Don’t read this if you’re at work. No really, I’m not kidding. Go and look at some car reviews or something instead. You’ll only regret it if you carry on, ‘cos you won’t be able to spare the time to make the most of it. If you’re not in the office though, then fill your boots.
The BBC have just done something so utterly brilliant that I can’t quite get my head around it. And I’m not just saying that because I work for Auntie, but because I’m a geeky F1 fan and now have lots of good stuff to watch.
Over on the BBC Sport blog site, they were running a competition of sorts for which you got to choose the winner. The idea was to get you to vote for your favourite classic Australian GP in the run up to this weekend, and they’d show clips from the race that won.
Only they haven’t done that. What they’ve done instead is to show full extended highlights from the races in question – 1994 and 1986 are the winners – with five minute clips of those two plus the runner-up races – 1991, 1996 and 2007.
But the best thing about it all, is that if you’ve got Freeview, digital or cable, then you’ll be able to watch the extended highlights on your telly via the red button.
Now that is good news.
Unless you didn’t heed my advice, are at work and have read this. Now you’re going to have to find about two free hours in your day when your boss can’t see your screen.
Briliant.Very clever
I’m gutted that this isn’t available in Ireland, will have to check the satellite and see if I can watch it. Why can’t you watch BBC clips outside of the UK or use iPlayer? I know it’s something to do with the licensing but it sucks.
lol at lest some history is cool
The BBC is fantastic. Been watching these all day and its fantastic to be able to watch these fantastic races in high quality with the original commentary, rather than dodgy grainy uploads on YouTube which have patchy sound.
The next step is to play the full extended highlights for all 5 of the ‘classic races.’ It will be a little dull showing highlights from past races in Malaysia, China etc but imagine when it gets to Monaco, Spa, Monza…Epic.
test
Also not available in North America–like most of the videos on Topgear.com. AHEM!
Any one know where we can view these in the states?
Yes… why cant we watch TopGear videos in yankee town? I know we have our own website but the American one is sooo passe. The only reason anyone would go there is if you were either dead or daft to not have been up to date with the show. So please i urge you to help us folk out here keep abreast,and dwell in the happiness of the website as well.
Same for good old Holland accross the canal!
This is 2009, BBC is being watched all over the place, not only the UK!
Will someone please mirror these videos on YouTube so people in the former colonies can watch them??
this is a big bummer
dammit, sometimes i wish the US was still part of the UK so we could watch these….
I do love car races, unusual for a girl. But I find car fans, are very nice people. And I do love the hamster!!!
What brilliant footage! And no James Allen… Fantastic! It reminds you of the days when racing drivers were proper men. Brundle running back to the pits to get in his spare car after his huge crash! Haha
there playing it on free-view channel 301 all day
Just watched them. A reminder of how F1 developed from turbos back to V12s and V10s, manual boxes to paddle shift and 100mph+ in the pit lane! What was most interesting was the in car footage of Dumfries in ‘86. It gave you a real feel for how the car was behaving and the buffeting the driver gets. In car footage these days just looks too serene.
Yep, it certainly does… they just sit there, bob their head occasionally and press a few buttons. I want to see them thumping the gears home and pressing a clutch with their foot! Hopefully F1 will be a bit more back to basics this year.
What’s this bollocks with not being able to watch this stuff in Spain. I’m getting sick of this garbage! Can’t see the latest TG clips, can’t see anything from Hulu and now this? This is just the urine on my night.
Sigh… What’s the problem with making these videos available to those who do not live in England? For shame…
I was about to ask the same question. What a shame!
Seriously guys, in this day and age do you really believe that blocking views from outside of the U.K will in any way stop us from seeing all the footage or the clips on this side??
The only thing you can actually accomplish with that is to irritate us and maybe drive some people away from topgear.com or from the BBC.
This is a global world and Top Gear is a global phenomenon. Why on earth would you prefer that we download top gear episodes on torrent sites or watch them on youtube instead of being able to do that on your website? I really don’t get what you are trying to achieve…
And I totally agree with BumbleBee above: what is the point of the US topgear site? Everything there is incredibly outdated….
It’s rights issues guys. Cut them some slack. Their hands are tied. Go complain to Bernie etc…
As expected, no can do from Brazil either…Utter nonsense as I really can’t imagine what harm I would cause if could watch.
