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Prince Harry poised to drive Top Gear Reasonably Priced Car?

Filed under: Etc., Kia, UK, Celebrities, Russia

prince harry

Top Gear could be set to welcome royalty into the driver’s seat of its reasonably priced Kia Cee’d. Prince Harry is reportedly eager to get behind the wheel and tackle the Top Gear test track in the next series of the popular BBC franchise, where he will attempt to best the 1:44.2 lap time set by Tom Cruise.

Prince Harry is used to handling high-speed machines, but they’re typically of the airborne variety. He recently completed military training that qualifies him to fly Apache helicopters. The top speed of an Apache is listed at 182 miles per hour – a few ticks quicker than the Kia.

[Source: Metro.co.uk | Image: Clive Mason/Getty]

Prince Harry poised to drive Top Gear Reasonably Priced Car? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Videos: Rewind – Old Top Gear looks back at even older Top Gear

Filed under: Classics, Etc., Videos, UK, Celebrities

Historic Top Gear – Click above to watch the videos after after the jump

Top Gear as we know it now is in its 16th season of automotive mischief, hoonage and – somewhere in there – journalism. What we tune in for now, though, is a reborn version of a show that soldiered on from 1977 to 2001 before being cancelled and once again exhumed.

The original show only resembles the current version in two ways: the theme song is Dickey Betts’ Jessica and Jeremy Clarkson is one of the hosts. Beyond that, it’s a whole different animal. Looking at these videos, it’s a wonderful thing that TG rose from the ashes of its former self into the show it is today. Looking at clips of the original series, it’s a wonder it lasted as long as it did.

For the most part, there a batch of dour presenters with bad hair and worse suits giving us the goods on the latest version of cars like the Lancia Beta or Rover 216. In some places, the future lunacy of the show pokes through, but for the most part it’s a very tame, and, yes, boring show.

Still, the clips of historic TG are entertaining, if for no other reason than Clarkson’s hair and denim jacket collection. Here’s hoping that Top Gear USA will itself enjoy enough time to metamorphosize into something bolder, funnier and harder-hitting as well. Thanks for the tip, Ryan!

[Source: BBC via YouTube]

Continue reading Videos: Rewind – Old Top Gear looks back at even older Top Gear

Videos: Rewind – Old Top Gear looks back at even older Top Gear originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Mexico’s Mastretta hoping to turn Top Gear notoriety into sales

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Etc., UK, Celebrities

Mastretta MXT

Mastretta MXT – Click above for high-res image gallery

Mexican sportscar manufacturer Mastretta is making the best of a bad situation. The company is attempting to capitalize on the furor over insulting comments that the presenters of Top Gear made about the automaker and Mexico in general. According to Drive.com, since the incident, traffic to the company’s website has skyrocketed, and more importantly, orders for the Mastretta MXT have leapt as well. According to Carlos Mastretta, the company’s general manager, the manufacturer now has orders from countries in Europe as well as Brazil and Chile. Mastretta has recently begun to receive inquiries from the States, as well.

The jump in attention is thanks solely to the dust up over the Top Gear comments. According to Drive.com, the MXT was a relative unknown – even in its home country. While Mastretta is a well-known manufacturer of public-transportation vehicles, few knew that the company is also responsible for this new sportscar before hearing about the confrontation between the BBC and Mexico’s ambassador to the UK.

The Mastretta MXT is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter Ford Duratec four-cylinder engine with around 250 horsepower, and the company says that the vehicle should be good for 0-60 mph dashes in the high four-second range thanks to its lightweight design.

Gallery: Mastretta MXT

[Source: Drive.com]

Report: Mexico’s Mastretta hoping to turn Top Gear notoriety into sales originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Top Gear blokes get death threats after jabs at Wales?

Filed under: Etc., UK, Celebrities

Top Gear UK presenters

If you thought you were going to make it through a week without hearing about how the wily hosts of Top Gear ruffled someone’s feathers, think again. According to WhatsOnTv, James May, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond have begun receiving death threats after making disparaging comments about Wales in a recent program. The BBC program hosts reportedly remarked that fast cars should be test-driven on Welsh roads because no one wants to live there.

That latest bit of bashing was apparently the last straw. The trio has taken turns giving the Welsh a hard time in the past, with May calling their language “baffling and dangerous” among other offenses.

The death threats are only the latest in a series of cultural mishaps that have befallen the show. Last year, Top Gear riled Muslims by donning the traditional headwear of women, and it irked Christians by portraying a baby Stig in the traditional role of the newborn Jesus. Most recently, the show invoked the ire of the Mexican ambassador to the UK by unleashing a rash of stereotypes about his countrymen.

[Source: WhatsOnTv | Image: Gareth Fuller/AP]

Top Gear blokes get death threats after jabs at Wales? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Top Gear China pilot to include Cadillac versus… donkey?

Filed under: China, Etc., Celebrities

top gear china

The rumors appear to be true and Top Gear China is reportedly officially underway. According to the Global Times, a 30-minute pilot episode has been filmed and Chinese comedian Cao Yunjin will be one of the three hosts helming China’s version of the greatest automotive television show… in the world.

The format is expected to remain true to the Top Gear style, but so far, little is known about the actual content being filmed. One challenge from the pilot episode has been leaked, and it apparently features a Cadillac taking on a donkey. The two are tasked with lugging millstones around a farm to see which tackles the job more efficiently. Uh-huh.

Here’s hoping the next challenge involves deciphering Geely’s multi-brand system.

