Should you, like me, beloved High Gear, 2015 will eternally reside in your reminiscence because the day the High Gear theme music died.
Fortunately, it didn’t take lengthy for Amazon to present us all hope that it wasn’t over when the notorious trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James Might signed a long-term, big-money cope with the corporate synonymous with questionable merchandise.
That deal led to the launch of Amazon Prime Video in Australia (and certainly, many elements of the free world) and opened the door for Aussie automotive tragics to see extra of their favorite motoring presenters.
Say what you’ll about The Grand Tour, some like it, some hate it. The identical may be mentioned for High Gear. I’ll harbour no ill-will in direction of these of you who don’t get a kick out of three idiots falling over and infrequently driving automobiles.
I, nevertheless, will eternally take into account September 13, 2024 as my equal of American Pie.
In fact, I don’t have a Chevy and I received’t be visiting any levees, however I will probably be taking an extended, lengthy second when the credit roll on the final ever Clarkson, Hammond and Might motoring particular.
You see, I wouldn’t be right here, working at CarExpert, creating automotive video content material if it wasn’t for High Gear. I’m 33, which implies that for almost two-thirds of my life I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of watching regardless of the High Gear workforce expertly crafted and broadcast on tv.
It was 2006 once I first found the holy trinity of automotive journalists (apologies to our resident CarExpert journos). It was a barely older episode the place they raced an Aston Martin DB9 towards the Eurostar from England to Monte Carlo. Man did that day set off a sequence response.
I used to be obsessed. And as I obtained older and extra into movie making, I began paying extra consideration to the manufacturing of the present. The way in which it was shot, the modifying methods, the colouring, the sound.
Sure on the floor it was a few middle-aged man sliding round a disused air base in an unique sports activities automotive, however scratch somewhat deeper and it was a crew of masters perfecting their craft.
High Gear, and later The Grand Tour, pioneered quite a lot of unbelievable car-based filming methods – even influencing how some movies are shot nowadays.
Absorb-car cameras. While the thought of a digital camera mounted inside a automotive could have been round for many years, they often required common stops to vary the movie inventory, or reset lighting or substitute the battery.
The BBC manufacturing workforce, led by Andy Wilman discovered new methods to mount tiny cameras on the windscreens of automobiles, even creating mounts, suction cup rigs and long run energy/recording programs to permit the lads to drive all day with out having to always fear about whether or not the digital camera was going to seize all the things.
They pioneered car-to-car filming, initially strapping a bloke and a digital camera into the again of a Vary Rover and later working with exterior firms to develop smaller exterior mounting programs that can be utilized for prolonged intervals of time, fairly than counting on the “conventional Hollywood” strategy of a Russian Arm.
Then there was the modifying. The power that Wilman, Clarkson and the post-production workforce needed to take a whole lot of hours of footage and switch it right into a humorous, charismatic and exquisite piece of shifting artwork set a brand new normal throughout the business – one which has arguably by no means been bettered.
I, together with dozens of different individuals working within the automotive journalism business, owe our existence to those guys. The methods they developed and the types they pioneered are utilized by us every day.
The way in which we mount cameras in automobiles, the positioning and lighting – all learnt from High Gear. The way in which we movie automobiles driving previous digital camera, doing stunts and even highway journeys are all influenced by them.
While right here at CarExpert we’ve got moved away from the heavy storytelling model of video content material in an effort to assist individuals purchase new automobiles, when given the chance, we are going to sneak one thing right into a video – particularly one thing that isn’t a daily automotive evaluation.
We’ve all identified at the present time was coming for some time now. When the trio all began doing their very own intensive tasks it was obvious they had been trying to put their automotive travels to mattress. I can’t blame the blokes, 22 years is a very long time in any job position, not to mention the type of workload that might include doing this job.
These adventures the place they spend every week or two within the wilderness to deliver us 90 minutes of enjoyable, entertaining tv could be past intense. However they all the time current an attractive, polished product, even in case you don’t essentially benefit from the content material.
As I slowly settle for that I simply watched their final outing, I’ll bear in mind the great occasions.
The Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust (higher identified a Geoff), the TG V12 practice, racing a Bugatti Veyron towards a sluggish aircraft, racing a Veyron towards a really quick aircraft, Hammond’s horrific rocket automotive accident, Michael Schumacher being “unveiled” as The Stig, the wonderful Senna mini documentary, Hammond crashing one million greenback electrical automotive.
There’s additionally the unique Botswana Particular, the India and Vietnam and North Pole specials, constructing John and driving him throughout Mongolia and Jeremy Clarkson breaking down in tears within the Grand Tour tent once they introduced they received’t be internet hosting an audience-facing TV present any extra.
Attending to see them carry out High Gear Reside and the one-off High Gear Competition in Sydney nonetheless lives contemporary in my thoughts.
The issues these exhibits did over the previous 2 many years, the spinoffs they spawned, the popularity they’ve is what another TV present might solely dream of. However on the finish of the day, they had been all the time only a “pokey little motoring present on BBC 2”. And that pokey little motoring present modified my world.
In order I sit in quiet contemplation, reliving the closing credit, the bridge of American Pie is taking part in in my head; “and the three males I admired probably the most, the daddy son and the holy ghost, they caught the final practice for the coast, the day the music died”.
In fact, our trio had much more profitable careers than Buddy Holly and his pals, plus Jezza, Hamster and Mr Slowly almost definitely drove, however to not a coast (contemplating Zimbabwe is a land-locked nation). However take a second, hearth up your music participant of alternative and crank out “Jessica” by The Allman Brothers, for previous occasions sake.
Like High Gear earlier than it, while The Grand Tour as a reputation may reside on, it can by no means be the identical with out our three anti-heroes. I think about Mr Wilman will probably be handing again his parking go too, as will giant swathes of the crew that adopted them from the BBC to Amazon.
This isn’t simply the tip of the highway for Clarkson, Hammond and Might, it’s seemingly the tip of the highway for the crew that introduced us all that pleasure for all these years.
For me, September 13, 2024 will eternally reside as one in every of my most unhappy days… on this planet.