''Top Gear'' is a British

automobile magazine ''Automobile'' was an American automobile magazine published by the Motor Trend Group. A group of former employees of '' Car and Driver'' led by David E. Davis founded ''Automobile'' in 1986 with support from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporatio ...

, owned by

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadca ...

, and published under contract by Immediate Media Company. It is named after the BBC's '' Top Gear'' television show. It was first published in October 1993 and is published monthly at a price of £5.99. As of December 2022 there have been a total of 360 issues published in the UK. The major presenters of the television series —

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes ''Top Gear'' and ''The Grand Tour'' alongside Rich ...

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme '' Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and ...

, and

James May James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter of the motoring programme ''Top Gear'' alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from 2003 until 2015. He also s ...

— were regular contributors, along with the series' production staff. "Tame racing driver"

The Stig The Stig is a character from the British motoring television show '' Top Gear''. Created by former ''Top Gear'' presenter Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman, the character is a play on the anonymity of racing drivers' full-face helmets, ...

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 150,000 copies distributed each month in 2012, a drop of 50,000 from 2007. Previous columnists have included former '' Top Gear'' presenters Quentin Willson,

Tiff Needell Timothy "Tiff" Needell (born 29 October 1951 in Havant, Hampshire) is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is a presenter of '' Lovecars'', and formerly served as co-presenter of '' Top Gear'' and '' Fifth Gear''. Biography ...

and Vicki Butler-Henderson. Licensed editions are also published in China, the Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Middle East (with localised versions for each of the Arab countries), Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa, Russia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Thailand, India, Belgium, Romania, Finland, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore. On September 2004, the Philippine edition was released. On 7 May 2007, it was released in Bulgaria, on 16 November 2007 in Italy, on 14 February 2008 in Poland. An Australian edition that ran from June 2008 to October 2015.https://www.businessinsider.com.au/its-the-end-for-topgear-australia-magazine-2015-8 'It's the end for TopGear Australia magazine' A Hong Kong Chinese edition was released in October 2008. A Turkish edition, called ''TopGear Turkey'' was released in May 2011. More recently, the Portuguese edition was released in June 2011. A German edition was released on 25 April 2013. 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. In April 2014 the first issue of the Croatian edition was released, and in May 2015, a French edition was launched. In April 2016, the Spanish version was launched, edited by

Axel Springer SE Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as '' Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and '' Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated t ...

. In May 2017, a Sri Lankan edition of the magazine was launched at an event held at the Taj Sumudra Hotel, Colombo. The English-language magazine is published by Capital Media Pvt (Ltd). In July 2019 ''TopGear India'' ceased publication, with the agreement between Worldwide Media Pvt. (WWM) ending.

Content

Current regular features include: * Drives (one large group test, plus tests of new vehicles) * Trending (new car news, faces and automotive culture) * * Columns (by Chris Harris, Paul Horrell and Sam Phillip) * Features (Larger, experiential stories) * Retro (Features of older and "youngtimer" cars and culture) * Garage (Lifer reports, longterm tests of cars run by the TopGear Magazine Staff) * Electric (A small list of Electric cars currently on sale in the UK. Feature introduced in the January 2021 issue replacing the Data segment of the magazine) * Exhaust (A brief history of a brand or a company starting with Audi. The segment was introduced in the same issue as the Electric segment which also replaced the Data feature in the magazine starting from the January 2021 issue) * Former content featured in the magazine * Data (A collection of specs and prices of most cars on sale in the UK. The last time that it was featured was in the 2020 awards issue in December and got replaced with the Electric and Exhaust segments of the magazine in the next issue in January 2021) *

Giveaways

''Top Gear Magazine'' has been known to give away a number of items free with the purchase of the magazine, including a number of promotional DVDs, books and CDs. The following is a comprehensive list of all of the items given away.

