BBC Top Gear Magazine October 2021

@jack_rix editor@bbctopgearmagazine.com My wife has a problem. Well, two if you count me. She finds ordering at a restaurant disproportionately stressful and will often change her mind at the very last moment, just before our waiter falls asleep standing up, to go for the same thing as me. I’m flattered if I’m honest, what do I care if she wants the gnocchi too? And I get it, there’s safety in numbers, comfort in following the herd, solace in knowing that if you’ve made a terrible decision you’re not the only one who’s going to look like an idiot. And so it is with cars, where being a bestseller perpetuates bestseller status. How else can you explain the Vauxhall Corsa being near the top of the sale charts for decades, despite wild fluctuations in…

JACK RIX EDITOR HEAD OF CAR TESTING Oliver Marriage ASSOCIATE EDITOR Tom Ford CONSULTANT EDITOR Paul Horrell EDITOR AT LARGE Jason Barlow US CORRESPONDENT Pat Devereux SENIOR ROAD TEST EDITOR Ollie Kew STAFF WRITER Tom Harrison EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Greg Potts BRAND MANAGING EDITOR Esther Neve HEAD OF COMMERCIAL CONTENT Chris Mooney EDITOR, TOPGEAR.COM Vijay Pattni DEPUTY EDITOR, TOPGEAR.COM Stephen Dobie DIGITAL EDITOR AT LARGE Rowan Horncastle SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Simon Bond SUB-EDITORS Sam Burnett, Peter Rawlins ART TEAM CREATIVE DIRECTOR Andy Franklin ART EDITOR Elliott Webb CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Mike Channell, Chris Harris, Richard Holt, Sam Philip CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Lee Brimble, Mark Fagelson, Jonny Fleetwood, Wilson Hennessy, Rowan Horncastle, Alex Howe, Jamie Lipman, Richard Pardon, Mark Riccioni, Philipp Rupprecht, John Wycherley ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Jason Elson HEAD OF PARTNERSHIPS Phil Holland GROUP TRADING HEAD Dan Hellens BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Liam Kennedy SENIOR X-MEDIA SALES EXECUTIVES Kit Brough, Lindsey Dobson REGIONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Richard Burns CLASSIFIED SALES EXECUTIVE Jack Kinnaird INSERTS EXECUTIVE James…

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Porsche is planning on its own customer electric race series from 2025. And this is the concept for the car: the Mission R. Well, you might have expected as much from the makers of the Taycan, competitor in Formula E and LMP1 hybrids. The Mission R makes no excuses. No need for short races, or battery swaps. They say it’ll do the equivalent length race to a 911 Carrera Cup round, which is 30 or 40 minutes depending on the type of circuit. And the lap times will be faster, matching the current 911 GT3 Cup. They won’t spend long plugged in in the pitlane. Battery recharge time to 80 per cent is just 15 minutes, using a special 350kW charge unit each team would take to the track. That’s basically a…

What we’re watching/listening/doing, while we should be working No Time To Die Finally, no really, finally. Bond returns 30 September in the UK. A wait that has been excruciating for 007 fans. You’ve all bought your TG Bond Cars book in the meantime though, right? Foo Fighters @ The Hammers Tickets have gone on sale for the return of the Foos to the London stadium in June 2022. Moyes on backing vocals? TopGear magazine fix You can download the latest edition and back issues direct to your phone or tablet from the App Store. Because when life gives you lemons… settle in and read TG Schumacher, Netflix Released 15 September, this documentary about Michael promises to show an intimate view of the icon rarely seen. Rejected titles may include I Am Legend and The Red Schus Candyman Slasher-horror gets a…

Consider, just for a moment, the sheer number of people involved in getting a new car from drawing board to the road. Engineers, designers, accountants, technicians: hundreds of lavishly qualified, lavishly skilled humans, doubtless educated at the globe’s finest institutions, bringing literally centuries of combined experience to the table. Consider, as that new car makes its slow journey to production, how many meetings must take place to ensure that what’s being created is a fine, desirable, competent motor vehicle, and not, for example, a gurning, wallowing abomination of an SUV bearing the face of a beaver deeply shamed by his new moustache. Consider how many opportunities exist for any one of those qualified, talented employees to say, “Um, hang on a second guys. Is it possible we’re making an utter cowpat…