dont know about this challenge? is this something he said on the show or in his column?

if you want light/fast/economical

you need a mega light car

something like the Citroen AX, which was eventually forced off the road by being too light to have any chance of passing the new crash tests

stick a modern fast 16 valve engine in it, maybe the one out of a Suzuki Swift Sport would be good

would be a pocket rocket but not very safe

I could never understand why people wanted automatics with a macho T-bar and gate on the transmission hump, when a more delicate lever behind the wheel, if properly designed, is obviously better in every way (as is an indicator in the driver's line of sight or near it, not down on the floor in that moronic way). The DS's delicate gear switch was delightful, although you had to get used to the rhythms of the gearbox, rather slow.

I like gearchanges with an exposed gate, and I liked very much the r/h remote gearchange that Royce cribbed from Hispano-Suiza along with the mechanically-operated brake servo, and that was fitted to most Rolls-Royces from the twenties to the fifties.

most probbably the linkage, steel shafts in monkey metal causes chemical reaction and they corrode, you could strip them, clean and fill with grease but it will still need replacement eventually its only a stop gap repair

Of course buses in these days of poor public behaviour should have a conductor or security man as well as a driver. It is ridiculous to talk about the cost. Urban transport should be subsidised anyway as it is in civilised countries. It's cheaper for everyone in the long run. Privatisation of buses and railways has been a disaster and has freed public money to be wasted or lavished on expensive but fruitless foreign wars and government IT systems, ensuring continuous pressure on the taxpayer.

I like open platform buses but the British have become such control freaks and jobsworths by former standards that they won't be allowed until there has been a sea-change in attitudes, and I'm not holding my breath. Any new Routemaster equivalent should be at least as compact and driveable in tight urban conditions as the old one. But there's nothing wrong with a more modern monocoque-type structure, like some of the better continental long-distance double-deck coaches. Probably stronger than separate-chassis original Routemaster and should be a bit lower too.

Simply doesn't matter where the engine is and which wheels are driven. Function is all.

I don't like Clarkson and I don't like Top Gear, but he owns the format and that is what is earming him the money. Just like the French guy who invented Countdown and the (Dutch?) company behind Big Brother. When the format and name is copied they get loads of dosh. Plus dosh from repeat fees and syndication. Apparantly in the US, 100 episodes is the key number for a programme to go into mass syndication - when Friends reached 100 episodes the producers bought the cast a Porche 911 each.

What is a shame is that there is so little original programming these days. Why the need to copy Top Gear? Think of your own car show format. Bring back the Used Car Roadshow with that big bloke and his more knowledgable woman side-kick!