# Has Top Gear gone retarded? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469 "2008-02-13T18:48:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/1 "2008-02-13T18:48:13Z")
The other day I was watching the newest \*Top Gear \* available over here, which is about a year old, I think - it’s the one with the new 911 Turbo and a space shuttle built out of a Reliant Robin. Clarkson was doing his usual “drive fast car around track and say how much fun it is”, when he starting giving the car’s vital stastics. “It has 400 torques and 475 powers”, he said, or something similarly mangled. Torques? Powers? What happened to foot-pounds and (brake) horsepower? Was this an April Fools’ thing, or has the British auto community decided to dumb everything down? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/2 "2008-02-13T18:49:34Z")
And what happened to newton-metres and kilowatts? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/3 "2008-02-13T18:54:54Z")
That is very typical of Clarkson’s sense of humour. He is taking the mickey out of the formula of rattling off a car’s stats while driving it, by rattling of fake stats. He often does this, like saying there are four hundred horses under the bonnet. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/4 "2008-02-13T19:12:47Z")
They were trying to blast a Reliant Robin into outer space and you’re complaining about the host’s humorous delivery of meaningless statistics? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/5 "2008-02-13T19:13:17Z")
\ Racing this around the track to Cafe Society. GQ \> CS \ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/6 "2008-02-13T19:17:36Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] That is very typical of Clarkson’s sense of humour. He is taking the mickey out of the formula of rattling off a car’s stats while driving it, by rattling of fake stats. He often does this, like saying there are four hundred horses under the bonnet. [/QUOTE] I had thought so, but then the short one (sorry, the last time I was in Britain Tiff Needell and Guy of Gisborne from \*Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves \*/Quentin Wilson were still hosting it) - Hammond? said something similar later in the programme. ETA: Mod, I put this in GQ because I was asking if this new nomenclature (or lack thereof) was being universally adopted by the UK motoring press, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/7 "2008-02-13T19:20:27Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] “It has 400 torques and 475 powers”, he said, or something similarly mangled. Torques? Powers? What happened to foot-pounds and (brake) horsepower? Was this an April Fools’ thing, or has the British auto community decided to dumb everything down? [/QUOTE] That’s Clarkson taking the piss. Very much related: I went to see him on stage in a special edition of QI, and, in accusing another player of using a PDA or Blackberry to look up an answer, he shouted, outraged: “He’s got an internet in his pocket!” I have started using this phrase myself, and several of my friends have picked up on it too. I suggest that the SDMB adopts it too. Clarkson is teh funny. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/8 "2008-02-13T19:27:15Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] That’s Clarkson taking the piss. Very much related: I went to see him on stage in a special edition of QI, and, in accusing another player of using a PDA or Blackberry to look up an answer, he shouted, outraged: “He’s got an internet in his pocket!” I have started using this phrase myself, and several of my friends have picked up on it too. I suggest that the SDMB adopts it too. Clarkson is teh funny. [/QUOTE] Actually, he was just happy to see you. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/9 "2008-02-13T19:33:53Z")
Clarkson is famous for not really understanding the vast intricacies of a car’s mechanicals. Despite having been a music major in college, James is the real gearhead of the group. I do think that Jeremy is downplaying his knowledge a bit, as he didn’t seem hopeless on their journey across Botswana. His mechanical problems were difficult, but he at least seemed to appreciate what they were, and how they might possibly be fixed. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/10 "2008-02-13T19:34:11Z")
Please explain 'taking the mickey" and “taking the piss”. Yours, A befuddled cross-ponder. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/11 "2008-02-13T19:40:48Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Please explain 'taking the mickey" and “taking the piss”. Yours, A befuddled cross-ponder. [/QUOTE] Mocking. Please tell me you know what Mocking means. Edit: I deliberately used ‘Taking the Mickey’ Because I thought it was the understood US alternative to ‘Taking the Piss’. Not so in Canada it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/12 "2008-02-13T19:43:11Z")
