Taking itself a bit too seriously.

Some photos from the next series of Top Gear:

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/top-ge ... -2014-1-24

I definitely spy a P1 there. Don't recognise the logo on the steering wheel of the last photo though.

That's the least likely comment I'd expect from anyone about that series.

Just seen a 'proper' trailer. Looked like there was Bowler Wildcat or similar going up the side of a sand dune, a car that looked a lot like a Lexus LFA and a bit a black McLaren P1, which looks like the meanest car you've ever seen in your life.

Ah it's the bottom clip on this page.

Not read the text below the images?

In the clip I mentioned, it's definitely a P1. The Zenvo may be there as well (could be the car I mistook for an LFA).

Zenvo ST1 rear


The car I was thought was a P1


The car I thought was an LFA, which looks much more like an ST1

Top Gear 'aimed at middle-aged men with a mental age of nine'

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/j ... y-clarkson

That's why I used to watch it (I've little actual interest in cars!)... I'm gonna give this series a go but I gave up a few episodes in last time.

I was going to say that being able to be a big kid at times makes men able to cope with some things. The fact that these presenters do something that we might be wondering anyway is good. The star in a reasonably priced car shows how much better a car can be with a decent driver in.

I think I stopped watching it about three seasons ago. It just became an excuse to do some crap juvenile stuff. I've long maintained that if they split the show up into three segments (new car in-depth coverage, a group car "sensible" challenge, and then an indepth article like Ayrton Senna). They could then do an entire silly show every 3 episodes.

I do rather ask : is Top Gear really a show to get snooty about? It's not Newsnight and never has been. There never been any likelihood of anything profound happening, and there never was when it was being presented by William Woollard either. I really rather wonder at what point Top Gear was suddenly required to be anything particularly worthy, to the extent that it is now criticised for not being. It was always a fairly lightweight show and all evidence suggests the parts that got dropped were the parts people weren't interested in anyway - as shown by the fact other shows that kept those bits have failed to retain an audience and have fallen by the wayside.

This criticism is based on a rose tinted view of what Top Gear used to be and it is wishing for something it will never be. It's futile, and telling everyone who does enjoy Top Gear simply for what it is is even more futile.

TBH it's become over-scripted and overhammed. It has progressed over the years to what it is now and yet I missed what it once was - a show about cars with a bit of larking about on the side.

Clarkson referred to is as “Last of the Summer Gear” in the last series. He knows what it is they are doing. I suspect he also knows that it’s gone on too long, but the BBC isn’t going to kill off one of its lucrative cash cows.

Given that's an entirely subjective judgement, it's just as likely he doesn't. They've had some failings over recent times - the India special is a universally acknowledged nadir - but the fact is that there is no objective indication that TG is running out of steam. It still gets massive viewing figures, it still gets sold to every country in the world apart from France, they are still getting A grade celebs begging to drive a rubbish car round their track. When it's audience starts to drop and the money hose slows down, then he might think it's gone on too long. Until then, there's simply no evidence to base the proposition on.

The India special was truly bloody awful, but I still like TG; because I'm a forty-something with a mental age of nine. Yes there are cringeworthy crap bits, but it is still largely very entertaining.

Funnily enough, most of the Top Gear hate I hear is from people who get uppity about me slagging off Big Brother and sh!te like that - in one breath they say "if you don't like it, you don't have to watch" (as if I'd watch it), and in another breath - "I don't know how you can watch that rubbish, it's so contrived and unfunny".

Delicious.