Top Grand Gear Tour TV Megathread: Because nobody wants to post a new one

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Top Grand Gear Tour TV Megathread: Because nobody wants to post a new one

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Ginny: Sep 29, 2007; 3,2,1 Let's Jam!

Kenshin posted:

Maybe you should stop being butthurt about not owning some sheep-filled islands populated by people who don't even like you and using that butthurt to imagine that Top Gear is making fun of your country because of it.

removed.

Ginny fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Jul 4, 2015

# ? Oct 3, 2014 18:08

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# ? Jun 13, 2024 05:21

Cojawfee: May 31, 2006; I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius

I'm assuming that since you live in Argentina, your first language is Spanish and not English. The point we are making is that there is no conspiracy here besides the one people in Argentina are making up. Top Gear will never make jokes like that. The only license plate jokes they make are when the plate has an anagram of "oval office" on it or something. Things that are very, very obvious. The casualty numbers from some war 30 years ago is not an obvious joke to make.

# ? Oct 3, 2014 18:11

angryhampster: Oct 21, 2005

Top Gear showcased an American Flag bike blasting Bruce Springsteen riding through Vietnam.

Top Gear made fun of NASCAR in Alabama.

I highly doubt that number plates with some obscure semblance to a small war is high on their list of funny jokes.

# ? Oct 3, 2014 18:17

Kenshin: Jan 10, 2007

Ginny posted:

Is the word "butthurt" your only argument? If that�s the case, i don�t give a gently caress what you have to say. And when did I said that i�m soooooo angry for not having that little island? I�m angry that people had to die in a worthless war. both Argentinians and Brits.

I'm angry that you're still angry about a very small war that happened 30 years ago.

Top Gear does not do subtle humor. It's all in your head.

Nobody gives a poo poo about the war over the Falklands except the Argentinians.

# ? Oct 3, 2014 18:18

Ginny: Sep 29, 2007; 3,2,1 Let's Jam!

Cojawfee posted:

I'm assuming that since you live in Argentina, your first language is Spanish and not English. The point we are making is that there is no conspiracy here besides the one people in Argentina are making up. Top Gear will never make jokes like that. The only license plate jokes they make are when the plate has an anagram of "oval office" on it or something. Things that are very, very obvious. The casualty numbers from some war 30 years ago is not an obvious joke to make.

Ginny fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Sep 10, 2015

# ? Oct 3, 2014 18:23

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

angryhampster posted:

I highly doubt that number plates with some obscure semblance to a small war is high on their list of funny jokes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbdKbpQCZBw

# ? Oct 3, 2014 18:29

CornHolio: May 20, 2001; Toilet Rascal

For what it's worth, somebody on Jalopnik research the Porsche plate and it's been registered to that Porsche since 1991.

I thought it was too close to be coincidence, but it's apparently just that.

Wow.

# ? Oct 3, 2014 18:38

Powershift: Nov 23, 2009

This just supports what i've been arguing for years.

All numbers and letters are connected with something offensive in the past, and all license plates should be in wingdings.

At least until Adolf δ▲♥∞ invades poland.

# ? Oct 3, 2014 18:38

GutBomb: Jun 15, 2005; Dude?

Ok so if I understand correctly these cars were brought over from the UK for the shoot. Those plates are from the UK, not Argentina. And I think I also understand that when a car is bought new in the UK the plate is created, and when that car is sold on to someone else the plate stays with the car. Is that correct?

So the story is that top gear searched for used cars available for sale with number plates vaguely related to the number of casualties suffered in the falklands war, and not only that, but the cars had to match the type of cars they would be driving in a top gear special. All of this effort in the interest of making a joke about how many people died in a war that took place 30 years ago.

Sounds plausible.

# ? Oct 3, 2014 19:45

Powershift: Nov 23, 2009

Also, it says that the plate numbers went unnoticed for most of their filming.

It really only seemed to become a problem once the news made it a problem.

No news to report on? make news to report on!

# ? Oct 3, 2014 19:57

InitialDave: Jun 14, 2007; I Want To Believe.

GutBomb posted:

Ok so if I understand correctly these cars were brought over from the UK for the shoot. Those plates are from the UK, not Argentina. And I think I also understand that when a car is bought new in the UK the plate is created, and when that car is sold on to someone else the plate stays with the car. Is that correct?

