The Top Gear segment that was so controversial it got cancelled - Former Stig Q&A!
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- čas přidán 20. 05. 2024
- The trio notoriously filmed some fairly controversial segments back in the day, so Mike Fernie puts on his investigative journalist cap and asks ex-Stig Ben Collins whether he knows of a film that was so controversial, it never made the air.
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00:00 What does the Stig think of our 700hp pick-up truck?
01:04 The Top Gear segment that never made the air
03:09 Why wasn't Ben Collins in the motor home races?
05:36 What was Ben Collins' final Top Gear shoot?
06:13 Should the Stig have been revealed and joined the trio?
07:51 Is it awkward between Andy Wilman and Ben Collins?
09:03 What happens if you are ill on a Top Gear shoot?
11:07 What CZcamsrs does the ex-Stig watch?
12:16 Does Ben Collins regret anything from his career?
14:58 What would Ben say to his 18-year-old self? - Auta a dopravní prostředky
I like that the OG cast are all still in touch. Shows how much they enjoyed collaborating and what they think of the BBC 😂
Its a true friendship these people have also nice to see they haven't gone woke.
@@RUSSKIization how can you make this about being "woke". Get a life lol
@@RUSSKIizationYeah, I mean Jeremy alone is definitely not woke lol
The OG cast, laughs. Jeremy, Hamster, Cpt. Slow haven't been the original cast of Top Gear. Put that out of your miserable mind.
I know, right? The evil BBC choosing not to renew his contract after he assaulted a colleague because his food wasn't hot enough. Come on. They didn't even "fire" him, they just chose not to offer him a new contract. And I'm pretty sure everyone involved thinks they were justified in doing so, especially the producers and presenters who ended up earning multiple times as much by working for Amazon instead.
The BBC has problems, but pretending they were unjustified in choosing to not renew his contract is absolutely absurd.
The fact people thought The Stig was Schumacher speaks volumes about Ben's ability behind a wheel. What an honour.
Nah, just shows how gullible people are...
Literally nobody thought that
Ben Collins has always been an underrated driver and he was for some reason in the wrong place at the wrong time and should have had a bigger career in racing than he ever got but he should understand that people who do have a real interest in racing are well aware of what his potential really was and were he could have ended up if the stars had aligned for him
But nobody did😢
People thought that just about any famous driver was the Stig when it makes more sense that it would be someone who's moved on to test driving, as that's what they do.
The old top gear was a moment in time with three motoring journalists at the top of their game. pure entertainment which will never be replicated.
Because the new ones miss the VITAL detail, May, Clarkson and Hammond are friends, they have amazing chemistry together, the mistake that the BBC keeps making was is they try to force it with people who don’t have that chemistry.
Ben is such a legend, I find it so ironic how The Stig is actually a brilliant presenter.
I remember the Vauxhall vectra understeering. And clarkson explicitly saying " catastrophic understeer" and the steering wheel being useless in that car
Yep the Vauxhall Vectra VXR video is on YT it was quick in a straight line but hated the corners 🤣
I remember him saying it was one of the worst chassis he had ever experienced
And it was actually exaggerated for TV nonsense. True, not the greatest chassis in the world by any means, but it had active damping to make it handle far better, alongside the stability and traction control, which TG pulled all the fuses for, then wound a load of lock on and floored it mid corner with everything disabled to look extra horrendous. Several very highly regarded performance car mags like EVO have reviewed the same car and praised its front end grip, handling and poise!
@@nsean479 "straight" if you could control the torque steer
The Police loved the Vectra vxr
I know one Top Gear segment that never made it to the air and that was Richard Hammond being shot at in an old red armoured Fiat Panda. It was supposed to have been aired in 2005, but it never went to air due to the 7th of July 2005 London Bombings.
Understandable
I think they also struggled to get the continuity to work
I have all the seasons of TG on my computer and I remember watching the Intro to that season (must have been 2005) and I remember seeing Hammond being shot in the Panda, but nowhere could I see that clip in any of the episodes.
