Race around the world
Discussion
llewop said:
Tend to agree; being in a single country that is largely English speaking does massively reduce the jeopardy, as does the largely linear route options; one road in, one road out...
But perhaps the producers just wanted to 'get back out there' with a relatively straight forward race/logistics?
Regarding other routes: As you say, difficult to see where else they can go, at least, without retracing part of a previous route: UK/europe start to somewhere in the far east would be S1 again, a lap of the med would have some of the dodgy bits of Africa!
Shame it was the brothers that were last; they actually seemed to be making progress with each other.
Plenty of parts of Europe that they could criss-cross in future episodes. But perhaps the producers just wanted to 'get back out there' with a relatively straight forward race/logistics?
Regarding other routes: As you say, difficult to see where else they can go, at least, without retracing part of a previous route: UK/europe start to somewhere in the far east would be S1 again, a lap of the med would have some of the dodgy bits of Africa!
Shame it was the brothers that were last; they actually seemed to be making progress with each other.
Not sorry to see the brothers eliminated, it's a race and they seemed to have less determination than the others.
willy wombat said:
Would it not be possible for a team to buy a car for, say, £1500 to do the sections where there is no public transport and then sell it again, or is this against the rules? It would surely be cheaper than hire cars, taxis etc.
I suspect that’s in the ‘things we’re not allowed to do list’ I had thought that it was a license/insurance issue but there’s been plenty of self driving in this series.
My two main observations from last night…always thought RVs were ridiculous, not in Canada! And Canadians really are as nice as all the stereotypes say, can you imagine lending some random your car to drive the length of the UK?
llewop said:
Regarding other routes: As you say, difficult to see where else they can go, at least, without retracing part of a previous route: UK/europe start to somewhere in the far east would be S1 again, a lap of the med would have some of the dodgy bits of Africa!
San Diego to Bangor Maine would fall into the English speaking trap again, but nonetheless would make for an interesting travelogue.The vastness of Canada and the stunning scenery, so far, has made this series more enjoyable than earlier ones.
I'm not surprised the brothers were eliminated first, They seemed to be taking a casual approach to the race and appeared more intent on mending the fractured relationship between themselves rather than trying to win the contest. All the other teams were desperately trying to get to the checkpoints first. I'm not sure if I missed something earlier in the series but is one of the two ladies in the race blind or going blind? I think I saw her with a white stick in one clip and she doesn't appear to be doing any driving.
CooperD said:
I'm not surprised the brothers were eliminated first, They seemed to be taking a casual approach to the race and appeared more intent on mending the fractured relationship between themselves rather than trying to win the contest. All the other teams were desperately trying to get to the checkpoints first. I'm not sure if I missed something earlier in the series but is one of the two ladies in the race blind or going blind? I think I saw her with a white stick in one clip and she doesn't appear to be doing any driving.
Yes, sadly Cathie is losing her sight. nicanary said:
What a MASSIVE country! Drives between two towns take two days, with almost nothing in between. It makes British people realise how small our country is.
Agreed.Amazing to think that just hitching a lift may be for 500 miles or so - with little along the way. Their equivalent of AA/RAC must cover a good distance!
rdjohn said:
San Diego to Bangor Maine would fall into the English speaking trap again, but nonetheless would make for an interesting travelogue.
I’m not sure another English speaking country, particularly America, would be as good.My better half had an interesting plan for another series of it, fixed budget, same rules, 80 days, have to start and finish at the same point (London?) visit as many countries as possible.
MiniMan64 said:
I’m not sure another English speaking country, particularly America, would be as good.
My better half had an interesting plan for another series of it, fixed budget, same rules, 80 days, have to start and finish at the same point (London?) visit as many countries as possible.
Countries to tot up volumes quickly.... .Monaco, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Jersey, San Marino, The Vatican .....etc My better half had an interesting plan for another series of it, fixed budget, same rules, 80 days, have to start and finish at the same point (London?) visit as many countries as possible.
Vasco said:
MiniMan64 said:
I’m not sure another English speaking country, particularly America, would be as good.
My better half had an interesting plan for another series of it, fixed budget, same rules, 80 days, have to start and finish at the same point (London?) visit as many countries as possible.
