Unless I've somehow missed it, no one has mentioned that Top Gear could be about to have its own US version later this year, featuring the Famous Three, the Stig and a host of American vehicles.
First spotted on page 502 of Ceefax yesterday, it's also detailed here:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6539111.stm
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I spotted a piece about that somewhere over the weekend. I wondered - will Clarkson change his tune, ISTR he quite regularly slates Americans and American cars.
Hammond will probably fit in fine, he used to own a cool '69 Dodge Charger (bit of a gaudy paint job though).
I just googled for some info. on it and found this article about a pilot they filmed for it last year with US presenters: snipurl.com/1fxev .
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From what I know of the Americans having lived here for six years I think unless they radically change the format and presenters Top Gear will go down like a lead balloon. They certainly would be completely bemused by Jeremy Clarkson! Away from a NASCAR circuit there just is no petrolhead culture over here.
For instance, the Chicago Tribune's auto correspondent Dan Jedlicka published an article recently where he stated that Saabs were great for people who wanted something a little different. I dropped him a note helpfully pointing out that the last "real" Saabs were in the late 80s. He replied that he knew about all the badge engineering and platform sharing but that none of his readers would care! (Earlier I had taken him to task for recommending the Lotus Esprit as a good low maintenance weekend car.)
And they have taken the "speed kills" message to heart. I live in a busy suburb but you almost never see anybody speeding. Everyone sits at the speed limit - without any cameras! Actually they have taken "speed kills" to heart a little too much. You'll be driving along and see a car peeking out of a side turning. What they almost invariably do is wait until you're right on top of them and then pull out - extremely slowly (because speed's dangerous, right?!)
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"Lotus Esprit as a good low maintenance weekend car"
Hahahahahahaha !
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God how incredibly depressing.
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Not PU's manic laughter, ukusa's sober appreciation of US motoring. God.
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Stateside USA (as Alan Partridge would say) deserve Top Gear if only for winning the War of Independence.
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Not PU's manic laughter, ukusa's sober appreciation of US motoring. God.
On the plus side, however, It's much less congested here though than I remember it in the UK (even if people do still complain).
Plus they do far far fewer roadworks and when they do them they get them done really quick. They are currently doing a ton of work round Chicago but not only will we have extra lanes when it's finished, it's the first time they have done any major work on those roads (I-94) since they were built in the 60s. And apparently the new surface is supposed to last 30 years.
Also they have intelligent traffic lights which adjust to the traffic flow and time of day. For instance if there's no car queueing to turn left at filter lights, there won't be a left turn filter on that phase of the lights, instead the traffic coming the other way will get a green that bit sooner. This was brought home to me because for the first time this year they started summer time 3 weeks early, so I was heading to work an hour before the rush hour according to the traffic lights. I noticed I was held up a lot more than normal. That lasted a day or two until somebody presumably adjusted the traffic lights internal clock. They do as much as they can to keep traffic flowing.
Finally as a geek I wondered why the suburban traffic lights have white spotlights on them. It turns out that all the emergency vehicles have a thingy connected to their blue lights which when they are activated causes traffic lights to turn green for them. When this system is in operation the white spotlight flashes to warn drivers that the green light is going to turn red very quick and may stay red for a while. Certainly makes things safer for cops and ambulances.
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Not PU's manic laughter, ukusa's sober appreciation of US motoring. God.
To be fair look at what they drive. Would you be enthusiastic? (I'm talking day to day fare here)
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Would you care that much considering most cars (even the decent ones) are dirt cheap.
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