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Tony Mason is a British former rally co-driver and television presenter. In 1972, he navigated Roger Clark [1] to victory in the RAC Rally and the team also finished second in the event twice in 1974 and 1975, the only British crew to do so in a period spanning 35 years. [2] He has also competed as a driver himself, and was recently[ when? ] co-driver for Finnish driver Hannu Mikkola with whom he competed for Ford in a recent Classic Rally in New Zealand.
Following his retirement from rallying, he became a presenter on the BBC Two motoring programme Top Gear between 1986 and 1998, [3] where he commented on motorsport, as well as presenting general interest items about items such as fire engines, Leyland buses, vintage Rolls-Royces and high-performance Jaguars through to Eddie Stobart trucks and Volvo's £15 million concept bus – the most expensive vehicle that he, or anyone else on Top Gear, has ever driven. [4]
A particularly memorable report was when Mason teamed up again with Roger Clark to test an exact replica of his Ford Escort RS1600 on the programme at full speed through a forest.
He was also regularly seen on Top Gear Motorsport where his co presenters gave him the nickname "Perry". and the BBC's coverage of the World Rally Championship, particularly the RAC Rally, as well as coverage of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Mason is currently appearing in two ten-part series on the Sky Discovery Channel entitled Off the Road and Classic Car Club.[ when? ]
Mason has also written four books and occasionally writes articles for newspapers and magazines, such as the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express . He is often seen as both a compere and after-dinner speaker.
Mason also ran a company, known as Tony Mason, selling car accessories to the trade for resale to the general public. The company's most notable products were door guards, which, at one time, were big business and two companies were selling them.
Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar from the inaugural 1973 season until the rally's final running in 2019, and was also frequently included in the British Rally Championship.
Timothy Richard "Tiff" Needell is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is a presenter of Lovecars, and formerly served as co-presenter of Top Gear and Fifth Gear.
Richard Mark Hammond is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme Top Gear from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and James May. From 2016 to 2024, the trio presented Amazon Prime Video's The Grand Tour.
Lotus Cortina is the commonly used term for the Ford Cortina Lotus, a high-performance sports saloon, which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1970 by Ford in collaboration with Lotus Cars. The original version, which was based on the Ford Cortina Mark 1, was promoted by Ford as the "Consul Cortina developed by Lotus", with "Consul" later being dropped from the name. The Mark 2 was based on the Ford Cortina Mark II and was marketed by Ford as the "Cortina Lotus". Lotus gave the model the type number designation Type 28.
The Stig is a character from the British motoring television show Top Gear. Created by former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman, the character is a play on the anonymity of racing drivers' full-face helmets, with the running joke that nobody knows who or what is inside the Stig's racing suit. The Stig's primary role is setting lap times for cars tested on the show. Previously, he would also instruct celebrity guests, off-camera, for the show's "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment.
Quentin Willson is an English television presenter and producer, motoring journalist, author and former car dealer. He was a presenter of the motoring programmes Britain's Worst Driver, Fifth Gear, and the original incarnation of Top Gear.
Benjamin Lievesley Immi Collins is a British racing driver from Bristol. He has competed in motor racing since 1994 in many categories, from Formula Three and Indy Lights to sportscars, GT racing and stock cars.
Sabine Schmitz was a German professional motor racing driver and television personality. She was born in Adenau to a family in the hotel and catering business, and raised in one of the villages nestled within the Nürburgring. She initially trained to join the same profession as her parents before choosing to begin a career in racing, working as a driver for BMW and Porsche.
Rally Report was a series of programmes broadcast by the BBC covering the Lombard RAC Rally of Great Britain – then the last round of the World Rally Championship.
Top Gear is a British motoring magazine programme created by the BBC that aired on BBC Two between 22 April 1977 and 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, William Woollard 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.
Top Gear Motorsport is a British television programme, covering various forms of motor racing, broadcast on BBC Two from 1994 to 1998. It was a spin-off programme from the popular motoring series Top Gear. The programme was presented by former Formula One driver and Top Gear presenter Tiff Needell. Other presenters were Penny Mallory, Tony Mason, Steve Berry, Mark James and Bob Constanduros.
Roger Albert Clark, MBE was a British rally driver during the 1960s and '70s, and the first competitor from his country to win a World Rally Championship (WRC) event when he triumphed at the 1976 RAC Rally.
Nicholas Mark Grist is a Welsh former rally co-driver, born in Ebbw Vale. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1993 to 2002. He won 21 rallies with more than one driver.
Top Gear challenges is a segment of the Top Gear television programme where the presenters are tasked by the producers, or each other, to prove or accomplish various tasks related to vehicles.
Series 13 of Top Gear, a British motoring magazine and factual television programme, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two during 2009, consisting of seven episodes that were aired between 21 June and 2 August. As a publicity stunt, the series also had Michael Schumacher disguise himself as "The Stig", primarily due to the fact that a car they reviewed could not be driven by anyone but Schumacher for a timed lap of the programme's test track. Alongside this, this series' highlights included a 1940s styled race, a motoring challenge involving rear-wheeled cars, and the presenters entering a classic car rally. The thirteenth series received criticism over two elements - one for an advert designed by Jeremy Clarkson as part of a film for an episode; the other for the use of a word deemed offensive.
Anthony Jardine is an English motorsport pundit, former driver and former Formula One assistant team manager. He is currently contracted to Sky Sports as a presenter and pundit on their coverage of F1 as well as providing studio-based F1 expert analysis for BeIn Sports Qatar.
Tom Ross is a Scottish journalist and television producer who worked for the BBC from 1971 until 1996.
Top Gear is a British motoring magazine and entertainment television programme. It is a revival by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman of the 1977–2001 show of the same name for the BBC, and premiered on 20 October 2002. The programme focuses on the examination and reviewing of motor vehicles, primarily cars, though this was expanded upon after the broadcast of its earlier series to incorporate films featuring motoring-based challenges, special races, timed laps of notable cars, and celebrity timed laps on a course specially-designed for the relaunched programme. The programme drew acclaim for its visual and presentation style since its launch, which focused on being generally entertaining to viewers, as well as criticism over the controversial nature of its content. The show was also praised for its occasionally controversial humour and lore existing in not just the automotive community but in the form of internet memes and jokes. The programme was aired on BBC Two until it was moved to BBC One for its twenty-ninth series in 2020.
Series 28 of Top Gear, a British motoring magazine and factual television programme, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two during 2020, consisting of six episodes between 26 January and 1 March; the series' studio segments were filmed prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. The series was preceded by a feature-length special, involving a road trip by the presenters across Nepal, that was aired on 29 December 2019.