December 2010
29 posts
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People You Should Know: The Stig
Quoted from Wikipedia:
The Stig is a character in the British motoring television show Top Gear. The character plays on the anonymity of racing drivers’ full-face helmets, with the running joke that nobody knows who, or indeed what, is inside the character’s racing suit. The Stig is responsible for setting lap times for cars tested on the show, as well as instructing celebrity...
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Hammond's Notes: November 2008
The scars have pretty much healed from my last bout of self-flagellation on these pages, when I gave myself a proper beating for being the type of nerdy brand devotee who throws a wobbly if the car manufacturer dares change so much as the bonnet catch on whatever model is the subject of their adoration. So it’s time for some more self-inflicted pain. And this month, I’m going to beat myself up...
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Gallery: The Dodge Viper SRT10
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Clarkson's Notes: December 2006
Because he’s eight, James May likes to invent games he can play when he’s not in the bath mending motorcycles or being made to practice the piano by his mother. One of these games is called ‘Airport Departure Lounge Dare’. It involves trailing through the shops, trying to make a friend or colleague buy stuff the poor gullible fool neither likes nor needs.
...
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No Posts Tonight!
Except this one. I’m too busy preparing myself for:
That’s just Christmas in general, not the homoerotic Santa. Impressive for his age nonetheless, the other 364 days must be spent working out.
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Gallery: The Jaguar CX-75
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Gallery: The Ferrari 458 Italia
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May's Notes: January 2005
The other day, I was driving along in my old Mini when the gearknob suddenly came off in my hand.
You know how it goes: a snappy change down to third on a tight left-hander during a rare moment of sporty driving, and my clenched fist, still gripping the plastic ball, simply continued on its way until it made bone-crunching contact with the cast-off BL switches on the facia.
Fortunately,...
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Gallery: The Dodge Challenger SRT8 Tuned By CULT
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People You Should Know: Kazunori Yamauchi
Quoted from Wikipedia:
Kazunori Yamauchi (山内 一典, Yamauchi Kazunori, born August 5, 1967) is a Japanese game designer, professional racing driver, and most notably, CEO of Polyphony Digital and producer of the Gran Turismo series. He became the president of Polyphony Digital after designing his first game Motor Toon Grand Prix, a cartoon-inspired racing title similar to Mario Kart. Motor Toon...
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Motoring News: Morgan Unveils 2011 Threewheeler
1909. The Morgan Motor Company was founded and brought with it a feisty little runabout in the form of the Threewheeler. One of the most economical cars of it’s time, the Threewheeler was capable of 50mpg and speeds of over 100mph, placing it on the #1 podium spot in the 1913 French Grand Prix. It was even owned by legendary racing driver Stirling Moss who apparently referred to it as a...
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Hammond's Notes: January 2010
Congratulations on being prepared to risk being exposed in your dirty, shameful secret by stepping forward to read Top Gear magazine.
You don’t actually have to buy the publication furtively, praying that a vicar or an old school teacher doesn’t turn up in the queue behind you at the till, but come on, admit it, liking cars is not something of which you can be overtly proud....
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Gallery: The Porsche 911 GT2 RS
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People You Should Know: Sébastien Loeb
Quoted from Wikipedia:
Sébastien Loeb (born 26 February 1974) is a French rally driver currently driving for the Citroën World Rally Team in the World Rally Championship. He has won the WRC world championship seven times in a row (from 2004 to 2010), setting not only a historical record for the number of titles in WRC but also for the number of titles won successively in a motorsport...
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GT5: Location Tour - Eiger Nordwand Short Track
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Clarkson's Notes: April 1998
Launching the new Beetle to quite the largest gathering of motoring journalists I’ve ever seen could not have been easy for Dr Ferdinand Piech, head of VW.
Obviously, he had to make reference to the old Beetle - which, rather inconveniently, was inspired by Adolf Hitler. This is not a big selling point.
Hitler told his motor industry to design a little car so people could enjoy the new...
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Gallery: The BMW 1 Series M Coupe
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Gallery: The Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
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May's Notes: May 2006
There are a few simple things that I require from government ministers. Taking a broad view, I would be quite interested to know what they are going to do about the funding of the NHS, since it’s a very complicated business and I won’t pretend for a moment to understand it. A few of them have made it their lives’ work, so I’m prepared to defer to them on that one.
On a more personal level, and...
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Overview: The Ford GT40 Mk IV
The GT40 is a series of cars manufactured by Ford that managed to permanently cement their name in racing history, thanks almost entirely to a sensational 4-year long string of victories at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance event from 1966 until 1969. The cars were conceived and built with one main objective: beat Ferrari. Following a dispute arising from a possible partnership deal...
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Gallery: More Concept Cars
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Gallery: The Mini Countryman WRC
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Hammond's Notes: October 2008
It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a Land Rover fan; it’s been mentioned in Top Gear magazine before. Indeed, my outlandishly customised, 25-year-old Land Rover 110 – upon which I have lavished enough of my own cash to make my daughters look at it with green-eyed envy as my favoured child – was featured in the mag only a few months ago. It’s not like I’ve got a free one or am secretly on the...
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GT5: Location Tour - Côte d'Azur
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...And Now For Something Completely Different
An album review! Well, not technically a review, more a collection of musings. Cars and motoring are still the main focus of this blog, but that doesn’t mean I can’t prance off on a tangent whenever it meets my fancy. Every so often we’ll have something different, be it a review, ramble or a rant… but preferably with pictures. We’ll see how it goes. First, the...
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Clarkson's Notes: March 2009
God, the Midlands were unpleasant last Sunday. Despite warnings from sinister government climate change agents that 500mph winds would kill everyone who wasn’t buried in an eight-foot snow drift, it was a gin-clear day livened by the chink of a nipple-tingling, ice-blue wind from the crease-sharp Siberian tundra.
Obviously, linen-crisp weather like this always brings out a few idiots; or...
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GT5: Photo Mode Images 02
More images can be found on my Flickr page.
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Gallery: The Ford Focus ST
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May's Notes: August 2005
Some years ago, I nearly killed a man called Jason Barlow who used to work for Top Gear and who you might also remember from Wrong Car Right Car. Nice bloke.
We were fooling around on a circuit in a BMW Z3, roof down, me driving and Barlow in the passenger seat encouraging me to ‘get it sideways’. So I got it sideways coming out of a long, fast, left-hander. Easy. Not really my kind of thing,...
