Top Gear Books
From the Austin Allegro to the Renault Safrane, and from the MGB to the Volkswagen Beetle, this book brings together 50 of the worst cars ever to grace the roads of Britain. The book features everything from the aesthetically pathetic to the mechanically misguided and includes tales of the most bizarre and appalling cock-ups in motoring history. With full-colour photos to illustrate each entry, this chronicle of classically Crap Cars will transport you back to the beige and brown world of the seventies and eighties and your very own Morris Marina.
Good old Dad and his good old Dad's car. As solid and dependable as the man himself, if a little less balding, Dad's car was almost a member of the family, whisking you to exciting days out, or just to visit boring relatives in distant parts of the country to the chant of 'are we nearly there yet?' Like the man behind the wheel, Dad's car made you feel safe and secure, because it was as reassuring and sensible as he was. Maybe in an idle moment Dad dreamt of driving something rakish and fast, just like in idle moments he dreamt that your Mum was Twiggy, but the demands of family life meant soft tops, hard suspension and anything even remotely sporty were off the cards. Even anything less than four doors would have been wildly hedonistic. But although the family car may not have been the very essence of rock 'n' roll, Dad was proud of it. Spanning the 1950s to the '80s, this is a celebration of the heyday of the Dad car. From much loved family workhorses like the Ford Cortina and Vauxhall Viva to the rakish excitement and playground kudos of the Rover 3500 and Citroen CX, all the great Dad cars are here. Reflecting a time before people carriers and lifestyle off roaders, when the nearest thing to an airbag was hiding behind your fat brother, this is a celebration of simple, honest cars that were as flawed and as loveable as your Dad himself.
Following up on Crap Cars and My Dad Had One of Those, Top Gear celebrates the midlife crisis with the definitive collection of the flashest, fastest, most impractical cars ever to be found in the driveways of otherwise perfectly sensible men. Drawing on the high level of expertise in this area, Top Gear explores the phenomenon of motoring and the midlife crisis, identifying over 50 classics of the genre across four desperate decades. From Ford Capri to Ferrari Testarossa, it celebrates the flashest, fastest and most ridiculous attempts to cover a bald spot, meanwhile offering a profound insight into the complex psychology of a middle-aged man and his quest for eternal youth. Top Gear's Midlife Crisis Cars both rejoices and recoils at the time-honoured tradition of flushing the children's inheritance on something you're too arthritic to get into in the first place.
Packed full of all the chunky, meaty, sometimes-a-bit-on-fire goodness of the television program, this book has the added bonus that you can read it in the bath. Among other things, fans will find 27 previously unknown facts about the Stig; some of the most powerful cars ever to attack the track; and the raunchy story of Richard Hammond's love affair with a small Opel. This book delves into everything you wanted to know, but never found out, about Top Gear's most exciting trips, while also providing fans with comprehensive, fully illustrated arguments against both public transport and the humble caravan. Packed with action and all the power you'd expect from the petrol heads at Top Gear, this is a must-have for fans of the hilarious Emmy Award-winning series.
From flying cars to amphibious vehicles, solar-powered saloons to rockets on wheels, these are over 50 of the most wacky cars ever devised. Fancy a car that drives sideways? Try the Jeep Hurricane. Or maybe a car in which the windows change colour according to your mood for a more serene and health-giving driving experience? That'll be the Toyota RiN. And if you like a flutter, you'll need the Chrysler Town and Country Black Jack, which contains a mini onboard casino. Some concept cars are designed to demonstrate alternative materials and energy sources, or to showcase the gadgets of the future, or even cater for specific lifestyles or groups of people. Many don't even get beyond the prototype stage - for reasons of cost or practicality, or, in the case of the nuclear-powered Ford Nucleon of 1958, the danger of causing a small atomic explosion. Featuring everything from practical experiments such as the hatchback fire engine, and ideas that have managed to make it into production, to stunning yet impractical supercar concepts, this book both celebrates and cringes at some of motoring's most daft - and even idiotic - ideas.
