A bunch of what are essentially gossip magazines in the UK have been reporting that Richard and James are threatening to leave the show if they don’t get a pay raise to match Jeremy’s pay. Unsurprisingly this is all a load of BS.

Andy does a good job of explaining the whole situation in his latest blog post:

Just for the record, Richard and James’s contracts are up soon – no big deal, contracts do end – and their agents are negotiating new ones.

They want an amount, the BBC wants to pay a different amount – again, no surprises there, that’s how business works every minute of every day – and there’ll be horse trading until a number is reached.

But let me also say Richard and James have never ever ever asked to be on equal pay to Jeremy. They are the first to admit that he came up with the new show, and that he does nothing but this show and is the engine room of it, whereas they, quite understandably, like to do other projects as well as Top Gear, and therefore the pay should reflect that.

He talks more about it as well as Sunday’s show, but I’ll let you read the rest of his post yourself.

Minor spoilers ahead, but stop here if you don’t want to know anything at all about the new season.

It seems quite a few people were confused by this Sunday’s episode description and thought that James May was being replaced by a new presenter. This is not the case.

James May will merely be introducing the new character (note that I said “character” and not “presenter”). The “steps aside” phrase just means he’s getting out of the way or whatever, not stepping down.

So calm down — Top Gear is Jeremy, Richard, James and I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon.

Sorry these weren’t up earlier. Been busy with the holidays.

Here’s the two shows that aired next to Top Gear last night:

• Richard.Hammond.Meets.Evel.Knievel.WS.PDTV.XviD-REMAX
• James.May.My.Sisters.Top.Toys.WS.PDTV.XviD-REMAX

Enjoy!

James May is already planning his next amphibious car.

I now realise that the ideal car for conversion to maritime duties is in fact the MGB roadster; not only that but, ideally, the one with the rubber bumpers, because they would float. The MGB looks a bit like a small motor launch, so we’re halfway there already.

Amphibious cars work very well in my head.

For those of us who just can’t get enough of Top Gear and it’s presenters, Jeremy, Richard, and James all have released new books for the fall.

Richard’s autobiography, entitled “On the Edge“, was co-written with his wife Mindy. It details his 288 MPH crash last year and his recovery from the accident. There’s also a really funny video preview of the book by Richard at Amazon.co.uk.

Or you can just watch it via YouTube:

Jeremy’s book, “Don’t Stop Me Now“, contains his latest collection of columns as well as a ton of other random stuff.

Lastly, James May’s 20th Century accompanies his recent television series which covered various inventions and discoveries made over the past century.

[Via TopGear.com]

James was in Second Life earlier today as a part of a promotion for Sky News. While there, he answered some questions, including one asking how many episodes would be in the upcoming season. His response? Ten!

There’s a streaming video replay available on Sky News’ website, as well as some screenshots on our forums.

That’s right, those lucky bastards down in Australia are going to be able to see the MPH show themselves, a car show / live Top Gear thingy hosted by Clarkson, Richard, and James reports GoAuto.com.au. It will be sometime within the next 18 months according to the article.

James May has a new TV show called “James May’s 20th Century” currently airing on Tuesdays at 8 PM. Here’s a small preview:

Looks pretty interesting and we’ll hopefully be posting links to torrents in our forums’ video offers area if rips become available. Discussion here.

Via: Jalopnik

For those who can’t wait another 8.25 hours, here’s the James May Top Gear trailer in high quality, once again thanks to danbarnesdavies.

We also have a high quality version of the Clarkson trailer that was previously posted in poor YouTube quality.

You can also download both trailers if you wish.

Clarkson and May have both written new articles at TopGear.com about Hammond. Both are very excellent reads and Clarkson even mentions some of the stuff coming up in this new season:

And in the series currently sitting on the shelves waiting for Richard to be better, we have tested tractors, built our own stretched limos, and repaired a stretch of road in Warwickshire.

Clarkson’s article can be found here and May’s article can be found here. I recommend you read both.