# Top Gear finding the N. Pole at 78 - 35 - 7 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2007, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209 "2007-07-26T11:29:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/21 "2007-07-28T22:35:46Z")
[QUOTE=si\_blakely] If _Top Gear-US_ does **not** display a fairly uniform contempt of US-manufactured cars, what is the point of filming it? 😃 Si [/QUOTE] Agreed. With a few exceptions (Corvette, GT, GTO - well, that’s really Australian) the US makes terrible cars. Which is probably why the big three are the crapper. Top Gear is the benchmark for automotive TV shows and I believe it is the most widely viewed motoring show on the planet but somehow can’t find those viewing figures. If you’re a car guy/gal and don’t watch it, you owe it to yourself to get with the program (ha ha). [www.finalgear.com](http://www.finalgear.com) has all the episodes. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/22 "2007-07-28T22:58:30Z")
[QUOTE=Cardinal] Top Gear drove to the north pole and did a victory dance at 78 degrees, 35 minutes, 7 seconds. Why is that the location of the pole, and not 0? [/QUOTE] [polar motion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_motion) The actual axis of rotation rarely passes through the point we define as 90 degrees north. Instead, it wanders around in an irregular circle near that point. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/23 "2007-07-29T01:58:44Z")
Top Gear followed the route of the “Polar Challenge”, which provided logistics and support. It is a four-month self-supporting cross-country ski race from the Polaris Mine on Little Cornwallis Island, somewhat near the community of Resolute on Cornwallis Island, to the abandoned Isachsen Mine on Ellef Rignes Island, which is near where the magnetic pole was in 1996. It is nowhere near the north pole. Here is a map: [http://www.polar-challenge.com/detail.asp?articleID=10](http://www.polar-challenge.com/detail.asp?articleID=10) Here is the Polar Challenge web page: [http://www.polar-challenge.com/detail.asp?articleID=7](http://www.polar-challenge.com/detail.asp?articleID=7) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/24 "2007-07-29T02:04:02Z")
[QUOTE=Cardinal] About the actual trip, the truck won only with the support of two support vehicles which replaced a shock, remounted a tire, and probably something else I forgot. [/QUOTE] They lost their secondary fuel tank. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/25 "2007-07-29T02:14:33Z")
While we’re on the subject of vehicles in Canada’s far north, if you ever happen to find yourself in Eureka (further north over on Ellesmere Island), and need a lift from the landingstrip, it is less expensive to be carried in the bucket of the front end loader than to be driven in the truck. (One of those odd bureaucratic things, according to one of my relatives who is a station manager up there.) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/26 "2007-07-29T08:41:36Z")
Not four months, only four weeks, of which the race itself takes about sixteen days (the rest being pre-race training and a few days getting to the start line) – sorry, my bad, I had the time confused with my cousin’s shifts. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/27 "2007-07-29T12:31:07Z")
Looks like the programme’s on [YouTube.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7h51YBwSzE) ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/28 "2007-07-29T18:24:26Z")
[QUOTE=sturmhauke] [polar motion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_motion) The actual axis of rotation rarely passes through the point we define as 90 degrees north. Instead, it wanders around in an irregular circle near that point. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure I quite understand what the Wikipedia article is saying. Is this a result of the crust slipping around a bit, while the majority of the planet’s bulk underneath the crust stays fairly stable? Or is it something else entirely? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/29 "2007-07-29T22:54:57Z")
[QUOTE=sturmhauke] [polar motion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_motion) The actual axis of rotation rarely passes through the point we define as 90 degrees north. Instead, it wanders around in an irregular circle near that point. [/QUOTE] Yes, but not to the extent of 12 degrees of latitude! It was an annoying feature of the programme that they kept referring to it as the “north pole” when it clearly wasn’t. My TV guide described it was the magnetic north pole. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/30 "2007-07-29T23:54:06Z")
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf] Looks like the programme’s on [YouTube.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7h51YBwSzE) [/QUOTE] I’m stuck with dial up until I get in to work tomorrow. â˜č But before I come home from work, you can bet that I’ll watch it! ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/31 "2007-07-30T07:06:08Z")
[QUOTE=Muffin] I’m stuck with dial up until I get in to work tomorrow. â˜č But before I come home from work, you can bet that I’ll watch it! [/QUOTE] It’s even slow-as on broadband here, **Muffin** (mind you, our broadband’s snail-speed, so we’re told). But yep – the prog’s a good’un! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/32 "2007-07-30T08:11:30Z")
[QUOTE=chorpler] I’m not sure I quite understand what the Wikipedia article is saying. Is this a result of the crust slipping around a bit, while the majority of the planet’s bulk underneath the crust stays fairly stable? Or is it something else entirely? [/QUOTE] Think of some guy spinning a Frisbee on his finger. The Frisbee doesn’t rotate exactly around its center; instead, it wobbles slightly. If you were to take a high speed movie of the Frisbee and then watch it in slow motion, you would see that it rotates around a different point from moment to moment. This is caused by irregularities in the Frisbee’s surface and the guy’s finger motion. Similarly, Earth is not a perfect sphere - it’s somewhat flattened and lumpy. There are also gravitational effects from the Moon and Sun, and to a lesser extent from other planets as well. That said, it wouldn’t account for anywhere near 12 degrees of difference. I managed to miss that little tidbit
 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/33 "2007-07-30T10:41:47Z")
I watched this programme last night (it was repeated on BBC2). At one point Jeremy Clarkson said “We are the most northern people in the world at the moment\*.” The people at [Alert](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alert,_Nunavut) (82ÂșN and change) might beg to differ
 - He then followed up with “Except for [Michael Parkinson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Parkinson), obviously,” which will no doubt have confused non-British viewers. (Michael Parkinson is a chat-show host and the epitome of the “professional Yorkshireman” and hence, well, very northern
) ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/34 "2007-07-30T15:33:07Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] - He then followed up with “Except for [Michael Parkinson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Parkinson), obviously,” which will no doubt have confused non-British viewers. (Michael Parkinson is a chat-show host and the epitome of the “professional Yorkshireman” and hence, well, very northern
) [/QUOTE] Heh, heh! Thanks, **Colophon**. I couldn’t quite get that bit, even though I remember watching Parkinson shows ages ago! Cheers. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209/35 "2007-08-06T07:23:50Z")
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf] It’s even slow-as on broadband here, **Muffin** (mind you, our broadband’s snail-speed, so we’re told). But yep – the prog’s a good’un! 🙂 [/QUOTE] Wow! That was the best ever Top Gear! Two pieces of sacrilege, though. First, as already pointed out, they were neither at the north pole, nor were they the most northerly people in the world. Second, and far more serious, was that the Devine Ice Goddess Matti used fixed heel bindings while kite skiing. Oh, Matti, how could you go so far only to go so wrong! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-finding-the-n-pole-at-78-35-7/413209.md?page=1)