Un-official GTPlanet BBC Topgear UK ThreadTV 

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Next episode on tonight, Harris tests the McLaren Speed-tail and races it against the RAF's new fighter jet: the F-35B Lightening II. Paddy builds a budget off-roader and the guest segment returns with Romesh Rangnathan the star in a reasonably fast car.

BBC Two tonight at 8pm.
 
Romesh is funny, I like him a lot, I watch him on A League Of Their Own and The Reluctant Landlord, and of course he knows Freddie from ALOTO.
 
^Would be even less chance of an overlap now that the 2 shows have markedly different formats. There's still plenty of countries they haven't visited yet so I'm looking forward to what's next for both.

As for the episode, I'm still not convinced by the Speedtail to be honest. The 3 seater arrangement has poor ingress/egress as Harris shown, and is at odds with the car's hyper GT aim. Should've been used in the driver focused Senna instead of this. Apart from that, the big elephant in the room is the fact that the Regera exists and does just about everything better (looks, specs, innovative drivetrain). In fact, I'm wondering why anything from Koenigsegg is often overlooked by TG. It can't be because they crashed the CCX - because they returned with the new wing and then set the fastest lap time, so it's not like it ended as bad PR...
 
In tomorrows episode, they take three old used cars on a high-altitude trip in Peru (for some reason), I have seen a little preview and the car Paddy chooses is the most ridiculous and ill-suited for any of the trips they have ever done, probably!

Harris also tests the Porsche Taycan Turbo, BBC Two tomorrow at 8pm.
 
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I can't recall the last time I laughed that much at a TV show, the bit with
Paddy's car tearing the rear axle out
had me in stitches and I had to rewind it a few times to watch it again and again.

It's a shame that the Dart didn't make it though
 
This episode was a bit weird for me, I enjoyed on the whole and the trip was good and gave me a few laughs, also the Porsche test was good.

There were a couple of issues for me, firstly I never fully understood what the trip was about, it was dubbed 'a great American road trip' but it was in Peru (?!?!) unless that was the producers idea of a joke and it bugged me for the whole episode, also whilst Paddy's Pontiac ripping the rear axle out was funny it felt like it was staged to me, he did a practice standing start then somehow managed to get the car on the dirt, then the rear axle ripped out of the car, doesn't make sense.
 
MUSC4EVER
There were a couple of issues for me, firstly I never fully understood what the trip was about, it was dubbed 'a great American road trip' but it was in Peru (?!?!) unless that was the producers idea of a joke and it bugged me for the whole episode.
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I think they just wanted an excuse to get some old muscle cars ;)
 
Watching the Porsche Taycan go around the track is like looking at an arcade racing game. It looks like its bending physics at every corner :crazy: I wouldn't want to be a tyre on that car :lol:

Megane Trophy R next episode. Looking forward to this one 👍
 
Tonight's episode, Chris and Freddie compete in the Baja 1000, Chris tests Renault's £72k Megane hot hatch and Lawrence and Emilia Fox are the SIARFC.

BBC Two tonight at 8pm, or a bit later if you're in Wales because the Snookers on.
 
Anyone know why top gear isn’t on the MotorTrend app on the Xbox one? It’s on my phone but the episodes aren’t on Xbox just the 5 promotional episodes. They used to be on the Xbox before.
 
Chris Harris tests the VW ID.R. Fearless Freddie returns as he races a rocket-powered motorbike against a lime-green Nissan GT-R and the worlds fastest shed (!!) and the trio take a Porsche, a Ferrari and an Aston Martin on a trip to Yorkshire, Sabine and Damon Hill also make an appearance. Youtuber KSI might be the guest tonight but I'm not sure.

BBC Two tonight at 8pm.
 
....I've been wondering what Flintoff's exact role in the show was supposed to be, but I'm now guessing he's basically doing Hammond's job - doing daredevil stunt thingies that the other two can't/won't do.

Seems like a good combo, this - McGuinness does the intros/outros, bits between the segments and takes the lead during the celeb interviews, Harris does the serious car reviews as well as be the resident car geek, while the (comparatively) burly and athletic Flintoff does the bits that require someone burly and athletic.
 
I never thought of Hammond as being the daredevil tbh. He just happens to get involved in all the major accidents unfortunately (the jet car, flipping the Rimac, etc). James also got his fair share of injuries through no fault of his own (fell of a horse few times, smashed his head in Middle East) and he's defo the least risk taker out of the three. I'm glad that the 3 new presenters are all young & fit relatively speaking, because I can't imagine the old trio going thru what they've been doing in the last 2 seasons with the dangerous stunts and gruelling trips.

