Ferrari Sends Tris into Top Gear

Thank you to Doug Quelch of Amber Promotions for arranging for Hugh and me to visit the Top Gear set to see the filming of one of the new episodes. What an awesome day it was.

As someone familiar with technical projects and working within engineering, I am no stranger to the bait-room posters of Ferraris and ‘Lambos’ that are a staple and traditional wallpaper of the UK industry (<cough> and a safer alternative to the ruder images available). I, however, deny myself. I have a secret passion for gorgeous, precision engineered and powerful cars that I have forced to the back of my mind, sat on, locked away.

Such beautiful feats are usually petrol hungry, extremely expensive – a mortgage for a house would come first, with family second and third on my (girlfriend’s) priority list – and costly to maintain. Totally unrealistic. I have closeted my desire and lost the key, on purpose. At least until the moment I entered the hangar.

Seeing a 458 Spider in the Top Gear studio changed everything. The venue itself is a monument built to draw the petrol-headed flock, a shrine to the antics of the presenters who appear to lead a charmed life of travel and opportunity in the name of popular entertainment. The messianic form of the Stig hangs above from the aluminium clerestory, bathed in worship from the hundreds of millions of fans around the world.

The Ferrari family is no stranger to such adoration and the 458 is one of their most recent children. In the carbon fibre and leathered flesh, this machine is an inspiration. It. Rocks.

For a human that is passionate about design and appreciates detail, the 458 hums like a tuning fork in A. Only an Apple chorus and an Eames embrace have the same tingling effect. Occupy the same space as such items and you cannot help but be drawn to their sculpted, balanced surfaces. Thronged in the Top Gear studio by similarly hypnotised admirers, the 458 had a gravity. A dark energy that occupied the space you couldn’t see. Because of Top Gear I will now spend the rest of my life in full awareness of the lack of a 458 in my life. Thank you Top Gear for awakening that pain.

There are 8 comments

Posted by Andy Lawrence on July 23, 2013 @ 3:33 pm

Hugh, in the nicest possible way what on earth has this got to do with The Coldest Journey? Unless perhaps Clarkson and May are going to attempt the winter crossing in a converted Toyota HiLux next winter?

Posted by Hugh Bowring on July 23, 2013 @ 7:47 pm

Hi Andy,
Apologies for not giving Tris’s piece even the slightest bit of reference – an oversight on my part. Tris Kaye is the Operations Manager for The Coldest Journey, and as Sir Ranulph would no doubt himself testify, has been one of the hardest working members of the team for the last two years. Doug Quelch, whom Tris makes reference to, is the man behind the soon to be revealed merchandising range for The Coldest Journey. Doug also does the merchandise for Top Gear and he invited us both down to the set for a fun day out.
Whilst we always want the focus to be on the guys down south, we thought that a little piece about some of the home team (hard at work!!) might be worth the column inches. My fault for not putting anything in context. I hope all’s forgiven!
Best wishes,
Hugh

Posted by Hugh, Operations HQ on July 23, 2013 @ 7:54 pm

Hi Andy,

Apologies for not giving Tris’s piece even the slightest bit
of reference – an oversight on my part. Tris Kaye is the Operations Manager for
The Coldest Journey, and as Sir Ranulph would no doubt himself testify, has
been one of the hardest working members of the team for the last two years.
Doug Quelch, whom Tris makes reference to, is the man behind the soon to be
revealed merchandising range for The Coldest Journey. Doug also does the
merchandise for Top Gear and he invited us both down to the set for a fun day
out.

Whilst we always want the focus to be on the guys down
south, we thought that a little piece about some of the home team (hard at
work!!) might be worth the column inches. My fault for not putting anything in
context. I hope all’s forgiven!

Best wishes,

Hugh

Posted by Andy Lawrence on July 24, 2013 @ 5:11 am

I still think you should get Clarkson down there, get the BBC to parachute him in! Whilst we’re talking is there any chance of a blog entry on the plan for the return to the coast and the pick up?

Posted by Hugh Bowring on July 27, 2013 @ 2:46 pm

Very soon we are going to be introducing a Q&A to put to Brian and the team. That will give people a chance to ask some of the questions which we miss in the comments sections (there is only me who checks the website and Facebook for comments regularly, so some excellent questions do sometimes fall by the wayside).

Look out for the Q&A soon.

Posted by Annac on July 23, 2013 @ 6:26 pm

Top Gear? Why? I was waiting for a connection to be made with Coldest journey adventure. Maybe all will be revealed soon.

Posted by Hugh Bowring on July 23, 2013 @ 7:50 pm

Hi Annac,
As I just explained to Andy, it was my mistake for getting giving Tris’s piece context, which was an oversight on my part.
To copy and paste from my response to Andy: “Tris Kaye is the Operations Manager for The Coldest Journey, and as Sir Ranulph would no doubt himself testify, has been one of the hardest working members of the team for the last two years. Doug Quelch, whom Tris makes reference to, is the man behind the soon to be revealed merchandising range for The Coldest Journey. Doug also does the merchandise for Top Gear and he invited us both down to the set for a fun day out.
Whilst we always want the focus to be on the guys down south, we thought that a little piece about some of the home team (hard at work!!) might be worth the column inches. My fault for not putting anything in context. I hope all’s forgiven!”
Best wishes,
Hugh

Posted by Hugh, Operations HQ on July 23, 2013 @ 7:53 pm

Hi Annac,

As I just explained to Andy, it was my mistake for getting giving Tris’s piece context, which was an oversight on my part.

To copy and paste from my response to Andy: “Tris Kaye is the Operations
Manager for The Coldest Journey, and as Sir Ranulph would no doubt
himself testify, has been one of the hardest working members of the team
for the last two years. Doug Quelch, whom Tris makes reference to, is
the man behind the soon to be revealed merchandising range for The
Coldest Journey. Doug also does the merchandise for Top Gear and he
invited us both down to the set for a fun day out.

Whilst we always want the focus to be on the guys down south, we thought
that a little piece about some of the home team (hard at work!!) might
be worth the column inches. My fault for not putting anything in
context. I hope all’s forgiven!”

Ferrari Sends Tris into Top Gear