top gear - white male capitalist and elitist and offence to humanity or just boy and their toys? discuss

[magicfarawaytree]

Personally - am not white and just love it. watched a repeat last night where they turned a people carrier into a convertible and was rolling round the floor in laughter. had to record it for dh. Am devastated for rh family and hopes he makes the fullest recovery possible.

No Huw, but no surprise there, and I'm seething about it too JT.

Love top gear- amphibious vehicles was a stroke of genius. It was the attention to details- so the narrow boat decoration on the campervan, and the swallows and amazons music every time they cut to the sailing car.

Whassup JT ? Has someone been winding you up ?

NdP, Moondog made some kind of contentious comment about RH. It was deleted before I read it, so I don't know what she said. She upset and angered a lot of people though.

Top Gear sees a bunch of politically incorrect adult boys driving powerful cars very fast round a racetrack whilst at the same time giving us insight and opinion with new 'normal' cars that are released onto the market. They have great fun playing conkers with caravans, football with an oversized ball and two teams of Toyota Yarises, darts with bangers off the edge of a quarry and the soft top 4X4 was inspirational, as was the car/boat hybrid! And when Clarkson set fire to the caravan with the chip pan I wet myself from laughing so much!

It's hilariously great fun even for non car-drivers like myself and long may it continue.

Hammond is totty too! Get well soon.

love TG makes me laugh
ds likes it as well he is 14 so just his thing
Always had a thing for JC

my ds12 loves top gear, he knows tons about cars, which is good, as my dp has no interest in them.

Pruni I can't drive either, and I like Top Gear too, especially RH - I do think Mr Clarkson needs a bit of dilution!
All time favourite was the soft-top people carrier - dh, me and ds all speechless with laughter. Not sure about incinerating that caravan though
My hopeful hunch is he will pull through - they took him straight to the best Neuro Unit in the region. Fingers crossed for him and his family.
MP I suspect that he's top of the pile at the BBC this morning because he is popular with his colleagues there - and clearly a popular presenter.

ahhhh, moondog. Why am I not suprised ?

Indeed, NdP

ndp - have emailed you

I hate jc and everything he stands for. he's not politically incorrect so much as f*ing irresponsible and a selfish git.

but I love top gear. and I love the other 2 presenters.

Disclaimer: I have nothing but sympathy for and horror on behalf of anyone (including their families) who suffers terrible injury or worse, whether they be a celebrity or not. My comments are not about individuals involved...

But... I hate Top Gear, and I feel quite disgusted at the focus on materialism, over-design of any object, where huge expense and natural resource is put into something way beyond what is needed to carry out it's natural function. I hate electronic curtains, built in coffee machines, ludicrously expensive kitchens, 4x4s except for farmers and associated trades. I am repelled by leisure and 'sport' that rely on high energy fuel-driven machinery (especially jet skis!) as a replacement for things we do more naturally. I hate the noise they make and having a faceful of fumes and your eardrums blasted when you are swimming. I just don't enjoy watching it all being celebrated.

Except where it does explore more rational design and innovation - better use of energy, for purposes which are more grounded.

cheers Jools . Nothing through yet though...

Blu - uh, don't watch it then

I personally love TG, essential Sunday night viewing in our house, despite neither of us having the slightest interst in cars!

i like jc so there! he did a v good show about europe.

(Jools, just seen you've sent it to my webmail account.... replying now...)

Also, i know i shouldn't, but I do find JC very entertaining

blu - that's the thing. I think you're right, but I still like top gear. and they do occasionally do green-ish pieces, like jeremy clarkson trying to make an audi go from london to edinburgh and back on one tank of petrol - he had to drive at 60 all the way, accelerate very slowly etc - it was refreshing.

Ive always loved top gear, and dd1 whos 8, who rarely asks for anything, asked when it was on one night....its a good laugh. Hope richard recovers.

i really think cars etc are a small drop in the ocean compared to the use and manufacture of weapons

I agree with nearly everyone who's already written about the show.

I'm not a man, am not middle class - though I am white ....... but do love the show.

There is no way on earth that I would ever want to buy most of the cars featured, and would never be able to afford to do so anyway .... and I should think that fact applies to most of its viewers but I honestly don't think the show is elitist.

There isn't any serious suggestion that this car or that car is what we should all be driving (and if you don't you must be a commoner), nor do I think, for example, that there is any disrespect for women on the show. I can remember seeing Ellen MacArthur and Jodie Kidd on the "star in a reasonably priced car section" and Jeremy was in awe of Ellen. In fact Ellen topped the board and was heartily congratulated.

Yeah .... there might be the odd bit of banter about James driving "like a girl", but I don't think anyone sensible could get offended by that.

I view the luxury / powerful / unique / unsual / expensive cars often featured simply as I would when watching any other show which features holidays or houses I can't afford ...... as articles of interest. It would be totally different if it were all about Prince Charles and his fleet of luxury motors, talking as if it was the most normal thing in the world to have a stable of expensive cars.

The show is about fantasy. And yes, about boys playing with their toys. The comedy factor and interaction between the 3 is great, and the races or "challenges" they undertake thrilling to watch.

In light of Richard's accident there will obviously have to be an investigation and who knows at this stage what the cause will have been - driver error, car malfunction, debris on track or whatever. However, I am sure that all the presenters are fully aware that what they sometimes do isn't without risk - and are not reckless about it. Richard and Jeremy for example, I get the impression they are very skilled drivers .... James, I'm not so sure !

It will depend upon the accident causes but I hope that Top Gear isn't altered too much as a result of this. I don't expect the guys - Richard included - would want that to happen. I refuse to believe that such pieces are made without every possible precaution and/or necessary training being taken 1st. Though obviously you can never remove risk 100%.

Melrose, duh, guess what, I don't watch it. But the thread is about what we think of these things, so i'm telling you.
And whether I watch it or not, i'm still affected by it - the JC wannabe's in narrow congested urban streets in their speeding dick-mobiles, jet skiers in so many quiet beach / lake locations, fumes, use of metals and other finite resources.

i love top gear although don't tell DH or he'll get all smug on me! i loved the one where they converted the inside of a car into a house, think it was a rover and they filled it with concret and wooden flooring and removed the seats and fitted an armchair, it was pure class.

really? you think 1000 deaths a year in the uk is a drop in the ocean southeastastra?