Top Gear's latest manifestation is an Emmy Award and BAFTA winning BBC television series about motor vehicles, particularly cars. The programme is estimated to have over 350 million viewers worldwide, 5 million of whom watch the programme each week in the UK.^[1] Top Gear is currently presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. It also features The Stig, an anonymous test driver, who is also listed as a presenter in the credits. It is provocative, humorous and light-hearted in tone. The eighth series of Top Gear completed its run on 30 July, 2006 after its eighth broadcast. The ninth series was due to start airing on 8 October 2006, however this was delayed due to a car accident involving Richard Hammond in September 2006.^[2] According to an announcement at the Top Gear Awards on 12 December 2006, the ninth series of the show will premier on 28 January 2007.

The original Top Gear was a half-hour show made by BBC Pebble Mill in Birmingham. It ran for 24 years. Top Gear magazine is a separate publication produced by BBC Magazines which shares some contributors, editors and features with the TV show including contributions by Emma Parker Bowles, niece of Camilla ^[3] and the presenters themselves. It contains the latest in motoring news, and has an informative, yet readable car guide at the back.

Top Gear started in 1977 as a regional programme in the Midlands which was offered to the newly established BBC2 and through the years it was presented by people such as BBC newsreader Angela Rippon and Noel Edmonds. William Woollard was the main presenter until 1991 with contributions from, among others, Peter Burgess, Tiff Needell, Tony Mason, Sue Baker, Frank Page and Chris Goffey. The programme was then only 30 minutes long.

Originally, Top Gear was a fairly conventional magazine show aimed at a general audience which reviewed new car models and other car-related issues such as road safety, but it saw a massive boost in its audience in the late 1980s when it became a more humorous, controversial, and unashamedly more critical programme with the involvement of Jeremy Clarkson. It reached 5 to 6 million viewers in the late 1980s/early 1990s and was No 1 in the BBC2 viewing top ten. Among Clarkson's contemporary presenters were Quentin Willson, a former used car salesman, and Vicki Butler-Henderson along with Tiff Needell.

Despite enduring criticism that the show was overly macho, encouraged irresponsible driving behaviour, and ignored the environment, it became hugely influential with motor manufacturers, since a critical word from the Top Gear team could have a severe negative effect on sales. One such example is the original Vauxhall Vectra about which Clarkson said: "I know it's the replacement for the Cavalier. I know. But I'm telling you it's just a box on wheels". However, even more critical statements have not affected sales of the Toyota Corolla, and extreme praise did not help the Renault Alpine GTA/A610.

Following Jeremy Clarkson's departure in 1999 the Top Gear audience fell from a peak of six million to under three million, and, despite various changes of the presenting team, resulted in the BBC's cancellation of the programme in 2001. One of the presenters brought in following Clarkson's departure was James May who would later become one of the three presenters of the present format.

The decision to cancel was reversed by BBC2 but the production was moved to London from Birmingham. Some of the original production and presenting team moved to Channel Five to establish Fifth Gear. After Top Gear's success in the mid-1990s, a number of similar programmes were produced including Channel 4's Driven, ITV's Pulling Power and BBC World India's Wheels. ^[4]

After a period of recording other programmes, Clarkson, along with producer Andy Wilman successfully pitched a new format for Top Gear to the BBC, and a new series began airing in 2002.

The format incorporated a number of major changes. The show was lengthened to one hour and two new presenters were introduced: Richard Hammond and Jason Dawe. James May replaced Dawe after the first series. The Stig, an anonymous masked racing driver, was introduced as test driver. New segments were also added, including "Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car", the "Cool Wall", "Car News", "Power Laps" as well as numerous one-off features such as races, competitions and the frequent destruction of caravans in imaginative ways. The programme is filmed at Dunsfold Park, an active airfield in Surrey, where a custom race circuit was built and a large hangar is used for inside filming. A standing studio audience with whom the presenters interact was also included. With the start of the eighth series in 2006 a new 'presenter' joined the cast, a labradoodle dog ,owned by Richard Hammond, named "Top Gear Dog". A regular joke on the programme is that the presenters aren't exactly sure what to do with her, as she gets sick in a moving car, and doesn't like May (Clarkson joked that Top Gear Dog vomited on May before the studio filming of the first episode she appeared in).

