0 posts 8/11/2009 7:02 pm
Last Read:
2/5/2015 12:50 pm
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Lets get the show on the road
Once you have the opportunity to candidly compare yourself to others you can feel at least a little more secure about your own sanity, maybe this is why so many people are voyeuristic. With the opening premise let me start today’s blog, which is about one of my favorite television shows. My favorite show comes out of England and is called Top Gear. Top Gear is hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, with his sophomoric sidekicks Richard Hammond, and James May.
If Top Gear were just a show about cars it would fall into a dreary series of exhibitions about extravagant toys that none of us could afford, but the show is about much more. The producers of the show put our hosts through problematic driving scenarios that create a sense of adventure to a contrived road trip. No two shows are identical and are filmed at far off locals around the world, and at times they go no further than their private test track.
Let me give you a few examples of the fun adventures they have been on this season.
In one show Richard Hammond has to race against James May along the French Riviera, the catch is that Richard has a Ferrari Daytona and James is in a turbine powered race boat. The show goes through some of the most picturesque scenery you could hope to find. In another episode they have to travel from the interior of France to England on one tank of gas. We have all been someplace and discovered we didn’t have any money and were forced to drive like a little old lady to make the fuel stretch till we made it back home. That one actually reminds me of a time that I was down in Vegas with a VW type 2 and we had gambled away all of our money except a $20 bill I had stashed earlier. We made it back from Vegas on one tank and $20.
Not all of the shows are high budget extravaganzas with expensive cars and fancy locales. In one episode they are sent to Botswana Africa and told to buy local cars on a thousand pound budget, about $2000, then they are told they have to drive the cars across the Kalahari Desert. The Kalahari is one of the most desolate places on earth with salt flats, mud flats, and lots of sand. In order to make their vehicles light enough to keep from sinking into the mud they remove the windows, the doors, the trunk lid, you name it. They even go so far as to remove the windows, the old fashioned way that is. You want to know something, damned if they don’t make it across the Kalahari. One week all they did was have a good old-fashioned demolition derby. The only thing that made their derby different was that they were driving buses. On another week they went in search of the best road to drive on, I would have voted for Highway 9 in San Mateo/Santa Cruz County but we all have our favorites.
This last week they did one of my favorite adventures by traveling to Vietnam. Once they were in Vietnam the producers give them 15 million<b> dong. </font></b>Sorry girls in this case the<b> dong </font></b>is a unit of currency, sorry to disappoint. 15 million<b> dong </font></b>only comes out to less than a thousand dollars US so they are forced to buy scooters. The object of this adventure is to travel from the extreme south of the country to the extreme north. The trip is close to 500 miles but anything but out of the ordinary in a country that lives and breathes scooters. The ride through Vietnam is complicated when they start buying each other obnoxiously oversized gifts that they have to carry on their scooters. As a final challenge they have to convert their bikes into boats and navigate the archipelago in Halong Bay to a floating saloon.
The boys on Top Gear have loads of fun, but I have saved the best part for last. The guests that come onto the show have the opportunity to see just how good a race car driver they are. On their private track they let you use the European equivalent of a Chevy Cavalier and race against the clock. The guest include everyone from politicians to famous authors, to racecar drivers, they even had Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones give it a whirl. The fun part is they have a camera on their face during the drive and people talk to them selves, they curse, they sing, I don’t feel like I’m strange at all. I sing while I drive, I curse, I talk to myself, hell I even talk back, I’m not so strange after all. They then get to compare their track times on a chart that ranks them against other celebrities.
For those of us who have deep pockets and for those of us who imagine that we do they also demo exotic cars. When I say they demo exotic cars I mean the type you or I couldn’t afford even if we were a doctor or lawyer. Were talking million dollar price tags, and they drive them like they had a spare million in their pockets. There are also trips to laboratories that are developing more practical cars like the Tesla electric car. All in all I would have to say that Top Gear is one of my favorite shows, it has something for everyone that has ever loved their car.
Illustration is of one of the Honda Super Cup which was one of the scooters they used in Vietnam. The Super Cub has sold over 50 million copies to be the best selling motorcycle of all time. Harley Davidson eat your heart out. |
I Swami Johnny see's all, knows all, tells very little.
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