Bbc Top Gear

[Claire G]

BBC Top Gear - Filming for 27th October Programme

What a fantastic opportunity arose after a late night, and last minute, exchange of U2Us with fellow Gold Member UltraViolet (Sammy). As an infiltrator/honary member of The Honda-R Club for the day, I was lucky enough to be invited to see BBC's Top Gear programme being filmed, on location at a Surrey aerodrome. One of the benefits of being a woman when the producers are trying to balance a male-dominated audience!

After getting to the location and after finally finding the aerodrome, I met Sammy and her fellow Honda-R cohorts, and we were all provided wristbands to confirm us as members of the studio audience. We all lead in to the studio (a kitted out air hanger) to be briefed on what was expected of us for the day. Essentially we were told to check out the cars and have fun - as if we would need to be told twice! Jeremy Clarkson came on centre stage to say hello and reiterate that the show relied heavily on the studio audience's participation, 'animation' soon became the word of the day.

We were given some time to check out the cars and of course, like true Honda fans, we swarmed around the new Honda Civic Type-R. Having at first been hesitant at the new shape when the car was first released, any misgivings I had disappeared once I had a chance to take a better look. The styling is subtle, a rear spoiler melts into the top of the screen and fantastic looking side skirts set the car off a treat. The inside does not disappoint either. Excellent quality sports seat and expensive looking dash really add a quality-feel to the car. Even though the Honda played a minimal part in this recorded show, the amount of people attracted to it seemed only rivalled by the Noble and RS200!

Soon it was time for recording to start and we were encouraged to move around the cars. Either encouraged or ordered! If you look closely enough, you see three embarrassed women milling around the Subaru Imprezza Turbo, with Jeremy Clarkson introducing the crowd as members of the Subaru Owners Club. One of the women proudly flashing her Honda-R polo shirt (although if you aren't concentrating, you may wonder why someone is thrusting her boob towards the camera!). I won't reveal any secrets from filming so as not to spoil your viewing pleasure, but suffice to say the Scooby owners seemed a little down-in-the-mouth, whilst the Honda owners whooped and hollared after timed laps around the circuit!

Filmed segments around the cars were interspersed with pre-filmed shots, and we had a great chance to look at all of the cars present; the Honda Civic Type-R, the Focus RS, Escort Cosworth, RS200, Noble, Subarru Imprezza Turbo and finally the BMW M3.

My verdict? Although the performance of the Fiesta RS seemed good, the build quality really seemed cheap and nasty. The interior badly let it down. Door seals seemed to already be splitting and the combination of a variety of different materials inside, made the car look bargain basement - reduced prices for end of line materials maybe? The seats, although sport styling, were uncomfortably hard and I found I was perched on, rather than sat in, them. Plastic posing as leather is never a good sign either….

The Noble on the other hand - what a fantastic piece of engineering (if you discount the fact it has what is essentially a Mondeo engine, windows that don't wind down fully, and you have to have a srewdriver to open up into the engine. But. Apart from that….!). The car looks like every school boys' (and girl's!) dream.

Moving on. We had heard Jay-Kay (Jamiriqui front man) tackling the track in Top Gear's 'sensibly-priced' car, and we finally got to see him do his stuff on the studio screens. Harry Enfield's lap last week was suitably kicked into touch by the rock star/car fiend. He certainly provided competition for Mr Clarkson and there was friendly banter about the two swapping jobs….until it was pointed out that the band's fans may not be so happy with the change!

Filming continued around the Ford Models and members of the Ford RS clubs present were very vocal for their support of the cars there. The Escort Cosworth drew lots of admiring ums and ahs and was very coveted. Wayne and Tracy gave the model the big thumbs up. No, not a joke, boyfriend and girlfriend Wayne and Tracy really ARE members of the Ford RS Club!

From here, there seemed to be a lot of moving around and the other presenters, Jason Dawe and Richard Hammond took a greater part in the show. Richard took great interest in the RS200… and the fact that Jeremy Clarkson spun one out on the first bend in a previous track test. To add insult to injury, there just happened to be some footage of it.

Jason Dawe then took some time to explain to us how to buy a second hand BMW M3 and how to avoid any pitfalls. Avoid pitfall's? Easy…buy a Lexus!!!

If you saw last week's show you may have seen Top Gear talking about jumping motorbikes with a bus. Well, they actually did it. How many did it jump? I'm not telling…. There's a packet of Worther's Orginals riding on it.

All-in-all, filming took a little over five hours, but time flies when you are having fun. Fun, relaxed and interesting - and that was just the Honda-R Club! The show was great too and it was fun to be privvy to the ad-libs, balls-ups and most importantly - the cars!

If you get a chance to watch the show on Sunday 27th, do so. I may even sign some autographs later… ;-)

Claire_G

[lexussport]

So Claire did you thrust your Lexus Owners tee shirt at the camera? :)

[Claire G]

If I had had it in time, my boob would have made a guest appearance in front of the camera (sounds like Channel 5!!)

Maybe next time.....