Un-official GTPlanet BBC Topgear UK ThreadTV

[opendriver]

Those caterhams are just like gian go-karts. I can build an entire go kart in about 2 hours. Scale wise( with the same number of people, minly some people I knowfor the job, I could have got it done in about 6 ish hours)

Not a bad run though, quite comical about the stig in the city

 

[YSSMAN]

I enjoyed this weeks episode. I wouldn't call it the best, but the Gallardo test alone was worth watching for the sounds alone...

 

[Sprite]

That Gallardo in that colour sceme was awsome, and I like the way you can raise it up over speed humps, I could see my self nipping down to the local Aldi in it.

 

[KSaiyu]

From Brunel too - pretty much the #1 engineering university in the land...

And a second doctorate in engineering from Oxford Brookes...

I remember he got an honorary degree a few years back from brunel, didn't know he took engineering at oxford brookes though.

Good episode, I want to believe they built the caterham, but with all the stuff you see in these recent series of Top gear, I dunno what is staged and what is real anymore. Gallardo sounded great, Steve Coogan funny again

 

[Famine]

They're both honorary...

 

[KSaiyu]

Oh right haha.

 

[YSSMAN]

Bad news for Top Gear fans in North America:

The British Broadcasting Corporation has demanded video hosting websites such as YouTube remove all copyrighted materials, including episodes of the wildly popular Top Gear uploaded by users. Auto enthusiasts around the world have long been forced to download the television show from file-sharing or video hosting services, because it is not available in countries where BBC is not offered.

Top Gear has been available on YouTube since the site's founding in February 2005. While there are mounting concerns over content piracy on YouTube, most Top Gear fans assumed BBC would allow its content to remain on the service, because the broadcasting company is publicly funded. While other content providers risk losing sales or advertising dollars from YouTube piracy, BBC is advertisement- and subscription-free.

While some clips of Top Gear remain on the YouTube website, one prominent user's chronological collection episodes has been removed.

A notice on the site reads: "This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner the BBC because its content was used without permission."

While it's not clear how aggressive the BBC will be in its efforts to remove the show from Internet video services, it appears the days of readily accessible Top Gear are over for North American fans.

I sent a formal complaint to the BBC, so we will see what happens...

To whom it may concern at the BBC: I am writing this letter in response to a news story I had come across on an automotive news website.

According to the site, you are taking action to have episodes of Top Gear removed from places like YouTube.com, and that is a great disappointment to me. As an American, we obviously do not receive the new episodes of Top Gear on BBC America or other BBC/Discovery channels, and thus many of the Top Gear fans on this side of the pond must resort to the internet to find your show.

I must protest this action, as you are cutting off something that not just this American loves, but thousands more across our country as well. We love the wit and humor of the entire Top Gear crew, and the loss of the program will create a HUGE void in the American automotive landscape.

So I must ask that you reconsider your stance on the issue, and once again allow for the episodes to be posted on the internet. American fans love this show, and taking it away when many people are just beginning to discover it is not only shorting American fans, but also exposure for you and possibly for your BBC America channel.

 

[ExigeEvan]

YSSMAN, I'm not sure how much attention will be paid to that letter.

I think a much more effective way would be for British TV liscense payers themselves to write letters, as technically it is their (I don't pay, my dad does. Suppose I could fire off a letter anyway.) posession.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Well, the BBC syndicates its content to broadcasters outside its own range, and this provides a valuable source of income to the BBC. My guess is that a sudden clampdown on internet distribution could herald a syndication deal with one of the larger US networks.

 

[daan]

I sent a formal complaint to the BBC, so we will see what happens...

You have no right to complain about the loss of a program you should never have seen anyway. The episodes/clips on youtube are against the BBC's copyright and they should never have been there for you to see in the first place.

Your letter should have been a request for the BBC to come to some agreement to show the program in the USA, not a complaint about them doing something that is their legal right.

Do a search for posts by me and include the word "copyright". You'll see an email sent to me by the BBC outlining their reasons.

