The truth about Top Gear
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- Jonny and Richard discuss the recent news about a well-known car show. Also in this episode, accidentally offending Angela Rippon, going to a drum and bass night in Bristol, a surprisingly boozy school quiz, ULEZ Miserables, the heydays of telly and motorshows, a terribly vandalised Jag, what people put in those new Defender side boxes, mysteriously damaged road signs, an interesting sight in a supermarket car park, weird-looking Land Cruisers, and getting Madonna to guest on The Late Brake Show. patreon.com/smithandsniff
Okay, so Tiff "The Sultan of Slide" is now set in stone.
Any chance of you pair getting together and doing a old money special for Christmas
Top Gears problem was that they only had one genuine car journalist/driver on the show.
The other 2 had no car experience and were being asked to do stuf they simply didnt have the skill to do and relied on Freddie's lack of fear.
It was, with hindsight, always going to end badly....the warning signs were there when the hearse overturned but they kept pushing.
To be honest, the format has run its course anyway.
I was really unhappy when they dropped Rory Reid and went for two non-car types but over time I thought it worked well. You had Harris for car knowledge, Freddie's bravery and unscripted banter, and Paddy just being a really good and funny presenter. I was surprised they didn't dial it back with the hearse incident because that clearly could've been so much worse, but from what I gather Freddie's accident actually happened it low speed and they weren't doing anything lairy. One of the ironies of film and TV production is that the scenes that don't really seem like stunts are often the ones that end up hurting people - Uma Thurman's crash on Kill Bill being a prime example.
I've really gone off the BBC in recent years. I think the first thing they should do as effectively a state broadcaster funded by a licence fee backed in legislation (a tax in effect) is to stop paying very high salaries to "stars". There's absolutely no need to pay, say, Lineker, millions of licence payer revenue to front Match of the Day. If presenter salaries we limited to, say, £200,000, the BBC would have no problem filling every slot with very capable presenters. Yes, the content would be different. It wouldn't be Lineker. But it would be just as good. The BBC is not a commercial organisation and it should not pay its staff as though it is a commercial organisation.
Top Gear is about as dead as the Marvel franchise.
The BBC and top gear belong in the past
Went to Earls Court for the London Motor show in either 91 or 93 (can't exactly remember) a teenage dream of thick plastic carrier bags full of free car brochures. Happy days.
So happy to hear Jonny is a Prodigy fan, I’m 30 now and so sad to have missed the raving 90’s, but am proud and lucky to have seen them live in 2018 before Keith did the sad thing
Perry was the stig?! he's never mentioned it...
😜
Book idea for Sniff - since "nobody knows who the Stig was", anybody can claim it and write a spoof autobiography.
The last years of Top Gear were just painful cringe. Deciding to copy the old trio instead of doing something different was moronic, considering how much talent there's in the UK. The stuff Jonny and Harry Metcalfe are doing on YT is more original and interesting.
Yes! I'm with Jonny for bringing back old 1970s Top Gear!!!
@Jonny: it would be great if you could interview the icon that is WW in your comfy chairs. He got some air time in old RAC Rally clips on the Roger Albert Clark Rally RUclips coverage, along with the iconic theme that is Jewelled (the alternative version of Duel) by Propaganda. Until then, see you then.
And of course the interview should be arranged to take place basically in Nottingham
Would love to see an interview with Tony Mason as well, such an knowledgeable and entertaining broadcaster back in the rally days (as well as being an excellent co-driver)!
One non-fact that has been repeated a number of times in the news about Top Gear of late: Richard Hammond was trying to break the "landspeed record" when he crashed the Vampire dragster. Yes, a supersonic record in a 300mph dragster from the 70's. Shows how attached to engineering realities most mainstream journalists are.
FFS I was at that drum and bass night Jonny, would have been surreal to have bumped into you. I concluded I'm too old for it (at 25)
Re: Fifth Gear (personal opinion). I mean no insult to its presenters or its staff, but the title of the show limits it to the 70s and 80s when a fifth gear meant something. By contrast, top gear could mean anything from fourth to ... tenth or beyond. Also, Fifth Gear dumped Tiff: that wasn't a gaffe, it was a howler. Car shows on the telly are a dead donkey's donger: these days many millions instead watch Harry and Iain Tyrrell and the Late Brake Show and HubNut and Collecting Cars and JayEmm and so on. We can get our fix elsewhere.
