Steve Kroft, the host from 60 Minutes, usually gets answers from people he asks questions to. That is, until he met The Stig.
The CBS host took some time to get to know the new Top Gear test driver during a segment of 60 Minutes. In this preview video leading up to the episode this Sunday, October 24th, at 7 pm EST, Kroft gets to ride shotgun on-board a Chevrolet Camaro SS while The Stig tries to drive the wheels off of it at Top Gear’s test track in the UK.
Kroft manages to ask The Stig a few questions in an attempt to get even the slightest audible response from the driver. Yeah, Kroft would have more luck trapping lightning in a bottle than he would to get a retort from Top Gear’s 4th resident silent test driver.
In addition to his bonding moment with the Stig, the preview also shows the host spending some time with the three affable – and quote-friendly – hosts of the show, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, as well as Top Gear executive producer, Andy Wilman.
We don’t know about you, but we’re definitely clearing our schedules this Sunday at 7pm EST time.
Those boys from Top Gear are just racking up their frequent flyer miles, aren’t they?
A few weeks ago, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May trooped to the US to do a number of scenes for season 15 of Top Gear. Now, the troika has once again been spotted in a foreign land about half a world away from US soil.
We don’t know what these chaps are doing with these cars, but given their nature of off-beat drives and wacky races, we’re guessing that it falls somewhere along those lines. There’s also word that they might be on their way to Nazareth, which is where Jesus himself lived for quite some time. Talk about a reincarnated version of the Three Kings riding sports cars instead of camels.
Alright all you Top Gear fans! We’ve had a Top Gear elf swing by our place a little early this year so we are passing along that generosity to our readers. Just think of it as us giving you a little jumpstart to your holidays all while doing that little thing we like to call promotion. Sounds good, right? Well, then, let’s talk presents!
That little elf we mentioned earlier presented us with three sets of Top Gear, well, gear in the form of a book, a DVD set, and a keyring.
Where is the Stig
Starting things off is the first edition of Top Gear: Where’s Stig, where you can waste a ton of time looking for the white-suited driver as he is cleverly concealed at rock festival, in his secret underground lair, at the Bonneville Salt Flats Speed Week, or on the Costa del Stig. We call this wonderfully crafted "bathroom reading."
Top Gear’s Complete Season 13
The next part of the set is Top Gear’s Complete Season 13. This DVD set brings back all of the fabulous ‘Stars in the Reasonably Priced Car,’ including Olympic Gold Medal winning Usain Bolt, Sienna Miller (Alfie, Layer Cake), and Jay Leno, ‘the biggest petrolhead in the world’. Other highlights from this season include Richard Hammond’s trip to Abu Dhabi to test the Lambo Murcielago LP640-4 SV, a French ice race in three £1,500 rear-drive sports cars, and the one where the Stig takes off his helmet to reveal himself. All the fun and none of the commercial interruptions comes wrapped up in this DVD set.
The Stig is in your pocket
The final gift in this set comes in the form of silver keyring in the shape of The Stig himself. Proudly hang your keys from this keyring to display your utmost dedication to the best automotive show that has ever graced our television screens.
Get to work !
There you have it, folks. Three lucky readers will be celebrating Christmas a little early this year. All you have to do is register on TopSpeed and submit a paragraph or two about how much you love Top Gear and the world of cars in general. Be creative.
The top three submissions will be chosen on Monday, November 1st. Start typing!
Six of the type 99T chassis were manufactured by Team Lotus for the 1987 season for drivers Senna and teammate Satoru Nakajima. This particular car, however, was exclusively driven by Senna and earned him the top tier of the podium at both the Monaco and Detroit Grands Prix. He raced the car in 11 GPs taking a total of six podiums that season.
The 1.5 liter Honda turbo V6 engine produces a mind-boggling 1,000 horsepower. Acceleration (0-62mph) takes an astonishing 2.5 seconds with a top speed of 205mph. During race time, engines would be replaced at a maximum of 311 miles. Super soft qualifying tires lasted 12.5 miles and harder race tires lasted up to 199 miles. You didn’t actually drive this – more like clung on for dear life. It’s these cars and drivers from the turbo era that made F1 racing so exciting – much of which is gone nowadays.
Ayrton Senna will be forever remembered for his skill both behind the wheel and in the garage, and his sheer tenacity on the circuit. Take a nostalgic trip down memory lane and visit this mad machine at Top Gear Live being held at Earls Court from November 4th-7th and the NEC in Birmingham between November 11th-14th.
Yeah, we know. Sometimes, its tough being Jeremy Clarkson, and we don’t mean it in a “we-feel-bad-for-him-kind-of-way”. On the contrary, there isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t find ourselves thinking of what it would be like to walk in Clarkson’s shoes for a day.
