Jalopnik: captain slow

Top Gear Teases Season 14 With Kids, Fiery Lancias

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST

British motoring show Top Gear was recently part of some stupid contrived controversy, which means you should warm up your BitTorrent software for Season 14. We look forward to writing about their antics and not people's responses to them.

Top Gear's James May Goes To The Moon

The Auto Insider — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EDT

It's peculiar James May wears the "Captain Slow" moniker having driven the Veyron to 253mph, but that could all change thanks to BBC2's new documentary celebrating the 40th anniversary of the moon landings.

Top Gear's James May's now been subjected to 5 Gs in a NASA centrifuge and traveled roughly 450mph, 13 miles above Earth in a U2 spy plane all for the sake of honest journalism. The documentary, titled James May On The Moon, will explore the trials and tribulations of how NASA put 12 men on the moon throughout history. We're all kinds of jealous right now. [via BBC2]

It seems you can't watch BBC programming on their site if you're not in the UK, but there just might be another way to watch the documentary...if you can find it out there on the internet among the torrents and torrents of available data.

Top Gear Reviews Honda FCX Clarity

Andrew Didorosi — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:30:00 EST

After Clarkson took the Tesla round the track, James May, Top Gear's Captain Slow, spent time with the Honda FCX Clarity, or, as he calls it, "The Most Important Car in 100 Years."

In addition to the vanilla drive, Jay Leno makes a short cameo in this clip from last Sunday's episode of Top Gear. Watch as silent blandosity saves us from the evils of global warming while reserving the dino-juice for the fast cars.

Real Top Gear Returns November 2

Mark Arnold — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:05:00 EDT

Originally intended to start on October 26th, Top Gear is now officially slated for a return to television on November 2nd. We can hardly wait for Series 12 to start, particularly because of the American road trip Jeremy and the boys had in a 2009 Corvette ZR1, 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 and a 2009 Cadillac CTS-V. Though we'll have to see if their hour-long special trip to Vietnam is part of the upcoming series, or a stand-alone. [via TopGear]

James May Takes An Ekranoplan For A Spin

Mark Arnold — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:30:00 EDT

Moonlighting in this clip for his Big Ideas program, Top Gear UK presenter James May got behind the wheel of a Soviet-era ekranoplan. Piloting the small example of our favorite non-wheeled mode of transportation over a frozen body of water, Captain Slow stayed true-to-form, only bringing the ekranoplan up to not-quite-flying speed. Of course, the ekranoplan doesn't really fly in the traditional sense anyway...or does it? We'll let May explain. [BBC]

James May Drives A Whisky-Powered Radical SR4

Mark Arnold — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:20:00 EDT

Top Gear's very own Captain Slow was recently seen filling up this Radical SR4, not with fossil fuel, but Bruichladdich malt whisky. The demonstration will be part of Oz & James' Great British Adventure, in which May and wine critic Oz Clarke will tour around the country in a 1982 Rolls Royce Corniche convertible sampling British drinks. The show will air on BBC2 later this year, but for now we've got this amateur footage of the car starting up and running. Allegedly, the car was unmodified, but the fuel is the world's only whisky that's four times distilled. [laddieblog via FinalGear]

James May's First Ferrari

Davey G. Johnson — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:45:00 EDT

It must be rather unfortunate that the Ferrari Mondial QV was the first Ferrari James May ever drove. Then again, he is Captain Slow. I've known Mondial owners who love their cars, and the sound of any Ferrari eight is guaranteed to send shivers. But when somebody says, "Blah, blah...my Ferrari..." we inquire as to which Ferrari that may be and the answer comes back, "Mondial," well, we always wince a little inside. We'd much rather have a 308 GT4, frankly. Video above? May in a Ferrari he does like. – Davey G. Johnson

First Ferrari: James May [Top Gear]

Related:
Captain Slow and a Nice Scottish Lady [Internal]

Question of the Day: Who Has the Hotter Hair?

Jonny Lieberman — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:00:00 EDT

All praise due to Tom Anderson for the question. But really kids, this one writes itself. Especially now that Spin is out of town and we can make fun of him. So, all praise due to Ray Wert? I feel dirty just typing that. Anyhow, on the left, representing the US of A, double-guns blazing, the founding father of all that's Jalop, the mouth from New Jersey, the pride of Italian-Americans everywhere, the one, the only, Mike Spinelli!!! And on the right is some British dude with a TV show and lots of cats. As far as the hair goes, it does appear that Captain Slow's neck was kept a little warmer this past winter. It should also be noted that that Spin is about three months away from being able to fill in for Frank Bello should Anthrax need a look-a-like bass player. Age might trump beauty however, as we simply cannot get past those cute gray tufts Mr. May is sporting. They're like little racing stripes. – Jonny Lieberman