Season 12 begins on November 2nd... of course it's only broadcast in Britain and we won't get it here in North America on the lame BBC America for at least a year. You'll have to resort to ... other ways... to see it any sooner...
Well he's not dead yet... but should somebody finally have enough of the opinionated SOB and do him in, here is an obituary that is ready for use at any time:
Yes, this is one of the hottest rumors today on the internet... so hot that even YouTube's allegedly ultra-fast servers can't keep up with it. If Clarkson ever does get killed... expect financial systems to collapse, expect the major auto manufacturers to merge, expect Ford to sell off the company that saved it's a**, and worse. Oh, wait, that's exactly what happened this week. Maybe Clarkson really is dead?
We're right in the middle of watching every single episode of Top Gear and just found this parody of Top Gear's infamous Challenges that Something Awful produced.
It's right on - they've noted the spirit of the show. Although there is one historical inaccuracy and one Challenge that has been obsoleted:
1) James May wasn't in Series 1 - he didn't come along until Series 2.
2) Big Foot truly exists - we read it on the Internet just this past week!
The complete list, from Something Awful, follows (note that they are incorrectly using the term "season" - in Britain these are known as "series"):
Season 1: Episode 7 Hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May purchase three hatchbacks for under £1,000 apiece, then determine which is the most reliable by falling asleep in a very small garage with the engine running.
Season 2: Episode 3 Who can take a standard London cab and convert it into the most efficient solar-powered vehicle? The gang settles this ages-old argument once and for all by playing a three-way game of chicken in Meredes S 600s without wearing safety belts.
Season 2: Episode 10 Three high-end sportscars have their brakes put to the test when they're dropped from the back of a cargo plane eight thousand feet above Stonehenge.
Season 3: Episode 5 Which four door sedan is the most sensible car in its class? Garry Kasparov goes head-to-head with three sedans in a chess tournament to find out. The outcome might surprise you, provided you believe the first part of this sentence!
Season 4: Episode 1 How many women can a minivan attract? Jeremy, Richard and James leave their vans (which have been modified with leather jackets and patches of chest hair) outside of a popular nightclub and see which vehicle gets dry-humped by the most women.
Season 5: Episode 4 Our hosts must convert pickup trucks into fully-functioning boats, then see which is the fastest at being towed on a trailer.
Season 6: Episode 9 The guys determine which SUV makes the best demolition derby car by running over felt hats with rounded crowns of varying sizes.
Season 7: Episode 3 Three DeLorean DMC-12s are purchased, then made into time machines in an effort to see who can stop the 1975 assassination of Ringo Starr first. Featuring the inadvertent butterfly effect that led to the death of John Lennon.
Season 7: Episode 4 Which convertible is capable of holding the most water? The lads find out by lowering each car into the ocean via helicopter, lifting the filled car back into the air, then carefully measuring the tideline.
Season 8: Episode 8 The boys set out to prove that a Maserati 200S can launch itself into outer space under its own power by systematically running over every scientist and engineer that claims it can't be done.
Season 9: Episode 2 Can a fancy in-car navigation system be used to find Osama bin Laden? Three such systems are sent to a holding facility in an unnamed country, then tortured and held indefinitely.
Season 10: Episode 5 In order to determine which station wagon has the best suspension, the hosts play a game of Operation on a cobblestone road with full cups of hot coffee in their laps while their cars' suspensions are digitally examined in a nearby garage.
Season 11: Episode 1 Is Bigfoot real? Jeremy, Richard and James pack a Rolls Royce with C4 and detonate it to find out.
The always excellent Japan Car Blog reviews the latest episode of Top Gear where Jeremy Clarkson raced a Bullet train across Japan. The Hamster and James May were in the bullet train and their journey also included a shuttle bus, another train, a ferry, and a ____________ (can't say, don't want to spoil the surprise or the great soundtrack that plays during it). Jeremy got the GT-R and a 400-mile route to follow from western Japan thru Tokyo and across the bay to the finish.
Their blog includes low-res segments of the race: http://japancarblog.com/2008/07/top-gear-clarksons-ego-in-gt-r-vs-bullet-train/ (suggest <right click> and <open in new tab>) or the entire episode is available via torrent sites. They also correctly point out that some of Jeremy's comments are culturally offensive. Actually the entire cast makes more than a few gaffes, and they all look tired and glad to get it over with. James May looks particularly worn out, or perhaps he is just tired of Jeremy Clarkson. Jeremy's GT-R was fabulous, although his navigation system was entirely in Japanese - which causes some issues when he accidentally turns it off and immediately gets lost.
There is some controversy... both teams end up at the finish only 3 minutes apart. Many forums and some news articles suggest the "race" wasn't actually one. Decide for yourself, but despite the obvious choreography this is certainly the best segment this year.
The scenery along the route is beautiful, the shrine where the race ends is going on my list of places to visit, and there are enough details shown that the trip could be duplicated.
The episode was particularly meaningful to us because we want to take a similar drive across Japan and have been looking over navigation options. Ideally, we need a Microsoft Streets & Trips of Japan, in English. Unfortunately, there is no such thing since the Japanese have apparently all moved to phone-based GPS years ago. While we certainly won't be able to get a GT-R rental car, we will need a rental car with a navigation system. We'll need to figure out the sequence of buttons that bring up an overhead map, which we will have to follow along the best we can without any ability to actually read Japanese. This may not be as tough as it sounds... we'll supplement it with paper maps that we can mark up ahead of time and the nav system will at least keep us going in the right direction.
Why not a tour bus? Because the greatest feudal castles, shrines, and other historical sites across Japan can't all be reached by subway or bus, or even by tour companies. And the automotive places we'd want to visit such as Twin Ring Motegi and the Honda museum can't be reached by train without spending an inordinate amount of money on taxis at the other end. And our planned trip to the largest AutoBacs dealer, while it can be reached by subway, would be impractical considering the amount of "souvenirs" we're planning to cart out of there.
Our hosts must convert pickup trucks into fully-functioning boats, then see which is the fastest at being towed on a trailer.