And as if to remind us just how awesome his job is, Clarkson has released a new two-disc video called The Italian Job. The whole video is chalk-full of the best and most expensive supercars on the planet. And Clarkson drives each and everyone of them.
The Italian Job doesn’t hit stores until November 15th, but if you’re already itching to see at least parts of the video, check out this trailer and watch Clarkson in his usual hyper and animated manner.
Ben Collins may have jumped on the Fifth Gear boat, but the Top Gear threesome of James May, Jeremy Clarkson, and Richard Hammond don’t seem to have noticed as they prepare to embark on their 2010 Prototype Tour commencing in London on November 4th. And what better way to market the start of this grand tour then by having May and Clarkson (Hammond was not in attendance) take on a Boeing 747 from the Top Gear track at Dunsfold Park, Surrey.
The Top Gear Live ‘Prototype’ World Tour promises to be the "most exciting, ambitious and complex automotive stage show ever," and considering the source, we tend to believe it! About 300,000 fans across seven cities around the world will take part in the tour as modified and crazy vehicles take the stage. Some of the absurd models include the first ever transparent car, completely transformed Porsches, and a battle between the “Godzilla” Nissan GT-R and a helicopter. And the battle doesn’t take place outside.
“Car stunt shows used to involve standing in rain soaked concrete car parks watching men in branded hats driving round in circles,” said Clarkson. “But Top Gear Live continues to prove that proper theatre with cars is possible and yet again, we’ve pushed the boundaries of car theatre for this ‘Prototype Tour’. It’s ambitious, but for once, it isn’t complete rubbish.”
The tour will start at the MPH The Prestige and Performance Motor Show at Earls Court, London from November 4th-7th. This should be a step up for the MPH show which was a hoot to begin with.
Hit the jump for the press release including locations and dates for the rest of the Prototype Tour.
The on-going soap opera between Top Gear and Ben Collins has taken yet another turn towards the unexpected after reports indicating that the latter has officially jumped to the competition, Fifth Gear.
Though not as popular as Top Gear – it certainly can’t boast of the cult-like following Clarkson and the boys currently enjoy these days – Fifth Gear is no stranger to plucking ex-Top Gear hosts and bringing them into their show with Collins being the third ex-Top Gear star to jump onboard the Fifth Gear boat following Tiff Needell and Vickie Butler-Henderson.
Steve Gowans, the head of Channel 5’s factual entertainment division, couldn’t contain his excitement in having the controversial Collins in Fifth Gear. "We’re delighted to have the Ben on board – it will be fascinating to see how he does in a head-to-head with Tiff and Jason – the best drivers on TV."
The 13th season of Top Gear is finally going to be released on DVD today, ending months of waiting among fans of the UK auto show. Yep, we’re included in that group.
You might remember that season 13 included a ton of memorable segments, including a race of 1,000 horsepower machines – the Bugatti Veyron, the Lamborghini Murcielago SV, and the McLaren F1 – in Abu Dhabi. It was also in season 13 where Richard Hammond and James May decided to take on the unenviable task of racing a Porsche Panamera against a stamped envelope, Jay Leno appeared as a guest and took the challenge of the Reasonably Priced Car, Ken Block showing off his rally skills in slow-mo, and, of course, Michael Schumacher appearing on the show as The Stig. Yep. Good times, indeed.
The DVD will also come with a load of extra features, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and never-before-seen interviews, making the $24.95 price tag all the more worth it.
As they say in show business, "The show must go on!" After all of the problems Top Gear has had with their former colleague, Ben Collins, the men of the original Top Gear are pushing ahead rather effortlessly. They are currently filming their 16th season and these guys were able to record a video of them while they were shooting a show in our very own New York.
We’re not sure what the new season is all about, but driving around in three cars like that is sure to add up to some fantastic footage! The GT3 RS develops a total of 450 HP and can hit a top speed of 193 mph; the 458 Italia develops 570 HP and has a top speed of 202 mph; and the SLS AMG develops a total of 571 HP and can hit a top speed of 197 mph.
Just when we thought that the saga surrounding Top Gear’s the Stig had finally come to pass, we’re jolted back to life with news that “Stig-Gate” is far from finished.
According to the Telegraph, there are reports that the man behind the Stig, Ben Collins, is looking at the possibility of having his own show in the not-so distant future. And the plot thickens…
There’s no word yet on what Collins’ show will be – or if there’s really anything to it – but if the show does get off, it’s a pretty good way to stick it up Top Gear’s you-know-what. Moreover, Collins is planning on having a show that will supposedly have more daring stunts than what Top Gear is accustomed to showing on their program.
While we’re interested to know how this new twist will play itself out, we’re not ready to jump on Ben Collins’ bandwagon just yet. Not that we will, because we certainly have a sense of loyalty to the chaps over at Top Gear.
But it does add a new chapter to the Top Gear-Stig controversy that should undoubtedly make it more interesting to anyone who has been following the whole saga.
