*sigh* Top Gear doesn't come back on until summer...

...what the HELL am I supposed to do for the next few months?!

@Stang70Fastback: I've been seeing new episodes on BBC America. Please don't tell me there were only 5 new episodes.

As for Top Gear in general, I still remember the first episode I saw on The Discovery Channel, and how I feel in love w/ it. Ever since I got BBC America, my Saturdays are taken w/Top Gear and Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

Greatest auto show ever done.

"Yup. Blowed up good. Blowed up REAL good"....

Something about guns, cars, flames and coffee.....going to be a good day.

this man has the greatest job in the world !

Wow, the thing that made Top Gear my favorite show years ago was the difference with American car culture. Handling and elegance over raw power. The Viper was the enemy, and Astons and high-performance small-engine Japanese cars and Italian supercars were praised.

Tiff and Vicky were the best presenters ever. I will agree that 5th Gear has gone a bit boring since they switched to a 1-hour format, but still Tiff's road tests are the best. I never liked this guy Clarkson, he's famous for just being a jerk or doing pointless but "fun" stuff like this. This thing might be exciting, but his complaints are just childish and stupid. Really, I haven't seen Top Gear since Tiff and Vicky left, so is anyone actually driving cars there anymore? (Really asking, I don't know.)

@andyo: Yea, the pro car tester called sting, who hides his face all the time and changes physical shape (hight, weight) in every show.

hehe, it sounds like that guy Buckethead, the replacement for Slash in G n'R. Silly, methinks, but I guess the driving is fine, 'cause I couldn't imagine following Tiff with just any guy.

BBC America is my favorite channel these days. Ever since I was in London and saw the episode where they raced a fighter jet and a bugatti I was hooked.

@andyo: you just don't get it though. Top Gear is about entertainment first and foremost.
Fifth Gear is boring, Tiff and Vicki are boring and the longer it goes on, the more Top Gear-esque elements are added to it in a desperate attempt to attract some viewers.

I for one am glad Top Gear has Clarkson. He may not as technically proficient a driver as some others but at least he's interesting.


As for this particular clip, it's ancient.

@Stang70Fastback: You could always watch BBC-America tonight (Monday) night. We get the episodes a month later then they do , but at least it's the real thing.

Top Gear - best show on TV - period!

Oh man I've always wanted to try a real rocket launcher!

I use the things in FPS gaming, but for reals? Never.

Very cool clip! I haven't seen it before.

"I want more bigger stuff, now."

Truer words were never spoken.

I love TG and BBC as much as the next true guy and like Clarkson but that last A.T. demo, I'm calling BS. It looked like that A.T. round was photo-shopped/edited in there and the explosion looked like it came from inside the car. I guess maybe I'm just not aware of any rounds that are seeking like that (that HE would have been able to fire off), because you know it wasn't his aim.

I know, I know TG is all about the non-sense and fun sometimes, but I'm just not buyin that last one....

@Zeasar: He's called "The Stig". Not Sting, he's a singer. Also he doesn't change every episode. The whole point of having the same person take different cars round the track is to show how much the car's differ, not the driving style.

The production quality of this show is YEARS ahead of anything shown anywhere else. It's quite amazing they never really syndicated the show to other markets like Canada, except through their BBC channels abroad. I love the celeb driver challenge. Quite fun.

I like the way he handles the rocket launcher.
"Never fired one of these before.. I've been told it's loaded and ready to go"
-as he swings it up on his shoulder loosely towards the camera man

God bless Clarkson!

Oh and for any Top Gear or 5th Gear newbies who might've been inspired to catch a full episode of any of the shows, finalgear.com is the place to be. All topgear and fifth gear related news as well as torrents of all shows dating God knows how far back. Enjoy!

@Out2gtcha:

Who gives a wet slap whether it was real or not - it's pure entertainment!

wow he must have a REALLY really small penis.

Yeah, while very entertaining - not real, I just have to stick that out there because I've heard people say "yeah of course it was real" but seriously, it wasn't.

Just remember, gas tanks won't blow up no matter how much you shoot them.

@Curves:

The Greatest words ever spoken!

@Out2gtcha: I thought that about the SPAS and the machine gun, too. He couldn't hit a clay pigeon with a quality over-under and a proper stance, but he could hit a car firing from the hip?

Same with the machine gun... wasn't aiming at all... I just thought he was either extraordinarily coordinated, or practiced a hell of a lot before filming those... until I saw that rocket. First reaction, how's that thing going to have time to lock on? I suppose it's possible it's fly-by-wire or radar-guided or something... doesn't have to be heat-seeking, but I've never had the impression that any kind of missile, shoulder-fired or otherwise, would be good for quick-reaction shooting. Don't claim any expertise on that score, though. And it sure did look fake.

