Nice piece on the M3CS (http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,12529-2177700,00.html) and then he has to write this! "The Ferrari Owners Club is particularly depressing because they all have carpet warehouses in Dewsbury and creaking £10,000 rust buckets from the Seventies and Eighties. Most turn up at events in Ferrari hats, Ferrari shirts, Ferrari racing booties and Ferrari aftershave and you cant help thinking: For heavens sake, man. Youve spent more on your apparel then you have on your damn Mondial. Anyone with the wherewithal to buy a proper, important Ferrari from the past 60 years is going to have better things to do with his time than drive to some windswept motor racing circuit no one has ever heard of and spend the day watching a bunch of Dewsburyites going off the road backwards in their botched and bodged 308s." pity he missed the bit about gangly pretentious journalists in 355's strugling to keep up with said 308gt4's
But the 5.99 article by Steve Colesmith goes some way to redeam the times http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,12929-2166904,00.html
Andrew, you know what? I sadly agree with JC. That is the main reason why I do not attend any Ferrari Owners' club event. Too many posers, almost no drivers. Ferrarichat rally in Andermatt WAS different, I am sure the same will apply in Tuscany this year. I love to drive, not to show. At the official events I attended, 95% of the people thought vice versa. Ciao Eugenio
I am huge fan of JC but I sometimes don’t agree with him……..I think owners clubs are brilliant for various reason including information on models, group discounts, true opinions on cars that owners have usually owned for years and not just had for the weekend(Motoring Journalists), meeting people that have the same passion for the car as yourself etc….. Although the article is very good…. the BMW M3CS sounds very good…….bit more back to basic’s for the real drivers…
JC is doing what he does very well, being controversial. He does not have to worry about how much he can spend on his car to the same extent some of us do. Can't wait for TG tonight though
Which reminds that a friend has asked if anyone can put him in touch with the current (or recent) owners of Clarkson's 355 & Hammond's yellow GT4 please pm
Yep I agree, a friend of mine was at that trackday (Bedford Autodrome I think) and said he was a crap driver being overtaken by most things including humble Gt4's apparently he also gate crashed it
Just out of interest the last one I went to there were loads of 355's & 360 stradales, so not ALL owners just have Mondys I'm going to Snetterton on wednesday I'll post on here anything exciting, although my darn digital camera broke :-(
quite correct , i have been a phr member since 1998 , travelling to many track days over the last 8 years , seen all sorts of cars , enzos , F50's , F40's , 288 GTO 's , 275 , 550 etc etc blasting round various tracks . i turn up in my ford focus and meet many friendly people who are as enthusiastic as i am , i am treated no differently from a guy with a dozen ferraris, i remember this quote from a few years back , trying to annoy many people with his remarks but we know what its really like........ water off a ducks back indeedy......
JC's position on TG is becoming less. A beeb source of mine has pointed out that: "his (Jeremy's) oafish and laddish efforts to remain popular and relevant appear a bit jaded". Reading in between the lines, does this mean a new host for '07 ? My money is on Jodie Kidd.
I thought it was Hammond who owns it, on Petrolheads they refered to it as his own car and that he had it restored
You may well be right but Top Gear is really the Jeremy Clarkson show - once he goes the programme will falter. Hammond & May are good in support roles but Clarkson is very much the anchor man. I am not saying that Top Gear would disappear from our screens just that the format would probably change considerably should JC be removed and would not be an immediate success. The sniping at the FOC and the AMOC is very lazy journalism - nothing else. Plenty of stereotyping and you have completed a quarter of the proposed article. The AMOC meeting at Brands Hatch a week or so back was excellent and for £12 represented a great day out - as was said by another on this forum it is a mystery why these meets get such a low turnout. There was a lot more there than just Astons...
I quite agree... the only thing I disagree with is the reference to Dewsbury. I am from there and no one could afford a Ferrari without a foray into the dark arts of drugs or car jacking
I think Hammond is popular and would be an obvious choice to take over from JC but I don't think he has the clout or prescence that Clarkson has. Anyway it's all ifs, buts and maybes at the moment
After watching Clarkson doing the Radio Road Reports on Top Gear they should get rid of him this week, he was atrocious, I cringed less watching David Brent in The Office!!
As a Yank, I feel a little out of place on this thread, but I have to say I agree with much of what JC says.....and the way he says it! Most of my fellow early front-engined V-12 owners with whom I'm acquainted belong to the clubs, but rarely go to events or meetings. Most of the events we attend are organized outside of the established club (FCA and FOC) calendars. By the way, here in the States Top Gear is called Fifth Gear, as most have no idea what "top gear" means. Unfortunately, its appearance on US tv is rather hit-and-miss. Mostly miss. Hope to see you all at Revival! Jack
There are two programmes here in the Uk Top Gear & Fifth Gear Top Gear-Jereemy Clarkson,Richard Hammond & James May Fifth Gear-Tiff Needel,Vicki Butler-Henderson,Fat Hairy bloke & I can't remember the older Posh Techie!
Fat hairy bloke=Tom Ford? Posh techie=Jason Plato? I think that's who they are.... speaking of 5th gear, can't believeeeeee that 355 got crashed last night :'( but boy was she fearless compared to the rest of them...
Fat Bloke = Tom Ford Posh Techie = I think Pete is referring to the old boy who did the feature on insurance quotes but looked as though he would have been more at home on the 'Antiques Roadshow' I think Jason Plato was giving it the big 'un to the 'talented' Girls Aloud performers - but he must have seen it as feeding time at the zoo! Such was his enthusiasm for being the big shot that he didn't take into account that the 355 was probably a lot wider than the lady was used to (there is a joke there, somewhere) and also that it was a left hooker. Also take into account that she had probably never driven a Ferrari before & it all looks a little unfair on the girl. Did you notice that Jason Plato immediately attempted to distance himself from the accident - coward. Saying all that I am a big fan of his.
The Posh Techie bloke on Fifth Gear is Jon Bentley, also he's from the Gadget Show. I remember him being chosen by Top Gear from members of the public who wanted to work on the show, but like most of the proper car journalists he's now over on Channel 5 with Tiffy, VBH, Plato and Fat Hairy Bloke, i think he's the producer on Fifth Gear too...
indeed i did, watching the clip again, the girl is absolutely clueless about what to do, while Jason just can't wait to run and hide. He then goes off n chats to some guys about the crash quietly. But he did have a point that most people will avoid a lovely guards red 997 which happens to be right next to you, as u mentioned, in a lhd car. The 355 had nice wheels though... oh dear, it seems i've veered off-topic, i apologise now to the mods...