Basically. Some minor addendums:

- An imported car, or one in some other manner previously used before being put on UK roads (ex-military, never left a private site etc) may be registered with a plate relating to the year it is road-registered, as opposed to its year of manufacture/sale.

- You can change a plate on most cars (the exceptions are few and specific), provided it does not make the car seem newer than it is, but the fact this change took place is recorded.

The only thing I can see them having problems with is if they had intended to bring the cars back and do not, they may be liable for import charges, and/or be in breach of their carnet for them. Pocket change for any of the presenters, or indeed the BBC itself, but hassle.

# ? Oct 3, 2014 19:58

Cat Hatter: Oct 24, 2006; Hatters gonna hat.

Well at least we know where this guy went after Lexx ended:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-brdBXYIGw (I couldn't find a video that only had the first 1:10)

# ? Oct 3, 2014 20:57

G-Mach: Feb 6, 2011

Ginny posted:

Like i admitted before, i may be completely wrong! I don�t have such an inflated ego, of course i can be mistaken.

The only thing that "bothers" me, is that your opinions sounds like you own the absolute truth, and that it�s impossible! that this whole situation, with the plate numbers, was made on purpose.

Maybe it is, taking in consideration previous actions from this show, and like we say, they just "metieron la pata" this time.

# ? Oct 3, 2014 23:29

angryhampster: Oct 21, 2005

The boys just got booted from the country after being stoned by angry Argentinians.

# ? Oct 4, 2014 02:31

Daric: Dec 23, 2007; Shawn:
Do you really want to know my process?

Lassiter:
Absolutely.

Shawn:
Well it starts with a holla! and ends with a Creamsicle.

angryhampster posted:

The boys just got booted from the country after being stoned by angry Argentinians.

No way, this is fresh and exciting news

# ? Oct 4, 2014 02:41

CAT INTERCEPTOR: Nov 9, 2004; Basically a male Margaret Thatcher

Ginny posted:

Like i admitted before, i may be completely wrong! I don�t have such an inflated ego, of course i can be mistaken.

You are completely wrong. It's some idiot in a news room who decided to troll and those idiots with stones took the bait.

# ? Oct 4, 2014 03:28

Fender Anarchist: May 20, 2009; Fender Anarchist

I saw a plate with the numbers "872" on it THAT'S VAGUELY CLOSE TO 911 THEY'RE MAKING FUN OF AMERICA

# ? Oct 4, 2014 03:34

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Fucknag posted:

I saw a plate with the numbers "872" on it THAT'S VAGUELY CLOSE TO 911 THEY'RE MAKING FUN OF AMERICA

911 - 872 = 39, 1939 = WWII :tinfoil:

# ? Oct 4, 2014 09:17

KozmoNaut: Apr 23, 2008; Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle

All I'm saying is, good thing Clarkson didn't choose the Porsche UK-Rules-Argentina-Drools-Falklands-Are-Ours-Forever Turbo S.

# ? Oct 4, 2014 09:19

Chiwie: Oct 21, 2010; DROP YOUR COAT AND GRAB YOUR TOES, I'LL SHOW YOU WHERE THE WILD GOOSE GOES!!!!

Ginny posted:

The number plates:

- H982 FKL : Year of the War (1982) - FKL (Falkland)
- N269 KNG : UK�s casualties: 258 (difference of 11)
- ?646 EKH : Arg�s casualties: 649 (difference of 3)

If think it�s pretty obvious it was on purpose, especially if we consider previous actions and remarks, Top Gear have made over other countries.

And this happened in Argentina�s province (Tierra del Fuego) most sensitive with the Falklands War issue.

I�m from Argentina and i wouldn't be proud if something similar happened in the UK. It�s an moronic thing to do, and a lack of respect to those who perished (from both sides), in a meaningless war. Remember that in that time, there was a military state running my country. And i don�t like one bit our current government, as well.

I�m not proud of the violent reaction, because somebody could have been killed. But i have to admit that i�m not surprised at all.

Reaching like that is why you guys lost the war in the first place.

# ? Oct 4, 2014 09:31

Seizure Meat: Jul 23, 2008; by Smythe

Look how bad they tool on the US, no one here cares.

Though that's probably due to the fact that we won our war when England was a superpower.

:laugh:

# ? Oct 4, 2014 09:56

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

Haha holy poo poo, this is what it was about? I saw the headline on BBC but didn't click through but that's downright amazing stuff.

