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Top Gear has an Extra Gear problem | Episode Review

When the BBC announced Extra Gear, I was excited. As an avid fan of show's like The Talking Dead – companion show to AMC's hit The Walking Dead – a behind-the-scenes look at my favorite motoring show sounded promising. But with the fifth episodes of each show, I'm worried that Top Gear is suffering to keep Extra Gear interesting. We'll start with Chris Evans, inarguably the most heavily criticized member of the new Top Gear team. Evans is progressively less shouty and more comfortable filming while driving in each episode – the fifth is no different. He's almost likable in the Zenos E10 video, like a ginger James May, and he delivers accurate and eloquent driving impressions. The review is entertaining, until Extra Gear shows the producers cut a huge element – an old-versus-new sprint around the Race of Champions circuit at the Olympic Stadium in London. Former Formula 1 ace David Coulthard would drive a Caterham 360, while current F1 pro Daniel Riccardo rocked the Zenos. If the entire premise of Evans review is that the Zenos E10 is the newest of the new for British super-lightweight track toys, why did the producers decide to leave a race against the segment's standard bearer for Extra Gear? It's a baffling move, cutting a segment of the film that reinforces Evans' excitement over the Zenos. Rory Reid's Jaguar F-Type SVR piece is excellent. Fifty five years to the day after Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis raced to the Geneva Motor Show in a second E-Type for display, Reid would attempt the same feat in an SVR. If he failed, Jaguar wouldn't have a car to display. Dewis made the 750-mile trip with 13 hours of notice, and Reid would need to do the same. It's a brilliant, simple premise that reminded me of Jeremy Clarkson's so-called "Race against God" in a Jaguar XJ, way back in season 16. The history of the challenge and Dewis' gravelly commentary add gravitas. But the entire film goes by so fast. It's longer than Evans' Zenos video or Harris' BMW M2 film, but at less than ten minutes, Reid and the SVR deserved more screen time. Extra Gear poured salt in that particular wound with a great segment featuring Norman Dewis that deserved to be in the main show. Reid takes the famed test driver for a spin around the Dunsfold track, then, instead of the comedian of the week, the hosts interview Dewis on Extra Gear's couch.

Rolls-Royce Alpine Centenary Ghost makes its first North American appearance

Rolls-Royce choose this year's Shanghai Motor Show as the occasion to show off its achingly cool Alpine Trial Centenary Edition Ghost, but The Quail was the site of the car's North American coming out party.
The one-off Rolls pays tribute to a heroic moment in the marque's history, when four 1913 Silver Ghosts, three factory cars and one privateer entry, successfully completed the 1,820-mile Austrian Alpine Trials. The privateer racer in question, James Radley, is the gentleman responsible for the pretty color combination you see on this new Ghost. Radley's blue bodywork over black wheels looked great in 1913 and haven't lost any luster 100 years on to our eyes.
You can revisit the details about this historically rooted Rolls-Royce in the press release below, or simply take a stroll through our fresh gallery of images from The Quail.

Rolls-Royce drops top for a new Dawn

Last summer Rolls-Royce confirmed it's been developing a new convertible, and now it has given that droptop a name: Dawn. Though Goodwood has not exactly been forthcoming with the details, the new Dawn is widely expected to serve as the convertible version of the Wraith fastback coupe. Its arrival would complete the expansion of the "entry level" Rolls-Royce family (if a relative term has ever been more so) alongside the Ghost, Ghost Extended Wheelbase, and the aforementioned Wraith to mirror that of the Phantom range above it. Now if you're thinking that the name Dawn doesn't convey the same supernatural "spirit" as the other nameplates in Goodwood's lineup, you're right. The press release below speaks of opportunity and the promise of a new day, and of course the name conveys as well the letting in of the sunshine (in this case) through its opening roof. But the handle also borrows from the company's considerable history. The original Silver Dawn was a highly exclusive cabriolet, of which Rolls only built 28 examples between 1950 and '54. It was the first Rolls-Royce to feature bodywork built in-house, and the company promises the new Dawn will offer extensive customization options as well. The Dawn has already been shown to dealers at a conference in LA, but we'll have to wait until early in the new year to see it for ourselves. Related Video: ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS ANNOUNCES A NEW DAWN FOR SUPER-LUXURY MOTORING 12 May 2015, Los Angeles, California Rolls-Royce Motor Cars today announced the name of its forthcoming new car. The new model, an exciting and sensuous drophead, will be known as Rolls-Royce Dawn. The car was unveiled to representatives of the marque's 130-strong global dealer network at the 2015 Rolls-Royce World Dealer Conference in Los Angeles, California today. "Our new Rolls-Royce Dawn promises a striking, seductive encounter like no other Rolls-Royce to date," said Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, Chief Executive Officer. "Dawn is a beautiful new open-top motor car with a name that suggests the fresh opportunities that every new day holds – an awakening, an opening up of one's senses and a burst of sunshine. It will be the most social of super-luxury motor cars for those beautiful people who wish to bathe in the sunlight of the world's social hotspots." Rolls-Royce Dawn is the next step in the renaissance of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars which began in 2003 with the launch of Phantom and subsequent introductions of Ghost and Wraith.