Series 9 was scheduled to air on BBC Two from 8 October and end "sometime in November". However, on 20 September 2006 Richard Hammond was seriously injured while driving a jet-propelled drag-racing car at 300+ mph (460+ km/h) for a feature for the show. On Sunday 24 September the BBC said: "It also confirmed the final part of the Best of Top Gear had been postponed indefinitely and the new series, due to begin on 8 October, will be delayed", and is not due to air until Richard Hammond is well enough to participate fully. Both the BBC and the Health and Safety Executive are carrying out their own internal inquiries. On 5 October, filming resumed on features for the new series that Richard was not involved with.^[5]. On ITV daytime programme This Morning on 31 October James May strongly hinted that the show was scheduled to begin in early 2007, and Jeremy Clarkson said in a recent interview that if all goes to plan, it will begin in January 2007. Finally the January edition of Top Gear magazine confirmed the show will air on BBC Two in January 2007, and it was announced during the TG Car of The Year award that the ninth series will air on January 28, with a special episode dedicated to Hammond's accident on January 21st.

In the meantime, repeats of earlier series are being shown on BBC Three, UKTV G2 and UKTV People, and a "Best Of" show was shown on BBC Two on 5 November 2006.

The programme is filmed at the Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey. The studio is inside a hangar. The audience of up to 400 enthusiasts, who have applied to the BBC for free tickets, stand next to the presenters during the filming, allowing many opportunities for interaction. For the eighth series, the studio was remodelled, with more car-based props on display. The grounds of the airfield is used as the infamous Top Gear Test Track. Details of the layout can be found here.

The show is noted for its striking cinematography and high production values.^[6]

Top Gear has always used The Allman Brothers Band's instrumental hit "Jessica" as its theme song. Initially the show used part of the original Allmans' recording of the song, but later series of Top Gear use updated cover versions. For the original series run, the end credits music was "Out of the Blue", an instrumental from the 1976 Elton John album Blue Moves.

As part of a segment in the August 7, 2005 episode, James May recorded a version of "Jessica" using engine sounds from cars including a classic Bugatti, Mazda RX-8, Honda S2000, Fiat Nuova Panda, a single-cylinder dumper truck and an Enzo Ferrari. May's recording was played over the closing credits for that episode. When the song was played on air for the first time, Richard and Jeremy wasted no time in lampooning James's effort. One particular point of criticism (or bashing) was the Bugatti's note, which Jeremy likened to a fat shop assistant farting. In James's defence, though, the car was apparently running flat that day.

In November 2005, Top Gear won an International Emmy in the Non-Scripted Entertainment category.^[7] In the episode where the presenters showed the award to the studio audience, Clarkson joked that he was unable to go to New York to receive the award since he was too busy writing the script for that episode.

Top Gear has also been nominated three consecutive years, 2004-2006, for the British Academy Television Awards in the Best Feature category. Host Jeremy Clarkson was also nominated in the best "Entertainment Performance" category in 2006.^[8] In 2004 and 2005, Top Gear was also nominated for a National Television Award in the Most Popular Factual Programme category; they won the award in 2006.^[9]

Top Gear has come under fire on many occasions for promoting irresponsible driving,^[10] causing ecological damage, and favouring performance over fuel efficiency and conservation.

Jeremy Clarkson has spurred several controversies in his capacity as a presenter for Top Gear. During the November 13, 2005 episode a news segment featuring BMW's MINI Concept from the Tokyo Motor Show showcased what Richard Hammond quoted as a "quintessentially British" integrated tea set. Clarkson responded by mocking that they should build a car that is "quintessentially German." He suggested turn signals that displayed Hitler salutes, "a sat-nav that only goes to Poland" in reference to the Nazi invasion of Poland that ultimately started World War II, "und ein fanbelt that will last a thousand years," a reference to Adolf Hitler's propaganda slogan of "the thousand-year Reich". These statements gained negative attention in the British and German news media, such as the UK Daily Mail article which noted that the BBC would follow a formal investigation of any complaints made on the matter.