You want to view the stuff? Go sign up for a VPN that can give you a UK IP address. It’s about $10 a month. Well worth it for the BBC.
What is more amusing about trying to play the videos from overseas is that some of the links on the right will play.
I also like how people are abusing the Top Gear website when the videos are on the BBC news website.
To all the guys and girls out there in not UK, you do know there are web sites that will allow you to go through another server with the IP from a country of your choice, right?
Just FYI…….
That’s fantastic – just read that post when I came online at about 9ish and have spent the last hour or so watching it on TV. You can’t beat watching it in high quality with the original commentary – definitely think the 1994 race was the best, you’ve got to feel for Damon Hill after watching that.
For those complaining about being unable to watch it abroad, the BBC aren’t blocking the F1 footage just for the sake of it – they will only have the rights to broadcast past F1 footage in Great Britain.
For all the foreigners complaining about the lack of available topgear clips I have two words “You tube”
http://www.youtube.com/
I have two further words “Licence Fee”.
I can think of at least five US websites off the top of my head which do not stream to the UK.
Well said Speedmarque, I pay my licence fee and live in the UK so can watch what I want. I can think of so many sites from the US that won’t let stream to the UK.
To all those people who are outside the UK, just use YouTube and shut up complaining to Top Gear and the BBC!! The BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation, I think the important word there is BRITISH! I don’t go complaining that I can’t stream things from the US as I know it’s not their fault.
How ironic, I just clicked on a video posted by the Universal Music Group on YouTube: “this video is not available in your country”
A new website to add to that list then….
Monaco 1996 please!
this is kinda off the point nut are they going to have those in helmet cameras this year like the one they tested on coultard in brazil??
speaking of cameras, i hope they come up with a way of mounting one so that it gets a view of the front wing when a driver adjusts it’s angle. i know they’ll only be moving them a total of 6 degrees twice per lap (so i’m guessing “flatten” them out 3 degrees at the start of the main straight, then back up 3 degrees under braking as they make their way to the twisty bits), but it would still be cool to watch for the eagle-eyed viewer.
or maybe, in the same way they mark the softer of the two tire compounds, they should put some sort of LED setup on the wings so the viewers know when they are moving, in case the small increments that they’ll be adjusted would be too hard too see.
as always, pardon the typos!
I am British and when in the UK pay my TV license, but when i am away i can’t watch all this content!! GGGGGRRRRRR
You should be able to get a log in when you get your license!
I have paid for this stuff i want to see it.
Lovin the old races on 301 been watching them all day! shame Hill didnt win in 94, that was a bad move by Schumacher but everyone knows deep down what a dirty cheater he was. Wicked coverage from 1986 as well lovin the nigel mansell fights, for all the moaners overseas youtube is the way to go! just type in what race you want and u can watch it… and if u google some youtube catcher sites u can download the videos off there.. simple really u just gotta know
I am in Latvia, not at work, and this video “is not available in my area” just like most of the videos here on Top Gear. Maybe somebody can explain the reason for all these location restrictions?
There is reason to watch old F1 its better…the new season is upon us and the F1 team have obviously be practiceing in the snow! Spectator sports in the snow are limited as it is too cold to watch outside. So F1 is a spectator sport so Y O Y have we got cars that look like prams with a snow shovel on the front. Get a grip with the rules these things look UGLY. I think we should get looking at the JPS lotus and classic GP racing. MAX and Burnie are haveing a little joke! But may be not after a corner or 3 the halve of the front wing will be there for the marchals to take home or turn into a TG sofa. And the Front ends will look like something from the skirted area! Please do not let me be alone in condemnation of these silly machines!
TEAM BRAWN!!!
great clips,keep them on the site forever!,and do the same for some other races as well,1986 my favourite,the cars look and sound great,the sparks,prost’s great driving and mansell’s blow out,wow!,bbc you are legends!,1996 and 1994 pretty good as well!
I recommend, you use the very mechanism that keeps us “abroad” away from the clips, to keep us away from those enthusiastic news… (and keep you from those complaints).
is the fia untouchable???? ive tried to contact them regarding the lewis hamilton situation in melbourne yet my email was returned with a deamon failure ….. i strongly believe they are racist ….. schue got away with everything but because he was ferrari nothing was done
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