The Stig’s morse code on the Top Gear site says ‘Chewie, we’re home’ in case you were wondering.

Get rid of an old gimmick.

No way will they do that – that gimmick makes the BBC shed loads of money.

I’d love to hear the racing driver talk about the cars credentials rather than a reported comment or two.

Chris Harris 😀 ! So happy for him. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

TBH the only ones I know are Evans, LeBlanc and Schmitz. Of that the only one I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing is Sabine since she’s the only pro driver. I think with her they’re going for a modern answer to Tiff Needel albeit better looking.

From the look of it they’re going for a happy medium between old TG and old new TG, getting the balance right and then trimming (May didn’t join old new TG till series 2)

It’s maybe, actually, quite good. And maybe points to what they’re hoping to do?

Harris and Schmitz for their racing/knowing how a car actually feels and works knowledge.

Rory and Harris will be able to explain properly what’s good about a car. And Harris for some serious car geekery and getting very excited about things and explaining accurately and without the cliched “feels/goes/looks like a rampant elephant/wibbly blamange/truck driving murderer” stuff.

Irvine and Schmitz for some racing coverage and background- old TG was sadly lacking in any motorsport stuff.

LeBlanc and Evans for some enthusiastic amateurs cocking around and doing the things the viewers would want to do.

And it’s probably not fair to call Rory a token then Harris is part Iranian, and LeBlanc, Schmitz and Irvine are all foreign.

Daily Mail is being very, errm, Daily Mail about it;

‘cos everyone knows that only middle class white blokes drive cars.

I think it looks alright – I’ll give it a go. Can’t possibly be as cringey as the ‘banter’ between the last lot.

And yeah what a shame to have a bit of diversity rather than just representing the boorish middle-aged Tory tosser demographic.

I’m loving DM readers getting in a froth about a line up which is still predominantly more white and male than the population. Maybe it would be better if the Stig’s hat was more pointy?

I’m also looking forward to it – it seems with the big team (which will presumably come and go on different programmes) that they might have found a way round the issue of not copying the previous setup without having to throw out what made it good. Or at least that’s what I’m hoping.

Interesting, more people with a greater breath of experience and talent amongst them.
I’m hoping it’s going to be a show about interesting cars, some technical stuff for those of us who are actually interested in that sort of thing, not interested in the racing side of things so much, but i suspect it will be a completely different show in which the only thing it had in common with the old top gear is the name.

So DM “journalism” is now scraping the Twatter barrel?

Strong on motor journalism – maybe it’ll be more about cars than arsing about.

The arsing about was the fun bit – cars are boring, who seriously wants to watch an hour of stuff about cars?

OK, so I think this is pretty cool:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd_6P_AQj6U[/video]

“words can’t describe how quickly the speed comes
And how the **** can it do that when it weighs three tonnes?”

😀

The arsing about was the fun bit – cars are boring, who seriously wants to watch an hour of stuff about cars?

There’s bound to be arising about – just hopefully less cringey dad bants in front of a sycophantic studio audience of Sun readers.

EJ – Does anyone like him? (Apart from himself)
SS – Can anyone understand her? (or is that not the point of her selection?)
American bloke – Stick shifts, trunk, gas, hoods

🙁

It’s really pretty unpleasant and arguably racist to describe Rory Reid as the ‘token black guy’ – suggesting he’s not there on his own merits but because of some PC agenda is pretty insulting to him.

Can anyone understand her?

Iz cos shez forrin innit?

Yes – I can understand her, better than some who claim it as their native tongue.

It’s really pretty unpleasant and arguably trolling to describe a studio audience as Sun readers – suggesting they’re not there on the rest of the experiences merits but because of some non-PC agenda and lack of intelligence is pretty insulting to them.

Sorted that for you.

Looks like an improvement to me, would watch in for Chris Harris alone.

Just the fact they’ve now got two presenters who can actually drive properly is a huge step in the right direction.

Now?

I don’t want to have EJ’s babies and nor am I particularly excited about him, but then neither do I hate him, and I suspect only the minority who do hate him are being vocal. Seems quite knowledgeable from what I’ve seen.

