May, Clarkson, Hammond Poorly and Well Aged Moments

cars, opinions, reliability, etc

[ThunderTHR]

*Context thread (for those who don't know);*

0:00 - The license plate on Jeremy's 928 (which read H982 FKL) would cause a group of protestors to ambush the crew in Argentina who believed the plate to be a deliberate reference to the 1982 Falklands War. *The presenters would publicly state that it wasn't, * however there are those who believe that this WAS infact deliberate. Its worth noting that the 928 had *ALWAYS* been registered with the *H982 FKL* plate well before being in the hands of Clarkson.

0:19 - Jeremy would later go on to declare the Lexus LFA as the best car he's ever driven.

0:56 - The S-Type (renamed XF) would launch, looking nearly like the concept car in the picture. Jeremy did not cut his left leg off and beat himself to death with it.

1:27 - The trio were unable to test their respective cars (which included James May campaigning the LaFerrari) around their track, initially due to disagreements between McLaren and Ferrari over how the tests should be run, before being axed for good due to the fracas incident that dismissed Clarkson from Top Gear before such an event could happen, meaning that the "Jennifer" bet would never be fulfilled. All three cars would eventually be given a proper test on the debut episode of The Grand Tour at the Algarve Circuit, where both the Ferrari and Porsche *WERE* infact, faster than the McLaren. The "Jennifer" bet was never acknowledged again.

2:01 - Jaguar nearly attempted a comeback with the C-X75, but pulled the plug before it could go into production. Bugatti would go on to make the *Veyron*, and has yet to make any sort of saloon car (outside of concept cars). McLaren's next car, as mentioned in the clip, would be a joint project with Mercedes-Benz that resulted in the SLR.

2:17 - Jeremy later changed his mind on the 8C, with him considering the eventual production car to be the "most beautiful car ever made", even asking during his review of the 8C if "a car could be art?" He even made a joke about the 8C Spider in a news segment as "just PURE pornography."

2:38 - Top Gear did not end with the three setting off in a big fireball. It also might be a very SUBTLE reference of Clarkson's last appearance on the original Top Gear, where Clarkson (and the then presenters) "exploded" in a big fireball, before cutting to a scene with the presenters all driving off into the distance in their favourite supercars. Clarkson left the show roughly a month later, at the start of 1999. Ironically enough, one of Clarkson's replacements was a short-haired James May, who presented for only a few months before being replaced himself.

2:53 - Despite Richard and James' comments about the Range Rover's poor reliability history, Jeremy's Range Rover ended up being the *most* reliable of the three cars in that special (according to Jeremy).

3:09 - The 4x4 was *not* the third biggest killer in 2020. *Nor do they come with health warnings plastered on the exterior.*

3:29 - James' Lotus had nearly *no* troubles whatsoever during the Patagonia special.

3:41 - Richard would lose control after the finish and crash his Rimac off the hill-climb track. *The only amateur footage available still sucks, by the way.*

4:13 - Poked fun at in the clip itself. *You can guess what happened.*

5:00 - Jeremy had already been dismissed from Top Gear by the time this episode had aired, due to the fracas incident. Though its probably no secret that by the end of his run, Clarkson was tired of Top Gear.

5:10 - Pagani has repeatedly made one-off Zondas since this episode, largely made by customer requests, as recent as 2019.

5:27 - More expensive (and faster) Porsches have been released since then. (Clarkson has also contradicted the "best looking" statement, saying he feels the 928 was the best looking Porsche.)

5:36 - Deliberately poked fun at in the clip itself.

6:31 - Volkswagen are currently the parent owners of Porsche.

6:41 - I ain't 100% on this clip, but my take is that due to the huge growth in Crossover vehicles, more and more customers are buying 4x4s and other similar crossover based vehicles. Its also been suggested that its a sense of irony as one of Clarkson's all time favourite vehicles is the Range Rover.

7:17 - Battery-powered electric cars have completely *EXPLODED* in popularity and sales, and with current projections, will likely continue to become more popular in the coming years. *Though I wish it were Hydrogen-powered cars instead.*

7:28 - There have been several cars since then that have gone around the track faster than the Ferrari Enzo (1:19.0), including the Veyron, which....

7:39 - The Veyron *DOES* exist, and *DOES* have 1, 000 HP. *Also, "Very-on", lmao.*

9:03 - The C6, as James teased at, *flopped.* Citroen were expecting the car to sell around 20, 000 per year. *23, 384 C6s were sold in its entire run from 2006-2012.*

9:23 - The Mexican ambassador *DID* complain. Whoops.

9:45 - The United Kingdom would eventually leave the European Union, in what's since been coined "Brexit".

10:40 - Since this episode aired, Mercedes have won the Constructors' Championship every year since 2014, with Lewis Hamilton winning the Driver's Championship in each year (except for 2016, which was won by his then-teammate Nico Rosberg, and 2021, which was won by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.) Also, West Ham are currently doing better than Manchester United in the current Premier League season.

11:34 - Under its Russian ownership, TVR became largely inactive due to falling demand and many of its staff members having been laid off. No new models were made during this period, with ownership of TVR eventually being sold to Les Edgar in 2013.

12:17 - Alfa Romeo would go on to make the 4C, with a Spider variant being released a couple years later. A true Spider successor hasn't been made as of 2021.

13:02 - Lamborghini would eventually go on to make the Urus, which is Lamborghini's equivalent to the Porsche Cayenne that Jeremy mentions in the clip. Ironically, the "Urus" name was trademarked just before the introduction of the Estoque, which is shown in the clip. Unfortunately, the Estoque did not go into production.

