Jeremy, Richard, and James were interviewed for Australia’s 60 Minutes show recently and here’s the video. It’s a surprisingly interesting look at behind the scenes of the show.

Here’s episode 3. Episodes one and two are also available.

And as usual, no rip of Top Gear Australia quite yet, so please be patient.

EDIT: This was the final episode of the three-part series.

Since last week’s episode was so good I thought I’d continue torrenting the show for you all.

Top Gear Australia isn’t out yet, but we’ll have a torrent for you when it is.

James May has a new show called James May’s Big Ideas. The first episode aired today and I thought I’d torrent it up for you all that are outside of the UK like I am. You can download it on Mininova.

In the first of a new series James May travels the globe in search of his ultimate flying machine. He begins by heading into the frozen wastes of Russia to pilot one of the best kept secrets of the Cold War, then James heads to the US to fly the world’s only surviving flying car.

In Japan he watches a man struggle with his tiny chopper, before returning to the suburban gardens of Sussex where James turns himself into a human rocket – all in pursuit of finding a better way to get from A to B.

Finally, in California, James encounters his ultimate dream – a flying car capable of vertical take off, and one so simple that anyone can pilot it, but is the world ready for a flying car?

Forum member robybobey was driving around his town this morning when he spotted James May and Oz Clarke filming a segment for their Oz and James’s Big Wine Adventure TV show.

robybobey managed to get a few moments of James’ time and asked him a few questions. James responded to the false rumors that he was leaving or that he was getting a huge pay raise. He also surprisingly mentioned that he does visit this site from time to time and that he appreciates our criticisms and feedback.

Video of the short interview is here (robybobey had to reask his questions as he didn’t have his camera out the first time around):

Pretty awesome. Major thanks to James for being so cool as well as robybobey for posting the great video!

Adam spent the first 15 minutes of his show this morning talking about the filming of the American version of Top Gear. He covers some things we already knew such as who the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car was, but he also talked about some behind the scenes stuff. Pretty interesting and worth a listen.

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.