For most of my life, I watched the many adventures of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. I expect that goes for many of you as well. From the days of Top Gear to The Grand Tour, they have given us so many memories.
One moment from their time together that stands out for me was when they tried …
They definitely inspired multiple generations. I knew their time was coming to an end when we only got 1-2 specials a year from them. Their legacy will live on for a long time.
There are far too many great moments from their years on air together. I feel like they nailed almost every episode. I enjoyed their narration and story telling more than anything. Their banter was always comedic too.
I'll have to say the Reliant Robin episode had me laughing pretty hard the first time I watched it.
I also loved when Forza had the Top Gear Test track in it so you could be your own STIG.
I'd say that Top Gear was a big driver for where I am today–and I'm certain it inspired many of the other automotive media outlets you see today.
Although I hesitate to call myself an "automotive journalist," it's pretty rad that I live in a world where I get paid to do what I do–which is mostly yap on the internet about cars I think are cool.
I always enjoyed them the most when they were trying to get some sad, tired cars to accomplish a fairly insignificant task. The budget supercar episode is an excellent one, as were a number of their cheap car challenges. The boys seemed to genuinely enjoy the challenge and the banter was just so much fun. They love language, they love cars and they were clever.
My all time favorite is the Indestructible Hilux.
Anytime they rolled out the a-team theme I knew I was going to see some weird, amazing E36 M3.
I like their roadtrips. The supercar roadtrip (Ford GT, F430, Zonda) is one of my favorites, the focus was how unpractical yet magical they are.
2005-2008 was peak TG for me.
There are so many things that made us laugh..........it's hard to pick one.
I particularly liked when they "blew up" James May with a tank.
The alfa challenge episode, when jeremy breaks down the girls are there and james just shows up and says "hello" and it immediately cuts. I absolutely died laughing/
My wife and I have long been fans of the original series. Over the summer, though we've seen them all before, we went back and watched Top Gear from the beginning (at least all that we could find streaming), and then transitioned to Grand Tour. We're not quite through S3 of Grand Tour at this point, but watched the finale on Friday. It was a very fitting farewell to a format that has provided so much entertainment over the past couple of decades.
Though the schtick could get a little strained at times, you could always count on fun cars, beautiful scenery and cinematography, and some great laughs. My favorite episodes were mostly those with tribute films where they showed us beautiful examples of a marque's most iconic cars, but Sabine Schmitz driving the Transit Van on the Nurburgring was a definite standout.
FWIW, you can still drive both the original Top Gear track and the Eboladrome in Assetto Corsa...
FWIW2, all three of the Presenters have unrelated ongoing efforts that are absolutely worth watching.
In reply to Rodan :
I have not watched any of Hammonds new content but I am a big fan of Clarkson's Farm and the James May Our Man In series.
In reply to iansane :
Also the when they go to the "top secret" locations.
In reply to Chris Tropea :
I guess Hammond doesn't have anything going at the moment, so 'ongoing' may have been the wrong term.
Hammond has struggled the most with good content. James May's The Reassembler is just gold, and Clarkson's Farm is quite good. Hammond seems to lean too much into the chaos and mayhem and not so much the clever.
My best friend in highschool would torrent every episode from FinalGear(RIP). Top Gear was a big part of shaping us for sure and strengthened our friendship. We did a senior project making our own episode of the show. We even themed one of our Lemons as the Indestructible Hilux for a race.
A few of my absolute favorite episodes. I always loved the cheap car episodes, especially the ones filmed around England. Lower production quality, more realistic and relatable to my friends and driving around in our own cheap cars.
S2E1 is the introduction of May and a fantastic ode to his Bentley T2
S10E4 the Botswana Special tied for me with S14E6 the Bolivia Special
S10E7 is the British Leyland cheap car challenge and probably the most nonstop laughter even on the second watch
Rodan said:In reply to Chris Tropea :
I guess Hammond doesn't have anything going at the moment, so 'ongoing' may have been the wrong term.
Uhh... He is probably the busiest of all of them. A working shop, Discovery TV show and the drivetribe stuff on youtube
My favorite was testing the Ariel Atom.
"I am an alien! Ahahaha! Either that or I'm John Merrick!"
So much content from which to choose, but I always laughed loudly when they were on the water, whether trying to cross the English Channel in car boats or piloting some hovercraft thing on a river.
Pretty much any time that Clarkson being an ass backfired on him.
I always enjoyed James May reporting the news.
Because I have the maturity level of a 10 year old... The 'hidden' door words always cracked me up.
I'm going to second the Hilux episode for comedy.
The Patagonia Special when Clarkson describes driving a 928 to see his dad before he passed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfAWixMKwEA
I looked it up, its 170 mile driving distance.
"SPEED AND POWER!!"
I've legitimately been shouting those 3 words when doing foolish things for years.
Like most of you, I will miss the boys. Old Top Gear and the Grand Tour have been our favorite shows for years.
We've also binge-watched every season of Clarkson's Farm as they've come out! I liked the first season of James May our Man in Japan, but didn't care much for subsequent seasons.
I suppose this was always going to come, but their legacy will never be forgotten.
In reply to jerel77494 :
I will second this. It opened my eyes to small, feisty cars like it and the Caterham that I would have otherwise ignored.
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