DVDs

* ''Back in the Fast Lane: Highlights from Series 1 and 2'' – Highlights of the DVD ''Back in the Fast Lane'' * ''The Best of Series Three and Four'' – Clips of challenges and reviews featured during series three and four * ''Aston Martin V8 and Jaguar XK at the Ring'' – Richard Hammond and

Sabine Schmitz Sabine Schmitz (; 14 May 1969 – 16 March 2021) was a German professional motor racing driver and television personality. Born in Adenau to a family in the hotel and catering business, and raised in one of the villages nestled within the Nür ...

race at the Nurburgring * ''The Best of Top Gear: Revved Up'' – Highlights of the DVD ''Revved Up'' * ''007: The Car Chases'' – Clarkson, Hammond and May pick their favourite James Bond car chases of all time * ''The Races'' – Three classic races broadcast during the first seven series of the show * ''The Best of the Challenges'' – Highlights of the DVD ''Top Gear: The Challenges'' * ''The Greatest Movie Chases Ever'' – Clarkson, Hammond and May pick eight of their favourite all time movie chases * ''Planes, Rockets and Automobiles'' – Highlights of the DVD ''Top Gear: The Challenges 2'' * ''The Best of the Stig'' – Challenges, power laps and reviews that feature The Stig * ''Duel: Behind the Scenes'' – Behind the scenes of Clarkson's latest Christmas DVD, ''Duel'' * ''Supercars'' – Challenges, power laps and reviews featuring some of the world's finest supercars * ''Cars With Soul'' – Challenges, power laps and reviews featuring cars that are special to Clarkson, Hammond and May * ''Senna'' – A DVD containing the show's tribute to Ayrton Senna, as well clips of the official ''Senna'' film

Books

* ''The Collected Thoughts of Clarkson'' – A collection of Clarkson's newspaper column writings * ''Never Played Golf'' – A second collection of Clarkson's newspaper column writings * ''The World's Worst 50 Cars'' – Clarkson's list of the world's worst fifty cars of all time * ''Clarkson on Cars'' – A sample from Clarkson's book first published in 1996 * ''Clarkson on Cars'' – A free copy of Clarkson's book published in 2004 * ''May on Motors'' – A free copy of May's book first published in 2006 * ''The Best of the Columns'' – A selection of editorials by Clarkson, Hammond and May from the magazine * ''100 Top Supercars'' – Clarkson, Hammond and May's comprehensive list of the best supercars

CDs

* ''The Jam Packed Top Gear Magazine CD-ROM'' – A CD rom containing ''Top Gear'' related content * ''Clarkson Rocks!'' – A compilation of ten top driving tracks, also given away free with ''The Sun'' in 2004

Car of the Year (UK)

* 1997: Ford Puma * 1998:

Ford Focus The Ford Focus is a compact car ( C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The ...

* 1999: Toyota Picnic * 2000: Fiat Multipla * 2001:

Ford Mondeo The Ford Mondeo is a large family car manufactured by Ford since 1993. The first Ford model declared as a " world car", the Mondeo was intended to consolidate several Ford model lines worldwide (the European Sierra, the Telstar in Asia and Aus ...

* 2002:

Range Rover Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to ...

* 2003: Jaguar XJ8 * 2004:

Nissan 350Z : The Nissan 350Z (known as Nissan Fairlady Z (Z33) in Japan) is a two-door, two-seater sports car that was manufactured by Nissan Motor Corporation from 2002 until 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car line. The 350Z entered pro ...

* 2005:

Toyota Aygo The Toyota Aygo is a city car ( A-segment) marketed by Toyota mainly in the European market between 2005 and 2021 across two generations. The Aygo was first displayed at the 2005 Geneva International Motor Show. It was built alongside the relat ...

Bugatti Veyron The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car, designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver ...

* 2006: Jaguar XK * 2007:

Subaru Legacy Outback ( or ; ) is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the twenty-first largest automaker by production worldwide in 2017. Subaru cars are k ...

and the

* 2008:

Volkswagen Scirocco The Volkswagen Scirocco is a three-door, front-engine, front-wheel-drive, sport compact hatchback manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen in two generations from 1974 to 1992 and a third generation from 2008 until 2017. Production ended without ...

* 2009: Ferrari 458 Italia * 2010: Citroën DS3 * 2011: Range Rover Evoque * 2012: Toyota GT86 * 2013: Ford Fiesta ST * 2014:

BMW i8 The BMW i8 is a plug-in hybrid sports car developed by BMW. The i8 was part of BMW's electrified fleet and was marketed under the BMW i sub-brand. The production version of the BMW i8 was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and was rel ...

