Carr Show?

I keep referring back to this post from 2018.

I was, and still am, upset by this choice of presenters for my beloved Top Gear.

So I was interested to learn, from none other than the BBC themselves, of the return of Top Gear.

Shame they don't seem to know who the new line-up will be.

The Sun seem to think one will be Jimmy Carr.

I like Jimmy Carr.

• He's very funny.
• He did very well in the Suzuki Liana.
• He got an electric Aston Martin DB6.

Although...

• He did a gig in Saudi Arabia and
• HE ISN'T A MOTORING PRESENTER 

Another name being touted is Joe Marler.

I like Joe Marler.

• He has a very dry but funny sense of humour.
• He makes a good air freshener

Although...

I'm a Welsh Rugby fan and

HE ISN'T A MOTORING PRESENTER 

 

If these are chosen, it doesn't bode well - especially as I am not aware of any Marler car connection.

There are some other candidates out there.

1000 Not Out!

This is my 1000th Blog Post!

Number 1 was a bit serious - I hadn't got into my stride of  commenting on car news items at that point.

And I was right. 

That was November 2009 by the way - when the World was a better place but we didn't know it.

In fact, it wasn't until 2021 that the end of the World was announced.

By me.

And it was 2018 when I foresaw the end of Top Gear.  I may not have said it, but I definitely foresaw it.

Number 999, just last week, was an amusing electric Bentley story.

So, what have I got for today's Number 1000 story?

An amusing story about a Yorkshire cyclist who decided that a car had passed him too closely so sent footage of it to the Police.

That footage also showed the cyclist squeezing his bike through this gap:

(The car on the left is parked)

The BBC story is here together with the video. There is no news of the car driver that he reported.  But there is news that the cyclist ending up with over £1200 in fines for riding without due care and attention.

I have a vision of the police officer watching the footage then spotting this.

Poetic.

Polestar 2.2

Was it really April 2024 when I reported on the stupid naming system that Polestar were to use on their model range?

Yes! 

According to their boss, Thomas Ingenlath, the Polestar 2 would be replaced with the Polestar n where

n = the next integer not already assigned to a Polestar.

I pointed out at the time, the folly of doing that. 

Just like in 2018 when I pointed out the folly of choosing Paddy McGuinness & Freddie Flintoff to present Top Gear.

I was proved correct.

Eventually.

Auto Express have this story today about the replacement for the Polestar 2.

It's headlined, "New Polestar 2 to lose SUV looks and embrace its sporty saloon side"

Apart from anything else, I don't think the Polestar 2 does look like an SUV - which is probably why I like it.

Anyway, I clicked on the link for their guess at what it would look like and found this:

Which made be think, "That doesn't look like a sporty saloon - where's the boot?"

Then I worked out that their link had taken me to a page of guesses or "renderings" that didn't actually include the new Polestar 2.  That particular picture was an attempt at what a future MG will look like.

Then I worked out that the picture at the top of the story was their guess: 

 

That doesn't look like it will "lose SUV looks and embrace its sporty saloon side."

 

It just looks like the current one - which already looks like a sporty non-SUV.

 

Which will probably be known as the 2 Mark II.

 

While the boss now appears to be known as Michael Lohscheller.

They've taken the shine off Top Gear Magazine.

It's June 1st!  This means that the July issue of Top Gear Magazine has appeared in my porch.

I knew it was going to be different.  In the June edition, the regular columnists, Andy Franklin, Paul Horrell and Sam Philip pointed out that they were doing their last columns for the magazine.  They haven't been sacked or anything, but recently appointed editor-in-chief Jack Rix has decided that it is time to stamp his own style on the publication and shift a few things around - although he chooses not to mention it in his regular introduction piece.

Columnists in the past have often been the Top Gear TV presenters - notably, at it's peak, Clarkson, Hammond & May. And, more recently Chris Harris - but never Flintoff or McGuinness - maybe because THEY ARE NOT MOTORING JOURNALISTS!

Clarkson, Hammond & May were columnising back in 2010 when I last reported on a revamp of the mag.  That coincided with the recently outgone editor-in-chief first taking over.  The magazine has evolved in those 14 years and we have now lost a couple of features that I really liked such as Mark Riccioni's monthly bemoaning of his fleet of vehicles and the monthly history of a different car manufacturer (although last month the manufacturer was Lego)

The new columnists are Mike Channell (Radio Active anyone?) who I fear is going to be talking about gaming every month, Jethro Bovington who they have been trying to get us used to for a while now and Natalie Pinkham who I fear is going to be talking about F1 every month.

Oh yes, and she's a woman.

Going back to 2010, the magazine was printed on glossy paper.  Magazines in general used to be referred to as "the glossies."

You can't call them that now because most of them aren't.  Cost cutting.  Top Gear lost its glossiness many years ago but at least the front and back covers were still glossy.

Until today.  Look how dull and lifeless it looks in my photo.

It's lost its shine - inside and out?

In 2010 I asked and answered these questions...

So, is it a change for the worse?

No.

Is it a change for the better?

Dunno.

Is it change for change's sake?

Maybe.

