From the Daily Telegraph Motoring seection, 28 June:
CLARKSON THREAT
BBC Top Gear presented Jeremy Clarkson has responded to recent criticism of his programme's treatment of the valuable and historic 1953 Le Mans-winning C-type Jaguar, whose driveshafts and clutch were wrecked in a televised sequence of tyre-smoking doughnuts and getaways.
The criticism was first aired in Telegraph Motoring on June 14 by eminent motoring historian and author Doug Nye and subsequently reported (with additional damning quotes from the car's owner, Adrian Hamilton) by London's Evening Standard, the Daily Mail, the Daily Star and The Times.
Writing for the Sun, Clarkson claimed "a crusty old historian" was the only man to object to the car's treatment and warned "I know the man in question and I know where he lives. And if he'd like to see some real hooliganism he should try objecting again."
___________________________________________
Well, there you have it: a yob playing to the gallery. He reminds me of the prototypical childhood bully who grabs another child's toy and does his best to wreck it. It's a pity that a broadcaster with some semblance of talent should stoop so low and it's a tragedy that those with a serious interest in motoring can't find anything better on TV than the irresponsible slop he dishes up.
It's a macho thing, I suppose. But I thought that always looked a bit silly in the over 40s (yup, I'm well into that group). Come to think of it, it's not exactly consistent with what I observed when I met him at a filling station. He turned up in an open AC Cobra with A. A. Gill. I said to him "Left the Ferrari at home today then?" and he replied "Yes. I wanted to get the wind in my hair" . . . hey, macho, macho!
|
|
yes - like many before him he's become a caricature of himself.
|
|
|
There are a lot of classic car owners out there who find someone actually driving their car at all to be troublesome. The owners sounds like one of those that has a car to polish not to drive. Proper classic owners realise that bits will break and fall off due to natural use and they accept that not throw tantrums about it. Have they even seen classic car racing? Those people don't pootle around the track at 35 mph being careful not wear their tyres out. Those owners are quite happy to race aston martins, jags, maseratis etc and in fact there was one chap out there with a wholly unique car worth in excess of a milion pounds that was keeping up with the rest of the pack.
If it had won le-mans is it not possible that the drive shafts and all the other things that tg were alleged to have wrecked were about to drop to bits anyway?
'fraid I find JC's out bursts highly amusing and did laugh out loud at his idle and obviously not serious threats. I think some people really do take life too seriously altogether :-)
teabelly
|
"If it had won le-mans is it not possible that the drive shafts and all the other things that tg were alleged to have wrecked were about to drop to bits anyway?"
Apart from the fact that this car was very well maintained and all such items would be renewed where necessary, successful endurance racing is achieved by sensible driving, preserving the machinery rather than tearing it up. Le Mans in fact, while demanding a motor which, suitably geared, would repeatedly cope with the 4-mile straight, was not particularly hard on the chassis and running gear.
Top Gear is, let us face it, designed for mass entertainment and these stupid stunts are aimed at the masses; but they would be just as amused by a far less historic vehicle being mal-treated. It was a jolly poor show.
|
|
|
|
Teabelly is spot on about propoer classic owners. Before this year's main race at Le Mans there was an hour long Legends race for cars which had run between (I think) 1959 and 1971. All of these cars were of serious value, and the radio station said that 3 were owned by the same guy and were worth almost a million each. I didn't see them pulling any punches during the race.
|
|
Luckily I didn't witness Motormouth's antics. But surely it is up to the owner of any classic car to decide whether his car should be treated carefully? If JC hadn't been given the OK to thrash it a bit, he hadn't the right to do that, just in case.
|
|
|
|
Sorry, Smokie, got to disagree here. No reason not to classify a 'motor historian' as being anything other than a proper classic car owner either. If they want to take good car of their possessions, treat them carefully and make sure they will be around as long as possible then that's their choice. If they want to use them for what they were designed for and hammer them around the track that's also fine, but the two are not compatible.
|
|
|
|
|
If this government of ours is really serious to bring the BBC down to size for poor quality journalism, then surely they would be better off focusing on stupid, inflammatory language from Clarkson- even if it was intended not to be taken seriously.
This could be a winner rather then trying to prove who said what from unnamed sources in the run up to the invasion of Iraq.
It is a shame he felt he had to go so far; I actually have found the present series of TG quite amusing and at least he has been prepared to provide a voice against anti-car "transport" policies (albeit I suspect that some of his gestures will prove to be rather futile).
He had better be careful not to inflame the situation further unless he wants his home in Chipping Norton to become the centre of unwanted attention!
|
|
|
![2019 Citroen C4 Cactus 1.2 PureTech Flair 5dr [6 Speed]](http://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/url/crop/90x60/https/assets.heycar.co.uk/t_default-export/f_auto/application_assets/vehicles/pictures/7c3858a9402252058a8399d9141ac107/5e2a9b3c85e590fd72224730bae39dc6.jpg)
![2017 Citroen C4 Cactus 1.2 PureTech [82] Flair 5dr](http://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/url/crop/90x60/https/assets.heycar.co.uk/t_default-export/f_auto/application_assets/vehicles/pictures/9e7839b883081f611047d1ee1848cfb7/21d66ffaf424ddea552d0e684585829b.jpg)
