In addition to hosting the world's most popular car show, authoring a library of books and writing regular columns for a variety of magazines and newspapers, celebrity automotive journalist Jeremy Clarkson has turned out a tall stack of DVD specials.
The video after the jump is a trailer of his latest video, called Supercar Showdown. In the new special, scheduled for a November 5 release, Clarkson takes to the road and the track in some of the most mouth-watering and earth-shattering supercars, including the Ferrari 430 Spider and 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Gallardo and Murcielago Roadsters, Bugatti Veyron, Audi R8, Porsche 911 GT3, Radical SR3, Aston Martin V8 Roadster and Ascari A10. Sabine Schmitz and The Stig also feature in a head-to-head in what looks to be a jaw-dropping orgy of Octane.
Click through to catch a sneak preview.
Kudos to Mike for the tip.
[Source: YouTube]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Andy @ Oct 3rd 2007 6:38PM
Who's Jeremy Clarkson and why should we care?
paul34 @ Oct 3rd 2007 6:40PM
Good question! You know, I only recently found out that there are indeed other countries than just the US! I was shocked. In fact, I was all like "zomg."
Big Rocket @ Oct 3rd 2007 7:03PM
To paul34 @ Oct 3rd 2007 6:40PM:
The real shock is an alleged automotive expert who doesn't know the difference between engine horsepower and brake horsepower. Given his ignorance, why should anyone care what Clarkson has to say about cars.
Source:
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/05/hp-101-top-gear-provides-false-info-on-gt500-horsepower-rating/
epp_b @ Oct 3rd 2007 7:43PM
Tell me, where is this rock you live under?
cosmo @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:38PM
replying to Paul34....good luck with that american ignorant attitude since the dollar is freefalling against the Euro. Most stupid people are ashamed not proud, goddamn Yank.
Harrison @ Oct 4th 2007 2:44AM
cosmo, it's called sarcasm. You might have heard of it before.
Chad @ Oct 4th 2007 11:39AM
They live in a place that says Zed rather than Zee. Strange indeed.
Sutree @ Oct 3rd 2007 6:50PM
Clarkson's the British gas bag who is supposed to write about automobiles in the Times of London Sunday edition, but instead talks primarily about how much he hates Germans, Americans, French, etc.
chris @ Oct 3rd 2007 7:34PM
The dyno from the GT500 episode simulates engine horsepower for what has to be the millionth time. It isn't a normal rwhp dyno, so while it's obviously not as accurate as a true engine dyno, they were never saying that a car should produce it's claimed power rating at the wheels as it wasn't what they were testing.
Big Rocket @ Oct 3rd 2007 8:32PM
This is just a very brief recap of what was discussed at the link below. Feel free to check it out at your leisure.
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/05/hp-101-top-gear-provides-false-info-on-gt500-horsepower-rating/
• The dyno used by Clarkson and company *extrapolated* engine horsepower by measuring brake horsepower.
• This extrapolation invovled many assumptions, which may or may not be valid in the real world on a case-by-case basis.
• The burden of proof rested on Top Gear to prove its dyno method an accurate extrapolation of engine horsepower, before baseless accusations of how the GT500 generated less engine horsepower than claimed by Ford.
At best, Clarkson used a questionable method to arrive at a theoretical value for engine horsepower. At worst, he doesn't know or care about the difference between engine and brake horsepower. In either case, he is not much of an automotive authority, and his opinions mean squat to those who know better.
RJ @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:18PM
Big Ocean, if you're going to make fun of other people not knowing their terminologies, get your own facts correct first.
Brake hp and crank/engine hp means EXACTLY the same thing. In North America hp ratings are done by the Society of Automotive engineers using Gross (60s' era, etc.) and NET hp. In Europe they like to refer to brake hp, which is also measured AT THE CRANK.
A chassis dyno measures "wheel hp", abbreviated rwhp or fwhp (front wheel hp, not to be confused with flywheel hp).
I don't know how accurate the Top Gear dyno's extrapolations are, but a good way to compare them would be with other cars. If they test a 997 GT3 and it reads 415hp, or an M5 reading 500, then their dyno should be a good representation.
miklm @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:06PM
Moreover, it was not Jeremy Clarkson, but Richard Hammond, who did the segment on the Mustang anyway. Not that it matters; Top Gear is entertaining, and picking nits about an error here and there is pointless. Let's just put you on camera several hours a day talking about cars and see what sort of perfection you turn out, shall we?
