Philip Thurlow

Hi there - busy at work today (am I the only one ? lol) and listening to radio one - the news was on and said that there was many red faces in the bbc today as Jeremy Clarkson was suppose to be driving a £140K Lamboghini for a test - (I know he doesnt do top gear now but hey) anyway they said that he had not turned up for the test so one of the other top gear presenters drove it - ending up swerving over 2 lanes of traffic and crashing into a barrier - somewhere in London - any one see it happen or has anyone heard who it is ? - I had to sit down when I heard it - when will they learn - remember tiff wrecking a jag xj220 - changing from 5th to 1st ! oooops !

ChrisB

Doc

As long as it wasn't VBH

Philip Thurlow

I thought of her as soon as they said on the radio - I kept on thinking about her loving the lambo ! oooh those lovely expressions she makes ! she's really a godess isnt she !

ChrisB

Philip,

Nope - I was busy as well - BT took our Internet connection down by mistake this afternoon. When I rang them to get it sorted out, they didn't have a clue what was what

Must gggrumble ey?

Chris .

[This message has been edited by ChrisB (edited 13-03-2000).]

Philip Thurlow

wahaaaaay ! someone else has a bit of taste huh !
Is it Penelope Keith Mark ?

ChrisB

Whhooooooooooooooooooooooo?

Philip Thurlow

Penelope Keith Mark - the lady who took on a fight with a baby donkey and ended up with a face full of donkey poo !
It never ceass to amaze me how cruel people can be towards animals !
(in an area)
the above does make sense to a selected few !

Mike Rainbird

It wasn't Tiff that trashed the Jag's gearbox, but the Daily Mail's motoring correspondent - don't know his name, as he was only famous 'cos he trashed an XJ220....
(****!) LOL
Mike

Richard F

Oh dear, time for some controversy.

VBH is one of the most irritating people on the TV! It's pathetic - every time it's her against Tiff Needell, it's so predictable she'll end up winning, even though it's blindingly obvious he's a better driver. She is full of it - "you can probably tell I don't rate it as a driver's car". Ooh sorry love, I won't buy it then if you don't like it. You being an established, successful racing driver and all.

Sorry, she's a tw@t. In fact they all are on that program.

Blow Dog

Richard,
I applaud your comments, you are soooooooo right!!

They put an Evo6 v an old Audi Quattro SWB and they put Tiff in the slower car BECAUSE HE IS THE BETTER DRIVER!!

Irritates me, does anyone EVER take ANY notice of what she says? As soon as she comes on, my ears turn off, its that bad. She has absolutely NO idea.
I get angry by this, Top Gear used to be so good in Clarkson's days. I followed that geezer from his small columns in Performance Car magazine, Tif has heritage as a racing driver and drives cars like they SHOULD be driven and Quentin, well, he can be annoying but he DOES know his cars.

Have you noticed that whenever they do some fancy car tricks, they always use a double in her place, its never actually her.

Rant over.
Cem

Mike Rainbird

Cem (pronounced Gem )
The double would have to be v. tiny as she is only 5' (she's a cousin of someone in the RSOC and was at his wedding), funny how you always expect them to be taller....!
LOL
Mike
PS She is a bit to barrel like in the waste department (no figure) for my liking, but she CAN drive....

Weaver

I'm sure it was the Guardian motoring correspondent that wrecked the XJ220 changing from 5th to 2nd instead of 4th,opppppssss
It was a few years ago on a test track. Can't remember where though?
Anyone got any evidence?

On the subject of VBH I think she's lovely, if people can like Pamela 'top heavy' Anderson why not VBH? She's certainly got a bit more depth than old Pammy

Rich_R

I saw a dark blue/purple one on the back of a truck yesterday just off the M4 possibly going back to their HQ near Reading.

Back end was a bit of a mess and one of the wheels looked a bit horizontal.

Some info from Excite:

Lamborghini crash puts brake on new TV show
Tuesday 14 March 2000


Top News

The skids have been put under a new TV motoring series after a production
worker accidentally drove a £140,000 Lamborghini Diablo into a central
reservation.

The man lost control of the supercar, which can reach speeds of up to
180mph, after driving it out of an underground car park at London's Park
Lane. It careered across two lanes of traffic before crashing, leaving its
driver shaken but uninjured.

James Pillar, spokesman for Lamborghini Great Britain, which loaned the car
to the BBC, said: "There was not a significant amount of damage. It is too
early to say what that will cost, but it will be covered by the BBC
insurance policy."

Shooting of the new programme, to be presented by Top Gear host Jeremy
Clarkson, had to be abandoned for the day while the car was repaired at a
specialist garage.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "A Lamborghini, which was being used as a prop in a
new series, was involved in an accident while being driven by a member of
the production team.

"The driver was fully insured and had received special training for staff
working on motoring programmes, but unfortunately the driver was unable to
prevent the car going into a skid."

Mr Pillar said: "The accident is small fry to the BBC compared with some of
the things they take on loan.

"This is unusual because we've loaned cars to them in the past but never
had any problems like this."

The BBC spokeswoman said the, as yet untitled, new series would be shown on
either BBC1 or BBC2 over the summer.

She could not say when recording of the episode featuring the Lamborghini
would be rescheduled.

