Tag Archives: Top Gear


From the archives


A Top Gear shoot from an early issue of the magazine in October 1997. Clarkson driving a Jaguar XJR…not fast. This was actually shot in his driveway, with the car doing about 5 mph and me walking beside the car with my trusty old Mamiya RB.

Jeremy Clarkson driving a Jaguar XJR

Lotus 49


Kimi Raikkonen’s win at the Australian GP yesterday got me thinking about the last win for Lotus in an F1 race. I was reminded about a victory in 2012. But before that you have to go back to 1987 and Ayrton Senna at Detroit. Nice to see this team with a competitive car again. I couldn’t resist going through my archives to find these images of a Lotus 49…the car driven by both Jim Clark and Graham Hill. This particular car was driven by Hill. They are stills from a Top Gear shoot in 1997, with Tiff Needell at Snetterton.

Graham Hill's Lotus 49, driven at Snetterton by Tiff Needell

Clip, judge and run


Strange how with the passage of time you start to look back with rose tinted spectacles. Three times over the last week I have had conversations about missing the routine of hanging round a film lab after a shoot. For me it was pretty much a daily occurrence, though at the time, I saw it as a real inconvenience. The last E6 film I had processed was on 21st December 2004. I remember the shoot vividly. A freezing cold day at the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold. Forward 24 hours and a phone call from my lab… “There’s a […]