Top Gear Christmas Special,

[tut]

Utter utter tosh. More contrived than ever; with 2 tonnes of equipment and a crew of 40 they 'had' to modify the cars to carry stuff, not withstanding the fact there was an army of local construction workers building the stadium? At least on the other specials the modifications were at least semi-necessary. I'd have rather it was a 'here's a route not suitable for the cars' type that stuck with that, pointless butchering of the cars for mild/absent comedic effect utterly .. er..pointless.

Who thinks the potential significance of that plate was lost on Clarkson?

Agree with Greg, and I did not even watch it. On that basis I am not entitled to an opinion, but afraid from the past shows, that is what it has deteriorated to.

tut

[campbell]

Just finished part 2. Kids, once again, loved it. Great advert for Chile and Patagonia. Britain has its extremists too, remember.

I give Jezza the benefit of the doubt over the source of the Porsche / plate. An FOI request to DVLA might do it though

Provided an opportunity to give the kids a short history lesson.

And the Esprit was indeed painted in a brilliant light. They didn't even mod it...uncharacteristically tasteful

Best "Christmas Special" I've watched this season. Eastenders, anyone?

[GregR]

Not quite sure what the detractors want out of a Top Gear Special.

Apologies if I didn't make it clear; doing what they did minus the contrived 'must modify' the cars rubbish (and no Hammond)

Spotted on twitter today that the plate was legit from a previous owner.

[Andy G]

What about a Scottish Elises version with you Andy, Tut etc. etc ? - could be a laugh and a slow burner ! Think 'GCN' for cars.....

You find someone willing to film and screen it and we're in

[Mr Momo]

What about a Scottish Elises version with you Andy, Tut etc. etc ? - could be a laugh and a slow burner ! Think 'GCN' for cars.....

You find someone willing to film and screen it and we're in

Screening it is easy (create a youtube channel), but filming will be the tricky part - without constant outakes

[pete]

It's the only TV we've really watched and everyone laughed, Millie thought it was ace...

[ed]

I enjoyed it. Glad the esprit did well, hope they manage to bring it home.

[graeme]

Watched both parts last night. Enjoyed the scenery, but that was about all.

[mxvx]

Also got a top gear Christmas DVD to watch (never seen on TV - perfect road trip)

[greyrigg]

the scenery and terrain in Tierra del Fuego did get me thinking about hiring a 1200GS in Santiago and heading down to the end of the world some time

My thoughts exactly.

Malcolm

[Andrew C]

Just found this article....
Anyone speak their lingo Spanish/German

http://www.elpatagon...leryintv91725v5

They are photographed in a customs storage area and it suggests that a representative from the BBC has made contact with respect to shipping them back to the UK
We may not now have to send the troops in.

[Corranga]

An FOI request to DVLA might do it though

I'm sure there was a news article around the time of filming that stated the car had hosted 2 number plates in it's life, with the offending one being on it for 10+ years.
I think it was a coincidence, otherwise, it wouldn't have been driving around minus the front plate for most of the special.

Lotus was uncharacteristically treated, especially for Top Gear who have never seemed to be big fans of Lotus. It looked amazing too.

Other than that, it was the usual same script stuff, resulting in ruining 2 decent looking cars, and a 70s Mustang, which is never a happy end imo - would be better if they took some modern hot hatches or spots cars and tested them to destruction, or at least something common...

[ruadh08]

the scenery and terrain in Tierra del Fuego did get me thinking about hiring a 1200GS in Santiago and heading down to the end of the world some time

My thoughts exactly.

Malcolm

I will come with you guys!

[pete]

This is our rental car on the Chilean Argentinian border - perhaps slightly more suitable than the Esprit. Later that day we were stopped by armed border guards and asked to take a family to the next town, we'd already picked up some itinerant workers so teh pickup was full - we felt like proper locals...



We sailed down through the Patagonian fjords on this.







An heroic pose.

[kenny]

the scenery and terrain in Tierra del Fuego did get me thinking about hiring a 1200GS in Santiago and heading down to the end of the world some time

My thoughts exactly.

Malcolm

The Argentine government really messed up their propaganda on this one. Top Gear specials can be spectacular free tourist ads, Vietnam special is a prime example. In the words of Clarkson "For many people Vietnam is a war, not a country", and for many people it put the country back on the map and added the top of the list of places to see.

Up until the end I sure quite a few watching had visions of driving through some fairly unspoilt wilderness but the pitchforks at the end put paid to that idea.