Don’t forget Henry Catchpole (now with Hagerty). I’m sue we’ve missed some!
I guess they were a bit hamstrung by the original connection to Channel 5. Even in the early years it was starting to sound a bit funny as six-speeds became the norm but they kind of had to keep the brand when they left C5 or else it just becomes another show no one's heard of. I always felt that Fifth Gear suffered the more it tried to ape Top Gear, particularly when they moved it to Ace Cafe and brought in Ben Collins, which came at the expense of the actual consumer and road safety stuff they had been doing so well (the latter being something Top Gear never touched at all). In TV terms though, the show had a very good run and I'm not surprised that Johnny and Richard both have such good memories of being part of that era of car TV.
As a dnb petrol head this is the most welcome unexepcted crossover...love you Guys
A slightly grumpy Richard in full flight is a thing of beauty.
I once fixed Roni Size's mouse about 25 year ago; hope he's still using it.
On of the old lady in an unexpected car story - I once pulled into a petrol station and a lairy-looking red RS Turbo (or maybe RS1800) Fiesta pulled up at the next pump. I was expecting a young geezer to get out, probably wearing a cap; but no, who should get out of the car but only Dot Cotton of EastEnders fame. She didn't appear to be puffing on a ciggy as she usually did which was a good thing in that location!
An old school ret-con of Top Gear from basically Nottingham
I had to laugh when an Isuzu Fighter light truck drove past me today.
Ha! Love the rave review:) Don’t worry, ‘mixes’ in perfectly with the ‘cars and other stuff’
The TVR community is fantastic. Many of the guys are still active, its the forums that have died out.
As the Regional Organiser for the Devon Trevor boys I can second this comment. Facebook is mostly where we all hang out nowadays.
Forums died out in general from around 2012 onwards, and I say that as someone who ran two pretty successful ones for a long time. That content mostly just migrated to Facebook (or, if it's a bit more specialised, Reddit). It's just so much easier for users to be able to access all their 'forums' in one place so they mostly stopped taking the time to visit forums.
'meth injection' at a dnb concert sounds like a blast, to be fair lol
"Don't you know who I am?" I remember in the 1960s in Canada when an older, senior government Minister was confronted with an accusation of an indiscreet, sexual relationship. His huffy, holier-than-thou response: "Do you know who my father was?" Looking back, I wonder if he didn't actually know. Certainly his saintly father's revered character hadn't rubbed off.
Richard, did wifey piss of hubby this morning? good rant!
I would basically watch clips just for Chris Harris here and there, but otherwise they should've canned it when the OG trio left...hell, they should've canned it a couple years before that because it was already running out of steam and becoming an anachronistic, tone-deaf parody of itself years and years ago. As much fun as I had watching and rewatching a lot of 2003-mid 2010s show, the way the public took lessons from it has turned out to be so negative in our culture and our societal intellect, I've really grown to hate Top Gear's legacy. At a time when the world really needs to come together, Top Gear under Clarkson encouraged a bunch of idiots to give the middle finger to society for no good reason, and I really think it's hurting our world when I look at the typical brainwaves coming out of self-proclaimed Top Gear fans...
I thought really the last two or three series of Clarkson Top Gear felt like the crew were struggling for ideas, with the net effect of each series consisting of roughly equal parts tired dross and absolute bangers. It was certainly in sore need of a refresh and while I liked the new show from the Matt Leblanc era onwards (I thought it retained most of what the old show did well, minus the public school humour and gammon pandering) I thought they'd been too conservative. It would've been a fine time to break away from the 'three blokes toss around in cars' format but I guess the BBC had come too dependent on the income from that format to let it go. I did give The Grand Tour a try as well but couldn't get on with it - it just seemed like the old three falling back on their greatest hits with a bigger budget and less oversight. Mostly it just fell foul of Richard's golden rule - the further Top Gear got from cars, the worse it became.
Jonny you need to do a video on a Bristol Fighter now with special guest Jason Plato.