As everyone knows, there are three ways of doing things. The right way, the wrong way and the Top Gear way. Although, on reflection, that's usually just the wrong way, but faster and with more shouting. Anyway, the good news is that this third way of doing things can be applied to almost anything, and that includes motoring in general. All you need is the right guidance, which is where the brand new Top Gear Alternative Highway Code comes in. Top Gear's Altnernative Highway Code will show you how to bring the ambitious but rubbish philosophies of the world's most popular TV programme to your driving, containing advice on general motoring, as well as specific tips on how to deal with common eventualities like a rapidly sinking amphibious camper van, a caravan airship that's just crashed into a small bush, or a stupid home-made limousine that's snapped in half while transporting a top celebrity to an awards ceremony. Road users should not leave home without it.
Dropped deep in the Bolivian rainforest in three shabby 4x4s, and taking on the cheerily-titled 'Death Road', can the "Top Gear" boys survive their toughest challenge yet? Relive some of the "Top Gear" team's most awesome adventures with these hilarious retellings of the specials. Join Jeremy Clarkson, richard Hammond and James May as they face exciting challenges in exotic lands. It is a must have for any "Top Gear" fan.
The favorite annual of all grown-up kids is back and overflowing with geeky automotive facts, photos of the slickest cars on the planet, and a foreword from the Stig himself Every fan will find something to love in this compendium overflowing with TG genius, including plenty of Clarkson, Hammond, and May as they've never been seen beforehow about Jeremy Clarkson as a Reliant-driving crime fighter? The hosts dissect the best and worst of the last year’s motorsand just to make sure it doesn't get too serious, there are plenty of jokes at their expense, primarily focused on Hammond's hair, May's newfound obsession with small toys, and Clarkson's obsession with his own voice. It also includes the show's innovative designs for a low-budget Presidential limo, Richard Hammond's guide to making nature better (i.e., faster), the owner's manual for the TG electric car, and secret Top Gear exclusives that have never been seen before. With all this, and much, much more, it's guaranteed to be the loudest, most ambitious, most powerful, and explosive book of the season.
An essential almanac brought to you by the Top Gear Motoringists' Association, a bigger, faster, louder alternative drivers' association In the venerable tradition of the AA Members' Handbook, Top Gear provides its own essential almanac for today's motorists, with information on everything from buying cars and car maintenance to taking one's car on vacation in Great Britain or "not Great Britain." Readers will find a mileage chart and new routes across the country that they might have previously thought impossible. There is key guidance on driving etiquette; what to do in the event of a breakdown, puncture, or breakdance; a guide to Top Gear Motoringists' Association-recommended hotels and tourist attractions; plus key information on new and used car-buying, all from the experts at the TGMA. Illustrated throughout with instructional drawings, this indispensible guide should be kept in the glovebox, and never taken out.
World-class car photography from Top Gear Magazine For the petrolheads at Top Gear Magazine , car photography is about more than just a car on a stretch of tarmac. It's about ultimate escapism. For Top Gear , a truly great photograph should instantly transport you to the location and behind the wheel, delivering the speed, power, and atmosphere of the moment in one shot. In this collection of the magazine's finest car photography, readers can get up close and personal with the hottest cars of recent years in some of the most stunning locations. They will see the world reflected in gleaming bodywork, raindrops on windscreens at 90 mph, and the blur of wheels against a backdrop of epic vistas. This is the perfect coupling of automotive masterpieces of design and world-class photography.
Ambitious but Rubbish reveals the off-camera secrets behind some of Top Gear ’s most memorable creations. From the challenge of turning a Reliant Robin into a rocket and the genesis of the Hammerhead-i Eagle Thrust electric car to the complexities of building a caravan airship and the inspiration for destruction-testing a Toyota Hilux, this book is packed with the previously untold stories behind dozens of classic TV moments. Top Gear has never shied away from trying to answer questions no one has even thought to ask. Questions like ‘Can you make a convertible people carrier?’, ‘Can you cross the Channel in a pick-up?’ and ‘Can you turn a combine harvester into a snow plough?’. Ambitious but Rubbish reveals how those insane ideas came about with remarkable tales of ingenious invention and idiotic engineering. This book is essential reading for any Top Gear fan and a terrific insight into the creation of the world’s biggest car show. It’s also a terrifying window into the minds of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. Don’t say you weren’t warned about that last one.
