The Show Will Go On

The summer series of Top Gear has come to a close. If you are lucky enough to live in the UK, it is absolutely a must-see. If you don't, continue finding creative ways to see it before they simulcast it on BBC America (or Australia, or wherever you may be).

Oddly enough, this final episode has created a great deal of controversy in a very good way. The final sequence involves Clarkson driving the new Aston Martin Vantage V12 on some beautiful Highland roads. It is a surreal, dream-like masterpiece of cinematography and automotive engineering. Throughout it Clarkson--quite out of character--says very little. The quick and dirty summary is that the car can speak for itself; it is just that good. The movie is clearly a lament for the 'golden age' of horsepower that we have enjoyed over the past decade. Somehow, though, many (the media especially) interpreted this movie as indicative that Top Gear will be going off the air. It is not.

I did feel compelled to blog in response to Clarkson's statements about the Vantage V12 being a swan song. In a way it may turn it to be so. The likelihood that car companies will be able to continue to churn out gas-guzzling, fire-spewing, panda-killing speed machines with impunity is very low. Climate change is gaining a stronger foothold in the corridors of power as a legitimate issue no longer solely the purview of Greenpeacers or Earth-Firsters. There are serious concerns over energy security, especially because the majority of petroleum comes from countries with whom more respectable countries may have only tenuously friendly relationships.

However, sports cars are evocative machines. As long as humans have been walking upright they have been racing. We have raced boats, ships, horses, chariots, cars, motorcycles, planes and yes, even on our own two feet. Speed conjures just as many primal urges as brute strength. And, that aside, fast cars are fun. So, even if we have only electric cars, we will have fast electric cars, as well. Efficiency is all well and good, but it is not exciting. It's a bit like bragging about having a good mortgage; it's something to be proud of, but not something to bring up with the party crowd.

- W