EE - That won't do any good either. We can watch it on tv and we can also watch the episodes on the BBC's website. We can do this as we live in the UK and pay a license fee.

 

[TheCracker]

I don't belive that they managed to build that caterham without any help though, or if they did they didn't do it to that time limit.

I reckon it would take at least 8 hours to sort just the wiring loom - let alone build the entire car.

Caterhams own website quotes a estimated build time of 70-100 hours.

 

[ExigeEvan]

EE - That won't do any good either. We can watch it on tv and we can also watch the episodes on the BBC's website. We can do this as we live in the UK and pay a license fee.

I was thinking more along the lines of making it available for other countries to view it.

The show is popular and does have a strong following. By stopping viewing it online they're going to lose their audience unless they can get a deal in place quickly with a major network. They could have atleast let them in place untill a deal was made.

 

[TheCracker]

I was thinking more along the lines of making it available for other countries to view it.

The show is popular and does have a strong following. By stopping viewing it online they're going to lose their audience unless they can get a deal in place quickly with a major network. They could have atleast let them in place untill a deal was made.

But that online audience does nothing for the BBC - they get no revenue from it, it has no commercial breaks to boost revenue. All it does is make the programme less attractive to potential network syndication since other network's potential audience is watching it online instead.

 

[Dave A]

I reckon it would take at least 8 hours to sort just the wiring loom - let alone build the entire car.

Caterhams own website quotes a estimated build time of 70-100 hours.

That's 70 hours for one person who doesn't posses two engineering degree's, not three people who know about cars including at least one person with degree's.

It's theoretically possible to build it in less than i8 hours if you know what your doing.

 

[Poverty]

it took me about 3 hours to put a bench press together which was straight forward and simple, a car is much bigger and has alot more smaller fiddly bits. So I reckon they didnt build it at all. Just pure entertainment.

 

[ExigeEvan]

But that online audience does nothing for the BBC - they get no revenue from it, it has no commercial breaks to boost revenue. All it does is make the programme less attractive to potential network syndication since other network's potential audience is watching it online instead.

It's free advertising!

It does make it less appealing if all the BBC are goin to do is sell old seasons to foreign networks. But if they're willing to show the same epidose in America within a week of it being shown over here they won't have a problem.

What I was suggesting is that they allow people to watch it online untill a deal is made. As soon as that's done they use their copyright to the full extent of the law.

 

[Dave A]

it took me about 3 hours to put a bench press together which was straight forward and simple, a car is much bigger and has alot more smaller fiddly bits. So I reckon they didnt build it at all. Just pure entertainment.

I put a futon together in far less than 2 hours, (more complicated than a bench press) why? because I'd put one together before. There's no point in you saying "it took me xx time to put this together" because it's not relevent, what's relevent is what they did, how much they new about putting it togwether in the first lace, the fact that there was three of them and if they'd done it before or not. Like I said, it is possible to put one together in that time and the frame was pre-built which is in most cases of kit car building, the long part.

 

[Scaff]

That's 70 hours for one person who doesn't posses two engineering degree's, not three people who know about cars including at least one person with degree's.

It's theoretically possible to build it in less than i8 hours if you know what your doing.

Famine has already mentioned it, Clarkson's degrees are both honorary, he is not an engineer.

As has been said to built a Caterham in 8 hours (three people or not) is very unlikely. Autocar did a similar thing a while ago and IIRC it took three people two days to do the same, with direct help from a Caterham technician.

They either had assistance or a lot more of the car was pre-assembled than normal, its all a moot point however as its just entertainment.

Scaff

 

[TheCracker]

That's 70 hours for one person who doesn't posses two engineering degree's, not three people who know about cars including at least one person with degree's.

It's theoretically possible to build it in less than i8 hours if you know what your doing.

Clarkson isn't an engineer - he was gifted those degree's - he's a journalist.

No one's going to buy a kit car without 'knowing about cars' Having a degree doesn't mean you can bolt things together any better or quicker!

