BBC Top Gear Filming (TVR factory Blackpool)

[Tomaselli]

At short notice a few weeks ago a call was received from the research department from the BBC Top Gear team that they were shooting with Clarkson, May & Hammond a "British Sports Car" theme at the now defunct TVR factory at Blackpool, Lancashire. The idea was for the threesome between them to use an old Lotus, Jensen & TVR convertible to tour all the now old manufacturers sites across England and they would all then meet up at TVR in Blackpool for the grand finale to film a bunch of old British sports cars in recognition of a once thriving old and vibrant industry. Not letting the marque down I agreed to get my Tiger on the shoot and so on a typical very wet cold day in the week I arranged to trailer the car to meet a couple of dozen other classics.

With an early start to position the cars at the old factory the waiting commenced and whilst we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the world famous Top Gear presenters doing their bit the cameramen naturally waited to the very end of the day to catch the optimum lighting and the cars (which of course are the real stars) were filmed in all their glory. The backdrop of the old factory floor still evident with the old tooling really did catch the mood where 40+ cars a week were produced in its heyday.

The top Gear show will be shown later this year and with a bit of luck there will be a Tiger at the front of the pack

Lots of hanging around so took lots of pics and thought I would share ;








































































Clarkson current runaround a Bentley SuperSport!!





















































Thanks to Nick Shaw and Dean McGee for giving me support on the day

[garyv8tiger]

did u not have time to clean it? series 2 looks nice whos was that,your car looks low at the front have you got hydraulics,

[michael-king]

The MKII is just stunning.. though i had to say the same thing.. very low at the front.. or high at the back? Also.. you delted the black sills.. dont blame you for not putting on the go faster stickers though..

[garyv8tiger]

quite funny that he said the other day he was going to put the stickers on it,its only actualy 20mm lower at the front than my mk2 ,i think the fact he has a very low profile on the front makes it look lower .i was out in it b4 had to slow down to 60mph to go over speed bumps because its so low.photos look spot on with tts new lense,

[lovejoy]

Good God ! that Mk 11 is just absolutely incredible, I can see why your camera lens was reluctant to pull away from it !!! Nice one, cheers.

[Mal]

There seems to be some favoritisim here, and so there should be. Nice MKII. Nice Alpine as well. All the cars there are very nice.

[Tomaselli]

your car looks low at the front have you got hydraulics

say the same thing.. very low at the front.

You are right the car is noticeably lower at the front end, and that was really pretty much by accident. I wanted to order tyres that would fit the offsets on the LAT alloys without bulging out of the arches and the correct width only came in that lower "55" profile which makes the car clearly sits lower - but in a funny way I actually quite like the look. I may change to larger profile if I can find the correct tyres which I believe are no longer currently available.

There seems to be some favoritisim here

Indeed, was trying a new lens on my camera and it's quite difficult getting the sharpness of the image using indoor ordinary lighting so hence the many pics as I was experimenting - sorry

[SUNTIGER1965]

''''Indeed, was trying a new lens on my camera and it's quite difficult getting the sharpness of the image using indoor ordinary lighting so hence the many pics as I was experimenting - sorry '''''

Tony pics look great .........quality!!!!!!!!!!!! and the car gleams as well..

(Ill pop over soon in the Ultima..and definately see u at dads picnic day if you want to bring some tigers up.....hint hint!!!!!! Dom

[odl21]

what lens tony?

you could try lowering the back with lowering blocks. i did that on mine as i had a similar issue when using drop spindles and brand new rear springs.

[Tomaselli]

This Sunday (1st Aug) it’s the final show of the new series and the Top Gear trio are out and about yet again. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May buy old British roadsters from Jensen-Healey, Lotus and TVR before taking a reflective journey through the remnants of this country’s sports car industry, starting in Norfolk and ending up at the mothballed TVR factory in Blackpool.

Just had a notification from the BBC that this Sunday will be the episode where they will broadcast the recording of the "British Sports Car" piece culminating with the filming of the cars. Hopefully, there may be some footage of the Tiger - but I suspect it will be brief, but sure it will prove entertaining

For those unable to tune in, I am sure you will be able to see the full episode on the BBC iPlayer website after the show.

[gtsmrt]

Great to see two beautiful looking Rootes cars in the line up and good on ya Top Gear for showing where it all used to happen. Hopefully they will show it in OZ very soon.

Regards, Robin.

[michael-king]

Great to see two beautiful looking Rootes cars in the line up and good on ya Top Gear for showing where it all used to happen. Hopefully they will show it in OZ very soon.

Regards, Robin.

will be on CH9 in 6 weeks

[gtsmrt]

Great to see two beautiful looking Rootes cars in the line up and good on ya Top Gear for showing where it all used to happen. Hopefully they will show it in OZ very soon.

Regards, Robin.

will be on CH9 in 6 weeks

I'll be there!!

[gvickery]

TG has a too frequent habit of disappearing up its production fundiment (apols for the wording) and 'some might say' the jury is still out as to whether the Lads are led by the writers or vice versa...BUT the last episode was absolutely brilliant!

The Beeb blurb doesn't look too inviting: Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz attempt to set lap times around the Top Gear test track as the Stars in a Reasonably Priced Car. Plus, Richard Hammond is in Sweden for a race against some hardcore snowmobilers, James May attempts to break his personal speed record in a brand new, even more powerful version of the amazing Bugatti Veyron and, in the year that legendary F1 star Ayrton Senna would have turned 50, Jeremy Clarkson finds out why he's still considered the best driver of his generation.

Captain Slow in the Veyron is something else, Hammond driving 'The Dakar' winning VW Touareg against kid snow mobilers in Sweden is edge of the seat stuff and JC's eulogy to Ayrton Senna is revealing and dignified, even the Hollywood 'A' listers did the business in the SIARPC slot...a complete cracker.

Graham
STOC Editor

[michael-king]

Graham,

I thought not a bad episode, the senna tribute would have been better if they didnt keep using the same footage.

With season 15 i think episodes 2 and 3 have been the better ones..