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Lets be honest, I am not going to mess around here. I love Top Gear,  and don’t confuse that and think that the way mother loved soap operas comes close to describing what I am talking about. Think instead in the way that a Skydiver loves their parachute, or Bush loves God. You see, cars, driving fast, the excitement of the road – all of those things are great by themselves, just as falling out of a plane can be damn exciting. But without Top Gear, just as the parachute – it would all come to a abrupt, disappointing, and ultimately unsatisfying end. 

Because I don’t want to crash into the ground, I watch Top Gear. It keeps my driving experience exciting, fresh. It helps turns an otherwise one time event into a hobby I can continue to enjoy for years on end. I know it sounds ridiculous – but I think about it while I am driving, but not at many other times – except maybe when I am watching it. 

For me, I see that peak as Seasons 10 and 11. Season 10 in particular was jam packed with incredible content. Everything about every episode was truly amazing. Just to name some of the highlights:  

• Driving cars across the English Channel
• Driving across Botswana in $1000 cars
• The M3 vs RS4 vs C63 challenge in Italy or
• The Amateur entry in the Britcar 24 hour endurance race
• Driving Cars to the North Pole in a Pickup Truck
• Finding the best driving road in Europe with the GT3RS, Lambo Superleitallian, and the Aston 24-Nurburgring edition

The team was in perfect sync. You get a real sense that the hosts, and the production crew had a great time making these films. I am sure, that this was a truly epic effort. They pulled out all of the stops and produced an amazing series. I can only imagine the budget involved with these episodes. I am thinking “Lost” – only with no advertising revenue.

Even the Clarkson DVD released that year, “Supercar Challenge”, was right on, perfectly produced. The right amount of hilarious antics, cars, and real-world reviews with commentary.

Top Gear Season 12 was a bit of a disappointment. It seemed forced, an esteemed viewer like me saw through the cracks and I began to see, that like every other TV show ever made, it reached a peak. Instead of letting the chemistry of the hosts flow to produce the hilarious antics, for whatever reason it seems fake – like they weren’t having nearly as good of a time as they did in prior seasons. The latest Clarkson movie – “Thriller” is the same way. It was a forced last-minute effort to pump out a DVD.

Don’t get me wrong though. I still watched each episode, more than once. The series also had some saving graces. The second hand semi-trucks and bus segments (I mean really, who doesn’t love watching a demolition derby with semi trucks and buses?) were good. As was the Vietnam special – where the three trek across Vietnam in motorcycles – from Saigon to the Chinese border.  Even with those efforts, the series as a whole felt half-finished. Like it was meant to be something greater than it was, but fell short for whatever reason.

A few weeks ago, at the end of Season 12 – a press release was floating around the internet indicating that the BBC would cut the budget of Top Gear for obvious global economic reasons. Obviously the budget of a not-for-profit TV network like the BBC can’t rival HBO. I would gladly pay $10 an episode to get back to the Season 10 quality, if that is at all possible. But I fear, that the Top Gear season 10 sort of chemistry that built those supreme examples of motoring television cannot be purchased with the almighty dollar, that instead they must be earned with passion. Here is one fan hoping that they haven’t lost it.