The Grand Tour

Former Stig Ben Collins Talks The American and Future of Top Gear

With The Grand Tour and Top Gear both existing in the same universe (the TV universe, that is), it is almost inevitable that comparisons will be made…sometimes by people involved on the shows. Former Stig Ben Collins has done such a thing.

A few days ago in The Sun, Ben Collins, the former “Sacked Stig,” offered his thoughts on a number of topics between the two shows:

What’s the Stig’s view of The Grand Tour?

“I’ve just watched it, it was really good and the images are fantastic. But there’s probably a few things they’ll adjust as they go.

It’s tight, twisty and I wasn’t blown away by it. Bless them, I thought the Ebola track was not quite in keeping with the rest of the show. Clarkson calls it the Eboladrome.

I think the track looks pretty basic. It’s tight, twisty and I wasn’t blown away by it.”

Regarding “The American” Mike Skinner: Who’s better, you or the American?

The American

“I could beat the American driver. Show me an F1 driver I couldn’t beat. He’s doing his best.

I could beat the American driver. We’ll have to arrange a duel. I’m sure they’ll be in touch if they want to do something funny like that.

I’m always up for it.”

Will Top Gear die?

“The brand’s so big they’ll find a way to innovate and come forward. Chris [Evans] has called it a day, so the show will evolve. It’s got a fantastic slot on BBC2 and the Worldwide footprint, The Stig and the heritage. It will take a long time to stamp out all the enthusiasm there is for Top Gear.

The figures they got weren’t far off where we started in 2002. You’ve got build from somewhere. Hopefully we’ll have two good car shows.”

I’m not a particularly huge fan of The American, but I have to admit the thought of Collins and Skinner duking it out on the Eboladrome sounds pretty damn cool.

Tony Hsieh

Cars, the Buffalo Bills, video games, comics, sandwiches, jelly beans, and the shooting star press; these are the things that Tony loves (in addition to his family, of course). When he's not spending his time writing tech reviews for theslanted.com, Tony puts his lifetime love of muscle cars to use on his 2015 Mustang GT. Tony's top three favorite cars are the 1973 Mustang Mach 1, Ferrari 458, and Aston Martin DBS.

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