Joe Eaton of Rumblenote in Slate presents the following rationale for sports car ownership: it costs much less both in financial and environmental terms to commute with public transportation during the working week then drive on the weekends for fun in a car built just for that. Here’s how the author describes his escape from the travails of daily automotive commuting:

In spring 2007, my wife and I sold our Volvo and committed to public transportation. Since then, it’s been no traffic jams, no mechanics, no gasoline, and no insurance bills. With the money we saved, I started a “hot rod” bank account dedicated to making driving fun. Public transportation is paying for my Porsche.

Eaton echoes a James May column from last week published in The Telegraph, where the Top Gear presenter argues that cars as we know them will inevitably cease to exist as tools for going to places and the only form of the car to survive will be the sports car, purchased and driven purely for enjoyment. Of course he then proceeds to live his argument and go shopping for a used Ferrari.

While the Eaton-May solution is not an option for those of you living in the suburbs of the typical American city with no public transportation to speak of, it is increasingly a viable stragety for those of us who either live in cities or in European-style suburbs with rail links to city centers. And if any of this will contribute to killing off boring cars in favor of interesting cars then it is a very happy development indeed.

Read a good book on the train—then drive that 911 like you stole it. Or that Superlight Miata. You get the idea.

Source: Slate

Photo Credit: mugley/Flickr

There are road tests of cars and then there are road tests of Bristol cars. The latter are without exception exercises in pleading, begging and the abuse of op-ed columns with the single, inevitable conclusion of no press car. Bristol owner Tony Crook likes to keep it that way, which is perhaps understandable when you consider that the few people who do manage to gain fleeting access to Bristols via owners willing to face Crook’s subsequent wrath usually find that the cars are puzzling examples of shoddy construction sold for Lamborghini prices.

So it came as quite a shock to my friend Zsolt Csikós—road test editor of Hungarian car site Totalcar—that a call to Bristol’s headquarters resulted in Tony Crook himself on the line and the promise of a ride. This lovable geek who often shares Eeyore’s outlook on life managed what even Jeremy Clarkson couldn’t manage: he found himself behind the wheel of a brand-new Bristol. A Bristol Fighter at that, powered by America’s great offering at the altars of displacement: the Viper engine.

Although Bristol Cars is a post-WW2 spinoff of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, they eschew an important engineering principle which crossed over from the world of aviation to car construction: Bristol cars are neither unibodies nor monocoques but bodies over frames, like pickup trucks. It is perhaps fitting then that the Fighter’s V10 engine was originally a Chrysler truck engine. In the Fighter, the all-aluminum block is equipped with Bristol’s own cylinder head and exhaust system, good for 558 HP. Should the latter be found inadequate, turbochargers are available to boost output to beyond a thousand horsepower, coupled with similar amounts of torque.

Of course this being Bristol, the test drive was not a week of freeform excursion on B-roads but a leisurely crawl through London traffic. I shall defer to the author at this point, translated from the Hungarian:

What does it feel like? I gave the throttle no more than a percent of go, save for my rare instances of hoonage when I gave it two percent. It doesn’t really make a difference as 558 HP is so much power that a heartier sneeze will drop you across half of Europe. Why would anyone possibly need the 1026 HP of the turbocharged version? One cannot think of anything other than the potential for great pub tales.

The clutch is remarkably light, not Diablo-heavy at all, and the same is true of the steering. Even though the Fighter could certainly use more upper-class destinations, it is perfectly drivable on the side streets around Soho. The gearshift is American in feel, precision not its strongest asset, but it requires a steady and firm grip for operation. And even if I never exceeded 40 MPH in the Fighter, it was a wonderful experience. The interior, the engine with its endless reserves of power, the execution and the sea of dials combine to make even a crawling Bristol a memorable driving experience.

Bristol is a beautiful, rugged, romantic theory on four wheels. The same goes for the Fighter, with more power and a more professional feel. Take it as it is. If you can.

So there you have it. If you’re no fan of computer displays and like your cars with copious amounts of tech-ed spirit and the charms and personality of handmade construction, your new ride is ready. All you need now is upwards of $370,000—and catching Tony Crook in a good mood. Just make sure you don’t namedrop Jeremy Clarkson.

Photo Credit: Zsolt Csikós/Totalcar

BBC film crew frantically raced to the scene to check whether James May and the rest of the crew were injured. Although they were unable to reach the airship, a helicopter filming the stunt gave them the all clear.

The stunt was believed to be the end of a race between James May in an airship and co-presenter Richard Hammond in a Lamborghini. Hammond is believed to have not hurt his head in any way this time. We think. But he still likes asparagus. (Hat tip to Eric!) [via Daily Mail]

Over two million individual bricks have been used in the project so far, with another million planned for completion. As you can see, they're assembled into larger, hollow building blocks that are then stacked to create the walls. Small window bricks are interspersed throughout the structure to help bring light inside, while a wooden frame appears to support the entire structure. Once it's completed, May will move in for two to three days, where he'll sleep on a Lego bed, pee in a Lego toilet and wash himself in a Lego bath.

