clarkson

Feel free to read that headline as many times as necessary, but yes, it's true: Clarkson-san wrote "Out of nowhere, my car of the year," the Corvette ZR1. The man who pooped on the spearhead of electric cars has given an American high horsepower pushrod V8 the gold and glory. And this is after comparing the ZR1's predecessors to Big Macs: "Cheap, plastic and at the right time, and in the right place, sort of just what you want."

Anyone who's been watching the original Top Gear knows it took a bit of switcheroo to get the chemistry right before things really took off (James May replaced the rotundish Jason Dawe after Series 1 of the current show concluded), and TG Australia is no different. Charlie Cox (the bloke on the left) is reportedly leaving the young show due to commitments in Britain, and word is that he will be replaced by Australian jazz trumpeter James Morrison.

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A new business deal signed between the BBC on the one hand and Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman on the other could see the vast expansion of the Top Gear brand worldwide. The deal involves BBC Worldwide, the international commercial arm of the government-owned television network, taking a majority stake in Badder 6. The latter is a company set up by Clarkson and Wilman two years ago for reasons unknown, but will now act to channel all revenues from the Top Gear brand back to the BBC, Clarkson and Wilman.

It should come as no surprise that Jeremy Clarkson is pulling down more cash than his Top Gear cohorts. Not only does Clarkson own a stake of the show's rights, he's more of a figurehead for the series than either James May or Richard Hammond. Clarkson has become nearly an adjective to describe any auto pundit expressing a strong opinion in a certain manner. While May and Hammond seem happy enough with their slightly-diminished status in the show hierarchy, rumors about flat-out contract rejections and threats of departure are flying behind the scenes.

Here's a news flash: Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear fame sometimes drives really fast. But it isn't a speeding ticket that has landed Mr. Clarkson in hot water, it's a recent admission during an interview at the Hay Festival in Powys, Wales that he drove the insanely fast Bugatti Veyron 186 mph on public roads. The overly honest answer to the question "what's the fastest you've ever driven" has public safety activists asking for Clarkson's curly locks on a platter. Mary Williams of Brake called the TV star "offensive and irresponsible," and said that the BBC should fire him.