# ? Oct 4, 2014 10:45

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

KozmoNaut posted:

All I'm saying is, good thing Clarkson didn't choose the Porsche UK-Rules-Argentina-Drools-Falklands-Are-Ours-Forever Turbo S.

Would all that have fit on the side of the Porsche?

# ? Oct 4, 2014 11:09

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

Were all their cars German in this special? Because that could very well be a Nazi reference!

# ? Oct 4, 2014 11:40

Fender Anarchist: May 20, 2009; Fender Anarchist

mobby_6kl posted:

Were all their cars German in this special? Because that could very well be a Nazi reference!

Porsche, Lotus and Mustang, I believe.

So evil empires from history. :v:

# ? Oct 4, 2014 13:26

Cojawfee: May 31, 2006; I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius

Henry Ford was an anti Semite who funded the Nazis. Two out of three ain't bad.

# ? Oct 4, 2014 14:10

sean10mm: Jun 29, 2005; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World

I can understand not giving Top Gear the benefit of the doubt in Racism Accusation #1,000 but this is some seriously weak loving poo poo. They've gone from writing about how much they love cock on the the side of their cars while driving through Alabama to burying a weak non-joke in the license plate equivalent of the Bible Code? I literally need to add and subtract arbitrary numbers to decode 66% of the alleged insult?

I'm also disappointed that the alleged insult doesn't even have an insult in it, it decodes to "a thing that happened 30 years ago." Like, if it spelled out W07MALV1NA5L0L or something it would be a lot more plausible as Top Gear being juvenile than "Do enough math for no reason and you get a history fact!"

sean10mm fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Oct 4, 2014

# ? Oct 4, 2014 14:30

corgski: Feb 6, 2007; Silly goose, you're here forever.

Eeny meeny miny moe, catch the argentinialostthefalklandswarsuckas by the toe...

# ? Oct 4, 2014 14:37

Cojawfee: May 31, 2006; I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius

https://twitter.com/JeremyClarkson

Jeremy says they had a good ending planned out but now they have an even better ending.

# ? Oct 4, 2014 14:41

Ika: Dec 30, 2004; Pure insanity

Cojawfee posted:

https://twitter.com/JeremyClarkson

Jeremy says they had a good ending planned out but now they have an even better ending.

sort of like the time they wanted to test cars for the mafia and only got two out of three?

# ? Oct 4, 2014 14:56

Sensenmann: Sep 8, 2012

Ika posted:

sort of like the time they wanted to test cars for the mafia and only got two out of three?

That would be awesome. The pissing on Bentley in that episode was brilliant.

# ? Oct 4, 2014 19:52

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

I am sure it is entirely coincidence that More 4 (UK cable cahnnel) is now showing a documentary on the bombing of Port Stanley.

# ? Oct 4, 2014 23:34

CornHolio: May 20, 2001; Toilet Rascal

Cojawfee posted:

https://twitter.com/JeremyClarkson

Jeremy says they had a good ending planned out but now they have an even better ending.

Oooh come on filming on the Falklands and talking about how great it is to be back on the queens soil, we don't have enough wars right now.

# ? Oct 5, 2014 02:39

Kenshin: Jan 10, 2007

CornHolio posted:

Oooh come on filming on the Falklands and talking about how great it is to be back on the queens soil, we don't have enough wars right now.

God I hope they do that, the howling from the Argentinian politicians would be a delicious distraction from all of the actually horrible stuff that is happening right now.

# ? Oct 5, 2014 05:41

Ika: Dec 30, 2004; Pure insanity

CornHolio posted:

Oooh come on filming on the Falklands and talking about how great it is to be back on the queens soil, we don't have enough wars right now.

I don't think they can get away with doing that, although I bet it was considered.

# ? Oct 5, 2014 12:29

neckbeard: Jan 25, 2004; Oh Bambi, I cried so hard when those hunters shot your mommy...

Jeremey's take

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/focus/article1467360.ece

quote:

A Top Gear film shoot in the wilds of Argentina ended in a dramatic escape. Jeremy Clarkson reveals how he hid under a bed from an armed mob baying for his blood

It all started to go wrong while we were filming on a mountain in the world�s southernmost ski resort, just outside the city of Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego.

