"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce)
03/13/2015 at 16:38 • Filed to: None
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"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce)
03/13/2015 at 16:38 • Filed to: None | 3
| 10 |
There are many things you can say about Clarkson and the whole of Top Gear. Not all of them will be accurate or valid, but you can still say them. However, if !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is any indication - people don't fundamentally understand what it means to love cars.
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First of all, the idea of a more "politically correct" automotive show is not a death knell. In fact, you can take some bits of the TG formula and wrap it into something more "green" but still actually celebrates the car instead of Zoe's vision of vilifying any hunk of material that is less "eco" than whatever the latest and greenest is. Here's my ideas for "greener" challenges for a TG-esque show.
1) The hosts have to buy used hybrids that are a minimum of 10 years old and do a series of challenges including a hillclimb race, an MPG challenge, a range challenge, and a scramble through a crowded city on limited fuel to get to a certain point. You could easily punch it up with things like them trying to cheat by inflating tires or "conveninetly forgetting" heavy things like a passenger seat or the stereo. And they try and hamper one another with pranks and whatnot. You know the drill
2) They are given a corvette and have to get better mileage than a new prius. This will only result in a roadkill-esque vette buggy that looks like an absolute animal, beats the prius in gas mileage, and they end the show by tearing white hot ass around some backroads and do a burnout with it because they can.
3) Their tame racing driver or sabine schmitz or whoever has to race a formula E car against classic and modern racing cars to show how fast those electric formula cars are. Also needs a dig at the Formula E racers swapping cars mid-race instead of batteries.......seriously, it isn't eco, it isn't good to watch, and it makes everything about the series worse when compared to a battery swap. BUT this would serve as both a push to prove that racing is still relevant and that Formula E is a good concept that just needs some tweaks, but is very watchable and fun.
4) Road trip - The hosts drive the new miata, an FR-S, and a Fiesta ST and do a road trip for great driving roads. No "green focus", just make it a point that they're going to a race track and bombing around backroads in cars that can average mid 30s when driven sensibly and they end it with a call to car companies that this is how you build an "eco" car people will buy.
5) Do some indoor car sports like hockey or football/soccer using renault twizzys or 500e or basically electric cars that are small (no tesla) yet fun (no G-whiz). Body contact will happen. Show off how tough and fun electric cars can be when tossed around like toys.
6) Do a history piece on Group C. The endurance formula that put a premium on fuel economy developed some epic cars while also pushing forward our understanding of aerodynamics and engine technology. Show off LOTS of car porn. Have a 962 or XJR-9 race a current endurance racer for comparison.
7) Do a complete history on a modern small car like the Mini Cooper or the evolution of the small fords. Show old clips of rally racing and new clips of WRC shenanigans and show how the cars are more efficient despite being bigger and more powerful. Also touch on what "character" means to enthusiasts and why some of the newer cars lack it and what can be done to address this. Example - a funky interior layout to be funky isn't "character", it's trying too hard. But a good weight to the steering and a lovely response when you cuck it into a corner? That's "character".
8) BUILD THEIR OWN INDOOR RACE TRACK IN AN ABANDONED FACTORY! RACE FORMULA E OR TWIZZYS OR SOMETHING THROUGH IT! WE CAN TURN ABANDONED FACTORIES INTO "GREEN" RACETRACKS! THIS IS A WIN-WIN!
Of course, all of this is only possible if you have some amazing hosts with a deep passion for cars and great chemistry between them. That's the true heart of top gear - a bunch of normal-seeming people running a show that sounds like random ideas you say out loud when with your car friends. Ideas like "What would happen if we played soccer with cars?" or "I wonder if I could flog an old british car around for a few hundred miles on a cheap budget?". Zoe's proposed idea is awful. Not because it tries to be eco, but because it tries to be sterile. Reducing the idea that a car has an identity to little more than it only being as good as it is "Green". By stripping vehicles of their identities and character, you are missing the point of shows like Top Gear and Roadkill and MCM. They highlight that this subculture is prominent and not a fad. That we will always love our cars and treat them as extensions of ourselves. And by remembering this, this show can help out everyone. 1) It can show us enthusiasts that no, we're not doomed. Electric and alt-fuel cars WILL be a hoot. We just have to treat them differently. 2) It will show car-haters that no, us gearheads are actually quite important and the only reason why your car is as efficient as it is is because of the work done on the track and in the garage by us. 3) It might kick automakers to make more "fun" in their lineups even as they switch to a greener lineup. Perhaps Ford Racing can make an electric focus with a comical "TURBO BOOST" button that lets me do a 13 second quarter mile and shoots sparks everywhere. I'd buy it.
But this is all just a random thought exercise by someone who loves cars. Both thought and a love of cars seem to be missing from the original idea. Anyone else? Other suggestions? Would you watch a car show that did stunts like this? What if these were sprinkled into the next Top Gear seasons? Assuming the same cast and crew and show come back.....
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/13/2015 at 16:42 |
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First mistake, you read something in the Grauniad. You lunatic.
bryan40oop
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/13/2015 at 16:43 |
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http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/t…
Tohru
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/13/2015 at 16:53 |
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Eco-Feminist Top Gear?
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themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
03/13/2015 at 16:56 |
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I'm aware. But I just had to see how deep the depravity went.
Snuze: Needs another Swede
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/13/2015 at 16:58 |
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I stopped reading when I saw the term "eco-feminist". Im tired of everyone labeling shit. How about just try to make "a better car show". Not an "eco-feminist version of a great show". Oh wait, that's not possible.
And I don't say this as a Fanboi. I'm not a member of the Top Gear Cult, I've probably watched a total of a dozen episodes in my life. But I do like it, I do respect it, and I think you hit the nail on the head. What makes the show work is A) the hosts and B) it's fun. I love that they go from driving supercars to shitboxes, and the wacky challenges crack me up, because you're right, it's something my friends and I would dream up. It's relateable in a way a lot of car shows, or any other show, isn't.
Frankly, if May, Clarkson, and Hammond were all as passionate about sewing machines, they could probably make Top Thread and produce 23 seasons of that until Clarkson punches someone in the face. And people would rave about it. And I think all your ideas are spot on about highlighting green cars. That is how you would make a green Top Gear work. Or regular Top Gear, that occasionally talks about green cars but is still fun. Not some half-baked femnazi green peace dimwitted fuckery that reduces cars to an appliance thats usefulness and worth is only proportional to how green it is.
ly2v8-Brian
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/13/2015 at 17:04 |
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(edit) What you wrote was good, but that article... (shudders)
turbojames
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/13/2015 at 17:05 |
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A large part of Williams' ignorance here is the gender aspect- there are actually women who watch Top Gear and like cars, and Top Gear doesn't make such a big point about being macho and crap. I beg Williams has never actually watched Top Gear and is just one of the liberals who like to attack Top Gear just to bring attention to themselves.
Klaus Schmoll
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/13/2015 at 17:35 |
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"The coolest car in the world right now is the BMW i8 , a part electric, part petrol dreamscape of silent majesty." Yes, yes, and WTF?!!???!!! I've driven one and that thing is a screamer!
http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/i-drove-an-i8-…
Just further proof that she doesn't let facts get in the way of her narrative.
user314
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/13/2015 at 17:37 |
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That article...
Land-Rover Matt
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/13/2015 at 18:10 |
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I don't get it.... Ah she's trolling, a subtle one as it's not exaggerated enough to be satire.
One or the other... I mean, she's surely not not serious in thinking her brand of slightly fanatic delusion is popular.