Did you know that Jasons and Tracies crash more cars than Jacquelines and Damons? Or that a boomerang can be used to repair a knackered clutch? Have you ever wanted to visit a naked car show, wondered what it's like to drive on the world's most dangerous road, or receive the world's most expensive speeding ticket? Want to read about flying cars, amphibious cars, or atomic cars? What about the Accord that can actually strike a chord, or the love car park? Dip inside to find all these plus stacks of other stuff, including cars in films, cars on TV, cars in songs - even cars as coffins. Top Gear: Motor Mania is a car book like no other. It's full of the strangest stories, fascinating facts and spectacular stats - a must for any car nut.
Life is full of complications. From buying petrol and driving on a motorway to using a microwave oven and becoming a Formula 1 driver, all men have suffered from the stresses and inconveniences of the modern world. Happily, this handy book will solve all of these problems by applying the unique brand of Top Gear logic to a range of everyday situatons, such as making a ham sandwich, designing a supercar, receiving directions and, of course, how to parachute into a moving car.
For over ten years, Top Gear has been travelling all over Britain in the course of making the world’s best programme about cars, driving, and three men in smart-casual clothes shouting at each other. So, who better to assemble a guide to Britain itself with all its glories, quirks and multiple words for bread rolls? This book is not only a guide for outsiders; it is an invaluable reference manual for Britons themselves, like a mirror held up to our very souls.* Join us then, as we travel from A-Z cataloguing and making moderately flippant remarks about every aspect of life and living in the best country in the world after New Zealand, Denmark, probably Canada and some bits of France. *Although in this case, a mirror that has been dropped and then run over by a small lorry but don’t worry, some bits of it still just about work.
Designing and making cars is an expensive thing to do. So is racing them. All told, the car business spends billions every year and with such vast sums at stake you’d think the people involved wouldn’t give desk space to Captain Cockup. Sadly, you would be wrong. Every department in every car firm and motorsport operation is capable of complete and abject failure, and on a surprisingly regular basis. Which is what this book is about. You see, Top Gear knows a thing or two about embarrassing mistakes, as anyone who watched our India special will know. The truth is, for many years Top Gear has also regarded failure as funny. Where other television programmes edit out the moment where the presenter falls over or slams their hand in a door, Top Gear gleefully leaves it in. So who better to take you on a gentle canter through 50 of the car world’s biggest and most glorious failures? That’s right, it’s Top Gear. Who else did you think? If you want this sort of stuff from Countryfile you might be in for a wait.
Follow the Stig on an adventure through the world of motorsports—from rallies, Le Mans, and grands prix to homemade motor-home racing and more. Now in a mini format. The Stig, Top Gear 's tame racing driver, is off on another adventure, this time following his passion for speed and adrenaline to its natural conclusion—motorsport. Stig has disappeared into the world of racing, and it's your job to find him. Follow Stig as he roams from the stifling heat of the Dakar rally to the redneck heartland of a NASCAR track, or from the nightime drama or Le Mans to the mud-soaked stands of Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. Along the way you'll also find Clarkson, Hammond, and May as they indulge in a spot of homemade motorhome racing or Roman rallying, middle-eastern style.
A globe-spanning tour of the very pinnacle of automotive design from the experts at Top Gear , including 3D photography (and the requisite snazzy specs) Whether it’s through raw power, elegant curves, or just an eye-watering price tag, there are a small number of cars that mark the pinnacle of automotive design—and now the experts at Top Gear have chosen the very best of them. This book is a celebration of the cars that achieve that perfect blend of art and engineering. From the supercar muscle of the Porsche 918 and Ferrari LaFerrari to the technological prowess of the Nissan DeltaWing and the mighty McLaren P1, stunning visuals, including jaw-dropping 3D photography, take gearheads on a whistlestop tour of the latest and greatest automotive creations on the planet today.
Building your own hovervan or brewing your own beer? Get down to the garage. Looking to store several step ladders or conceal a secret collection of owls? The garage is the place. Maybe you just want to whistle, drum or shout 'Ow my thumb!' without being told to shut up. The garage is waiting. This book celebrates the garage and all that happens in it. Even the fires.
