with their views on how we conduct ourselves, I just would like to point out one or two things to Top Gear viewers:

1. We never said that the Tesla’s true range is only 55 miles, as opposed to their own claim of 211, or that it had actually ran out of charge. In the film our actual words were: “We calculated that on our track it would run out after 55 miles”. The first point here is that the track is where we do our tests of sports cars and supercars, as has happened ever since Top Gear existed. This is where cars are driven fast and hard, and since Tesla calls its roadster “The Supercar. Redefined.” it seemed pretty logical to us that the right test was a track test. The second point is that the figure of 55 miles came not from our heads, but from Tesla’s boffins in California. They looked at the data from that car and calculated that, driven hard on our track, it would have a range of 55 miles.

2. We never said that the Tesla was completely immobilized as a result of the motor overheating. We said the car had “reduced power”. This was true.

3. Tesla claims we were lying when we said the brakes were “broken”. They now say that all that had happened was that the fuse to the vacuum pump had failed, which meant that the brake just had to be pushed down much harder than usual. Well – to my mind, if the brakes are broken, then they’re broken, and if this happened to your car, you’d take it to the garage to get it fixed. Odd it seems so trivial to Tesla now, because on the day of filming they insisted on repairing the fuse before we could carry on driving the car.

The above points will be argued over in the near future by brainy people wearing wigs, but in a layman’s nutshell, this is where we stand on the matter. Before I finish though, I must clear up one important issue: scripting. It’s alleged by Tesla that on the day of filming one of their employees caught sight of a script that had been written, before the car had even been driven, already containing the verdict that in the “real world” the Tesla doesn’t work. This, they say, proves our guilt, because we’d condemned the car in advance. May I just say in reply:

a) The truth is, Top Gear had already driven the car prior to filming, to enable us to form a view on it in advance

b) Our primary reasoning behind the verdict had nothing to do with how the Tesla performed; our conclusion was based mainly on the fact that it costs three times more than the petrol sports car upon which it’s based. It takes a long time to recharge, so you can’t use it as easily for the carefree motoring journeys that are a prerequisite of sports car driving. You can actually reach that conclusion without driving the car. As it happens, when it did come to the subjective area of how the car drove on the track, we were full of praise for its performance and handling.

c) Just so you understand there’s nothing devious going on, you need to know how this filming business works. When you film a car review, the reviewer is only the tip of the iceberg. Behind the lens is a film crew, and only a day’s worth of light to shoot the eight minute film. This means we have to prepare in advance a treatment – a rough draft of a script so that the director and film crew can get to work right away, knowing what shots they will need to capture. It will contain the facts about a car, and what we think of its looks and so on, but how well the car actually drives is added on the day. If we’ve driven it ahead of filming, as we do with most cars, we will also have an idea how it feels to drive. But, and this is crucial, as we uncover fresh information about a car whilst filming it, it is entirely normal for the treatment to be modified as the day unfolds. Jeremy is always tweaking the scripts to reflect what his driving experience has actually been on the day.

There you go. I’ve said my bit, and now we’ll hopefully shut up and prepare for our day in court.

[Vandole]

Lololol. Tesla is fucked.

[Omniyoji]

Oh man I can't believe they're actually going to do this. lolTesla

[pogejr]

For anyone who cares, earlier seasons, 2-8 of Top Gear are now available for online streaming on Netflix.
So are the newer seasons 13+.

[Eliseos]

For anyone who cares, earlier seasons, 2-8 of Top Gear are now available for online streaming on Netflix.
So are the newer seasons 13+.

*Clarkson voice* yessss.