@awesomerobot: Even if you're using incendiary rounds? They make that sort of thing in 7.62x51, you know, along with tracers and armor-piercing.

That was freakin' awesome...I love shows like this, Smash Lab, Future Weapons, and Mythbusters

Wow - for a guy who really and honestly hates America and Americans - he sure understands our gun thing. I think we should give him an honorary citizenship ... that would really piss him off. BTW - you don't ever learn much about the cars from this guy. He just puts them in a drift and then talks about the "handling capabilities". That said, it's still my favorite show.

@awesomerobot: The Mythbusters got a gas tank to blow up w/ tracer rounds. You might want to call them up and let them know that they couldn't do that. Since an anti-tank round destroys a tank by injecting a mass of molten metal into the interior, I'm guessing molten metal vs. petrol will result in a boom.

@Seiven:

Two out of three ain't bad. Smash lab. ugh, no host chemistry at all with 'fake' conflict.

@Zeasar: Some say he can catch fish with his tongue. Some say his helmet was modeled on Britney Spears' head. Some say he isn't machine washable & all his potted plants are called Steve. Some even say he is illegal in 17 U.S. states. All we know is... he's called The Stig. And I am the Stig.

@Git Em SteveDave: some say he appears on low-denomination Swedish stamps...

The rocket is 100% fake. The clip is really old and my friend has it on a 'best of' DVD somewhere, a couple of years ago we checked it out and in a better quality video, you can see the launcher fires some kind of charge, fancy smoke and all, but the rocket itself is quite clearly computer animated, for starters it first appears about a foot to the left of the rocket launcher!

@Step666: Some say for some reason, he's allergic to the Dutch, and that he has a bionic arm.

I don't recognize that clip. I'm curious if its Top Gear or (more likely IMO) one of Jezza's own DVDs. Some of those are even more crazy than the stuff TG does :D

@blitzkrieg999: definitely proper Top Gear.
I've never seen any of Clarkson's own DVDs but I'd seen this before.

@Git Em SteveDave: some say that his voice can only be heard by cats, and that he is banned from the city of Chichester. All we know is...

Amazing.

Everyone calling shenanigans: Who says it's HIM that fired ANY of the rounds that struck any of the cars? HELL-O! Television! Anybody hear of this thing called editing?

@Git Em SteveDave: I'm pretty sure that they did NOT get a gas tank to explode with tracer rounds. The rounds don't stay in contact with the gasoline long enough, and then there is the whole issue of the gas vapors needing to be at a specific fuel to air ratio in order to combust.

@XJ_4x4: From just one of the links I clicked on from here: [www.google.com] :"However, unlike the way A & J usually finish up busted myths, they didn't test which kind of bullets would cause the gas tank to explode. So, what should do the trick? Tracer rounds. At the appropriate distance from the tank, a tracer round finally did ignite the tank and likely blow it up. Myth confirmed."

Of course, the Mythbusters didn't use a round which can burn it's way through the side of a TANK, like Jeremy did. Considering their dinky round went through a gas tank, and the one Jeremy was using would go through a Abrahms tank, I think his has a little more "kick".

@Mandatory_Field: True, they didn't let Captain Slow fly the Eurofighter, even though he can fly a plane, they let the pros do that. I don't doubt they let him fire the Spas or the machine gun, but anti tank weapon would have to be a pro.

soooo jealous of that guy.

Compare Top Gear to Motor Week and you'll see why we are such pathetic losers in the area of having fun in American.

i <3 topgear

esp when a group of car fanatics decide to build aquatic cars, complete with foam surrounded exhaust manifolds (what, foam melts/burns?)

or when you prove that a body-on-frame truck and withstand falling down with the building rubble.

but def for the micro-car through the BBC offices.

One of the Stig's is called Russel Swift. It is impossible for there to be only one Stig as they are all pro racers with differant commitments around the world.

Jeremy Clarkson is a cock though.

@Git Em SteveDave: Exactly. I couldn't think of anything scarier than letting him anywhere near live military-grade hardware....

As an avid trap shooter, it's much easier hitting those clay pigeons (which he easily missed, on purpose I assume) then shooting that car with a machine gun.

Top Gear is my favorite car show by far, I miss it here in the states.

Here's a fun fact...

A recent petition was signed by 100,000 Brits to make JC the next PM.

Even if you think JC is an ass, which most Americans like myself do, you can't deny his popularity.

I personally believe he's one of the best TV personalities around today.

The reason behind the Stig was stated in an interview once - some new, prototype, cars and some vintage/rare cars are only allowed to be tested around the track if their owner's race them. Hence the Stig - anyone can drive the car and they can claim it's the same person.

God, I Love Top Gear!!