There's no way those three could have done it in 8 hours, like i mentioned in another post, sorting the electrics is a days job in itself even for someone who is fairly savy with electrics.

 

[Holdenhsvgtsr]

youve also got to remember may's said a few times that he does up old bikes and richards done some old land rovers and no doubt jc has owned an alfa so they would have a fair bit of knowledge

 

[Scaff]

the frame was pre-built which is in most cases of kit car building, the long part.

All Caterham chassis's (frame) are supplied already fabricated, you only need to built one from scratch if you are builting a car from scratch.

Scaff

 

[Dave A]

At the end of the day, all I'm saying is it IS posible to build one with three people in 8 hours regardless of how it was done on TopGear. It just depends on how organised you are and how well you know what your doing.

 

[Scaff]

At the end of the day, all I'm saying is it IS posible to build one with three people in 8 hours regardless of how it was done on TopGear. It just depends on how organised you are and how well you know what your doing.

Arguably anything is possiable, what would be open to debate is how well built it would be if it was possiable to put it together in that time.

A good working example of this can be found in the motor industry, when you have work done in a franchised dealer, the manufacturer will set a time that is 'allowed' for the job. This can then be compaired to the time 'taken' to do the job, the difference between the two can be used to calculate the technician effeciency.

So if you have a job that has a time allowed of 1 hour and the tech takes and hour to do it they would be 100% efficent. Obviously if they take longer top do it they would be less effiecent and if they take less time they would be more efficent.

Efficency = allowed/taken * 100

For Example

1 hour job (time allowed)


Time taken
30 minutes = 200% efficient

60 minutes - 100% efficient

90 minutes taken = 67% efficient

Now most techs are paid a bonus based on time saved, so the more efficient they are, the more bonus they make. This is however generally bad news for you and me as customers.

Its quite well proven that once a techs overall efficiency goes over approx 110 - 120% quality of work drops rapidly and work returned increases rapidly.

Yes it is possiable to work quicker, but only up to a certain point, after that I would not want to drive the damn thing.

Skill and knowledge of a task like this will only reduce the time it takes by a small factor (in the region of 5 - 10%) after that you have to start cutting corners.

So lets have a look at the efficiency of the Top Gear team, now Caterham quote a 70 hour build for a single person who has a resonable idea of what they are doing. That is however for a single person, so let assume they shared the workload evenly. that would be 70 hours * 60 = 4,200 minutes / 3 people = 1,400 minutes each.

Now 8 hours = 480 minutes

So each member of the Top Gear team worked at 292% efficency!!!!

Sorry but either that car was pre-assembled more than the norm (and you can buy part assembled kits from Caterham) or they had help.

Even in the nastiest corner cutting dealers I have come across I have never seen efficencies top 200% (some have come close mind).

BTW - Not all dealer pay tech's bonus on a time saved basis, by not doing so they reduce the obsesion with high workrates and the job gets done correctly.

Regards

Scaff

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Scaff: you can't divide out the total labour by the number of labourers quite that easily. But I understand there may have been some poetic license in there for illustration.

I felt that there were a great deal of things "glossed over" (i.e. edited out) in that sequence, and there existed huge scope for things to be done by the fairies while we weren't looking. There was almost no attention paid to electrics, hoses, fuel system, or any kind of setup work.

Additionally, Autocar did a similar feature, and a team of three, plus an expert from Caterham, were unable to complete the build in 16hrs.

 

[Scaff]

Scaff: you can't divide out the total labour by the number of labourers quite that easily. But I understand there may have been some poetic license in there for illustration.

Certainly If had taken the time to account for JC's workshy attitude the other two would have topped 300%. LOL

Regards

Gideon

 

[Dave A]

Ok I'll go get my coat, they probably recieved the car with more assembled than what you'd normally get.

 

[YSSMAN]

...Well, I do pay for BBC America here. But that channel pretty much consists of What Not to Wear, Cash in the Attic, and reruns of Monty Python. If they threw Top Gear on there they could probably convice quite a few people to pick their channel up, but whatever.

