If you had the chance to go on a driving adventure with a celebrity, which one would not make your list? In Britain, that celeb turns out to be controversial Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

According to research by Continental Tyres, British drivers wouldn’t want Clarkson as their co-pilot during a 4×4 drive across the Sahara Desert. Continental Tyres polled 2,000 drivers as part of the launch of this year’s Conti 4×4 Trophy, an epic off road challenge where contestants drive a Hummer across the Sahara Desert.

“Jeremy Clarkson might have motoring credentials but either his calamitous road trips on Top Gear, his lack of practical skills or his outspoken views mean most people would leave him behind,” said Tim Bailey, spokesperson for Continental Tyres.

In terms of who they would want to share the journey with, men would like to bring Kelly Brook along for the drive, while women chose Robert Pattinson to rev their engine.

Here is the complete list of the top ten worst celebs to go on driving adventure with:

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Not so long ago, we told you about the special edition satellite navigation device by TomTom which features the voice of the Stig (!) and Jeremy Clarkson, both of TopGear fame.

Now due to a clause found in BBC’s own contact, this device had to be pulled off the shelves. According to the BBC, all its presenters “must take particular care not to endorse any product or service which could be covered in the programmes on which they work.”

Since this TomTom device could have easily been featured in an episode of TopGear, it would breach the contract rules and thus cannot be allowed to be put on sale.

However, the issue only came out after the device had already gone on sale. A reported 54,000 of these TopGear special edition sat nav’s have been sold thus far, however the BBC is not allowed to make any money due to its breach, and thus will have to donate all proceeds from its sale to its charity – BBC Children In Need.

Similarly, TomTom will also make a donation from its profits to a charity of its choice.

Clarkson, who had nothing to do with the brokering of this deal will also make no money from this transaction. However, anyone who currently owns this now very rare TomTom Go Live TopGear Edition, could sell it for a profit.

No word yet if this BBC clause will effect the new Forza4 video game, which also features the voice of Jeremy Clarkson.

[Source: The Guardian]

We’ve seen Jeremy Clarkson review some of the most beautiful and exotic cars ranging from the Bugatti Veyron to the classic Jaguar E-Type. We’ve also seen him review some of the most hideous cars like the Reliant Robin, but military vehicles? From a video game? This is a first.

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson will be spicing up Forza Motorsport 4 with a featured role in the XBOX 360 game. With the game ready for release in October, this commercial has been released featuring the high tech M12 FAV Warthog from Halo, and the witty Jeremy Clarkson. Now gamers and auto enthusiasts are getting the best of both worlds. Interestingly, the Warthog won’t be the only vehicle that will receive Clarkson’s review. Apparently the game’s Autovista model will introduce players to a wide variety of unique vehicles.

In the short commercial, Jezza approaches the imaginary assault vehicle with his typical sarcasm and dry sense of humor, that we’ve come to know and love from his fantastic TV show. Check out the video after the jump to see the tank like all-terrain vehicle.

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Auto enthusiasts who enjoy gaming will be happy to know that Top Gears Jeremy Clarkson will be spicing up Forza Motorsport 4, as he will be featured in the XBOX 360 game. Top Gear UK and Microsoft have been working to create a partnership between the witty British motoring show and Forza Motorsport.

The partnership will consist of Clarkson writing and vocally recording his own witty takes on a series of cars ranging from the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG to the McLaren F1. Players will be able to listen to Clarkson’s reviews of cars in the game when choosing a vehicle to use.

Interestingly, Forza 4 will also allow players to enter virtual showrooms where the user can open car doors, examine wheels and look under car hoods. Dan Greenawalt, a developer of Forza Motorsport 4 said, “We thought about how people want to interact with cars, to move around one, open the doors, kick the tires,”. “Our goal with this is to turn gamers into car lovers, and car lovers into gamers”, according to Greenawalt.

Video game and auto enthusiasts can expect to see Forza Motorsport 4 out on October 11 in the U.S.