Can you spare some change?

Go away.

Today I say...

So, is it a change for the worse?

Maybe.

Is it a change for the better?

Not so far.

Is it change for change's sake?

Maybe.

Can you spare some change?

Go away.

Hmmm.

Tinie Package

Yo!

Apparently Tinie Tempah now calls himself just "Tinie."

Dropped the surname.

Has he had an embarrassing divorce like Cheryl or Rylan or Roseanne?

Apparently not.

But he is fronting a new car show - Bangers: Mad for Cars.

Which, based on the first two episodes, is badly mis-named.

A Sierra Cosworth, a Volvo 850R, a Porsche 911 and a Honda NSX can hardly be purchased for banger money.

There are only 4 episodes and so far, I'm up for watching the rest.

Tinie is not a racing driver or a motoring journalist so there is an element of my (one of many) pet peeve here in that he shouldn't be fronting a car show.  Although he's a bit better than Paddy McGuinness & Freddie Flintoff - but just as crashy.

His side-kick is a racing driver.  Not one I'd heard of before but she has had a little success (dare I say a tinie amount?) and is by far a better motoring presenter than Tinie.  Meet Naomi Schiff:

Interesting that she is wearing a ROKiT logo there.  They sponsor Nicholas Hamilton, younger brother of her mate Lewis. I just realised that I haven't a clue what ROKiT actually do so I looked them up.

It seems they do everything.

Meanwhile, back to the show. Tinie & Naomi have to choose a car each and perform some sort of challenge down at Llandow Circuit overseen by a local.  But most of the show is Tinie trying to choose his car - which is actually quite interesting in parts.

He also spends a lot of time driving around in his own G-Wagen.

Wouldn't you have thought that if he wanted a 4x4, he'd have got a Disc-Overy.

Crashing Bore

I wouldn't call him a bore - I quite like him.

I also like Paddy McGuinness.

But, as I pointed out when it was first announced in 2018 - they should not be presenting Top Gear!

They've both managed to crash cars on the show since - Freddie in 2019 and Paddy in 2020 but this one appears more injurious.  The BBC story tells us that he was airlited to hospital - not good.  But his injuries are "not life-threatening" - okay.  It also tells us that it was not believed to be a crash at speed - also okay.

So why aren't they saying any more yet?

According to Piers Morgan (Yes I know!) who has been talking to TalkSport,

“I’m told it was a pretty serious crash and that Freddie’s going to be OK, but it might be a little bit more serious than first appreciated. I’m told he’s going to be OK, which is great news, but I’m also told it was a pretty nasty bang and that he’s had surgery and is recovering now and we’ll have to wait and see."

So he was told no real news then.

We don't know anything about this crash - but the cynic in me says that a motoring journalist wouldn't have done it and a racing driver certainly wouldn't have done it - I may be completely wrong - it may well just be prejudice on my part - I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

After all, look at Hamster's history - he nearly died.

And James' two incidents (one was not his fault) made the recent Grand Tour the best one ever.

When the show goes out, will I end up thinking that he is in the same league as them?

Or the same league as these people who, despite the best efforts of the snow, haven't had their number plates blurred out:

Powerless

The BBC have had a go at Boris Johnson today.

Unusually.

Political reporter Jennifer Scott was much harsher than Laura Kuenssberg would have been.

Good.

Basically, Johnson made a speech which was supposed to promote electric motoring and green business to the CBI.  But he lost his place and waffled on about Peppa Pig World for a bit making a few lame jokes.

Embarrassing.

An earlier version of the Jennifer Scott story had lots of motoring references about him taking the wrong turn and other such also lame jokes.  That version seems to have disappeared.

Probably for the best.

Now, talking about electric cars and the BBC and embarrassing, did you see Top Gear this weekend?

After a promising series opener last week with a very moving tribute to Eddie Kidd, this week they went caravanning using luxury electric cars as their tow-cars. It included a puerile and pointless attempt to lap their cars around the top of a mountain while eating stronger and stronger chillies culminating in Paddy McGuinness spitting out a mouthful of milk over Freddie Flintoff and the interior of a Mercedes EQC.

They then had to drive to Barnard Castle (which brings us back to Johnson embarrassment) without recharging - and they ran out of charge.  Actually, Chris Harris did get there but only by ditching his caravan so the whole exercise was a waste of time.

There is only one solution to both of these situations.

Diabolical

I like Paddy McGuinness.  I find him funny.  I loved him in Phoenix Nights.

BUT GOD IS HE ANNOYING IN TOP GEAR!?

I stated when they were first announced, that this did not feel to me to be a good combination of presenters.

Apart from a few lapses, the first series wasn't too awful. But last week, when they were racing around the karting track in Bolton, I just got more and more annoyed with Paddy messing around - I reckon he caused the Freddie crash by spraying him with Cola.

Now this week, he trashes a Lambo!

Skidded on oil my foot!

I hated the car park musical chairs too - just seemed like pointless damage.

Did enjoy Freddie doing the 200mph and the Wheel of Death bit though.

Or am I just old?

Bully For You

We're three episodes in now.

Two to go.

Another short series.