Surprised Harris didn't break the lap record around Portimao tho. A quick google shows it's 1:32 set by an LMP2. I would've thought the ID.R is comfortably faster despite Harris not being used to the car and the setup not optimized for the track. Also seeing Damon pound round a track like that makes me grin like an idiot. Can't teach an old dog new tricks :D
 
Famine
It's limited to 150mph.
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I know top speed is the ID.R's Achilles heel, but given that only matters on the front straight and the rest of the track is quite twisty I would've thought the superior braking/cornering/acceleration will outweigh the lack of top end. I also wonder whether it's running Pikes Peak or Nurburgring configuration during the test. I don't think Harris used the DRS either...
 
LeGeNd-1
I know top speed is the ID.R's Achilles heel, but given that only matters on the front straight and the rest of the track is quite twisty I would've thought the superior braking/cornering/acceleration will outweigh the lack of top end. I also wonder whether it's running Pikes Peak or Nurburgring configuration during the test. I don't think Harris used the DRS either...
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LMP2s are quick in a straight line and are quicker than LMP1. An LMP2 gets to about 190 on the main straight at Portimao, and it'll get higher than 150 at a number of other places.
 
daan
LMP2s are quick in a straight line and are quicker than LMP1. An LMP2 gets to about 190 on the main straight at Portimao, and it'll get higher than 150 at a number of other places.
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Interesting. I never thought LMP2 would be that fast on the straights. I did try to look for onboard videos of Portimao with an LMP2 but none of them have the speed telemetry showing and I don't watch enough WEC to know these things by heart. Still a bit underwhelming after all that hype being the "fastest" racecar ever and then not beating the record though :lol:

I'd love to see them bring the 919 Evo out of retirement one last time and hear Harris' impression of it, as well as comparing its performance to the ID.R (top speed excepted).

EDIT: Speaking of electric record breakers, I just remembered the Tajima E-Runner from GT6. Apparently he returned in 2016 with support from Rimac. 1500 bhp and 1500 kg according to his website. Pikes Peak time was 9:52 but his run was hampered by brake issues. The previous year he did 9:32. Amazing how VW managed to go 1.5 minutes quicker with less than half the power. Guess being lighter matters a lot more when you have to haul all that weight up the mountain.
 
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LeGeNd-1
Interesting. I never thought LMP2 would be that fast on the straights. I did try to look for onboard videos of Portimao with an LMP2 but none of them have the speed telemetry showing and I don't watch enough WEC to know these things by heart. Still a bit underwhelming after all that hype being the "fastest" racecar ever and then not beating the record though :lol:

I'd love to see them bring the 919 Evo out of retirement one last time and hear Harris' impression of it, as well as comparing its performance to the ID.R (top speed excepted).
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Only a test day, and at Le Mans, and 2017, but still.
 
Little bit of bad news regarding tonight's episode, they have a race between the emergency services on the track to who is fastest, Chris Harries has a special segment looking back at Colin McRae's championship winning season and he drives the same Suburu that McRae used, its the 25th anniversary of McRae's win this year, I cant wait to see that segment.

Comedian Tom Allen is the guest, and the bad news is that its the last in the series tonight.
 
The last episode was great, I liked the bit about Colin McRae. The BMW review was quite good as well. The Chris Evans gags near the end made me laugh, but I'm disappointed they (spoiler alert) killed off the Liana after all these years...

A great final episode to a great series.
 
Great episode, the Colin McRae bit was the best thing of the entire series for me, its been a great series, they have got something that works and it all clicks together.

Also was BMW test the first time that Paddy has done a proper car review/power test? I think it was.
 
Agree the Colin segment was amazing. As good as anything the old CHM trio had done in the past really. I never really placed him in the same pantheon as the multiple WRC title winners like Loeb or Makkinnen, but anyone who can go toe to toe with the legendary Carlos Sainz in equal machinery and come out on top is pretty flipping fast in my book.



Doomotron
The last episode was great, I liked the bit about Colin McRae. The BMW review was quite good as well. The Chris Evans gags near the end made me laugh, but I'm disappointed they (spoiler alert) killed off the Liana after all these years...

A great final episode to a great series.
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I know they're trying to distance themselves from any relic of the old show, but I was hoping they'd kept the Liana. Imagine how awesome it is for Chris Harris to interview more old and new F1 drivers.
 
LeGeNd-1
I know they're trying to distance themselves from any relic of the old show, but I was hoping they'd kept the Liana. Imagine how awesome it is for Chris Harris to interview more old and new F1 drivers.
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Since the car hasn't been used in years, I assume it was rotting away and probably barely worked anymore. Oh well, at least it was a nicer send-off than the Lacetti got.

Maybe for F1 they'll bring back the Mini and the rallycross track!
 

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