We knew Ushuaia was the port from which the General Belgrano had sailed on its doomed voyage at the start of the Falklands War and we knew that anti-British feelings still run hard and deep, here at the bottom of the world.

As a result we were on our best behaviour. We were posing for all photographs, and happily accepting requests for autographs. The sun was out. All was calm. We were even referring to the slopes as �gradients� Certainly there was no suggestion that we had walked into the middle of a war we thought had ended 32 years ago. But then came word from the bottom of the mountain. Some protesters had arrived and were keen to let everyone know they were unhappy with our visit. Our producers tried to explain that we were there to film at the ski resort and then to host a game of car football in the city. England v Argentina. The Bottom of the World Cup we were going to call it.

They were not listening. They were angry. They said that they were not violent but that a group of men from the local truckers� trade union were on their way. And that when they arrived things would definitely turn nasty. Our local fixers advised that we stop filming immediately, leave the cars on the gradients and go to a nearby hotel.

�This is a mafia state,� said one onlooker. �Best you do as you�re told.�

So we did, but going to the hotel did not work. A gang of people were waiting there. They said they were war veterans, which seemed unlikely as most were in their twenties and thirties. Bonnets were banged. Abuse was hurled. The police arrived and immediately breathalysed Andy Wilman, our executive producer � we�re not sure why.

Richard Hammond, James May and I bravely hid under the beds in a researcher�s room while protesters went through the hotel looking for us. The car park was filling up. More were arriving. This was starting to get ugly.

Back at home, newspapers were saying I had caused the problem by arriving in this political tinderbox in a Porsche bearing the numberplate H982FKL, which if you turned the H into a 1 and transposed the K and the L, could have been seen as a reference to the 1982 Falklands War.

This, however, was untrue. The car had indeed arrived in Argentina with those plates, but two days into our journey, when we were in Chile, a Twitter user pointed out the problem so we removed them.

When we arrived in Tierra del Fuego the car had no plate at all on the front and a meaningless jumble of letters and numbers on the back. And no, it wasn� W3WON. Which it would have been if I�d been trying to ruffle feathers.

The numberplate then wasn�t the issue. But something was causing more and more people to arrive at the hotel. Twitter was rammed with messages from locals saying they wanted blood. One said they were going to barbecue us and eat the meat.

�Burn them. Burn their cars,� said another. Mob rule was in the driving seat.

Government officials then stepped in saying we were no longer welcome in the city, that our safety could not be guaranteed and that we needed to leave Argentina immediately. Plainly they had given us permission to visit simply so they could make political capital from ejecting us when we arrived.

The problem was: how do you leave when the streets are filled with mobs with pickaxe handles, paving stones and bricks? No one had an answer to that one.

Chile is a spit away across the Beagle Channel but we weren�t allowed to cross it because Argentina says it owns the land on the other side, too. We therefore gathered up as many possessions as we could, rounded up the girls from our party and made a dash for the airport.

That night we were in Buenos Aires among sensible Argentinians who couldn�t believe what had happened. And the next morning we were back in Britain.

We felt that with us three gone the situation might calm down. It didn�t.

We had left behind 29 people; cameramen, sound recordists, fixers, locals and producers. They had to make their escape overland in a ragtag collection of hired 4x4s, trucks and the three �star� cars that they had been told to remove from the ski resort.

They faced a long, bumpy and gruelling six-hour trek to the Chilean border and safety. But in the first town the locals were ready. A lorry was blocking the road and as our convoy approached, it reversed at speed towards them, forcing our guys onto the verges, which were filled with people who made it plain they wanted blood. Bricks were hurled, windscreens were smashed and two of the party were cut by flying glass. But they made it through.

And then they had a problem. The next city was Rio Grande. And the word from there was that 300 cars and thousands of locals were setting up an ambush. This turned out to be true.

The British embassies in Chile and Argentina were doing their best to get a police escort. And the nine of us who had escaped were in a hotel room in Buenos Aires working through the night to find a plane and an airfield from which they could get out because, make no mistake, lives were at stake.

Meanwhile, a chase had begun. Our guys were being herded towards the ambush. So they abandoned the star cars, which were filled with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of camera equipment � and my new hat � at the side of the road. And took off across the frozen wilderness to a remote border post where there isn�t even a road. You get into Chile by fording a river.

We had to get a tractor there to pull them across. And it had to be a fast tractor because we knew our convoy was being chased by the thugs. And you try finding a fast tractor at 2am, in the middle of nowhere. All credit to producer Al Renton that he did it.

