Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for co-presenting the motoring programmes Top Gear, from 2002 until 2015, and The Grand Tour alongside Richard Hammond and James May. He also currently writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun.
Richard Alexander Burns was an English rally driver who won the 2001 World Rally Championship, having previously finished runner-up in the series in 1999 and 2000. He also helped Mitsubishi to the world manufacturers' title in 1998, and Peugeot in 2002. His co-driver in his whole career was Robert Reid.
The Subaru Impreza is a compact car that has been manufactured since 1992 by Subaru, introduced as a replacement for the Leone, with the predecessor's EA series engines replaced by the new EJ series.
The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, also known as 'Evo', is a sports sedan based on the Lancer that was manufactured by Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors from 1992 until 2016. There have been ten official versions to date, and the designation of each model is most commonly a Roman numeral. All use two litre turbocharged inline four-cylinder engines and all-wheel drive systems.
A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specification set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the international motorsports governing body and compete in the outright class of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The WRC specifications were introduced by the FIA in 1997 as a replacement for Group A regulations.
The Subaru Alcyone SVX, originally marketed outside Japan as the Subaru SVX, is a two-door, front-engine, all wheeldrive coupé manufactured and marketed by Subaru from 1991 to 1996 over a single generation. As Subaru's first entry into the luxury/performance market, the SVX was noted for its aircraft-inspired 'window-within-a-window' side-glass configuration.
David Pender Richards is the chairman of Prodrive, chairman of Motorsport UK, former chairman of Aston Martin, a former team principal of the BAR and Benetton Formula One motor racing teams and World Rally Champion in 1981. He lives with his wife, Karen, in Warwickshire and has three children. In the 2005 New Year Honours List Richards was appointed a CBE for his services to motorsport and in 2017 was inducted into the Motor Sport Hall of Fame and received the Spirit of Le Mans award from the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO). In 2019 he received the Autocar Outstanding Leader Award.
Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Mini and Volkswagen. Its advanced technology division now applies this motorsport engineering approach to deliver engineering solutions into automotive OEMs, aerospace, defence, marine and other sectors, which now represents more than half its turnover. Prodrive also has a specialist composite division based in Milton Keynes where it manufactures lightweight carbon composite CFRP and visual carbon components for many supercars and increasingly for the luxury automotive, aerospace and marine sectors.
Subaru Tecnica International, or STI, is Subaru Corporation's motorsports division. STI, along with Prodrive of the UK specialized in the preparation of a variety of vehicles for the Subaru World Rally Team which competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). It was founded in 1988 by Subaru Corporation, the parent company of Subaru, to promote the company's performance-oriented identity.
The Aston Martin Vantage is a series of hand-built sports cars from the British automotive manufacturer Aston Martin. Aston Martin has previously used the "Vantage" name on high-performance variants of their existing GT models, notably on the Virage-based car of the 1990s. The modern car, in contrast, is the leanest and most agile car in Aston's lineup. As such, it is intended as a more focused model to reach out to potential buyers of cars such as the Porsche 911 as well as the exotic sports and GT cars with which Aston Martins traditionally compete.
The Caparo T1 is a British mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-seat automobile built by Caparo Vehicle Technologies, founded by design director Ben Scott-Geddes, engineering director Graham Halstead, engineers formerly involved in the development of the McLaren F1 and Sean Butcher, marketing director and financier. The T1 was inspired by Formula One design, and intended as a relatively affordable road legal racing car. The T1 was scheduled for production in mid-2007 for a price of GB£235,000 with approximately 25 cars per year built but as of 2012, 16 examples have been sold in the United Kingdom.
Top Gear is a British motoring magazine programme created by the BBC and aired on BBC Two between 22 April 1977 to 17 December 2001. The programme focused on a range of motoring topics, the most common being car reviews, road safety and consumer advice. Originally presented by Angela Rippon and Tom Coyne, the show saw a range of different presenters and reporters front the programme's half-hourly slots, including Noel Edmonds, Jeremy Clarkson, Tiff Needell and Quentin Willson. The programme proved popular during the late 80s and early 90s, and launched a number of spin-offs, including its own magazine entitled Top Gear Magazine.
The Subaru Impreza WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Subaru Impreza road car. It was used by Subaru World Rally Team, Subaru's factory team, and replaced Subaru Legacy RS from in 1993. The car was debuted at 1993 Rally Finland and won a total of five world rally titles, including three consecutive manufacturers' titles in and two drivers' titles.
The Top Gear test track is used by the BBC automotive television programme Top Gear. It is located at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, United Kingdom. The track was designed by Lotus Cars as a testing facility, with many of its Formula One cars tested there. It is used to test both cars and drivers seen on the programme, mainly in Power Laps and Star in a Reasonably Fast Car .
The British motoring-themed television programme Top Gear was often the focus of criticism. The criticism has ranged from minor viewer complaints to serious complaints where broadcasting watchdogs such as Ofcom have been involved.
Top Gear: Middle East Special is a 76-minute-long extended episode of Top Gear series 16. The film predates the Syrian Civil War and involves a 1,200-mile (1,900 km) road-trip from Erbil International Airport in Iraqi Kurdistan to Bethlehem, nominally recreating the journey of the Three Wise Men. Their journey takes them across the Middle East via southern Turkey, the cities of Aleppo, Palmyra and Damascus in Syria, then Jerash in Jordan and finally the Mount of Olives. The journey includes visiting an abandoned theme park, and a stop at Ein Gev on the Sea of Galilee.
The Subaru Impreza is a compact car manufactured between 2000 and 2007 by Subaru in Ota, Gunma, Japan and marketed with two intermediate facelifts, in sedan and five-door hatchback
Top Gear is a British motoring magazine, factual television series, conceived by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman, launched on 20 October 2002, and broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two. The programme is a relaunched version of the original 1977 show of the same name, which looks at various motor vehicles, primarily cars. While the original format focused mainly on review of cars, the 2002 version expanded on this with motoring-based challenges, special races, timed laps of notable cars, and celebrity timed laps on a course specially-designed for the relaunched programme, with its format developing over time to focus on a more quirky, humorous and sometimes controversial style of presentation. The programme has received acclaim for its visual style and presentation, as well as criticism for its content.
The Grand Tour is a British motoring television series, created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and Andy Wilman, produced by Amazon exclusively for its online streaming service Amazon Prime Video, and premiered on 18 November 2016. The programme was conceived in the wake of the departure of Clarkson, Hammond, May and Wilman from the BBC series Top Gear, and originally contracted with 36 episodes over three years.