Dont suppose anyone is selling a spare ticket for the live show in Coventry?
Top Gear’s mistake, in my view, was trying to continue the tried and tested format and with the wrong presenters. Chris Harris was (and is) excellent. They needed two more (or more than 2) relatively low key car journos in the same way that Richard Hammond and James May were relatively unknown at the time. Often Top Gear’s skill was presenting decent budgeted cinematic pieces. You don’t need star names for that. Just good presenters.
Hell yeah, I got the yoga lady car guess correct. I actually quite admire them when I see them on the road and am surprised they didn't sell better.
I went for an Alfa Giulia. She reminded me of a similar lady who lived in our village in the 80s and she had a Spider.
Fingers on buzzers: What happened to the Wolfrace Sonic?
The boxes on the side of the new defender are for putting Dog shit in
What's your favourite album by Mylidge Young?
'the missus' is not a dated euphemism for wife, it's just slang for Mrs. D'oh!
The rear ends of Mercedes have been a little unresolved for the past gen or two, there is a sloped character along with the lights that look like stickers (this gen) that makes them look undesirable to my eyes.
Also, "ooh ya' fighter" to Richard's rant - did he bear through that expected Pistonheads thread?
Derek and Clive live content going on there 10:15
Porter sometimes comes across as an awful snob when he calls everyone who doesn't agree with his politics a prick, stupid, idiot etc. If it were said jokingly, fair enough. Bur it's aggressive, nasty and grindingly patronising.
Obsessing yourself with "wokeness" isn't politics, it's just idle noise, get a hobby.
@@Munkenba ?
oh you've noticed too!
Yet you still listen...... otsot Get a life
Best they stayed off politics, if they don't want to alienate half their audience.
you would be surprised just how many non compliant mid/late 90's cars are running around the suburbs, especially south of the river where integrated public transport is non existent (tubes/trams/dlr). I see tens if not hundreds around Bexley and Bromley, several on my street alone, driven by pensioners who've had them for years. Volvo 850's, Audi 80's, Polo 9n's, mk1 Focus's and early low mileage (probably still rusty...) mk 1 Ka's, mk1 Peugeot 406/306, Previas, Galaxys etc etc
Besmirch the ULEZ extension protesters all you want, its an utterly baseless, money grab by a delusional narcissistic Mayor who thinks he is Captain Planet and hasn't a clue how the outer suburbs actually operate in cohesion with the surrounding counties.
I guessed F-Type!
Guys, listen, guys, the replacement car show for the sleeping Top Gear is surely a visual version of The Road Rat. Shame on you for not realising Mr Sniff, especially as a contributor to said magnificent paper book! ;)
Hmm, just so you know, I'm one of those people who, with regret, have come to loathe the BBC. They brought these attacks upon themselves. Anyway, I have no wish to pick a fight with you both, who I like very much.
BBC Studios and Paramount have confirmed Top Gear Australia will return in 2024 so it's not at all dead. The new presenters are Moog from Mighty Car Mods, Rugby league player Beau Ryan & actor Jonathan LaPaglia. They're filming right now & episodes will be available in February 2024. Google it if you don't believe me.
As much as I liked the 2002 Series of Top Gear, after when Clarkson & co left, it was left wandering. I was glad when they got rid of the shouty redhead but what they should have done was revamp the series. Fifth Gear when it was on was great but I felt at times they could have gone into a longer format. Fifth Gear was the go-to for proper reviews While Top Gear was arseing about so there was two extremes. If you combined both programs, you'd have an excellent format. Retire The Stig & just bring Ben Collins & Tiff Needell to do the power laps & sliding about in top end cars, Vicki Butler-Henderson to present Star In A Reasonably Priced car & the F1 Drivers, Quentin Willson to do the serious road tests with Tim Shaw, Jonny Smith to do latest development of cars with Tom Ford. Any specials, a must have is Vicki Butler-Henderson & then any 2 of the others mentioned above rotating around. I'm sure others could be used presenting the format but a mixture of serious stuff & arseing about would be good. Richard Porter can be Head Script Writer and/or Producer.