Big Rocket @ Oct 4th 2007 1:24PM
RJ @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:18PM wrote:
"... get your own facts correct first. Brake hp and crank/engine hp means EXACTLY the same thing."
If brake horsepower and engine horsepower mean the same, then I stand corrected, and I am willing to admit it. Which is more than what Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, et al have done so far, by refusing to admit the mistake they made: False accusations based on ignorance and/or unproven extrapolations.
RJ @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:18PM wrote:
"I don't know how accurate the Top Gear dyno's extrapolations are..."
Problem is: Nobody knows how accurate their extrapolations were, due to different drivetrain losses from one car to another. As a result, it was irresponsible of Top Gear, including Clarkson, to make accusations based on shoddy "evidence".
miklm @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:06PM wrote:
"... it was not Jeremy Clarkson, but Richard Hammond, who did the segment on the Mustang anyway."
Here is what Autoblog had to say about the issue:
"Hammond and his ... co-host, Jeremy Clarkson, ding the GT500 for producing 53 less horsepower than advertised."
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/03/05/hp-101-top-gear-provides-false-info-on-gt500-horsepower-rating/
miklm @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:06PM wrote:
"Not that it matters; Top Gear is entertaining, and picking nits about an error here and there is pointless."
When Top Gear falsely alleged Ford of lying, and Autoblog called them out for their false accusations, that was not just mere nitpicking. Furthermore, should Top Gear receive immunity for false slander just because it is "entertaining", and facts be damned?
miklm @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:06PM wrote:
"Let's just put you on camera several hours a day talking about cars and see what sort of perfection you turn out, shall we?"
Since when does a movie critic need to be a movie director before he can pass judgement on movies? Since when does a voter need to be a politician to pass judgement on politics? Facts are facts: Top Gear, including Hammond and Clarkson, made a glaring mistake, got called out for it, and never bothered to acknowledge it.
RLJ @ Oct 3rd 2007 7:41PM
This should be interesting. Jeremy hates most cars except for some Jags, Aston Martin's and the Lambo Gallardo cabriolet.
And he brought Sabine Schmitz over from The Ring in Germany to participate and race The Stig. Now that should be good!
John R @ Oct 3rd 2007 7:42PM
This is nice but I can't wait for Top Gear to start up again.
Andy @ Oct 3rd 2007 7:50PM
What, no Pagani?
DesiAuto @ Oct 3rd 2007 7:54PM
It's obvious from comments that most of the people here don't watch top gear. Just recently Ford S-Max was given the best car for the money comments by Jeremy and other on the show and other cars in the comp were merc and vw. In fact, to me it seems this show is biased towards Ford Europe models. I don't think he or anybody on the show hates americans, germans etc.etc. If you watch the show few times you will know that this show has one of the best format for auto realted tv shows.
Recently I signed up for AT & T uverse and now I can watch this show for free (before I was paying extra).
In any case, I certainly think that euro cars are more evolved in terms of style. It would be so much fun to drive some of those european cars on american roads.
bert @ Oct 3rd 2007 8:10PM
Face it, no matter how much you hate Clarkson he's still an ultra wealthy, priviledged, and downright LUCKY bastard.
Think about the cars he's driven over his career. He's living the dream of most everyone reading autoblog. So hate him all you want, he's living the dream and so many fans adore him that like any other celebrity he simply doesn't have time to give a crap about his detractors.
Is he ignorant and arrogant? Yes. But there's probably only a handful of billionaires who have driven the number of supercars and exotics he's been able to.
ironpony42 @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:07PM
You called it Bert. He's doing what we all dream about. Sliding Ferrari's around at WOT, and getting paid big for it. Bash him all you want, Jezza is my hero.
Not to mention all the other crazy BS he and the boys do to entertain us, like "driving" to the North Pole, Running from a tank off road in a LandRover Sport, or building a 40' limo out of a Fiat, or perhaps his Toyota Hilux/Boat attempt. You gotta love that kinda stuff.
I like Tiff and the 5th gear crew too, but TopGear is THE automotive show to watch.
Hmm... an American auto show near the quality of Fifth gear, or TopGear?
Doesn't exist.
Evotec @ Oct 4th 2007 1:00PM
I agree with you and he cant be that stupid if he makes the best car program in the world.