Richard F

Hey, don't get me wrong. I don't dislike VBH cos she's NOT a bimbo - it's because she doesn't strike me as a truly "professional" driver who's not done anything else. She's like the Driven bunch who are journalists first, drivers second. Only thing is, she spouts off about how much fun a car is and gives it a bit of a bootful round an airfield. That's tricky then. Personally I think Pammie's a bit of a, erm, bow-wow (sorry any women reading this). Now Charlotte Hudson off Watchdog, now you're talking. Intelligent and beautiful, mmmmmm. Nothing to do with cars but hey, so what.

Anyway, it seems that this Lambo was being driven for some program other than Top Gear so I guess it was a researcher or something...

MorayMackenzie

It seems to me that in slating VBH's driving ability the presence of the incredibly annoying Kate Whatsername who seems to rate load space and cupholders over roadholding and handling has been overlooked.

VBH obviously enjoys cars for the right reasons and she would probably be able to outdrive a significant number of the posters on this board. It's the same with Tiffany Dell, so many people slate him for being a failed F1 or whatever driver, but I am sure he is a better driver than many who have critisised him.

Kate Whatsername is the real cancer that is threatening to kill TopGear of completely. She must be stopped!

Moray

Andy Banks

Well its not quite true that VBH is just a journalist and never did anything else. She used to race karts I think.

And she's more interesting to listen to than Kate Humblebum or Quentin.

[This message has been edited by Andy Banks (edited 14-03-2000).]

Ian Cook

I seem to remember reading VBH raced cars as well.

Kate thingy, oh dear

Richard F

See, knew I could kick something off!

Yeah Kate whatsit is a bit tiresome also but I think that to your average punter, that sort of stuff is more relevant than blatting round an airfield. Yeah it's nice to watch but come on, you really can't drive like that on public roads any more (not unless you drive at night anyway ) cos it's simply too dangerous.

Take the point about VBH enjoying cars for the right reasons though.

Besides, they may well be far better drivers than most people on here but so what? Doesn't mean you can't criticise them does it? How many times do people shout at the referee in a footy match or talk about anything else without having practical experience of it? Raced carts did she? Hmmm not sure that counts for much.

Whatever, it's still a thousand times better than Driven...

ozzy

I'd forgive VBH anyday, even if she'd written it off

Obviously some tw*t showing off. I bet his face was red

GaryC

Can Tiff actually drive a car, or just make it slide round a big corner on a wet airfield? He may be good as a racer, but as a reviewer he's crap.

Blow Dog

I am afraid I am going to have to jump to Tiffs defence here. I have always admired his ability to judge a car by its valid merits and not by its electric mirrors. As a show driver, he is second to none and I have seen some of the stunts he has pulled and he really is like poetry in motion sometimes.

He also is a fantastic car journo. His one on one battles with Clarkson that they frequently used to do are immensely entertaining.

Furthermore, he has heritage and has done every single form of motorsport you can imagine, so as far as qualification and skill go, there is no question.
If I was asked who I would like to spend a day in a car with, it would have to be Needell. Have you seen what he can do with a ford focus in the wet? Even Clarkson speaks highly of him.
Cem

OLI H

Richard,

Just for the record, Vicki has considerable race experience, starting in carts and progressing into formula-ford, before finding a better paid career in motor journalism/tv presenting.

Not that she'd be at all fazed by your patronising comments, as i suppose it goes with the territory.

Oh and her brother is an racmsa instructor and races a gt2 marcos. Runs in the family !

ozzy

VBH might not be as good a driver, but she's top posh totty.

I'd much rather look at her, than that numpty tiff any day.

Who's that other blonde bint - is that Humblebum ?? She's the one my gran likes so I think that says it all

MarkCSC

Sort of off topic but the guy who trashed the XK220 actually stuck it in reverse. Only minnor damage occured, broken cog and a few bent valves. Although on an XJ220 this is expensive minnor damage.
He wrote an article in the Telegraph a couple of years ago describing what happened.
Sad aren't I?

Mark

DavidRB

You want sad? I seem to remember that it was Elton John's XJ220 (like he ever saw it). The popular story was that the journalist went down a gear instead of up (2nd to 1st or 3rd to 2nd) and "blew the engine up".

According to him, he pointed out to the Jaguar support crew that the gear lever felt a bit slack and changing gear was difficult. They replied that cars always get a real pasting on journalist days and that they'd fix it when the car went back to the Jaguar.

I suspect that the truth is somewhere in-between....

The reason everyone hates Kate is because she points out the things that matter to most people, such as cup holders, boot space, seating position, etc.. Vicki & Tiff just do what we'd all like to do, go mad with the cars for an afternoon, blatting around a slippery airfield. Great fun to watch if it's a Lambo or a Porsche, but irrelevant to the average punter who's choosing between a Focus or an Astra. Also, does the programme need two hooligans when there is a lack of serious articles? Bring back Chris Goffey...

Driven started off well, I really liked their "overtake a lorry" test, it put the 30-50 acceleration into perspective. They seemed to recognise that Top Gear was going more glitz & show and that there was an increasing gap for a programme that actually told you what the car was really like. Sadly, they seem to have lost their way with the recent series.

Is Tiff Needell a good driver? Ask Nigel Mansell...