The new “Top Gear” will be called “Gear Knobs” aired on Amazon Prime?

Speculation is mounting that Jeremy Clarkson’s new Amazon Prime show be called Gear Knobs, after BuzzFeed discovered a trademark application for the cheeky title by Clarkson’s lawyers, Olswang.

The application was made a fortnight before the former Top Gear presenter announced a deal worth a reported £160m to make a new series with Amazon. It was filed through a shell company, which has also registered the title “Gear Knobs”.

A third title – Speedbirds – was also registered by the lawyers. The Daily Mirror wonders if this name could be new moniker for “a Stig-like character in Clarkson, Hammond and May’s new show”. The filings mean the titles can be used for TV shows and merchandising.

The Top Gear brand was worth an estimated £150m a year in sales to the BBC through a lucrative combination of live shows, DVD sales, and all manner of branded merchandise, including Stig bubble bath and Top Gear birthday cakes.

However, the risqué names may not be what Amazon has in mind. Although the applications were made in the middle of July, at the end of August the company’s boss Roy Price said the team were still struggling to find a name for the show.

When asked about the reported new title, an Amazon spokesman said: “Amazon does not comment on speculation.” Clarkson himself was unavailable for comment on the story.

Earlier this week, his sidekick James May tweeted a photograph of himself with the caption “Here I am again, looking like a nob.”

Before he begins work on his new show, Clarkson will return to the BBC as host of an episode of the satirical news quiz Have I Got News For You.

It will be his first appearance on the BBC since he was dropped from Top Gear after punching producer Oisin Tymon, says BBC News.

After a protracted investigation into the incident, BBC director-general Tony Hall decided not to renew the presenter’s contract, saying that “a line has been crossed” and “there cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another”.

Clarkson’s appearance on Have I Got News For You will coincide with the start of the show’s 50th series.

The 55-year-old presenter had been due to host an episode of the show in April, but pulled out after the so-called ‘fracas’ that cost him his job at Top Gear.

At the time, a statement from production company Hat Trick said: “On reflection, Jeremy Clarkson has decided not to host Have I Got News For You. We fully expect him to resume his hosting duties later in the year.”

Meanwhile, Sky has taken a much firmer line on the prospect of working with Clarkson in the future.

Stuart Murphy, the broadcaster’s entertainment chief, said that he had a ten-second conversation with his colleagues about whether they would like to employ Clarkson after he was dropped by the BBC. But “who nowadays is happy” working with someone who used the n-word, he asked an audience at the Royal Television Society convention last week, The Guardian reports.

Clarkson once mumbled the word while reciting the nursery rhyme Eeny, meeny, miny, moe during an episode of Top Gear.

“His view was it wasn’t transmitted,” said Murphy. “Come on. There’s no need to say that. For him to be so tentative about his apology and loving the fact that he’s a naughty schoolboy. Grow up. It’s a different age, grow up.”

The upshot of Murphy’s short conversation with his colleagues was that none of them were happy to employ Clarkson.

“We are a family brand,” said Murphy. “It would have been short-term gain for long-term mess. He’s not someone we want to work with.”

Clarkson is currently on holiday, but is expected to begin preliminary work on his Amazon show in the next few months.

Source

Here’s why Jeremy Clarkson was fired from BBC’s Top Gear

On 9 March 2015, Jeremy Clarkson reported to BBC management that he had been involved in a physical and verbal incident with Oisin Tymon, the producer of Top Gear, at the Simonstone Hall hotel, North Yorkshire, while working on location. The incident had occurred on 4 March 2015 and Jeremy Clarkson was suspended on 10 March, pending investigation.

I was asked to undertake an investigation to establish the facts of what occurred. In conducting my investigation, in line with the BBC’s usual practice, I interviewed a number of witnesses and others connected with the incident. Accounts were agreed, based on my interviews, with each participant.