Completely understandable D:
I was leaving Dunsfold once after a charity track day and saw that Panda abandoned in a clearing along with a few other screen-used cars
It is absolutely joyful to see Ben's appearances here and to see that past issues are being discussed and moved on. I have always felt that Ben was a very integral part of TG along with the boys. Just checked the video on Senna on his channel, absolutely well done. Thank you Mike and team for making all this happen!
No episode of new Top Gear will ever beat any episode of old Top Gear!
especially as its cancelled now 😂
Haven't seen a single one once since the fired Clarkson. Never will.
@@thebarkingmouse Some are OK (admittedly though I only saw one or two of the new episodes a few years back), but they really don't live up to what came before
💯💯💯
Buddy the only one that literally was qualified to be on the old top gear was Ben. Clarkson was a complete buffoon. And the only one that was halfway entertaining with James may. And that's just because he couldn't stand being around the other 2
I have HUGE respect for Ben Collins... He's remained a gentleman's driver even after all the drama...
I was sad when he didnt ask him what the two facts about ducks were.
😢😢
Because they are both wrong
I remember the bucket of horse manure incident - hilarious. I also remember re-watching older episodes of TG after learning who Ben was and seeing him take part in some of the races/challenges etc. and thinking "Wait a sec, that's the Stig."
I remember Ben being in at least two of those comedy races (motorhomes and such) as "Ben Collins" not the Stig. No white helmet, no mystery, just drivers against drivers.
Still got the first 22 TGUK seasons to go back and look at if I need to; it was a real shame about Clarkson/end of Season 22, and then Season 23 and onwards though.
Ben Collins is such a genuine, down to earth guy.
Absolutely loved this. Great to see the Stig doing a Q&A and being so down to Earth and honest about things.
3:20 some of my fav races was the taxi, airport and bus race with hammond
Motorhome racing is still my frav.
@@VXGaming buses was my fav then airport then taxi then motorhome
Oh I forgot about the buses.. its a toss up between those and the airport.
The CRUCIBLE of MOTORSPORT
The Peugeot was an 807 people carrier thing, and it was a piece on the Top Gear car satisfaction survey they did in the early days, when it came last.
I owned an 806 HDI. It was little more than a Peugeot Expert van with seats, however it was fantastically roomy, practical, and utterly indestructible. I sold mine on at 320,000 miles and it took my young family all over Europe and towed a caravan. The 807 was full of electronics, the injectors would get stuck in the 2.2 HDI and people had to cut the inlet manifolds to get them out. The reliability of the 806 was gone.
I stopped watching top gear after they pulled that anti-Peugeot thing. We had a 405 and it was a fantastic car.
It took me awhile to realize they were (trying) to say "Peugeot", I kept hearing "Persia". Made me wonder what Persia had to do with cars? 😅
Another case of the British accent getting in the way of understanding 😮
There was one clip early on where they had Ben Collins as one of the drivers for a particular contest (I don't remember which), but when the credits came up it had the usual starring Clarkson, Hammond, may and The Stig. Then it listed the guests including the other drivers but not Ben Collins which I think was a bit of a giveaway that he may have been Stig.
Ben drove for the "can a parachutist land in the back of a car" bit. That was I think his first time as himself and not the Stig. They also did an in studio interview with Ben and jumper.
Ben is sucha down to earth guy. Must be nice working with him. I miss the DriveTribe media. I had several cool tribes there, Cizeta, Cupra, AutoShows, CarAudio.....shame we don't have that platform anymore. Glad you keep the CZcams channel alive :)
Excellent interview! I know only what Ben has included in his books about him. It is always great hearing anything about the epic years of Top Gear!
Ah, Vettel and Schumacher. 😂 The epitome of the various shades of “How to German.”
[Sabine Schmitz’s ghost rockets past in an upside down trade van, laughing like a maniac.]
They did it their way
Genuinely interesting listen. Thanks both.
