If you happen to, like me, cherished Prime Gear, 2015 will ceaselessly reside in your reminiscence because the day the Prime Gear theme music died.
Fortunately, it didn’t take lengthy for Amazon to present us all hope that it wasn’t over when the notorious trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James Might signed a long-term, big-money cope with the corporate synonymous with questionable merchandise.
That deal led to the launch of Amazon Prime Video in Australia (and certainly, many components of the free world) and opened the door for Aussie automotive tragics to see extra of their favorite motoring presenters.
Say what you’ll about The Grand Tour, some find it irresistible, some hate it. The identical might be mentioned for Prime Gear. I’ll harbour no ill-will in the direction of these of you who don’t get a kick out of three idiots falling over and infrequently driving vehicles.
I, nevertheless, will ceaselessly think about September 13, 2024 as my equal of American Pie.
In fact, I don’t have a Chevy and I received’t be visiting any levees, however I will likely be taking a protracted, lengthy second when the credit roll on the final ever Clarkson, Hammond and Might motoring particular.
You see, I wouldn’t be right here, working at CarExpert, creating automotive video content material if it wasn’t for Prime Gear. I’m 33, which implies that for almost two-thirds of my life I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of watching regardless of the Prime Gear workforce expertly crafted and broadcast on tv.
It was 2006 after I first found the holy trinity of automotive journalists (apologies to our resident CarExpert journos). It was a barely older episode the place they raced an Aston Martin DB9 in opposition to the Eurostar from England to Monte Carlo. Man did that day set off a series response.
I used to be obsessed. And as I acquired older and extra into movie making, I began paying extra consideration to the manufacturing of the present. The best way it was shot, the enhancing methods, the colouring, the sound.
Sure on the floor it was a couple of middle-aged man sliding round a disused air base in an unique sports activities automotive, however scratch slightly deeper and it was a crew of masters perfecting their craft.
Prime Gear, and later The Grand Tour, pioneered quite a lot of unbelievable car-based filming methods – even influencing how some movies are shot today.
Absorb-car cameras. While the concept of a digital camera mounted inside a automotive might have been round for many years, they often required common stops to alter the movie inventory, or reset lighting or exchange the battery.
The BBC manufacturing workforce, led by Andy Wilman discovered new methods to mount tiny cameras on the windscreens of vehicles, even creating mounts, suction cup rigs and long run energy/recording methods to permit the lads to drive all day with out having to continuously fear about whether or not the digital camera was going to seize all the pieces.
They pioneered car-to-car filming, initially strapping a bloke and a digital camera into the again of a Vary Rover and later working with exterior corporations to develop smaller exterior mounting methods that can be utilized for prolonged intervals of time, quite than counting on the “conventional Hollywood” strategy of a Russian Arm.
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Credit score: Jacek Wyszynsk Images
Then there was the enhancing. The flexibility that Wilman, Clarkson and the post-production workforce needed to take tons of of hours of footage and switch it right into a humorous, charismatic and delightful piece of shifting artwork set a brand new customary inside the business – one which has arguably by no means been bettered.
I, together with dozens of different folks working within the automotive journalism business, owe our existence to those guys. The methods they developed and the types they pioneered are utilized by us each day.
The best way we mount cameras in vehicles, the positioning and lighting – all learnt from Prime Gear. The best way we movie vehicles driving previous digital camera, doing stunts and even highway journeys are all influenced by them.
While right here at CarExpert we have now moved away from the heavy storytelling type of video content material in an effort to assist folks purchase new vehicles, when given the chance, we’ll sneak one thing right into a video – particularly one thing that isn’t an everyday automotive evaluate.
We’ve all identified at the present time was coming for some time now. When the trio all began doing their very own intensive tasks it was obvious they had been seeking to put their automotive travels to mattress. I can’t blame the blokes, 22 years is a very long time in any job function, not to mention the type of workload that may include doing this job.
These adventures the place they spend per week or two within the wilderness to convey us 90 minutes of enjoyable, entertaining tv can be past intense. However they all the time current a wonderful, polished product, even when you don’t essentially benefit from the content material.
As I slowly settle for that I simply watched their final outing, I’ll bear in mind the nice occasions.
The Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust (higher identified a Geoff), the TG V12 practice, racing a Bugatti Veyron in opposition to a sluggish aircraft, racing a Veyron in opposition to a really quick aircraft, Hammond’s horrific rocket automotive accident, Michael Schumacher being “unveiled” as The Stig, the wonderful Senna mini documentary, Hammond crashing 1,000,000 greenback electrical automotive.
There’s additionally the unique Botswana Particular, the India and Vietnam and North Pole specials, constructing John and driving him throughout Mongolia and Jeremy Clarkson breaking down in tears within the Grand Tour tent after they introduced they received’t be internet hosting an audience-facing TV present any extra.
Attending to see them carry out Prime Gear Reside and the one-off Prime Gear Competition in Sydney nonetheless lives contemporary in my thoughts.
The issues these exhibits did over the previous 2 many years, the spinoffs they spawned, the popularity they’ve is what every other TV present may solely dream of. However on the finish of the day, they had been all the time only a “pokey little motoring present on BBC 2”. And that pokey little motoring present modified my world.
In order I sit in quiet contemplation, reliving the closing credit, the bridge of American Pie is enjoying in my head; “and the three males I admired probably the most, the daddy son and the holy ghost, they caught the final practice for the coast, the day the music died”.
In fact, our trio had much more profitable careers than Buddy Holly and his associates, plus Jezza, Hamster and Mr Slowly most definitely drove, however to not a coast (contemplating Zimbabwe is a land-locked nation). However take a second, hearth up your music participant of alternative and crank out “Jessica” by The Allman Brothers, for outdated occasions sake.
Like Prime Gear earlier than it, while The Grand Tour as a reputation may reside on, it should by no means be the identical with out our three anti-heroes. I think about Mr Wilman will likely be handing again his parking move too, as will massive swathes of the crew that adopted them from the BBC to Amazon.
This isn’t simply the top of the highway for Clarkson, Hammond and Might, it’s possible the top of the highway for the crew that introduced us all that pleasure for all these years.
For me, September 13, 2024 will ceaselessly reside as considered one of my most unhappy days… on this planet.