They haven't killed all of the online videos (yet), so we will see what happens...

 

[Scaff]

Ok I'll go get my coat, they probably recieved the car with more assembled than what you'd normally get.

+rep

Its a hard thing to do conceding a point like that, a lot of people simply throw toys out of the pram at moments like this.

Kudos (and rep) to you.


Scaff

 

[YSSMAN]

Good news, I got a response from the BBC today:

Dear Mr Y.

Thank you for your e-mail regarding 'Top Gear'.

I was pleased to read that you are a fan of the show but I understand
you have concerns that the programme is to be removed from various
internet sites thus preventing American fans the chance to view new
episodes.

However, the sites in question did not have permission to broadcast
'Top Gear' which is under copyright, and broadcast of the programme on
unauthorised sites was therefore illegal. It is up to the companies to
apply for copyright permission from the BBC if they wish to broadcast
episodes of 'Top Gear'.

Nevertheless, I appreciate your disappointment with these actions.
Therefore, please be assured that your comments have been fully registered
and added to our daily audience log. This is an internal document that
is made available to all BBC staff, including the 'Top Gear' production
team and senior BBC management.

Feedback of this nature helps us when making decisions about future BBC
programmes and your comments will play a part in this process.

In the meantime you may be interested contacting BBC America with a
request to broadcast the programme. Details of how you can do this are
available at the following website:

http://www.bbcamerica.com/about/contactus_suggestion.jsp

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us with the
strength of your concerns.

Regards

Paul Kettle
BBC Information

So for the Noth American fans in the thread, feel free to hit the link to request the show be aired on BBC America. I was quite surprised by how quickly the letter came, and I was also surprised by the tone of the letter. Cool, maybe they are semi-kinda-sorta thinking about bringing it to the US afterall.

 

[Pebb]

Source: Official Top Gear site

Highlights for the next ep:

This week's show is the last in the current series, but don't start sobbing just yet because it's going out with a bang, or a thud, as Richard discovers.

This week they've got two guests for the price of one, plus the Noble M15 is given the once-over, and the lads get all excited about... vans.

Van man...
Some 320,000 vans are sold in the UK each year, making them more popular than the Ford Focus. So the boys decide to find out what's all the fuss about. James opts for a Renault Master, Jeremy chooses a VW Transporter, and Richard takes a Transit. But what to do with them? Well, vans are for transporting stuff, so the lads become roadies for the day for one of the world's biggest bands, The Who.

When Jeremy met Jenson...
Yes, this week sees the Top Gear studio graced with let another Formula One driver, Jenson Button. In the name of fairness, the old Liana is dusted off and wheeled onto the track, so Jenson can be pitted against his fellow F1 drivers. Jeremy then offers him some advice on how to make F1 more interesting (it involves mounting guns on the front of the cars) before Button is whisked off to the British motor show in his helicopter. Oh, the life of an F1 driver...

Meanwhile, back in the Lacetti...
Sexy Beast Ray Winstone shows Jenson how it's done in the Chevrolet - tune in on Sunday to see how he fared on the track.

In the news this week...
Er, there isn't any news because everyone's on holiday, so instead the boys take a look at the Rolls-Royce 101EX. This Roller is a bit special because it has lights in its roof and a Spirit of Ecstasy on the front that glows. Nice. But Jeremy has his own opinions...

A Noble cause
First there was the M10, then the M2, and now Noble has unleashed its latest beauty, the M15. With 450bhp, a 0-60mph time of 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 196mph, the M15 is certainly no slouch, and it leaves Hammond grinning from ear to ear after he takes it on the track. Then it's handed over to the Stig, but we'll never know if he was smiling...

And now for some more vans...
Having not learnt enough about vans from their roadie trip, the lads want to test some proper vans, well-used ones with old food ground into the seats. So they are set a number of challenges including a drag race, driving really close behind the car in front, van maintenance and the finale, a cops and robbers race.