I remember in one of these old TG races Ben was introduced by name, as one of the drivers
Me too, I think it was the RV one where they slept in it the night beforehand, iirc. Very early on. Also, they did a few stunts that required stunt drivers (like the skydiver parachuting into a speeding open convertible for a Guinness WR) where they also introduced Ben by name, but they stopped doing that eventually because I'm sure they realized it would've been too easy of a Stig identity/candidate giveaway to have one specific stunt driver conveniently appear in multiple films.
wasn't that the landing a paracutist into a moving vehicle with Hammond driving?
no, defenitely Ben Colins driving, May did the links and voice over
Didn`t realise his last Top Gear was with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. I was lucky enough to be in the audience that day. Lots of live studio coverage that day. Series 15 Episode 5.
Ben Collins is now know as The Stig longer than he wasn't know as The Stig
Love these behind the scenes stories!
I miss you so much, Grand Tour, Top Gear😢😢
new grand tour on the 16th
@@soupy84 The very last...?
@@wessexdruid7598one more after sand job.
I laughed so hard when Ben said: " you'd be atomizing everywhere".. 😂
Those demolition races are my all time favs. Airport vehicles were the top of my list.
Nice to see Ben turn his hand to a small bit of acting in the film Ferrari by playing Stirling Moss
Just watched the movie, his bit was hilarious
I think the cars they are referring to at the beginning are the Peugeot 807 (it was going to be featured after it came last in the 2005 Top Gear survey) and the Vauxhall Vectra VXR (which was briefly featured alongside the Mondeo ST220 and Mazda 6 MPS)
that american car on a road overseas is sooooo funny
A proper reality check
Smashing each others doors in....... possibly not the best turn of phrase there 😂😂😂
I really enjoyed this, thank you so much!
Richard Porter’s book “And on that Bombshell …” has a lot of behind the scenes stories.
One of the best books I've ever read.
Ben has great advice, don’t try too hard.
I always go into a corner too fast, scrub too much speed and come out slow. Need to brake harder stay neutral and accelerate out, but I never do. But fun is fun and we can leave it at that!
I imagine it's the Pug 407, it was the only big pug launched during their years, but Hammond did test the sedan somewhat favourably. And it's the Vectra VXR. All the fwd VXRs were unable to put power down while turning and understeered like madmen.
This was terrific and so interesting, congrats!
Ben you are a legend. I could listen to your stories all day. This is why you had to wear a helmet on TG. The trio was affraid of your chemistry with the camera. 😊 And you knowledge of cars is amazing
Can you guys change the title to something that more accurately reflects the content rather than click bait? Both segments that Stig mentioned actually did air, even on BBC America where I saw them originally.
@Mike if you watch all of the older episodes you would be amazed at how much Ben was featured in some of them. I don’t remember out of the top of my head but I know he’s in there for quite a few.
7:06 afaiu Schumacher had some kind contract with Ferrari that he wasn't allowed to drive a road car that wasn't made by Ferrari/Fiat. At Race of Champions he always only drove prototypes or the "ROC" car
And one day he met "Cousin" Carl Edwards at ROC and learned to respect American Drivers on equal terms.
Possibly the day Euros learned to respect NASCAR even if Clarkson has his clarksonisms about it, since no one expected MSC to be beaten by a american driving for fun.
They even brought Ferraris into the ROC for him - using the 360s in Paris; but he couldn't drive the Xsaras or KTMs.
Combining cylinder and supercharger displacement? Just no...
Well, considering the engine NA can support a certain amount of air, and the supercharger's size (and spin speed) contributes to how much air gets in, it makes a little more sense than you'd think. The static displacement of the engine, ie, how much air fits in it when nothing is moving, is basically the cylinders + the supercharger.
Another segment that never made it to air was driving a light aircraft around the test track. It was filmed and included in the preview in the first episode of that series but never shown. Can't remember which series it was though.
It appears in the preview for series 18 iirc
“Catastrophic Understeer” is the term I still remember to this day
Top Gear with Ben as The Stig were the absolute golden years of that show. Comedy gold, with a bit of tech talk sprinkled in between.
"Don't over do it, stay smooth." Translation: Strive for balance in your life and you will be much happier.