[Source: New York Times]

Rule, Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never will be slaves! The boys of Top Gear recorded an impressive laptime around their famous test track with the McLaren MP4-12C, and if you haven’t seen the episode yet, you might want to skip ahead.

The homegrown MP4-12C beat out foreign contenders such as the Ferrari 458 Italia, the Bugatti Veyron, and the Gumpert Apollo, with a time of 1:16.2 around Dunsfold—the second fastest record on the power board.

Then again, the Top Gear folks have a thing for patriotic bias that makes Sean Hannity look like a Communist—even if Ferrari built a 10,000-horsepower Italia that shot cans of London Pride out the exhaust pipes, Jeremy And Company would still find a way to handicap it. Maybe if they stuffed the interior with gnocchetti filling, then dropped a piano on it.

If only the rest of the British car industry followed through on such spirit. We shall fight them on the beaches! We shall fight them on the test tracks!

Click the jump to see the full comparison.

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Jeremy Clarkson, the host of Top Gear, is in hot water again for a comment he made in his column. While he was discussing the eco feature on his LG flat screen TV, he said that using the feature “dims the screen so much, every programme looks like it’s being presented by Lenny Henry in a cave.”

For those who don’t know, Lenny Henry is a black comedian. The two do, however, have a history of insulting each other after they cohosted a celebrity telethon.

Previously, Clarkson managed to insult the entire population of Mexico when speaking about a new super car company based in the country. Clarkson also offended the Muslim community when he, James May and Richard Hammond dressed in the traditional garments of the religion’s women during their Christmas special episode. Past rude comments have required public apologies but there is no indication as to whether his latest foul comment will require similar action.

[Source: DailyMail]

Top Gear’s new series will start in a few days and car enthusiasts around the world are eagerly marking off their calendars.

So far we know that James May will be showing us the new Aston Martin Virage,and Jeremy Clarkson will be comparing the McLaren MP4-12C to the Ferrari 458 Italia. We also see the BMW 6-series up against the Mercedes-Benz CL and we hear Richard Hammond talk to Clarkson about Chevrolet Corvettes. This is the second commercial to be released and the show will be airing the first episode on June 26.

Check out both videos after the jump!

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Car enthusiasts from around the world are marking their calendars off with big red Xs as BBC’s Top Gear returns. The first episode of season 17 will air in just eleven days with the trio will back in the drivers seat and up to their usual shenanigans driving exotic cars in exotic locations.

Top Gear has just released this montage commercial showing little segments of what will happen in the series. We know for sure that Jeremy Clarkson will be driving the all-new McLaren MP4-12C, James May will be riding shotgun in the MINI WRC car paired against a luge racer and Richard Hammond is driving some massive dump truck on top of passenger cars through a city street.

It looks like we are all in for a treat! Check out the video after the jump:

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Everyone’s favourite car show will return to television on June 12. The hit BBC show Top Gear has been on break since the 16th season ended on February 27 with only 6 episodes. Some of the highlights of last season included Hammond driving the Porsche 959 and Ferrari F40, May driving around in NASA’s new lunar rover and Clarkson racing the sun in a Jaguar XJ.

What can be expected from the new season? Unofficial sources reported that Prince Harry may be a guest on the Top Gear track. However you can bet the trio will be putting the McLaren MP4-12C and the Lamborghini Aventador through their paces.

[Source: Autoblog]

We don’t know if he read Forbes’ list of worst cars for 2011. All we do know is that he’s made his own list, and that he is called the Stig.

That’s right, Top Gear’s ‘the Stig’ has released his list of the worst five cars he’s ever driven, with some shocking surprises and some rather obvious ones. The Stig in question here is the second Stig or the White Stig, Ben Collins, who joined the show in 2003 after the Black Stig was killed off and who left the show last year.

The list includes a total of five cars, two American, two Italian and even one from the UK. Hit the jump for a brief summary.

[Source: Drive.com.au]

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