You’re suggesting SS has a foreign accent? Hard to understand, no.

I’ll give it a go when it airs but predict it’s going to be dull. Eddie Jordan nearly as engaging as Martin Blundell as a presenter and the less Chris Harris is featured the better.
Never heard of Rory Reid before but the youtube video above hasn’t got me excited either for the coming episodes.

So we can safely say Schmitt isn’t the Stig then…. 😕

It depends what you mean by The Stig – could just be a stand in for the publicity shot 😉

You’re suggesting SS has a foreign accent? Hard to understand, no.

Reported.

Sorted that for you.

Very clever, hilarious, and making a good point – it’s exactly the same thing isn’t it. 🙄

Will Eddies syrup blow off in a convertible?

Very clever, hilarious, and making a good point – it’s exactly the same thing isn’t it.

Not exactly, no. But it still makes you look like a judgemental prat.

Its going to be just like Chris Evans R2 breakfast show…..an attempt at appealing to everyone by employing everyone from various ages and backgrounds who might strike a chord with different people.

Well, I used to really like the Chris Evans R2 evening show, but when he went to breakfast he did the above and basically lost the plot…..and I stopped listening to him.

Whether you liked Clarkson or not, it was his and the other two’s personalities that carried TG and now it will just be a shapeless mess. 🙁

And they are all a bit old looking. Nobody under 35?

Couldn’t afford the insurance.

Not exactly, no. But it still makes you look like a judgemental prat.

Pretty telling how one bothers you much more than the other though isn’t it. Casual racism = fine, taking the piss out of the Top Gear audience = not fine.

And oh the ironing of calling someone a ‘judgemental prat’ for having a different opinion to you.

Just the fact they’ve now got two presenters who can actually drive properly is a huge step in the right direction.

I think you will find that the old presenters were all very good drivers, much more capable and skillful in a car than you or I

And of the ironing of calling someone a ‘judgemental prat’ for having a different opinion to you.

To be fair though Grum, your post does smack of…ooh ooh look, RACISTS!!!! 😯

When in reality it probably wasn’t!

Very good drivers for punters maybe – but TBH I’m not even totally convinced about that. Sure they could do the tricks needed for a TV show, but that doesn’t make them very good drivers. Harris and Schmitz are in a completely different class, and TBH even Joey is probably a significantly better driver than any of them. Whether that makes for a better show is another matter, but clearly CH can also talk about cars.

Calling someone who happens to be black a ‘token black guy’ is pretty demeaning. If there was any evidence to suggest he wasn’t into cars, didn’t have a track record of presenting stuff about cars, or didn’t have anything to offer the programme then it might have some kind of merit.

Otherwise it’s just the usual ‘PC gone mad’ drivel spouted by simpletons I’m afraid.

I think you will find that the old presenters were all very good drivers, much more capable and skillful in a car than you or me

True, but the original Stig told me when we had dinner recently (he he) that it’s easy to look good on an airfield. He also said James was the best diver.

On a different tack – for Amazon, I really hope Clarkson, May and Hammond don’t go all “Christmas DVD for the dads” on us by blowing up a loads and loads stuff and dropping caravans from great heights.

Now and again is mildly amusing, but every week, nope.

So given who they’ve chosen, what’s the programme actually for? Not the slightest bit interested in whether a Porsche GT is better or worse than a Carrera, and road testing a S-Max versus a Sharan isn’t going to keep schoolboys buying Stig calendars is it?

PADI or Bsac ? 😉

usual ‘PC gone mad’ drivel spouted by simpletons I’m afraid.

Careful now. Bit close to the bone for the average top gear audience. 🙂

I think you will find that the old presenters were all very good drivers, much more capable and skillful in a car than you or I

i’m not sure thats true, it is a TV show with all the tricks that come with it.

I loved the old clarkson/may/hammond topgear but things move on and i really liked that link over the page that the new guy rory did on the rolls royce so am intrigued to see what the new show brings. And am going to try and not judge it what has gone before.

who seriously wants to watch an hour of stuff about cars?

Er, people who like cars? There are quite a few of them. I’d watch it.