"If I wake up buried under a pile of bricks, I'll know it's gone wrong," says the Top Gear presenter. [via The Daily Mail and Flickr]

As part of his BBC series James May's Toy Stories, he plans to build a two-story house in the middle of the Denbies Wine Estate, in Dorking. Yes, Dorking. Please people, ignore the stick with us here.

More than three million Lego bricks have been delivered to the site.

May will host a building day next Saturday, when members of the public can help him with the project. Now this we'll just have to see. (Hat tip to Jack!) [via BBC News]

Belfast has just completed construction on a new sewer system, meaning Clarkson, the Hamster and May won't have to splash through human waste in the name of infotainment. While the original 1969 film was set in Turin, Michael Cain was actually driving through Coventry's waste disposal system.

Filming is expected to take place "in the coming weeks" meaning we should see the race this season. No word on which one of the trio had the great idea. [via BBC]

Ken's a master of sliding sideways in his specially-equipped Subaru. And as you can see, he gives May the ride of his life — even if he doesn't have the guts to say it. And by guts, we mean of course playing his role as the anti-stereotypical "Captain Slow" by decrying his inability to drive fast in a straight line. Whatever — USA! USA! USA!

And on a personal note, we're glad to see even Top Gear's fabulous production team's taken to adding a bit more Planelopnik into their shot selection. Jolly good show, chaps!

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.

[via FinalGear]

As Davey Johnson has made very clear, there's something special about brown cars, and as for a brown British Leyland product... well, it's very much of its time. For reasons we have a hard time understanding, May's woman
lacked enthusiasm for the gift, so now the Triumph is part of his own fleet.
That brings up the question: What Detroit vehicle is the counterpart to the brown Triumph 2000 MkII? The vehicle the well-intentioned American or Canadian car geek would buy his or her S.O. in order to share not-quite-ironic-enough appreciation for such things? Perhaps a two-tone 1975 Mercury Cougar XR7?
Telegraph.co.uk

Strolling down London’s streets with traffic coming at you from wholly unlikely directions, you very often bump into cars that don’t really exist. A soft landing into this mind-boggling maze of dead British carmakers is provided by the Triumph Herald, this example apparently someone’s daily driver.

The blue convertible is the restyled 13/60 version, introduced in 1967, with a 1.3-liter engine making 61 HP. It’s a cute little button of a car but in spite of the fancy Michelotti styling, it’s definitely an acquired taste. And it’s only when you move in closer to look at the details of 1960s British engineering that you begin to ponder the audacity of James May, who converted one of these things into a boat on Top Gear. That is, a vehicle designed to remain on top of a body of water in spite of it being heavier than water.

Had he not gone for wind power, he could well have stuffed an outboard motor in any panel gap of his choice.

According to Drive.com.au, Ferrari's CEO admitted the company reached out to Top Gear to get them to "stoppa da crap" when it comes to the next show.

Speaking at the Geneva motor show, Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa said it was important to protect the brand and, as a consequence, the company had spoken to the Top Gear Live show's organisers from the BBC.

A spokesman for Ferrari said Top Gear Live had admitted to using fake Ferraris.

"We asked them to change it … for the Hong Kong [Top Gear Live] show (the last stop on the world tour)," said the spokesman. "We said ‘please use real Ferraris'."

The organizers for Top Gear Live said they'd be using drift cars, not fakes, for the Hong Kong show, thus removing the problem. Felisa was later heard saying "Nut up, this is Top Gear, not Top Pussy."

[Drive.com.au]

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.

[Telegraph.co.uk]

And here's the Discovery Channel piece that got Mr. May going on the topic:

Minimum Expectations For Top Gear UK Season 12, Based On The Teaser

• Veritas RS III
• Stig in a Bugatti Veyron
• Lamborghini Gallardo
• Speedboat driving
• Double decker bus racing
• Semi truck foolishness
• Pagoni Zonda
• Corvette ZR1
• Cadillac CTS-V
• Dodge Challenger SRT8
• Reno shenanigans
• Mercedes Benz C63 AMG
• Lexus IS-F
• Bathroom challenge, apparently

By the end of the year there will be a Clarksonov, Hammondchenko and Mayovski roaming the frozen steppes of Russia. Probably in Ladas.

Yes, there’s going to be a Top Gear Russia. Made in Russia for the Russians. A bit like the Aussie TG, but with more back-to-front letters and fewer boomerangs.

Everything’s a bit hush-hush at the moment, but we know that it’s going to run for 15 episodes initially, around the end of this year. The Russian Top Gear magazine has been doing well over there since its launch in 2004, so hopefully the locals will be familiar with TG’s ‘ambitious but rubbish’ philosophy.

First up, though, we’ve got to find the local presenters. Rumours that Clarkson, May and Hammond will be making a guest appearance clad in bearskin hats remain unconfirmed.

We can’t imagine there’ll be any shortage of candidates for the arduous job of thrashing supercars around the beautiful Russian outback. Or whatever the Russians call the outback.

There’s no word on what studio or test track they’ll be using yet, but we have glorious visions of a giant Russian Clarkson firing up a Murcielago in a decommissioned nuclear silo, surrounded by hoards of TG faithful wrapped up in layers of wintery clothes.

And bearskin hats. It’s all about the bearskin hats.

(Hat tip to Andreja!) [via Top Gear]

[View the entire episode at FinalGear.com]