[QUOTE=Cardinal] Clarkson is famous for not really understanding the vast intricacies of a car’s mechanicals. Despite having been a music major in college, James is the real gearhead of the group. I do think that Jeremy is downplaying his knowledge a bit, as he didn’t seem hopeless on their journey across Botswana. His mechanical problems were difficult, but he at least seemed to appreciate what they were, and how they might possibly be fixed. [/QUOTE] James May seems to have vast [but useless] knowledge about everything, ever. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/13 "2008-02-13T19:58:26Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Mocking. Please tell me you know what Mocking means. [/QUOTE] It’s a kind of bird, right? _d&r_ ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/14 "2008-02-13T20:07:27Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Mocking. [/QUOTE] Ah, okay, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/15 "2008-02-13T20:43:59Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Torques? Powers? What happened to foot-pounds and (brake) horsepower? Was this an April Fools’ thing, or has the British auto community decided to dumb everything down? [/QUOTE] OK, you explain what torque is to the satisfaction of laymen (and women) everywhere, _then_ you can slag off (or “chastise”) Mr Clarkson. Clarkson does a dumb act quite well when it suits him, for the purposes of making the show entertaining. Even the car magazines that take it all seriously leave the nitty gritty of figures like that to a little box at the end of the article. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/16 "2008-02-13T21:08:55Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est] They were trying to blast a Reliant Robin into outer space and you’re complaining about the host’s humorous delivery of meaningless statistics? :dubious: [/QUOTE] I saw that show. They also did a road trip through the deep south in used American vehicles which they purchased in Miami for $1,000 or less each. One of the risible stunts that the show provided was that they paint each other’s cars in phrases designed to get them arrested/shot in the deep south. IIRC, “Hillary Rules” and “Manlove is OK” and “Nascar Sucks” were the phrases chosen, and the good citizens of Alabama were not amused. This was the first episode of _Top Gear_ I’ve ever seen. Is it always this outrageous? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/17 "2008-02-13T21:17:11Z")
That was the most over the top one I’ve ever seen. The Robin/Shuttle craft had to be really expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/18 "2008-02-13T21:34:53Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] This was the first episode of _Top Gear_ I’ve ever seen. Is it always this outrageous? [/QUOTE] That was a pretty outrageous show, even for the episode. They attempted to cross the English channel in home made amphibious vehicles in the last series which comes close. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/19 "2008-02-13T22:05:48Z")
> [@](#): > > This was the first episode of Top Gear I’ve ever seen. Is it always this outrageous? Depends what you mean by outrageous. Hammond sat in a car while it was blasted by manmade lightning, he’s also tested the various theories about escaping from a sinking car - by repeatedly sinking with the car. FYI, don’t wait till it hits bottom before trying to open the door, the equalisation process takes too long. Electric windows and doors won’t work at the bottom of a lake etc. He’s the one who ended up in hospital last year after trying to break the land speed record. There was one season where IIRC, they blew up or destroyed a campervan during each episode. Star in a Reasonably Priced Car is a segment of the show that’s usually hysterical more than outrageous. And never let James May tow a camper through a petrol station. Just don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469/20 "2008-02-13T22:31:56Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] This was the first episode of _Top Gear_ I’ve ever seen. Is it always this outrageous? [/QUOTE] It’s been on for something like twenty years, and when I was a littl’un it was pretty much limited to relatively objective reporting on cars and motorsport. Clarkson used to write a back-page column for the UK auto rag (now defunct, possibly?) _Performance Car_, which was more about the politics of the motor industry, UK traffic legislation, etc. Then they launched a magazine which ran alongside the show, and Clarkson left PC to work on that… the magazine was much more entertainment-oriented than the show as it was then, featuring top-100 countdowns, op-ed pieces, etc. The current format of the show is almost like an outgrowth of that, IMHO. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-top-gear-gone-retarded/437469.md?page=2)