Swedes: “Lagom, dude.”
A pick up you don't carry anything in the bed of, with a silly inefficient engine, which is too big for British roads and the steering wheel is on the wrong side. Great idea.
Your jealousy is soooo thick, kiddo.😂
I love my 2500 4X4 Ram truck; but I have boats, motorcycles, snowmobiles and UTVs to carry/tow behind it.
@@goofyleo3869 what about my comments gives the impression I'm jealous. I wouldn't want to seen dead in one. Still you're towing things and without such an absurd vehicle towing would be impossible, which is why it's never been done before.
Really enjoyed that film.
Always great to get to hear from the man that was behind that famous white suit and helmet.
I'd say this was only scratching the surface of what went on behind the TG scenes though 😉
Remember meeting the Ben Collins with hair back in 1999 when he was racing Indy Lights in the Johannson Motorsports Team . He tended to do well on the ovals but not so on the circuits which the foreign drivers seemed to usually do well at. I dont think the Lola Buicks suited his style of driving , but think probably would have been better in Indycar. Was surprised to find him ending up doing TV and movie stunt driving , but the money must be pretty good doing the Eon ProductionsJames Bond stuff etc.
Thanks for sharing great words of wisdom.
The Vectra VXR made the air. But also the fuses weren’t present it came to light from a crew member on a forum…
Great episode so glad Amazon picked up and made it better
Loved the touring car drivers races and games
Recently been watching old Top Gear for channel inspiration, can quite confidently say nothing with ever beat it 🙌🏼
DRIVETRIBE, give man a proper introduction, put Ben Collins in title by his own name, not as "Former Stig". Ben's already been acknowladged not only as terrific professional driver, but interesting persona with massive experience as well.
"Atomizing everywhere", such a British way of describing the runs, lol.
Excellent interview, Mikie
Vettel measuring the tyre pressure is the most Vettel thing he could have done. I miss him from f1.
My thoughts too.
Guy was a racer with a lawyers mind.
@@NotKimiRaikkonen because if you were Kimi, your comment would have read ... "yeah". 🙂
Vectra VXR. I remember seeing it on the show. The understeer was comical.
I remember buying an issue of Top Gear magazine in 2005 (around the time Series 6 was due to air), and it came with a booklet showing what was coming up in the Series. They did a stunt with trying to get a Metro to fly, but apparently, the item was such a flop that it never aired
It's funny he says adrenaline tightens up cos I do have IBS and if i get an adrenaline surge i go the other way
I find it depends on if you have an outlet for the adrenaline or not
Loved the race with the buses! 😅 And, this is an overall great interview by the way.
11:25 so I'm gonna assume he watches Driver61 and EngineeringExplained. :D
Ben won against the BBC in court just in case anyone was wondering, i can understand why Ben did it as the press at the time knew it was him and it was only a matter of time the previous stig perry was unmasked by the press and he was sacked, Ben wanted to end it on his terms and he did! Lovely down to earth, man can't wait to see more of him! Why don't you do Ben meets Perry ie stig meets stig that would be a good sit down to hear their stories 😊
So much enjoyed the old Top Gear.
Excellent interview with "The Stig"
The story I remembered hearing about Ben leaving was he felt the Stig should have stayed anonymous, and was thus upset by the face reveal Schumacher did, so he left after that and revealed to the world he was the Stig and wrote the book about being it. Top Gear went through several drivers playing the Stig after that. So it’s interesting to hear Ben telling otherwise, that he already planned on leaving before that and was happy about the face reveal, so that leads me to wonder where that original story came from or how it originated.
I’m confused by the legal melodrama after he told them it was his last season? Was that a contract dispute or something
The BBC tried to stop him from publishing his book saying he was The Stig. Obviously they lost.
Wasn't he just fired for revealing himself as The Stig in the book?
I went to see the British dudes reactions when driving the TRX on roads in the US, where it's not so oversized.
no Mike, that’s not displacement
It's more like you multiply the engine displacement by one plus the supercharger boost pressure in bars. The supercharger displacement affects its efficiency though.