13:30 - Jaguar would eventually make a new project that would turn into a new F-Type, which did go into production.

13:48 - The Continental GT would later go on to be the sort of car that WAS, infact, Jeremy's "cup of tea".

14:05 - Jeremy would later go on to give the FN2 Civic Type-R a scathing review, concluding it as "absolutely hopeless".

14:17 - The Panamera is still in production to this day, and was even given a new chassis update in 2017.

14:26 - Lamborghini have made multiple models since this episode's airing that continue to house a V12 engine, such as the Veneno, Centenario, Sian, Essenza, and a revival of the Countach.

14:42 - The dog wasn't eaten.

15:06 - The i8 does not go like a 911, costed more than a 911, and was poorly received by much of the car community.

15:25 - Sadly for Ricciardo, Daniel has likely had plenty of time to look at the back of Lewis' car. Daniel however would get the last lap by posting the fastest ever time in the Suzuki Liana around the Top Gear Track (1:42.2 vs. Hamilton's 1:42.9)

15:47 - See above at 2:17.

16:01 - Ford WOULD go on to sell the V8-powered Mustang in Britain. Ironically enough, the Ecoboost powered model has since been discontinued in Britain.

16:58 - Poked fun at in the clip itself. Whilst the 9-5 shown in question would go on to enter production, Saab would eventually go bankrupt and dissolve in 2012.

18:07 - (As a non-Brit, I'm not familiar with British politics.) Pretty sure that people are still using their cars just as often as they had before, if not perhaps more often. (Its also been suggested that the first half of the clip could be unknowingly referring to restrictions that would later become imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with everything being shut down alongside the strictly-imposed curfews.) The "left-wing dictatorship" rant has also been suggested as having aged like vinegar, with many of the imposed bits that Clarkson rants about actually being implemented by the Tories, who are considered as being "centre-right".

19:09 - Top Gear would eventually reveal the 3-door production model Astra in a later series, and Jeremy WOULD end up eating his hair.

19:43 - Hammond went out of his way to drive a right-hand-drive Mustang as soon as he was able to in an episode of The Grand Tour, clearly showing how excited he was.

20:14 - Kristin Scott Thomas was used for a number of the years as the "test" for where a car would rank on the Cool Wall. As shown in the clip, Kristin's opinions on the cars shown directly contradicted Jeremy's, rendering the Cool Wall irrelevant. (The segment would still be used a few more times throughout the show, however the Kristin Scott Thomas test would never be referred to again.)

21:17 - The United States Grand Prix returned in 2012 at the Circuit of the Americas, where its ran every year since (except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Unfortunately for Jeremy however, there are no sprinklers, there's still steward inquiries, penalties, and no-one slugs it out at the podium. Its also been suggested that it could be in relation to the eventual purchase of Formula 1 by American media giant "Liberty Media" in 2017, which in turn caused a huge upgrowth in popularity for the sport.

21:50 - They didn't kick a couple of barn owls to death for fun. They even jokingly made an apology the following episode in regards to the comment.

*If I am missing anything, please let me know!*

[supremacy]

Hammond’s accidents are like self-fulfilling prophecies, he knows it’ll be bad but does it anyways

[kimoelkomanga]

5:16 "Bye Bye Zonda"
*Pagani launch the brand new zonda special edition for the 500th time*

[arny_javier]

9:01 Jeremy: “the Bugatti Veyron will never exist.”
Bugatti: **didnt give them a veyron to test with when it came out**

[Kalenz]

5:00 "I hate working on top gear!" THAT aged so perfectly poor and well.

[Sweaty__Sheep]

The pre-Rimac run pressure still makes me cringe 🤣

[TrialByDance]

"When will Top Gear end"
"About 5 minutes after us three have set off"

*OOF*

[motocrazy]

Funny watching Jeremy critique Hamilton’s move to Mercedes 😂

[julesiebear]

The universe just does the opposite of whatever Jeremy says…

[hamboneh]

i mean jezza was technically correct, the bugatti "veryon" never existed...

[PastaRiiCe]

Watching back Hammond's clip about "the biggest accident" just before crashing that dragster is so chilling to watch. So glad he was okay afterwards

[Real]

The Hamilton move from McLaren to Mercedes was one of the best decisions of his life, full stop. Rolled the dice and best choice ever.

[ScienzaMagia]

My personal favorite "aged like milk" bit was Jeremy trying to stop Chinese Stig fron attacking the production crew.

[DynamcDrw]

4:28 is brilliant

hammond: "...I've got 10k horsepower...and possibly the biggest accident youve ever seen in your life."

future hammond: 😬

[riley]

What's upsetting most about the Argentina attack was: they went out of their way to avoid making jokes at the expense of Argentinans, let alone the fact that the whole point of the trip was to mend relationships.

Most of their other trips, they spend a good amount of time cracking jokes at the country their visiting's expense, but that time exclusively they avoided doing so... And they get attacked.

[challenger]

There's nothing that can replace these 3. They are like brothers who gets on everyone's nerves but they love each other and what's more I love these guys when they are on our screens. ❤️✌️

[MrXaniss]

I love how Jeremy went from judging the LFA to loving it

[mrnobody]

5:04 that episode aired after Jeremy leave top gear (last episode), that was the greatest bombshell.

[kaidanardono]

1:46 I don't care about the details of the deal, he's Jennifer now.

[jayp.]

Top Gear will never be the same.
I haven't even watched since the left.
The chemistry between them is palpable and unmatched