Top Gear Classic - The Dangerously Addictive YouTube Experience
Start with one video and you’ll be stuck for hours
Scrolling on social media, we’ve all been there. It’s an addiction for the 21st century. Whether your choice is Twitter, Instagram or TikTok, the algorithm is so unbelievably canny nowadays that the content you are fed will keep you entertained until you are finally able to wrestle your brain into putting your phone down.
I’m not exactly sure if it counts as a social media platform, but I’ll still use YouTube above all others, and since choosing to pay the £15 or so a month for YouTube Premium, it has made the task of resisting such endeavours close to impossible. It feels a tad indulgent to pay for something that’s free anyway, but while those of you without Premium are stuck watching an unskippable advert for the new Minecraft movie, I am no longer subjected to such horrors. Once you try the free trial, you’ll never be able to go back.
Short Form vs Long Form Video
Due to the unstoppable rise of TikTok, and due to people’s shortening attention spans, short form videos are now the leading form of social media content. You do slightly fear for the next generation of kids, whose attention spans are so unbelievably cooked that watching something beyond ten seconds becomes a chore.
On the flip side, however, and to completely counter that point, there have never been so many podcasts. Every man and his dog seems to have one, where every kind of topic is discussed for sometimes up to three hours a time. Many of them are enjoyable and informative. Unfortunately, a lot of them are completely unlistenable, featuring people who really shouldn’t be allowed to have a platform. Perhaps if Donald Trump had chosen to put tariffs on podcasting equipment, they might have been looked upon more favourably by the wider world.
One that is definitely enjoyable and informative is ours, The Driven Podcast. If you’re a fan of all things automotive, please click on the podcast link at the top of the page to take you to the best automotive podcast on the market…okay, that’s the only shameless plug I’ll be doing.
Nostalgia
I suppose I’m nostalgic for the old days, or at least the days when I was growing up. Life seemed a lot more simple and the task of settling on something to consume on screen was so much easier.
Essential viewing on a Sunday evening before school was, of course, Top Gear. When the Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May lineup started hitting their stride, it coincided with me entering secondary school. After Richard Hammond’s crash chasing the land speed record in a jet-powered dragster in 2006, it unintentionally caught the attention of the masses and caused viewing figures to jump to around five million per week.
The trio’s time on Top Gear ran from 2002 to 2015, and no matter how hard they try, I’m unsure if it will ever be replicated. They hit upon a magical formula, the main ingredient of which was an undeniable passion for cars. The show kickstarted my own passion for cars and without it, I certainly wouldn’t be writing this very article.
In the last year, the BBC has added the entirety of the ‘new’ Top Gear (starting in 2002) onto its iPlayer streaming service, with people who grew up on the show able to go back and binge them all again. For others, it is an opportunity to introduce the show to a new generation in the hope that they’ll be as hooked on it as we all were.
Top Gear Classic
The best part of Top Gear for me was the challenges, and this leads us to the real subject of this article - Top Gear Classic. What is that, I hear you ask? Well, it is like somebody looked inside my brain and decided to create the perfect Top Gear-related YouTube channel showing a collection of the best moments, challenges, races and road trips, all in 10-15 minute videos. Not short or long form content, just the right amount.
The channel began posting the first of its 115 videos (and counting) eight months ago and has already amassed 323,000 subscribers and 57,937,749 views (at the time of writing). Somehow, I have only just become aware of this channel and feel like I’ve turned up to a party that started…well, eight months ago.
This is where the problems begin. Clicking on one harmless 12 minute video kickstarts a chain of YouTube viewing that can last for hours. Going to bed at a sensible time suddenly turns into an all nighter. One video after the other, all of the old memories from my childhood start coming back. The jokes land just like they did the first time and the production is equally as slick.
If that isn’t bad enough, they’ve even got a live section on the channel that plays a never ending loop of best bits no matter what time of day. I remember the official Peep Show YouTube channel doing something similar, although having just checked now, they thankfully appear to have stopped.
Geoff - the electric car made by the Top Gear team.
Top 5 Most Watched Videos
So, which clips are resonating the most with people?
Let’s have a look at the top five most viewed videos on the Top Gear Classic channel. While I encourage everyone to watch, do so at your peril. At least make sure you have snacks first.
5. Rallycross Challenge
The trio discover whether you can go motor racing for less than it costs to play golf.
4. Police Car Challenge
Clarkson, Hammond and May are tasked with building police cars out of second hand cars for under £1000. A particular highlight is the reveal of Hammond’s ‘stinger’ which Clarkson hilariously describes as “unmistakably a doormat with some nails in it.”
3. Sports Cars for under £1.5k
The team head to Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire for a number of tests with stylish two-door coupes bought for less than £1500.
2. Lorry Challenge
The trio find out just how hard it really is to drive a lorry, with a series of challenges.
1. Homemade Limo Challenge
Clarkson, Hammond and May create their own homemade limos for a series of challenges, before taking a celebrity passenger to the Brit Awards in London.
My Personal Favourite - Motorhome Challenge
I couldn’t go without mentioning the motorhome challenge video. Jeremy battling to keep his ridiculously tall caravan upright on the windy motorway while James is dying with laughter behind is quite possibly one of my favourite Top Gear moments of all time.
READ: The Grand Tour returns to Prime with four ‘best of’ episodes
words: Mike Booth
pictures: Top Gear Live
videos: BBC Studios