Have you ever seen an ostrich running backwards? It's like a person running forwards. Go figure
Well said re Top Gear Richard 👍
Not heard Jonny talking about his 'wifey' for a while...
There’s a good reason for that, unfortunately.
Weird point to make.
Those daft extra boxes stuck on the new Discovery are for storing their massive ego!
Speaking of older ladies getting into unexpected cars, t'other day there was a lady of 75-80 years old spec I saw getting into (the driver's seat) of a 993GT2. It sounded like it was straight-piped and she drove away reaching a good 50mph in a 30mph zone.
57:14 😂
Well this was my first time listening and Richard's opening monologue about the BBC and his distain for the word Woke tells me he'll piss me off no end every week, good luck with that Johnny!
Word
I don't know when he gave you the impression he was on your side, this isn't the daily wire.
Who uses woke as a f'ing positive!?
It has become a negative word because of cretins forcing BS on us at every opportunity, I always knew he was a ball sack.
@@Munkenba Whose side is he on then seeing as you know him so well...who said there even were "Sides" to disagreeing with BS that comes out of his mouth
@@brianmcintyre14 He's on the side of having better things to think about. I know that because he's a grown man with a podcast who doesn't use to it moan about woke people all week long.
Look at the following of you tube car and motor bike bloggers,motoring programs are missing a trick
Anyone who uses the term "Woke" as a negative is a prick or a dullard? Well, that's an opinion I guess but I'm not sure what it's based on.
I used to quite like Porter's penmanship, but it turns out that in reality he's apparently a bit of judgemental plum. Who'd have thunk it?
Listening to this, he appears to be trying to sound a bit like Clarkson only without the talent.
Or the wit.
Amusing to defend "woke" and then go on to support the words wife and husband. The woke movement proports to remove those terms completely. Other than the misdirected political rant, I love the show!
This comment is untrue garbage. Good lord are half of our society THAT misinformed about the other half?? Next thing you'll tell me liberals all have secret third eyes in their foreheads...
"Woke movement"?
@@sq1rlsqu4d That's the kindest term I could think of. Virus would be more accurate.
word@@justaddafan
@@justaddafan your impression of what "woke" entails is excessively rigid and really dumb. Right-wingers don't understand wokeness because you're authoritarians to your core, so you view every political ideology as authoritarian against you, but it's not. You're projecting your horrible attitude onto other ideologies without understanding them. Your fear that "wokeness" is a rigid virus that will steamroll over you without caring, is projection of your own faiings: YOU are a rigid virus who steamrolls over others without caring, so you assume we're the same as you. No. Liberals are better human beings than conservatives. That's what conservatives continually fail to understand when you criticize us.
Love Richard telling it like it is. Loose clothing wise, how about Johnny Smiths' great cape show
"Anyone who uses the word 'woke' as a negative is a prick" - nail on head.
Good grief
Yep. I'd go so far as to say that anyone that uses the word "woke" is a prick; I've yet to hear it used in any way that might be construed as positive.
@@sq1rlsqu4dThe word, in this context, originated in Black American communities to refer to someone who was 'awake' to the ways in which black people are disadvantaged and marginalised by systemic and institutional racism in American society.
I must confess the woke monologue and ULEZ supporting comments has left me cold but I guess he is a product of the BBC .... Each to their own however It is a shame he has decided to bring his left leaning politics into an otherwise enjoyable listen.
I expect you're more comfortable with Jezza's casual racism. What with that not being political at all. Dick.
Richard is on fire 🔥 lol.
Woke as a negative that's a good line haha yeah.
Yeah, how could it be anything but positive to be racist against white men (the worst type of people obvs) and to encourage children to do irreperable harm to themselves?
Evening all!
Cheers mate, thanks mate bye
FYI Jonny/Richard, there's no link on the website to the live shows. Luckily google shows that they're at /live-shows.html 🙃
The sniffpetrol website could do with some TLC also
@@jeremywilliams5107 Eh? It's made quite clear that the sniffpetrol website is archived and no longer updated.
The boxes on the side of the new defender are for putting Dog shit in
The boxes on the side of the new defender are for putting Dog shit in
Surely these are surplus BMW bike panniers, bodged on to a car: " yeah, I'm Charlie Borman" etc