Countries to tot up volumes quickly.... .Monaco, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Jersey, San Marino, The Vatican .....etc My better half had an interesting plan for another series of it, fixed budget, same rules, 80 days, have to start and finish at the same point (London?) visit as many countries as possible.
It would only work if the contestants had no idea that was what they had to do until they read the brief on the start line.
I guess the main issue is that the checkpoints seem to be designed to keep teams vaguely on a similar path (with a reasonable chance of some crossover), which in theory keeps the race aspect of it interesting and easy to follow.
Given the suspect editing of this series so far I'd be worried about them introducing forced drama to keep the tension up. Top Gear were very good at this with their cross-country races, make it look tense to the last second and then oh look, he actually won by 45 minutes.
How about the north tip of New Zealand, via the Southern tip and then various checkpoints east to west across the whole of Australia? Brutal.
I guess the main issue is that the checkpoints seem to be designed to keep teams vaguely on a similar path (with a reasonable chance of some crossover), which in theory keeps the race aspect of it interesting and easy to follow.
Given the suspect editing of this series so far I'd be worried about them introducing forced drama to keep the tension up. Top Gear were very good at this with their cross-country races, make it look tense to the last second and then oh look, he actually won by 45 minutes.
How about the north tip of New Zealand, via the Southern tip and then various checkpoints east to west across the whole of Australia? Brutal.
greygoose said:
Enjoying the scenery in this series, Canadians do seem a kind bunch too.
I should imagine they consider us "cousins", probably more than the Australians do. The King is still Head of State. They are extremely proud of their democracy - IIRC (and I may be a bit wrong) they declared war on Germany in both major conflicts of their own accord, and not by influence from the UK.Makes them top folks in my book.
I'm enjoying the show, it's still good watching but something doesn't feel right compared to the past two seasons. I'm not sure what it is, a little too much editing out of certain things (why not make it a few episodes longer?), The 'jobs' seem a little more set up this time, whereas previously they had a little more selection on what they could do.
Not sure how I feel about the elimination, the previous seasons didn't need that to make it decent watching (unless I'm mistaken), so not sure why they need to bring it in now.
The lack of public transport is pretty eye opening and nothing seems joined up. One bus a day to Banf for example. I guess there just isn't enough demand to justify it as everyone has there own cars.
Canada looks amazing and every landscape is beautiful.
Not sure how I feel about the elimination, the previous seasons didn't need that to make it decent watching (unless I'm mistaken), so not sure why they need to bring it in now.
The lack of public transport is pretty eye opening and nothing seems joined up. One bus a day to Banf for example. I guess there just isn't enough demand to justify it as everyone has there own cars.
Canada looks amazing and every landscape is beautiful.
Speed1283 said:
I
Not sure how I feel about the elimination, the previous seasons didn't need that to make it decent watching (unless I'm mistaken), so not sure why they need to bring it in now.
you are mistaken - the first race had an elimination at Baku. The second race didn't, but I suspect there would have been one had one team not self-eliminated by mislaying a chunk of their funds so had to drop out.Not sure how I feel about the elimination, the previous seasons didn't need that to make it decent watching (unless I'm mistaken), so not sure why they need to bring it in now.
I guess might be to remind them that they do need to keep focus on progressing, rather than just drifting along. Unfortunately for the brothers they only seemed to be getting round to that towards the end, but the extra info that their dad was clearly a s
t setting them off against each other; no wonder they had a damaged relationship!The team I'm struggling with liking is Claudia and Kevin, constant bickering and negative in their approach, resorting to splashing cash too easily; now way behind the other teams on budget.
llewop said:
I guess might be to remind them that they do need to keep focus on progressing, rather than just drifting along. Unfortunately for the brothers they only seemed to be getting round to that towards the end
The thing I struggled with is that the first couple of episodes but massive emphasis on the 'experiences' that various teams were taking the opportunity to do, far more than the actual race (particularly episode 2), then it goes and punishes one of them for doing the stuff which the editors/producers have decided we would like to see more of.A double shame as they were comfortably the most interesting dynamic as a team, on a personal level.
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