With the batteries dying in the convoy�s satellite phone, we lost contact and for six hours had no clue whether they had been caught. Whether our friends were alive or dead. That was a long night. I still haven�t had a chance to speak to any of them but I know they were held at the Argentine border from 3am, when they arrived, until 11am. Why? To allow the thugs to catch up? Who knows? All I really care about is that they are now in Chile and safe.

Tierra del Fuego is not listed as a problem for visitors by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office but there is no question in my mind that we walked into a trap.

I know mischievous newspapers in Britain have said it was all my fault because of the numberplate. But that wasn�t even mentioned down there because the plate in question had been replaced.

No. We were English (apart from one Aussie camera guy and a Scottish doctor) and that was a good enough reason for the state government to send 29 people into a night filled with rage and flying bricks.

�Look what we�ve done,� they will say at the next elections. �Sent the English packing.�

That is true. We got our arses kicked. But there is a glimmer of a silver lining in the whole sorry affair. The game of football would have been a good ending for our Christmas special. But we�ve been gifted something even better by the region�s politicians and their rent-a-mob cohorts.

I�d like to say �gotcha� at this point. But I won�t.

Argentinians denounce '200 years of lies'

Argentine officials and newspapers seized the opportunity of the row over Top Gear�s visit to bash the British in general and the BBC in particular. One official even used it to restate Argentina�s claim to the Falklands, writes Clare Pennington and George Arbuthnott.

Jeremy Clarkson insisted he was unaware that his Porsche�s H982 FKL numberplate could be taken as an allusion to the 1982 conflict and had it removed as soon as he was alerted by Twitter protests.

But Mariano Plecity, the regional government minister in Tierra del Fuego where the incident happened, demanded a written apology from Clarkson and the Top Gear production team, stressing the importance to the region of the Malvinas, as the Falklands are known in Argentina.

�You have to take into account that the Malvinas belong to Tierra del Fuego and the city of Ushuaia is the capital of the Malvinas,� he said. �The licence plate number on the car was a provocation and a very big offence in all of Tierra del Fuego.�

Plecity said the most important thing for the local government had been that Clarkson �leave without his life being threatened, because had he stayed longer, the response from society would have been much bigger� Clarin, the top-selling newspaper in Argentina, rejected Clarkson�s explanation that the use of the numberplate had not been deliberate.

It quoted a member of the war veterans� association as saying the British had a long-running habit of being dishonest.

�They say that they did not want to hurt our feelings but they have been lying to us for 200 years,� said Osvaldo Hilliar.

The strength of anti-British feeling in Tierra del Fuego is illustrated by the twinning earlier this year of Rio Grande, the province�s industrial capital, with Algeciras, a Spanish city near the British territory of Gibraltar, to which Spain has long maintained a claim.

Diario Popular, a Buenos Aires newspaper, said Top Gear had a record of offending foreign countries. It claimed Clarkson had �taunted Asians� with a reference to a �slope� on a bridge in Burma, for which an apology was later made.

The Top Gear presenters also previously risked a riot by driving into redneck country in the Deep South of America with cars including a pick-up truck with the words �man-love rules OK� on it.

# ? Oct 5, 2014 15:55

fishception: Feb 20, 2011; ~carrier has arrived~; Oven Wrangler

neckbeard posted:

Jeremey's take

Hooooooly poo poo.

You think you live in a nice modern global culture where everyone generally isn't spiteful asses, and then something happens like this that shatters that illusion. I mean gently caress, they're JUST car guys. Who cares about a spit of dumb islands off the coast?

# ? Oct 5, 2014 16:05

KozmoNaut: Apr 23, 2008; Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle

That is absolutely insane.

# ? Oct 5, 2014 16:09

logikv9: Mar 5, 2009; Ham Wrangler

He knew he couldn't say one more offensive thing, so he went to a batshit insane country that would get offended just by his existence. loving brilliant.

# ? Oct 5, 2014 16:19

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# ? Jun 13, 2024 05:21

Cojawfee: May 31, 2006; I think the US is dumb for not using Celsius

I don't think anyone expected Argentina to literally be insane. But then look at Ginny.

# ? Oct 5, 2014 16:21

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Top Grand Gear Tour TV Megathread: Because nobody wants to post a new one

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