[Source: Global Times]

Top Gear China pilot to include Cadillac versus… donkey? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumormill: Production started on Top Gear China

Filed under: China, Etc., Rumormill

This didn’t take long. Word on the web is that the minds behind Top Gear are moving to produce a version of the show just for The People’s Republic. The report comes courtesy of TheTycho, and apparently an insider at the country’s CCTV has confirmed that Top Gear China has been given the go-ahead. Hosts have already been selected and filming is underway right now in Beijing. The show is supposed to be broadcast from the nation’s capital, as well. If accurate, the newest addition to the Top Gear family will join the ranks of TG U.S., Australia and Russia as well as the genesis of all this mayhem, Top Gear UK.

With our own iteration of the show on shaky ground, some of us can’t help but wonder why the BBC doesn’t simply stick to making one very excellent version of the show and disseminate it to the rest of the globe instead of cranking out multiple watered-down iterations. Maybe it’s easier to get local ad revenue. Still, we can’t wait to see what Top Gear China is all about. There’s no word on a set broadcast date as of yet.

[Source: TheTycho]

Rumormill: Production started on Top Gear China originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Top Gear Mexico remarks get the animated dramatization treatment

Filed under: Etc., Videos, Celebrities, Humor

Next Media Animation of Top Gear Mexico controversy

Mexico takes on Top Gear in animated form – Click above to watch video after the jump

It started with politically incorrect commentary from Jerermy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May; the hosting trio of the BBC’s Top Gear. When discussing the Mexican-built Mastretta MXT, the three quickly turned to jokes relating the car to stereotypical viewpoints on Mexican citizens.

Shortly thereafter, the Mexican Ambassador didn’t find the spot humorous and complained to the BBC, which in turn has issued an apology (kind of). Now this entire affair has reached the modern pinnacle of worldwide attention… it’s been (That’s right, you guessed it!) turned into a cartoon by Next Media Animation. Finally!

Click past the jump to view Taiwan’s take on the the show’s falling out with Mexico. And remember, Top Gear can suck it!

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Top Gear Mexico remarks get the animated dramatization treatment

Video: Top Gear Mexico remarks get the animated dramatization treatment originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Followup: BBC apologizes for Top Gear remarks about Mexicans

Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Celebrities, MISC

Top Gear presenters

Ugh, fine. We’re sorry. Okay, so that’s not exactly how the BBC responded to Mexico’s Ambassador Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, but it certainly didn’t fall all over itself in making a formal apology, either.

In case you need a refresher, Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond quipped on a recent broadcast episode of the hit television series, in reference to the Mexican-built Mastretta MXT sports car, “Mexican cars are just going to be a lazy, feckless, flatulent, oaf with a mustache leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat.”

Not surprisingly, a number of the country’s inhabitants were not amused… including the aforementioned Mexican Ambassador, who sent a letter to the BBC as something of a formal complaint. The BBC responded with a letter in return, which included the following statement:

Our own comedians make jokes about the British being terrible cooks and terrible romantics, and we in turn make jokes about the Italians being disorganized and over dramatic; the French being arrogant and the Germans being over organized. We are sorry if we have offended some people, but jokes centered on national stereotyping are a part of ‘Top Gear’s’ humor.

In any case, an apology was demanded and an apology (of sorts) was provided. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we lazy, over-fed and easily amused Americans are moving on. Hat tip to Jesse!

[Source: Associated Press via Google | Image: Gareth Fuller/AP]

Followup: BBC apologizes for Top Gear remarks about Mexicans originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Top Gear crew spotted in Albania

Filed under: Spy Photos, Europe, Celebrities

Top Gear in Albania

The hosts of Top Gear have grown into veritable celebrities not just in their native UK, but around the world. So good luck showing up in any country without being seen these days, fellas. After spy shots tipped us off to Clarkson, Hammond and May’s presence in Israel a few months ago, we now have visual confirmation that the boys have been to Albania.

The news comes courtesy of Albarent, a local car rental agency that apparently picked up them and their crew at Tirana Airport (Albania’s only internantional airport) and drove them south to Saranda on the “Albanian Riviera” in a rental fleet that reportedly included a Mercedes-Benz S350 and a pair of minibuses made by Hyundai and Fiat’s Irisbus/Iveco.

We can only imagine what sort of shenannigans took place during TG’s time in Albania, but we’ll no doubt see the end result during an upcoming episode of the show. Thanks for the tip, Memli!

[Source: Albarent]

Top Gear crew spotted in Albania originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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James May explains why he already hates the hosts of Top Gear USA

Filed under: Etc., Celebrities

James May hates Tanner Foust, Rutledge Wood and Adam Ferrara. Before you Top Gear USA haters get too excited at that last sentence, let us explain further. James May hates the Top Gear USA presenters… because he believes they are destined for greatness.

Why exactly does he feel this way? Because of their names. May believes he’s “lumbered with a single-syllable surname evoking a popular bank holiday,” while Foust’s name suggests he can do things with a car that others only dream about – and he really can.

Rutledge Wood, meanwhile, has a name that leads May to believe he should be the next great American novelist, and Adam Ferrara is one letter away from being a child of Enzo.

Whatever May thinks, his discussion of America’s Top Gear and its hosts is a great read. We’re not saying his insight will cause you to give Tanner, Rutledge and Adam a bit of a break for the first few years… but it might have you questioning your hate, just for a moment.

[Source: The Telegraph]

James May explains why he already hates the hosts of Top Gear USA originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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