Top gear

[Siobhan]

Scared I loved the train caravan idea. I haven't laughed so much since their trip to Alabama. James and Hammers aruging over who was to make the annoucements was classic.

that was so funny... "I'm the *********g steward, I make the announcements"... Classic Top Gear!

[alan45]

TOP Gear's axed Stig has been welcomed back to the BBC2 motoring show.
Ben Collins pops in tomorrow night for the first time since being dropped last year over his tell-all book.

He returned to help out a trio of soldiers maimed while fighting in Afghanistan. Racing driver Ben, 36, who teaches driving skills to Britain's special forces, handed out tips to the heroes as they prepare to enter the gruelling off-road Dakar Rally in 18 months.



Unmasked ... driver Ben Collins
Despite the row over revealing his secret identity as the white helmet-wearing Stig in his memoirs, he was welcomed back on the show by presenter Richard Hammond.

And the host jokingly told the group's navigator, Cpl Tom Neathway, 27, not to tell Ben anything.

He said to Tom, who lost both legs and his left arm in a booby-trap bomb blast: "If you see him writing just stop talking."

Richard, 41, added: "To be honest I am glad to see the old splitter back and I do know how much giving these guys a hand means to him."

The trio are racing for Project Mobility - and hope to become the first disabled team to enter the annual race.

Tom said: "If you can crack on in a Dakar Rally, where you are pretty much doing 18 hours for two weeks solid, you can pretty much achieve anything."



Heroes ... with Richard Hammond, left
Gutsy driver Capt Anthony Harris, 28, even tells Richard he feels lucky compared with his colleagues - having "only" lost part of one leg.

He said: "I'm just a below knee scratch."

Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman, said: "If we could run the country on their spirit and zest, it would be an infinitely better country."

[alan45]

His outspoken comments and motoring expertise have helped make him one of the BBC’s highest-paid stars.

But it has now been claimed that many of the scenes filmed by Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson are actually performed by professional drivers.

Sources say a large proportion of the stunts on the BBC2 series which appear to show Clarkson careering around the show’s racetrack at high speed are actually executed by professional racing drivers hired by the BBC.

Fakery: A large proportion of the stunts which appear to show Clarkson careering around the show's racetrack at high speed are actually executed by professional racing drivers
These are then edited alongside footage of the star inside the car, leaving viewers with the impression that he has been behind the wheel throughout.

One source says that a memorable clip from April 2008 which appeared to show Clarkson test-driving a Lamborghini at over 200mph is actually the work of Formula 3 driver Aaron Scott.

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Top Gear is one of the BBC’s most successful formats and has been sold around the world with spin-off series in Australia, America and Russia.

Clarkson pockets a reported £1million-a-year salary, which was topped up last year by £830,000 earned from merchandising and overseas sales of the Top Gear brand – to which the 51-year-old owns the rights along with executive producer Andy Wilman.
Wrong impression: A clip from 2008 appeared to show Clarkson test-driving a Lamborghini at over 200mph is actually the work of Formula 3 driver Aaron Scott

Tricked: The April 2008 clip shows Clarkson test driving a £178,000 Lamborghini Murcielago and apparently pushing it to reach a top speed of 207mph in heavy rain
But a well-placed figure, who worked on the series for more than five years, said professional racers were in the driving seat ‘most of the time’ on complicated filming sequences when viewers believed they were watching Clarkson.

He said: ‘Certainly most of the time professional drivers are doing the clever stuff on the track. These takes are cut in to the presenters’ in-car pieces when the programme goes out to make it look like Clarkson has been driving all the way through. Pros make it all look more exciting. That’s what I did and that’s what others currently do.’

A source estimated that 80 per cent of the driving on the show is done by pros such as Aaron Scott, although it is made to look as if it's done by Jeremy
Two independent sources, both with close links to Top Gear, told The Mail on Sunday professional drivers were used to make the programme more dramatic and because the presenters weren’t able to perform the tricks themselves.

Asked if Clarkson could do the work himself, one source said: ‘Well, he’s not a pro, is he? There are limitations with filming. It’s all done on a pretty tight time schedule and they need to get the right shots quickly, which is why they use pros because they can do the stunts in one take.’

