Top Gear
”Shooting Flying Cars with Machine Guns, Rocket Launchers
I'm on the beach on semi-vacation now, here in the south of Spain, and we have BBC One via satellite. This means one thing on Sunday nights: Top Gear. Chances are that you probably have watched Top Gear clips on YouTube, like the one above, in which Jeremy Clarkson replaces clay pigeons and shotguns with real flying cars, machine guns and, at the end of it, a gas-tank-seeking (no kidding) rocket launcher. More »
Top Gear Coming to NBC in Remake Form
I've got good news and bad news. First, the good: the amazing British auto show Top Gear is coming to the US! Now, the bad: it's in the form of a remake on NBC, haters of original ideas and kings of the unnecessary remake! That means that the wonderful hosts — Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond — won't be involved. Instead, knowing NBC, it'll probably be hosted by Macho Man Randy Savage, Vern Troyer and Alicia Silverstone. Time will tell whether or not they'll be able to pull the remake off (they did a damn good job with The Office, after all), but I'm more than skeptical. Hit the jump to check out my favorite Top Gear segment ever and then try to imagine NBC doing something half as entertaining.
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rc madness
Full-Sized Remote Control Cars and Explosions
Oh how I love Top Gear. Why is there no show this good being produced in the States? In today's example of why this is one of the sweetest shows on TV in any country, we see a race between a souped-up remote-control electric car and a regular old remote-control car. The results are, well, not expected and infinitely entertaining. Keep on keeping on, Top Gear. [Jalopnik]BMW Prototype Races Autonomously
Top Gear got some time behind the wheel of a BMW 330i that can drive itself. How it works: a human driver takes the car around the track for a spin, while the car records data of event. Then, using military-grade GPS, the car can coordinate its position on the track with the driver data to zoom around at high, pants-crapping speeds. It's like Knight Rider's KITT, if David Hasselhoff preferred tweed over leather. [crave via bbg]
What Car Nuts Really Think of the Prius Hybrid Electric
The Prius is widely recognized as a technological marvel, with its regenerative braking, its hybrid electric motor setup, and the supercar-low drag coefficient of 0.26. Which is why it's sobering to geeks and treehuggers to watch Top Gear describe the Prius as so slow that "a child could run into the street, retrieve his ball, and grow to puberty, before the Prius could hit him." And at a tested 45mpg, it's actually less green than a diesel. More »Boeing 747 Makes Mincemeat Out of a Couple of Cars
Next time you decide to take a little joyride behind a Boeing 747 with its engines at full throttle cranking out 58,000 lb. of thrust each, think of this video from the Brit car series Top Gear. Forget how small electronics fare in a blender. We want to see how large machinery stands up to a 747! More »
Lightning Strikes Car, With Man In It
Cars are supposed to protect the driver in the case of a lightning/voltage strike. Apparently it's not the rubber tires that insulate the vehicle, but that the shell is attached in a way to keep the threat away from (most) of the cabin.
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Top Gear and BattleField 2 Make for Great Machinima
Top Gear's Limey Bastards Hack Cars for Remote Control
There are only so many stunts you can pull in a car before you worry about getting yourself killed. So UK auto show Top Gear rigged some with remote controls, and raced them past a swinging wrecking ball, through a dirt track, and over ramps. More »








