Clarkson on the 348

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Posted by Jeremy Clarkson at 1:00PM on Thursday 14 June, 2007 6 Comments

It really was the most beautiful evening. The sun was a huge orange orb sinking slowly toward the curiously messy Tuscan foreground. The olive trees were haphazard. The vineyards looked like they may have arrived on parachutes. The houses were random.

But there was nothing out of focus about the car I was driving - a Ferrari 348 GTB.

Ooh, it was good. There was a pop and a bang on the overrun. There was a snarl on full throttle. And there was the way it hugged the road as we surged through that evocative, orange landscape. This was my first ever drive in a Ferrari and I was loving it.

Except for one or two tiny details. Actually, there wasn't really a pop and a bang on the overrun. There was no snarl on full throttle. And it didn't really hug the road because, truth be told, it felt like the tyres, and everything that connected them to the seat of my pants were made of wood.

I wanted to say all that to the camera that was bolted to the dash at the time. I wanted to say it was a bit of a disappointment. But that would have been like a young priest, on his first trip to church, saying "He walked on what!? Water? You've got to be joking".

I had been brought up on Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve. I had sat in a Daytona as a small boy. Ferrari was the holy grail. The ultimate. The automotive God. And if I didn't like the experience in the 348, then plainly, there was something wrong with me.

So I talked about the popping, and the snarl and the way it hugged the road. And I came home, and talked a breathless talk about what it had been like to drive a Ferrari. In the same way that someone might talk if they'd scored with Uma Thurman.

I was lying though. And I kept on lying until, a few year later, I drove a 355. I loved that so much, I came home and bought one.

Permalink: http://www.topgear.com/blogs/planettopgear/057-first-ferrar...

 

I wouldn't take Clarkson's views on cars too seriously.

In the space of one review on Top Gear, he was shown up as not having a clue on car handling.

A few years ago he reviewed a Lotus Elise and complained that it was understeering horribly and he was not impressed. During the same review, a Lotus driver (Gavan Kerhsaw) took him for a passenger ride and demonstrated the same car easily oversteering at will on every bend i.e. he could make it under or over steer at will.

Clarkson acknowledged he did not have the skill to drive that car, and that he, not the Elise, was at fault!!! The 348 is a car that is as basic in its handling as the Elise, so I'm not surprised if he was unable to drive it back then.

In recent shows however, it's been evident that he has taken driving instruction and can handle cars better.

 

Love that old Top Gear clip - useless review, but funny (and great hair on JC).

 

.....he compared it to a 300ZX...........

 

Top Gear is a fun show, if technically useless. They pitted an Evo against a Murci for God's sake... and concluded the Evo the winner. How rediculous can you get?

 

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3bb_1186201960

 

Waaay too funny !!

 

The show is pure entertainment. The main players(critics) are a former Disc Jockey, a graduate of music & a journalist. So you can't take them seriously & they don't want you to either. Thats the fun of the show. I personally love the show. The best episode has to be when they made a car into a space shuttle. I was glued to the computer screen the whole time.