The BBC compensated a Bristol local parish in 2004 after Clarkson rammed a Toyota Hilux into a landmark tree^[11] during a segment on proving the sturdiness and reliability of the truck through a series of torture tests. The parish had no idea the damage had been caused by a BBC television show until the item was aired, believing that it had been an accident or the work of vandals.

The road safety group Transport 2000 has asked the BBC to replace Top Gear^[12] with a tamer, more environmentally-friendly "Third Gear." The group's reasons for this demand include claims of "substantial ecological damage" to a peat bog during an off-roading segment and disregard for speed limits in another segment where Clarkson was cited by police. As noted by them: "It is irresponsible, outdated television designed to give comfort to boy-racers."^[13]

Top Gear was in negotiations to move to Enstone in northwest Oxfordshire, close to Clarkson's home in Chipping Norton, but has so far been unable to negotiate a deal after their initial application blocked due to opposition by local citizens because of fears that Top Gear would create pollution and noise.^[14]

Clarkson has been critical of the BBC. In the February 2006 issue of Top Gear Magazine, Clarkson voiced his opinion that the BBC did not take Top Gear seriously. He also appears to be annoyed with BBC bosses for often replacing the show with snooker, despite Top Gear having considerably higher viewer ratings, and the show's shortening series runs.^[15]

In July 2006 the BBC rejected a variety of complaints about issues Top Gear chooses and the way they are covered by Clarkson, Hammond and May. The BBC argued that their "provocative comments are an integral part of the programme and are not intended to be taken seriously." Regarding offensive remarks traded between presenters and members of the audience, the BBC said "this is part of the appeal of the show [and] we trust most viewers are familiar enough with the style and tone of the show not to take offence." The BBC pointed out that they would act if such statements and actions were carried out with any degree of seriousness or if the programme breached legal and safety requirements.^[16]

In December 2006, the BBC upheld four complaints that comments Clarkson made about a car were degrogatory references to homosexuality, and they had the potential to offend and should not have been broadcast. Clarkson had agreed with an audience member that a car was "a bit gay", on a programme screened in the UK in July, and also described the vehicle as "very ginger beer", taken to be rhyming slang for the term "queer". The BBC complaints unit said there was "no editorial purpose" for the remarks, and the "Top Gear team had been reminded of the importance of avoiding such comments about sexual orientation."^[17]

The show has featured a number of races where Clarkson drives a car against other forms of transport, typically involving Hammond and May taking the same journey by combinations of plane, train, ferry or bus:

• Aston Martin DB9 against the TGV and Eurostar trains from the studio in Surrey to Monte Carlo
• Ferrari 612 Scaglietti against a plane from the studio in Surrey to Verbier
• Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren against a plane, ferry and speedboat from Heathrow Airport to Oslo
• Bugatti Veyron against a Cessna 182 light aircraft, between Alba in northern Italy and Tower 42, London.

In all the above cases Clarkson in the car has won, albeit very marginally on some occasions.

Top Gear regularly reaffirms that the races do take place for real, and that many of the shots used in the film are then recorded over a few days by retracing the journey. In the case of the Bugatti Veyron race, the Stig drove the car back to Italy, although these shots are filmed so that it is not apparent that Clarkson is not driving.^[18] High production values meant that this 32-minute feature took 33 16-hour days to edit.^[19]

Other races have involved one of the presenters in a car against an athlete:

• Fiat Nuova Panda with Clarkson driving against a runner AC Muir on a modified London Marathon route on a weekday morning rush hour.
• Audi RS 4 with Clarkson driving up a mountain road against rock climbers (Leo Houlding and Tim Emmet) climbing the same distance vertically, then racing back down (with the climbers BASE jumping).
• Renault Clio III with May driving down the narrow streets of Castle of São Jorge's district in Lisbon against Gee Atherton, a downhill bike racer, which James nicknamed, because of the helmet, Darth Vader.
• Porsche Cayenne Turbo S with Hammond racing down a 2-mile long rally course in Cyprus against an army parachutist starting and finishing at the exact same location in the air as Hammond was on the ground.
• A Tomcat, a very powerful Land Rover based 4x4 equipped with a 4-liter TVR V8 engine, driven by Hammond, who described it as "a combination of British technology and Icelandic levels of lunacy"^[20], against a jet powered kayak 'driven' by Shaun Baker along an icy stretch of water in Iceland.
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driven by Norwegian rally champion Henning Solberg with May co-piloting, against Hammond and the Norwegian Olympic Bobsled team, each taking similar routes down a mountain in Lillehammer, Norway.
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Group N rally car and a Bowler Wildcat driven against an all-terrain skateboarder down the "Green mile" an all-terrain boarding course. While the Mitsubishi lost, the Bowler managed to defeat the skateboarder.
• Ford Transit Anniversary driven by Sabine Schmitz in an attempt to beat Jeremy's time around the Nürburgring race track in a diesel powered Jaguar S-type. Despite stripping the van and some aerodynamic modifications Sabine still lost by 9 seconds.
• Peugeot 207 with May driving a six mile course through the streets of Liverpool from a car park to the Liver Building against two traceurs (Daniel Ilabaca and Kerbie). The traceurs won the race, despite James thinking initially he had won, by revealing that they had not only arrived first, but had climbed to the top of the building.
• Ford SportKa driven by James May against a messenger pigeon. The race was won by the pigeon despite the car being fitted with satellite navigation.

All of these races have been lost by the car, except where noted.

The team have also taken part in a race where Caterham Super Seven driven by the Stig leaves the factory in Caterham, Surrey and has to drive to Scotland's Knockhill Racing Circuit and cross the start/finish line before Clarkson, Hammond and May can build one from scratch in a pit garage at the side of the circuit and get it to the line. Clarkson, Hammond and May won because the Stig was arrested by the Fife police for speeding.

Another recurring feature are the Cheap Car Challenges, in which the presenters are given a budget (typically around £1,500) and must buy a used car conforming to certain guidelines. These have included:

• A road legal car for less than £100.
• A Porsche, where each presenter was given £1,500.
• A two-door coupe that isn't a Porsche, where each presenter was given £1,500.
• A 1970s mid-engined Italian supercar, where each presenter was given £10,000.
• A van for which each presenter was given £1,000.
• An interesting car for less than $1000 (American Fly Drive special, Top Gear Magazine Nov. 2006)

Once purchased, the presenters compete against each other in a series of tests to establish who has bought the best car. The presenters have no prior knowledge of what the tests will be, although they generally involve a long motorway journey to determine reliability, and a race track event to determine performance. There is also the recurring element of the presenters having to spend their change from the initial budget on improving the cars.

In his column in the Daily Telegraph, May revealed that his entry for the next Cheap Car Challenge was an Alfa Romeo 164, although he does not reveal what the buying criteria were. His only clue as to what tests were performed was that the car ends up being sawn in half.

As well as amusing banter, argument and mockery with the studio audience, there is much between the presenters themselves. Each host's persona is paid almost as much attention as the cars they review.

Hammond is ribbed for being short and supposedly having had his teeth whitened, and was dubbed by Clarkson as Top Gear's "resident hamster". His work on daytime television following the launch of Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show on ITV1 has brought on allegations of an interest in oddly-shaped vegetables along with subtle ribbing from Clarkson by dubbing him "Phillip Schofield" during the Top Gear Winter Olympic Special, and referring to a Hammond versus May competition as "Daytime versus Primetime."

May earned the nickname "Captain Slow" because of a comparatively slow driving style, his refusal to run on camera, and a tendency to lose any competition where speed is the measure of victory. Before transmission of May's documentary about sharks aired on Sky One, Clarkson presented a photograph of May in a wetsuit, during the "News" segment of the show, mocking his hair and the size of his penis.

Clarkson is noted for his inconsistent yet strong opinions and ego, as well as his terrible dress sense. The other presenters also made fun of his Ford GT, which he bought for £126,000 and which has continually broken down. He returned the car to Ford Motor Company for a refund,^[21] then later repurchased the car, and it appeared in the 27 November, 2005 episode of the show. In May 2006, Clarkson admitted he had never completed a single round-trip journey in the car without breaking down. In the October 2006 issue of Top Gear magazine, James May alludes that Clarkson may be selling the GT for a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. The other presenters also frequently allude to Clarkson's apparent need for 'power'.^[22]

Top Gear normally reviews one new car, or group of cars, each week. They often take place in dramatic or interesting locations. Group tests normally involve the three presenters debating the merits and weaknesses of each car.