@@nicholasvinen ridiculous… what do I “multiply” my 1.5L by when I put shell V power in?
@@hood182ie maybe divide by zero if you're that dense
Brilliant!!
That has to be the best way to explain life. Life is a game of snakes and ladders. That’s awesome
It’s Alexander Armstrong’s long lost racing driver cousin…… Ben Colin’s everyone!!!!!!! Yayyyy 😂
cool video, Ben is a legend
another great video.
It'd be nice to see Clarkson make an appearance. Haven't really heard from him on DriveTribe since the start. And I could always use more James May. This channel has turned in to Richard Hammond, The Stig, and Friends.
I think Clarkson has lost some love for cars. I remember it was originally announced that The Grand Tour was ending because of Clarkson's op-ed about Meghan Markle (which was not bigoted in any way). But recently it was "announced" that The Grand Tour will end after the next two specials because Clarkson says he's done about everything he can with a car (that's one reason). Essentially it's ending because Clarkson wants it to end. Supposedly.
That’s because Richard bought out the company
Of the three of them, I think Hammond is the biggest petrolhead. Clarkson seems to be done with anything to do with cars now. It's like he's closed that chapter of his life and it's all about his farm now.
No question about ducks and he knows what an indicator is 😮
The supercharger alone is twice the size of my Ka 😅🤣 insane
Hammond got the squirts on a couple of the big shoots (Three Wise Men and the India special IIRC).
Is it the brown rain?
That was it 😄
“It’s arrived - the brown rain “ 🤣
The King of Cool.
Ben Collins..
More episodes please.
Ben, you don't know what a land yacht is my man 😊
No, he really doesn't. 😂 My '79 Lincoln Continental is bigger than most English 'flats'.
Ah yes, the old floating Lincolns and Caddys.
Blokes of a certain age traveling thru this adventure together. I luv it.
Mikes shitting your pants on shoot question does resonate with me, because I have a "nervours" digestive System :)
Lol! You’d be atomising everywhere! 11.03. Very funny Ben!
Now that Top Gear and Grand Tour are finished, how about a "clash of the Stigs" battle royale, pitting Perry McCarthy, Ben Collins, Abbie Eaton and whoever the most recent one was against each other in a race or two?
Oh. So not socially controversial nor socially cancelled. Just segments where the car manufacturer was displeased with their portrayal. 🥱
9:30 in and the Dodge hasn’t broken down yet!
Look at all those suction cups stuck on the inside passenger side of the front windshield LOL
I remember seeing an episode with a Vectra with horrendous understeer.
I've got to say I think there was a bit of foul play on Topgear with the VXR, I've had two Vectra VXR's and never had any problems with understeer and I've thrown them round corners my current one I've had since 2017, the only time it did was in the wet. Also I must say the car doesn't let that amount of wheel spin in the video even with the ESP switched off, the only way to get it to do that is to pull the fuse for the ABS module. So I'm not convinced that it was a fair review. If you look at other reviews done by other car journalists yes its not a M3 or the likes but it does hold its own.
The amount of tiny cameras you can see within the first five seconds is crazy
Would Ben make an appearance at the Freedom Factory? Is he allowed with the contracts he has?
Please do one of these with Wilman
It would need to be about 20 hours long I think. Mini series job 😄
It’s so strange, watching these two drive along having a chat while driving where I use to live… from Shepton Mallet all the way to Longleat….
I KNEW that was Shepton Mallet!! OK, I didn't. But looks lovely there.
Still wonder if we'll ever see the lotus europe review🤷🏼
I thought that it was said somewhere that Schumacher wasn’t allowed to drive the car as he was under contact by Ferrari?
Wise words from the master Ben Collins , Smooth and soft !!
The Vauxhall Signum got slated by Jezza too.
It's like nine cameras on that windshield 😅
I really wish Mike asked if ( if ) Ben stayed on at top gear up until the Jeremy incident. Would he have followed the boys like Richard and James did to Amazon.