A second source said: ‘Top Gear rely on professional racing drivers a lot more than the show would suggest. I would say 80 per cent of the driving on the show is done by pros but it is made to look as if it’s done by Jeremy. When you see the wheels on a car spinning and smoke coming out, that will more than likely be a professional driver.

‘It’s been going on for years. The fact is the presenters on Top Gear are presenters. They are not professional drivers, so why would you get them to do a job that an expert can do better, faster and in one take?’

The April 2008 clip shows Clarkson test driving a £178,000 Lamborghini Murcielago and apparently pushing it to reach a top speed of 207mph in heavy rain.

According to a source, it was Aaron Scott, a Formula 3 driver and motor racing coach, who reached the top speed in the car. The source said: ‘That was Aaron getting to 207mph in the wet, not Jeremy.’

Clarkson pockets a reported £1million-a-year salary, which is topped up with merchandising and overseas sales of the Top Gear brand
Close-ups filmed in the Lamborghini show Clarkson speaking to camera as he builds up speed along the Top Gear racetrack during the Power Lap section of the show – which sees him take a different supercar out for a test drive each week.

The carefully edited film then shows a close-up of the speedometer needle creeping over 200mph. It then cuts back to a shot of Clarkson driving – with no sign of a camera to film the speedometer and no view of the speed dial.

Aaron Scott declined to comment when asked whether he was driving the Lamborghini in 2008. He said: ‘I can’t help you with that, I’m afraid.’

On Friday The Mail on Sunday contacted the BBC to ask if Top Gear used professional drivers for the Power Lap.

The show’s spokeswoman Tara Davies said: ‘Yes, professional drivers are used on the show.

‘On the Power Laps, production have the car for a day, and during that time Jeremy has to go off to do scripting, so rather than him driving for a bit and then everyone having some down time and the car just sitting there while he goes off and writes, and because it is a very expensive show to make, other people may do the driving.
Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May: Professional drivers were used to make the programme more dramatic and because the presenters weren't able to perform the tricks themselves

A cut above: Top Gear is one of the BBC's most successful formats and has been sold around the world with spin-off series in Australia, America and Russia
'Having said that, a lot of the shots are Jeremy. That’s not to say that every time it’s an external shot it’s not Jeremy, because more often than not, it is.’

She added: ‘If you see Jeremy, Richard [Hammond] or James [May] driving a car around a track it is them driving but the crew may need to go back and get “pick-up” shots, which may use another driver.’

Yesterday Miss Davies released two further statements at 1pm and 3pm clarifying their position.

The first statement, which the BBC demanded be printed in full, said: ‘When Jeremy, James and Richard are seen driving on the show, it is them driving, but on occasion, the crew may need to go back and get pick-up shots.

‘As Jeremy wrote in his column in The Sunday Times in October 2007, “On Top Gear I whiz about for the camera until I have a feel for the car. Then I disappear into a hut for an hour or so to corral my thoughts into a workable script. And how do we occupy the expensive film crew while I’m doing that? Stand them down? Or put a researcher in the car and have him slither about until I’m ready to come back?” ’

A BBC statement issued two hours later at 3pm said: ‘To be clear, Jeremy performs all of the challenges you see him perform on Top Gear. During power tests, the speed at which Jeremy is seen driving is the speed at which he drove the car, so to suggest otherwise is untrue.’

Miss Davies added: ‘Jeremy would have driven the car and got it to 207mph. Then, when they wanted a camera shot of the speedometer going up to 207mph they would have got a different driver to do that.
‘For just the shot of the speedometer, it may have been another driver but Jeremy absolutely would have driven the car at 207mph.’



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...#ixzz1UwughmwX

[Siobhan]

seriously who cares how fake it is... it is a great format, hugely popular and has increased women's interest in cars and motor sports....

[thestud2k7]

FURIOUS Jeremy Clarkson has blasted claims 80 per cent of his stunts on Top Gear are faked.
Sun columnist Jeremy said: "It is complete rubbish. If I say I drove a Lamborghini and got to 207mph then that's what I did. I was in the car.