* 2015: Ford Focus RS * 2016: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio * 2017: Honda Civic Type R * 2018: Ford Fiesta ST * 2019:

Porsche Taycan The Porsche Taycan is a battery electric saloon and shooting brake produced by German automobile manufacturer Porsche. The concept version of the Taycan, named the ''Porsche Mission E'', debuted at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. The Taycan wa ...

* 2020:

Land Rover Defender The Land Rover Defender (initially introduced as the Land Rover 110 / One Ten, and in 1984 joined by the Land Rover 90 / Ninety, plus the new, extra-length Land Rover 127 in 1985) is a series of British off-road cars and pickup trucks. They ...

* 2021: Hyundai i20N

Car of the decade (UK)

* 2000s:

, the award was also presented on ''Top Gear''

Supercar of the Year (UK)

* 2006:

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano (internal code F141) is a grand tourer produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari. It was the brand's front engined, two-seat model that replaced the 575M Maranello in 2006 as a 2007 model, and was replaced f ...

* 2007:

Nissan GT-R The Nissan GT-R (Japanese: 日産・GT-R, ''Nissan GT-R''), is a high-performance sports car and grand tourer produced by Nissan, unveiled in 2007. It is the successor to the Skyline GT-R, a high performance variant of the Nissan Skyline. ...

* 2008: Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 * 2009: Ferrari 458 Italia * 2010: Koenigsegg Agera * 2011: Lamborghini Aventador * 2012: Ferrari F12 Berlinetta * 2013: Ferrari 458 Speciale * 2014: Lamborghini Huracan * 2015:

Ferrari 488 GTB The Ferrari 488 (Type F142M) is a mid-engine sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari. The car replaced the 458, being the first mid-engine Ferrari to use a turbocharged V8 since the F40. It was succeeded by the Ferrar ...

* 2016:

McLaren 570GT McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formula ...

* 2017:

McLaren 720S The McLaren 720S is a Supercar designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive. It is the second all-new car in the McLaren ''Super Series'', replacing the 650S beginning in May 2017. The 720S was launched at the ...

* 2018: Ferrari 488 Pista

Men of the Year (UK)

* 2007:

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...

, Peter Roberts (Road pricing petitioner),

Colin Mcrae Colin Steele McRae, (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007) was a Scottish rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver and the youngest person to win the World Rally Championship ...

Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett (April 22, 1944 – September 3, 2007) was an American businessman and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer. He was the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon and in a fixed-wing aircraf ...

Dario Franchitti George Dario Marino Franchitti, MBE (born 19 May 1973) is a British former racing driver and current motorsport commentator from Scotland. He is a four time IndyCar Series champion (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), a three-time winner of the India ...

, Luca de Meo,

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Op ...

Michael Bay Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget, high-concept action films characterized by fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use o ...

. * 2010: Haruhiko Tanahashi, Sébastien Loeb, Ferdinand Piëch, Volker Mornhinweg, Ross Brawn,

Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super ...

, Mark Lloyd (British

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

designer). * 2011:

Adrian Newey Adrian Martin Newey, (born 26 December 1958) is a British Formula One engineer. He is currently the chief technical officer of the Red Bull Racing F1 team. Newey has worked in both Formula One and IndyCar racing as a race engineer, aerodynamic ...

Takanobu Ito is a Japanese senior business executive at Honda Motor Co. (joined in 1978), who has served as the President, Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer ...

, Peter Schreyer,

Victoria Beckham Victoria Caroline Beckham (; born 17 April 1974) is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. W ...

, Franco Cimatti,

Dario Benuzzi Dario Benuzzi (born January 1946) is an Italian test driver, best known for his employment at Ferrari, a manufacturer of sports cars in Italy. He has tested every production model following the Dino road cars as well as the company's Formula One ca ...

. * 2012:

Ranulph Fiennes Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes () and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records. Fiennes served in the ...

, Felix Baumgartner, Stefano Domenicali,

Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a w ...

, Sid Watkins,

Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing and rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test d ...

Alex Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and again ...

Ratan Tata Ratan Naval Tata, GBE (born 28 December 1937) is an Indian industrialist and former chairman of Tata Sons. He was also the chairman of the Tata Group from 1990 to 2012, serving also as interim chairman from October 2016 through February 201 ...

, Ian Callum, Martin Winterkorn.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Top Gear Magazine Automobile magazines published in Germany Automobile magazines published in the United Kingdom BBC publications Magazines established in 1993 Magazines published in London Magazine