It was starting to grow on me a bit.

But last night's show began to confirm my fears.

The bit last week when Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle and star of his new film Himesh Patel had to drive at speed at a closing barrier seemed a bit childish and unnecessary.

This week they had Olympic Horsewoman and Queen's Grand-daughter Zara Tindall together with her England Rugby star husband Mike driving a Jag at speed between two bollards for no good reason.

I suppose it makes the interviews a bit shorter for them but I'd rather know a bit more about the guests than see this.

 

I'm hoping that TG doesn't go the same way as Driven did during its death throes - that was such a shame.

But the bit that made me feel really uncomfortable was when Paddy and Freddie were stopping Chris from winning the stuff-as-much-stuff-into-a-family-car competition.

It looks like I wasn't alone with the word "bullying" coming into my head.  Here's the Metro (the Newspaper) report on the ensuing Twitter-storm.

 

I wonder if that is why they got shut of Rory Reid - they can cope with accusations of bullying but racist bullying would be going too far.

 

Chris has taken to Twitter himself to say that he didn't feel victimised and that the others are really kind people.

 

I suppose he had to do that or they'd have beaten him up.

27 Not Out?

Series 27 episode 1 of Top Gear has aired.

The one I was hoping not to like.

Well, it wasn't awful.  The relationships between the three presenters is promising and given that I like all three of them then I suppose that was always likely to be the case.

The BBC are bigging it up as you would expect.  They say that the critics give it "warm praise."  But then they open up that story to the Gammons who infest the BBC News Website with the predicted result.  I do hope that anyone who reads the comments on BBC News doesn't think that they are indicative of British attitudes.

So what did I think?  I enjoyed the Ethiopia bit.  I also enjoyed the Ferrari and McLaren bit but the fact Chris had to do it just shows that we have gone from three car experts (James, Jeremy & Richard) down to two and a half car experts (Chris, Rory & Matt) down to one car expert (Chris) - this will hamper what Top Gear is meant to be and also hamper the discussions within the banter.

Based on episode 1, I am willing to give it another go - I'll probably last the series but I don't see myself being bowled over.

Am I Going to be Disappointed on Father's Day?

Unfortunately, I expect so.

And there's nothing my children can do about it.

You see the BBC have chosen Father's Day to begin the new series of Top Gear.

Radio Times have been getting very excited about it.

It's on the front cover:

They also have this feature and this article online in which Chris Harris claims the new team will be better than Jeremy, James & Richard.

No it won't.

One preview clip presented to journalists featured Flintoff rubbing his unwashed hands over Harris after visiting the toilet.

Rory Reid's demotion is more pronounced too with the axing of his Extra Gear show.

I'll still be watching - I've got to give it a fair chance - but I can't believe that I'll be wanting it to fail. And maybe it won't - maybe I'll like it.

And maybe Brexit will be a success.

Flint-Off The Road

This is the sixth post on the row with "accident" in the labels - although two of them were the same accident.

The new series of Top Gear starts on Sunday - the last with the good presenters.

None of them would have mangled a market stall in Mansfield.

If it Ain't Broke - DON'T FIX IT!

Up until recently, Simon Mayo presented the Radio 2 Drivetime slot entertaining commuters on their way home from work each evening.

Meanwhile, Jo Whiley had a slot later in the evening - a more musically focussed show.

Two very talented broadcasters with two very enjoyable shows in my opinion.

And in the opinion of lots of other Radio 2 listeners. 

Then some bright-spark at the BBC, decided to combine their two shows - extend the Drivetime show by one hour and have the two of them as co-presenters.

We didn't think that would work.

It didn't.

From the start it was obvious that the chemistry between them, no matter how hard they tried to make it work, just wasn't there.

Listeners were upset - there were many letters of protest in The Radio Times and directly to the BBC. So much so, that Radio 2 had to offer an official response to complaints.

They stubbornly claimed that: "Every new show needs time to settle down and so we hope listeners will continue to listen and give it a chance."

Anyway, today the end of the show was announced.  Jo is moving to a new slot from 7-9 which is good news but Simon is leaving Radio 2 all together.  Sad face.

So what has this got to do with cars (apart from the tenuous link to driving home)?

Nothing - except that today the BBC also announced a new line up for Top Gear.  They are demoting Rory Reid and bringing in Freddie Flintoff & Paddy McGuinness.

Now I like Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness - but they are not motoring show presenters.

It was also very brave in an un-politically-correct way of the BBC to demote the only black presenter of Top Gear - I'm sure someone will get a telling-off for that one.

I know they had to find a replacement for Matt Leblanc - but there are plenty of motoring journalists and racing drivers out there rather than opting for celebrity "petrol-heads" - this line up just looks two-thirds wrong:

Now I don't mind having a celebrity petrol-head in there from time to time - Ronnie O'Sullivan seems OK helping out in the Team Tests in the latest series of Fifth Gear. (I'm quite enjoying the latest series - even if I can never remember which channel they are on - I wish they'd go back to Channel 5 and stay there)

 

But I suppose the BBC know what they are doing.

 

After all, they've never made a similar mistake before have they?