RSS
Blogs › The Motor Mouth
An open letter to Jeremy Clarkson
Posted August 13, 2008
Dear Mr. Clarkson:
Recently, I watched your film "Heaven and Hell." I have to admit: I laughed, I cried and I scratched my head. I cheered as you whacked the sledgehammer on that hideous Asian penalty box (of which I can't even remember the manufacturer). I snickered as you dropped the Dumpster on the Citroen 2CV. And you drove enough great cars to make me hate you forever.
But I wanted to address one issue: The C6 Corvette. I know you haven't been a huge fan of America's iconic sports car (or very many other U.S. cars, actually) as you blew one of them up with a military helicopter. However, when it came to the latest update of the 'Vette, even you couldn't point your Euro-centric sneer at it. Apparently, an American car has to be twice as good to seem half as decent. You even — shock! — said you liked it.
That was in between mixing a few inaccuracies. First, you noted the live-axle rear suspension on the C6. Let me remind you that the Corvette had an IRS since the 1963 C2. Were you referring to the transverse leaf springs, an admittedly unusual 'Vette staple? Then you noted the 5.7-liter V-8 under the hood — er, bonnet. I'll remind you that the 5.7 LS1 was ditched following the introduction of the C6 in 2005 with a 6.0-liter LS2 — ironically the engine powering the Vauxhall Monaro that you profiled shortly after the Corvtte.
Perhaps the most damning matter involved the test, which — I'll admit — the Corvette indeed disappointed. You pitted the beloved Corvette against a TVR, a car from a company in which I'm convinced Stevie Wonder is leading the design division. You declared the TVR the winner after just one lap — almost enough time to shake that piece of "rubbish" to a pile of dust. While the Corvette has been in production more than half a century, TVR has been sold more times than Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." It's been struggling to make performance cars out of parts-bin materials.
Other than that, I heartily enjoyed "Heaven and Hell" and would volunteer to help you in the future should you want to test any more U.S. cars.
Sincerely,
The Motor Mouth
If you don't have an Independent-Mail.com account, register here to comment on this and all Independent-Mail blogs
IndependentMail.com does not necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post or respond to every suggestion for a comment to be removed.
Before you post, consider this:
Please read our official user-contributions policy.
Posted by ApathyFades (Marc Palardy) on August 14, 2008 at 12:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Anything from Jeeza or Top Gear for that matter must be taken with a grain of salt. I find much of the reviews are slanted with British patriotic jingoism.
Posted by ApathyFades (Marc Palardy) on August 16, 2008 at 11:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
BTW, no disrespect, but other than savvy car guys or gals in-the-know, I don't think the average Independent Mail blog reader even knows who Jeremy Clarkson is. Perhaps you should have introduced him to the reading audience first before reviewing his video program?
Posted by MikeMcMillan (anonymous) on August 16, 2008 at 4:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I should do a blog all about my love of "Top Gear," but that'll be for another time. In the meantime, interested parties should look up "Top Gear" on YouTube. It's well worth your time.