BBC Top Gear Magazine August 2024

@jack_rix @rixjack jack.rix@bbctopgearmagazine.com Welcome to issue two of the totally redesigned TopGear magazine. If you bought the last one and you’re still here, we must be doing something right. If you’re an occasional reader who’s parachuted in and landed on this page, let me explain why you need to stick around. I’ll be frank, buying a physical copy of TG these days is a luxury, a treat to feed your passion and buy yourself some time away from the onslaught of free digital content. It’s also a recognition of the stunning photography, the tone of the writing and the pacing of the different sections as you flick your way through on a carefully choreographed journey (unless, like me, you inexplicably read magazines back to front). Yes, a printed magazine is…

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“Ironically, the bus that was supposed to be left for dead saved my life,” says Fred Hayes about his Gulf liveried Type 2. Of course, you’ll have already noticed this isn’t a standard Bulli. Fred – nicknamed Lucky and a VW fan since his first car (a 1968 Beetle) caught fire and he managed to laugh it off – tells us that before it arrived at his door it was rotting away in the Oregon mountains. “A bunch of hippies decided to save it,” says Fred. “A tree had fallen on the middle of it, so they cut the centre section out and just welded it back together. That’s how it became a shorty bus. It then ended up in someone’s yard as a piece of art for 10 years…

AS YOU MAY HAVE GUESSED, THE Alpine A290 is the hot version of the new Renault 5. So it’s big on the retro touches: the ‘X’ motif spotlights, the creases in the bodywork that evoke the air intakes of the old mid-engined Renault 5 Turbo. Under that ‘wheel at each corner’ stance there’s a 52kWh battery mounted low in the usual ‘skateboard’ chassis fashion. It powers a front-mounted motor which offers 180bhp in the standard version or 220bhp in the GTS model, with up to 221lb ft. With 1,479kg to tug along, it’s a quick car, but far from an EV drag race champion. Alpine says you can expect 0–62mph in 6.4 seconds when deploying launch control, so it’s quick in a ‘we miss the Fiesta ST too’ kinda way.…

Olympic Games, Paris From 24 July you can watch, listen and read on BBC Sport to get your fix of archery through to wrestling, with a bit of judo and volleyball thrown in for good measure Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl It’s only 25secs long, but a teaser for the new movie (out for Christmas) reunites us with one of cinema’s most feared villains… FEATHERS McGRAW! The Bikeriders, Danny Lyon The book that inspired the film. Published in 1968, it documents the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club with firsthand accounts and super cool original B&W photos, taken while Lyon was a member The Formula One exhibiton Opens 23 August at London’s ExCeL. It promises to be an exhibition full of history, innovations and also 2024’s essential addition of the word…

THE GOOD Good looking carRobin Radford It looks heaps better than before. Much more subtle. Job well done BMWPeterson LOOKS GREAT IN SILVER. NICE UPGRADEPaul Stephen Nutter For me it looks good, at least they didn’t go and do something hideous like the new X2…Lorenzo Andrés Aguilar Looks good to me!Charles Bushe THE BAD BMW dropped the new KiaNikola Šoć What is that and why and how and noimola MY M135i HAD SIX CYLINDERS AND RWD. IT WAS A GREAT LITTLE CAR. THIS ISN’TMatt Sutherland Bloody awfulhazy leftie HOT HATCH? I’M NOT SURE IF IT’S HOT AT ALLLala Chan THE UGLY I love BMW but this looks like s**tBerat Kab That’s atrociousSimon Williams Another hideous example of poor designGrahame Turner BMW HAS RUINED A GREAT LITTLE HOT HATCHLenny Fokya This…