"I'll challenge whoever says I wasn't doing that to come to the track. I'll stick them in the car and do it again. But they better bring a sick bag."

An "insider" on the BBC2 show had claimed pro drivers "do the clever stuff on the track".

Jeremy, 51, who threatened legal action, blamed "a disgruntled driver" for the claims.

He said: "We employ loads and they get fired if they're not good enough."

Source: The Sun

[alan45]

seriously who cares how fake it is... it is a great format, hugely popular and has increased women's interest in cars and motor sports....

Im sure a lot of it is set up beforehandm especially on their foreign trips but as you say Shiv WHO CARES!!!. The show is very entertainining and I would love a job on it.

[Chloe O'brien]

Some of the test have to be set up's especially stunts like the caravans, but I'm with everyone else who cares it's great entertainment. Can you imagine being involved in one or their hair-brain ideas it would be a blast.

[Perdita]

Jeremy Clarkson has caused controversy again for apparently mocking the deaths of 23 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe.

The Top Gear host made light of the 2004 tragedy while registering his disapproval of synchronised swimming in a column for The Sun, writing: "[It is] Chinese women in hats, upside down, in a bit of water. You can see that sort of thing on Morecambe Beach. For free."

Clarkson's comments have since been described as "beneath contempt" by Morecambe town councillor Tracy Brown, who told The Sunday Telegraph: "He is just trying to make himself look big at other people's expense. Many people around here were deeply affected by the tragedy."

Others to condemn the 51-year-old include the Chinese Embassy, with a spokesman calling for the publication to allow a response from diplomats.

"We deplore and oppose Mr Clarkson's comments, which are insulting and show a woeful disrespect of decency and moral standards," the representative said. "We regret that The Sun has publicised such remarks."

Meanwhile, Matt Collins of equality campaign Hope Not Hate asked the Daily Star: "Why does Jeremy Clarkson constantly have to be so tasteless and offensive?

"He is not funny and all he proves is that he is out of touch with modern Britain and that he belongs in the Dark Ages. He has no right to offend communities in this country who live and work here and provide more to Britain than he does."

Clarkson's latest scandal follows his apparent mocking of India's poor living standards on Top Gear and his suggestion that striking public workers should be executed, which is to be investigated by Ofcom after garnering over 32,000 complaints from the public.

[thestud2k7]

Jeremy Clarkson has caused controversy again for apparently mocking the deaths of 23 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe.

The Top Gear host made light of the 2004 tragedy while registering his disapproval of synchronised swimming in a column for The Sun, writing: "[It is] Chinese women in hats, upside down, in a bit of water. You can see that sort of thing on Morecambe Beach. For free."

Clarkson's comments have since been described as "beneath contempt" by Morecambe town councillor Tracy Brown, who told The Sunday Telegraph: "He is just trying to make himself look big at other people's expense. Many people around here were deeply affected by the tragedy."

Others to condemn the 51-year-old include the Chinese Embassy, with a spokesman calling for the publication to allow a response from diplomats.

"We deplore and oppose Mr Clarkson's comments, which are insulting and show a woeful disrespect of decency and moral standards," the representative said. "We regret that The Sun has publicised such remarks."

Meanwhile, Matt Collins of equality campaign Hope Not Hate asked the Daily Star: "Why does Jeremy Clarkson constantly have to be so tasteless and offensive?

"He is not funny and all he proves is that he is out of touch with modern Britain and that he belongs in the Dark Ages. He has no right to offend communities in this country who live and work here and provide more to Britain than he does."

Clarkson's latest scandal follows his apparent mocking of India's poor living standards on Top Gear and his suggestion that striking public workers should be executed, which is to be investigated by Ofcom after garnering over 32,000 complaints from the public.

is daily star seriously asking that? daily star isnt exacily tasteful!!

[Perdita]

is daily star seriously asking that? daily star isnt exacily tasteful!!

Meanwhile, Matt Collins of equality campaign Hope Not Hate asked the Daily Star:

The Daily Star is not asking that, Mr Collins of Hope Not Hate is asking it