Oh, no shit? Damn. And here I was watching Top Gear for tips on real estate.
Honestly, Top Gear with David Coulthard, Mark Webber and Jenson Button would have been incredible.
I would pay for this
Tiff slur his words while he said it? Freakin lush
Yeah. And?
The Clarkson era had a vibe of middle aged office workers in an extraordinary situation. It was this wonderful juxtaposition.
Every presenter since was ostensibly “cool”. So you had cool people doing cool things. Just not the same feel.
This is a pretty good way to put it. You always knew that the trio had money and a lifestyle different from the layperson but they came across like fairly normal people. James would drive home at the end of the day in a 10 year old Fiat Panda for God’s sake.
I did think the Britcar 24 was one of the sketchiest things they did - the suggestion that they were pondering doing Le Mans properly is horrifying.
I was the father of The Stigs.
Am I the only one who finds this to be rather arrogant?
Tiff had one start in F1 and was the race driver presenter of Top Gear. Why would you think he’s being arrogant?
“The Stig” is as much personality as he is “fast driver”.
The character was created by Andy Willman and Jeremy Clarkson - everything about his personality, appearance, mannerisms, and role in the show was specifically designed. It’s a trademarked character, and you can’t trademark something as ambiguous as “fast driver who doesn’t talk”.
To say that he was “the father” of a character simply because he presented the previous (and exceedingly less successful) iteration of the show, seems ridiculous.
Not really, it’s entirely correct. That’s why he was on the show in the first place.
I don’t think they need to be racing drivers
but they should have gotten people whose driving experience isn’t just commuting around London.
You’d think they’d have learned this lesson after Chris Evans.
I loved watching Tiff on TG.
Yeah, we know. It was great.
Yes that is the point. It’s entertaining
He was one of the best TG presenters. I always thought they should’ve had him back to replace the Stig (beyond that one epsiode) as he could’ve actually given feedback regarding what the cars were like on the hotlaps.
one of my fav videos that i’ve watched 1000 of times and showed other people 100s was Tiff wringing out the mclaren F1 on the track from old 90s top gear. that whole mclaren f1 review was fuckin legendary. just thinking of that v12 wailing to 9k down the straight gives me goosebumps. you can tell it had a huge effect on Tiff as well. truly a legendary car and legendary driver. probably peak automotive television/entertainment.
Chris Harris was a solid presenter, but other than that, definitely.
Yes, Chris was great, frankly it should have just been ‘The Chris Harris Show’ and let the other presenters go, they really had nothing of interest to provide. Well, other than Rory from AutoTrader.
I must admit I disagree. I think he’s an excellent driver but didn’t work well on TV. The way he presented the show reminds me of the hosts of motoring YouTube channels that try to force some humour into what they’re doing and seem uncomfortable while doing it.
Ironically his videos on YouTube are far better than anything he did on TG. I feel he would’ve been well suited to the old show in the early '90s (or Fifth Gear) alongside Chris Goffey and Quentin Wilson etc.
Of the post-Clarkson presenters I found Rory Reid the best. Unfortunately he was paired with Matt LeBlanc and Chris Evans who were by far the worst presenters the show has ever had.
i don’t remember tiff’s reviews all that much except for the F1 one. that was prob one of the greatest car reviews ever. tiff killed it.
Ironically his videos on YouTube are far better than anything he did on TG.
Strongly agree.
I know why Harris took the TG job and I can’t fault him one bit.
I also happen to think he was poorly suited for the job and is far better in the format he did on YT.
He also didn’t seem to have a single clue how to actually monetize YT. Honestly that entire era of YT from /Drive people is such a weird mix of excellent talent and content but seemingly no clue how to generate money from the platform to an almost comical degree.
He had to bend to the producers to act a certain way. In his various youtube channels it was just Chris and Neil, a car, a track and some tires.
On TG he had a script, and was paid to stick to it. Admittedly it came across as … not genuine? Forced? Matt Leblanc was way better with the script for example but for those who knew Chris’ dry, often dark and sardonic humour, the chipper-chap character the producers forced him into felt disingenuous
I like Harris as well but the problem is that he’s a car guy that happens to know how to host a show while Top Gear was built on very capable tv hosts that happened to be into cars if that makes sense
And they didn’t do him any favors but putting him with two bland co hosts
The real Stig did give feedback, the presenters have acknowledged his feedback on some of their reviews. But the trio always wanted Stig to be the silent character on the show.
Sooooo, just like hamster?
…ya…in the middle of every episode for like 30-something seasons lmao
Yes.
Chris Harris was a race car driver and Freddie Flintoff had gotten his racing license as part of the show.
I think it’s less that they were put in race car situation than them being put in stunt performer situations.
What was the process of getting the race license? I watched very little of the new stuff but if it’s anything like it is here it means practically nothing for actual driving ability. It’s more about knowing rules, filling in paperwork, and paying fees, I know some complete plonkers who have theirs, and Freddie never struck me as a very good driver from the little I’ve seen.
Chris is legit though.
It was pretty much going to a racing school, learning the rules and I think he had to make some time limit. Not sure how real that was.
Freddie pretty much always beat Chris in competitions on the show though so I think he must have had some real talent.