Top Gear to return in 1 week!

[im2lazy789]

any good source to follow?

[darknightohio]

www.finalgear.com

www.ninjavideo.net

[under5]

Top Gear season 14 ep.1 - Car Videos on StreetFire

Top Gear season 14 ep.1 - Car Videos on StreetFire

[AVANTI R5]

The Ministry of Defence admitted yesterday that, despite alleged budget shortfalls, the department allowed staff to spend the equivalent of almost 200 days using equipment worth billions of pounds to perform stunts for the BBC series Top Gear.

Military personnel spent a total of 141 days filming major set-piece scenes for the programme presented by Jeremy Clarkson. Civilian officials spent a further 48 days recording stunts using military equipment including helicopters, aircraft carriers and tanks.

An MoD spokesman said no equipment was diverted from military use and insisted that taking part in the hit motorsport show was a valuable way of raising public awareness of the armed forces’ work.

The MoD made the disclosures concerning activities over the last five years in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Press Association.

The two biggest Top Gear events each involved the equivalent of more than 60 personnel. In November 2008, the show staged a beach assault featuring the Royal Marines and Clarkson driving a Ford Fiesta.

The spectacular stunt involved the equivalent of 63 days’ worth of time from the Marines as well as equipment including Lynx helicopters and amphibious landing craft.
In May 2009, the presenter played a game of “British bulldog” against some of the Army’s latest armoured vehicles at Bovington training area. The item required 60 days of soldiers’ time and involved five military vehicles.

In the last five years, the BBC show set up a series of increasingly grand stunts featuring military hardware and personnel. In 2004, an Apache helicopter gunship attempted to get a missile lock on a Lotus Exige sports driven by Clarkson.

A year later, the presenter took on a Challenger tank with a Range Rover and then attempted to avoid sniper fire while testing a Porsche Boxster and Mercedes SLK.

In 2006 it was the turn of his co-presenter Richard Hammond to take on the military, racing a Porsche Cayenne against a parachutist from the elite Red Devils display team.

The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal was used as the backdrop to a film on the luxury Rolls Royce Phantom in 2007.
In the same year an RAF Typhoon raced a Bugatti Veyron at RAF Coningsby airfield.

In its response to the Freedom of Information request, the MoD said no additional cost was incurred as a result of taking part in the programmes.
A spokesman said “in no circumstances” were resources diverted from operations for the events.

“The filming utilised scheduled training hours and resources which would have been consumed irrespective of the BBC filming or not, and were therefore used at no additional cost to MoD,” he said.

“Having these events appear on one of the most popular television programmes in the UK was an excellent opportunity to raise public awareness of the Armed Forces and enable greater understanding and support for our sailors, soldiers and aircrew.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...SS&attr=796841