Having conducted these interviews and considered the evidence presented, I conclude the following: on 4 March 2015 Oisin Tymon was subject to an unprovoked physical and verbal attack by Jeremy Clarkson. During the physical attack Oisin Tymon was struck, resulting in swelling and bleeding to his lip. The verbal abuse was sustained over a longer period, both at the time of the physical attack and subsequently.

Summary

• The BBC announced that it has dropped Jeremy Clarkson after the Top Gear presenter was responsible for an “unprovoked physical and verbal attack” on a colleague.
• BBC director general Tony Hall said he took the decision to end Clarkson’s BBC career “with great regret” but that the presenter had “crossed a line”.
• Oisin Tymon took himself to A&E after a 30-second physical attack caused swelling and bleeding to his lip, the inquiry found. It was accompanied by a sustained verbal tirade containing the “strongest expletives” and a threat to sack Tymon.
• North Yorkshire police has said it is looking into the incident and will take action “where necessary”.
• Top Gear presenter James May hinted that he could follow his colleague out of the door stating that the three (including Richard Hammond) were a “package”. Hammond tweeted that he was “gutted at such a sad end to an era”.

• Clarkson has not made any comment but changed the bio on his Twitter page to: “I used to be a presenter on the BBC2 motoring show, Top Gear.”
• A spokesman for the prime minister, David Cameron, said he believes that “aggressive and abusive behaviour” is not acceptable in the workplace, and that “if you do something wrong at work there can be consequences”, his official spokesman said.
• Hall said he had asked Kim Shillinglaw, controller of BBC 2 and BBC 4, to look at how to renew Top Gear and how it puts out the last programmes in the current series.
• Bookies have variously placed Chris Evans and Jodie Kidd as favourites to replace Clarkson, although Evans has described reports suggesting he will be be the successor as “absolute nonsense”. Sky has reportedly ruled out hiring Clarkson.

Source

The new super VW Golf GTI Roadster is here!

Worthersee has never been home to the gentlest outpouring of subtlety, but even by its standards this is something different: it’s a Volkswagen Golf GTI that’s quicker than a Ferrari FF.

You saw it last week as a teaser, now here’s the real thing. It’s Volkswagen’s take on Gran Turismo’s ‘Vision GT’ series – following in the footsteps of BMW’s and Mercedes’ efforts – and follows up last year’s ‘Design Vision GTI’ concept we drove in LA. But rather than just leave it as a digital offering for the gaming community, VW decided to make a proper one.

And the headline of course, is that engine. It’s a 3.0-litre, twin-turbo V6 TSI (out of the Touareg) producing a whopping 500bhp and 413lb ft of torque, complete with a seven speed DSG gearbox and VW’s ‘4MOTION’ all-wheel-drive system.

Because it only has to propel a kerbweight of 1420kg, the GTI Roadster is capable of accelerating from 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds (an FF will do it in 3.7s), and top out at 192mph. Better wear a helmet, because you may have noticed there is no roof.

As with the Design Vision concept we saw last year, this GTI Roadster shows a glimpse of where the road-going GTI’s design will venture in the future. This being a concept car of course, means it’s shorter, lower and wider than both the road car and last year’s DV concept.

It’s been optimised for aero, this GTI Roadster, with that monster rear wing creating lots of downforce, while the C-pillars have been formed into a rollover protection bar. Another schoolboy-cool element is the doors that swivel upwards to open, framed by huge side sills and flanked by flared wheel arches.

There are 20in wheels. There are monster 380mm ceramic discs up front (356mm at the back). There are LED daytime running lights. There is a carbon monocoque interior with two ‘race-shell’ seats partitioned by a central bar. The instrument display is on a V-shaped wing on top of the steering column, itself longer, like a racing car.

“When Sony asked us if we would develop a Vision GT vehicle exclusively for the game to mark the 15th anniversary of Gran Turismo we didn’t hesitate for a moment,” said Klaus Bischoff, Head of Design at Volkswagen. And for good reason: GT creator Kazunori Yamauchi used to own a Golf GTI, so he’s a fan.