Top Gear (magazine)

This article is about the magazine. For other uses of Top Gear, see Top Gear (disambiguation)

Top Gear is an automobile magazine published by BBC Worldwide, and named after the BBC's Top Gear television show. It was first published in October 1993 and is published monthly at a price of £3.95. The major presenters of the television series—Richard Hammond, James May and Jeremy Clarkson—are regular contributors, along with the series' production staff. Tame racing driver The Stig also regularly features in their car tests, though only communicates his thoughts and feelings through the articles of others.

It is Britain's leading general interest car magazine in sales terms, with over 200,000 issues sold a month (July–December 2007).^[1]

Licensed editions are also published in China, the Czech Republic, Greece, the Middle East (with localized versions for each of the Arab countries), the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Russia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Thailand, India, Romania, Sweden, Malaysia^[2] (through Astro), and Singapore. On 7 May 2007, it was released in Bulgaria, on 16 November 2007 in Italy, on 14 February 2008 in Poland. An Australian edition was brought out in June 2008. A Hong Kong Chinese edition was released in October 2008. More recently, a Portuguese was released in June 2011.

After a year, the Polish edition is the third largest market, after the British and Russian editions.

In January 2010, Top Gear magazine released its 200th edition, and a free 'best of TopGear magazine' supplement was included.

Content

Current regular features include:

• Drives (tests of new cars)
• The News (new concept cars)
• Planet Top Gear (Letters and comments from fans)
• The Boys (Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May columns)
• Also columns by Paul Horrell, Jon Claydon and Pat Devereux (front end)
• Major car tests such as a group of executive saloons.
• New car guides
• "The Grid" (20 brief summaries of the best and worst motoring-based news stories of the month)
• Motorworld, involving an automotive related subject and humorous stories relating to it. (Also part of Front End)
• 'The Campaign For Real Racing Cars', on the very last page, where a particularly powerful or successful racing car is highlighted and the history briefly outlined. (Otherwise known as "Petrol—breakfast of champions")

Giveaways

Top Gear magazine has known to giveaway a number of items free with the purchase of the magazine, including:

• 12 Highlights DVDs, running 33–60 minutes. (consisting of Back In The Fast Lane: Highlights From Series 1 & 2, The Best Of Series Three And Four, The Best Of Top Gear Revved Up, Aston Martin V8 & Jaguar XK At The Ring, 007: The Car Chases, The Races, The Best Of The Challenges, The Greatest Movie Chases Ever, Planes, Rockets & Automobiles, The Best Of The Stig, Jeremy Clarkson Duel, Supercars).
• 6 Books / Magazines. (consisting of the collected thoughts of Clarkson, Clarkson: Never Played Golf, Clarkson—The World's Worst 50 Cars, Clarkson On Cars (a sample from his book published in 1996), Clarkson On Cars (a free copy of his book published in 2004), May on Motors), The Best Of The Columns, a selection of editorials by Clarkson, Hammond and May.
• 2 CD / CD Roms. (The Jam Packed Top Gear Magazine CD-ROM), Clarkson Rocks! (also given away free with The Sun in 2004)
• Toys (three editions of the "Cool Wall", from 2007, 2008 and 2009. Magnets for your fridge), and a "Write Your Own Clarkson Review" fridge magnet.
• Calendars (currently given away free in the magazine's January issues).

These can be purchased from the Top Gear magazine back issue ordering service.

Car of the Year

• 2004: Nissan 350Z
• 2005: Toyota Aygo & Bugatti Veyron
• 2006: Jaguar XK
• 2007: Subaru Legacy Outback/Ford Mondeo
• 2008: Volkswagen Scirocco
• 2009: Ferrari 458 Italia
• 2010: Citroën DS3

Supercar of the Year

• 2006: Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
• 2007: Nissan GT-R
• 2008: Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
• 2009: Ferrari 458 Italia
• 2010: Koenigsegg Agera

Car of the decade

• 2010: Bugatti Veyron, the award was also presented on Top Gear

Men of the Year

• 2007: Lewis Hamilton, Peter Roberts (Road pricing petitioner), Colin Mcrae, Steve Fossett, Dario Franchitti, Luca De Meo, Angela Merkel, Michael Bay.
• 2009: Haruhiko Tanahashi, Sébastien Loeb, Ferdinand Piëch, Volker Mornhinweg, Ross Brawn, Jenson Button, Mark Lloyd (British Citroën designer).

References

1. ^ Audit Bureau of Circulations
2. ^ http://www.astro.com.my/topgear/

Top Gear: Turbo Challenge A children's partwork based on Top Gear.

External links

• Top Gear website
• Magazine website
• Official BBC website