During most programmes, a celebrity – usually of British fame – is interviewed by Clarkson. The light-hearted discussion focuses on car-related matters, such as the celebrity's car history. Then Clarkson, the guest and the studio audience watch the guest's fastest lap around the Top Gear test track, filmed earlier.

For the first seven series of its current incarnation, the car driven was a Suzuki Liana. Starting with the eighth series, this was replaced by a Chevrolet Lacetti, with a new blank scoreboard. The format was also changed so that instead of the best lap of several attempts being recorded, each star would have five practice laps, and then a final timed lap, with no allowance being given for mishaps.

In the Power Laps segment, the Stig completes a lap around the Top Gear test track to gauge the performance of various cars.

The car raced by the Stig is usually a car that was reviewed by one of the presenters that episode, but sometimes it is a car reviewed from a previous programme. There are two separate lists, one for production cars and one for non-production cars.

There is a separate unofficial board of times for non-production car times. The qualifications for the normal Power Lap Board is that the car being tested must be a road-worthy car.^[23] For example, the Ariel Atom managed to squeak by onto the Power Lap board only because it could get over a speed bump.^[24] The three times include:

Note: The following laps were clocked with the tested vehicle configured for maximum performance. That is to say, all adjustable suspensions were set at their most efficient, all gear shift maps were at their most aggressive, and driving aids such as traction control were deactivated. These lap times do not offer entirely reliable comparisons between the cars - the conditions are far from controlled.

¹ (Mildly) moist track (the presenters claim this negatively affects track times by around 2 seconds)
² Wet track (the presenters claim this negatively affects track times by around 4 seconds)
³ Very wet track (the presenters claim this negatively affects track times by around 6 seconds)
⁴ Foggy conditions

⁵ Removed from board.^{[25][26] [27][need quotation to verify][28]}

Note: The most powerful production car ever featured on Top Gear, the 1001 bhp (746 kW) Bugatti Veyron, has not yet been taken around the track by the Stig. According to Hammond, this is because Bugatti has not given Top Gear permission to run the car through a power lap (yet).^[29]

The presenters joke about Koenigsegg being too difficult to spell and pronounce, so they used extra long magnetic strips to write the times for these cars on. Koenigsegg was intentionally misspelt in an exaggerated fashion as Koenignogseggseggseggggabbaseggviking. Both Koenigseggs on the power board have long strips, with slightly different spelling on each.

Clarkson and Hammond decide which cars are cool, and which aren't, by placing photographs of them onto various sections of a large board. The categories are Sub Zero, Cool, Uncool, and Seriously Uncool, and a vehicle's placement has nothing to do with how good or bad a car it is. Initially, part of that coolness factor rested on the extent to which the presenters believed each car would impress English actress Kristin Scott Thomas, although more recently, BBC newsreader Fiona Bruce has replaced Scott Thomas as their notional judge. They have also added a separate 'DB9 Section' (which is a mini fridge) right after the subzero section of the board , which signifies that it is even better than a 'subzero' car. It contains the DB9 and on top of the fridge is the (Baby Aston) the V8 Vantage.

Top Gear has a running joke about their hatred of caravans. Various stunts have seen caravans destroyed by:

• Dropping one onto a Toyota Hilux to prove the truck's indestructibility.
• Towing one to the point of aerodynamically-induced structural failure using a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution in an attempt to set a world speed record for towing a caravan.
• Dropping one from a crane after May failed to set the world speed record for towing a caravan
• Clarkson towing one at full speed, upside down, along a runway with a Overfinch performance-enhanced V8 Range Rover.
• Having a Volvo jump over them.
• Jumping a Lincoln Town Car Stretched Limo over a wedding party consisting of chairs, altar, cake, the guests' cars and their caravans - the limo didn't quite make it and smashed into the caravans.
• Burning one with the exhaust of a jet powered drag racing car.
• Going on a caravanning holiday, in Dorset. Damage to the caravan was inflicted by hitting a bollard at a petrol station, and partially demolishing a neighbouring caravan's awning while trying to park. The trip ends with Clarkson "accidentally" causing a chip pan fire inside the caravan. The presenters' attempts to extinguish the fire cause the previously damaged awning to be destroyed. The caravan itself was reduced to a burnt-out shell which was towed away at the end of the show.
• Smashing one with a weight dropped from a crane while towing it past the crane, using lifesize radio-controlled cars.
• Attempting to jump the above radio controlled cars over one, but failing and crashing in to it.
• May and Hammond played "caravan conkers" with a selection of caravans painted to look like horse chestnuts. The caravans were suspended from cranes and swung at each other, as in the game of conkers, until each player's selection of three caravans was destroyed. May and Hammond pretended to take the game very seriously, taking great care to select which caravans to play against each other on the basis of weight, chassis strength, bodywork construction and interior design.
• Using a gas powered cannon which fires cars to shoot an assortment of used cars at a caravan parked on a large dart board on the floor of a quarry. it took 4 attempts but on the finale attempt Richard Hammond managed to land a volvo on the caravan.

Each year, the show presents a "Car of the Year" for the best new car in that year. Winners have included:

• 1997: Ford Puma
• 1998: Ford Focus
• 2000: Fiat Multipla
• 2001: Ford Mondeo
• 2002: Land Rover Range Rover
• 2003: Rolls-Royce Phantom
• 2004: Volkswagen Golf GTI/ Aston Martin DB9^[30]
• 2005: Toyota Aygo (Magazine)/Bugatti Veyron (Show)
• 2006: Jaguar XK (Magazine)

Every year, Top Gear conducts a survey which consults thousands of UK residents on their car-ownership satisfaction. While for legal reasons, the survey is now conducted via the magazine, the results are still used on the show. The survey which used to be done in conjunction with J.D. Power, is now conducted by Experian.

The survey asks respondents to score cars on the following criteria:

• Build quality (22%)
• Craftsmanship (22%)
• Driving experience (19%)
• Ownership costs (17%)
• Customer care (20%)

Based on the above criteria, here are best and worst ranked cars from the survey.

• 2003
  • Best ranked: Jaguar XJ
  • Worst ranked: Volkswagen Sharan
• 2004
  • Best ranked: Honda S2000
  • Worst ranked: Mercedes M-Class
• 2005
  • Best ranked: Honda S2000
  • Worst ranked: Peugeot 807

A few years ago, Top Gear featured another survey, asking viewers to vote for their favourite song. The first stage of the vote involved viewers to enter song names on the website. The votes were then counted and the most popular five songs were then shown both on the show and the website. The five songs were:

• Bat Out of Hell - Meat Loaf
• Born to be Wild - Steppenwolf
• Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
• Highway Star - Deep Purple
• Radar Love - Golden Earring

Viewers of the show were expected to vote for their favourite of the five songs, across seven weeks until the votings were counted. Every week James May would make a short video putting forward a case for each song. All three presenters mocked Meat Loaf's song, and James May made the comment "A vote for Meatloafs "Bat Out of Hell" will result in your internet service provider changing your domain name to loser!"(WikiQuote:James May). Queen's Don't Stop Me Now was voted as the best driving anthem of all time by the viewers, and the award was given to the band's drummer, Roger Taylor.

A prop which occasionally appears on the show is a full-size colour cut-out photo of John Prescott. In the episode in which the show's crew made a "Bond Car" for £300, one of these was presented as a target and called "Blofeld".

Wikiquote has quotations related to Top Gear.

• Official BBC Top Gear website
• Top Gear at TV.com
• Top Gear magazine website
• FinalGear.com Top Gear Fansite
• Craig Armstrong Online Resource Music used on Top Gear
• BBC News article on Top Gear's history (21 September 2006)
• Top Gear on UKTV
• Top Gear merchandise The official site for the new Top Gear merchandise range
• Top Gear's ICON entry
• Top Gear Studio (Dunsfold Park) at Google Maps

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