A spot of bother
Posted by Michael Harvey at 4:00PM on Thursday 01 February, 2007 7 Comments
We had a work experience boy on Planet Top Gear a few months back who stropped out of here, all 'bothered?' and 'whatever', when I told him he might want to consider his attitude a little on the bus back home.
He was pissed with us because we wouldn't let him take the fastest car in the car park for a blast right there and then on his first morning. He's probably signing on somewhere near you now.
Thing is, it's not all about driving. There's the small matter of actually being able to write a bit (not that it bothers most car mags). Because it's the BBC, there's a whole bunch of politics to avoid. And then there are the dinners.
All car launches and motor shows feature dinners. It's where the industry meets the press, and we all sit down and eat too much and drink too much and, unless you're sitting next to Ian Callum, generally get bored. My worst was a DaimlerChrysler bash where I got what the industry would think was a great seat next to a bloke called Wolfgang Bernhard who was then number two at Chrysler and feeling pretty smug because he'd invented the Crossfire. Yes, quite.
'Pretty smug' isn't fair. 'Almost unbearably conceited' would be more. Drop the 'almost' if you want the truth. Clever, quick and incredibly well educated, Herr Bernhard also looks like that bloke out of A-Ha. He got handed the full deck in other words. But, as my mum would say, 'he knew it'.
Anyhow, we fell out. I made my excuses after the cold, fishy starter (it's always a cold fishy starter) and went to find Callum, or anyone English or American who works in design. I should have tried harder I know, but events have proved me right. Eventually DC could bear his smugness no longer and they parted ways, so he went to VW and guess what happened at Xmas... oh yes, Mr B is again looking for a job.
But, 'better the devil you know' as my mum also says (or was that Kylie?). The man who could bear him no longer, Martin Winterkorn (ex-Audi boss now heading up all of VW) has apparently postponed all Bernhard's projects, including the fab new Scirocco.
And I can't think why, other than the fact Bernhard had his name against it. Not very grown up, is it? Lesson being that if you ever wonder why the car industry can dazzle us one day, disappoint us so badly the next, just remember the bosses can still behave like work experience kids when they choose to.
What's German for 'am I bothered?'
Advertiser links
7 Comments for "A spot of bother"
POST A COMMENT USING THE FORM BELOW
Comments are now closed for the blog archives.
Assuming this is all about attitude... I can't imagine that many people would be able to work at Top Gear without feeling urges to run out and drive away JC's Ford GT or the Enzo they were testing that day, or the... exactly.
I can drive, write, eat twice my body weight in food and suffer people like Wolfgang Bernhard. Can I have a job? (I'm only 16 so you won't have to worry about me driving.)
Forget giving spoilt brats work experience at your top mag. Let someone like me - a hard-working 3rd year in Graphics - come and spend a month with you, helping out on the design side and enjoying the atmosphere and the journalism!
And that Scirocco looked awesome - the frustration of seeing all these great-looking new concepts, including Jag's, but none hitting the road is starting to get to me.
With the work experience 'Kevin the teenager', psychometric testing to discover suitability for making tea and doing as they're told should solve the problem. Or tell them they've got to pay for their own car insurance and they'll all be heading straight for the Citroen C1 in no time.
With Wolfgang the only shame is the demise of the Scirocco. I was looking forward to that!
What's German for 'am I bothered?' You ask. Well here you are. Es ist mir scheiss egal.
OK, since this page looks like it's turned into an X-Factor type of audition for an internship at TG, let's see if I can belt out a tune. I'm 20 and I'll settle for a spin round the track in a GT3, and my own parking space! lol
No! Say it ain't so! I was really looking forward to the new Scirocco. He may have been a total clot, (the Crossfire, anyone?), but some of his designs looked the part. I just hope someone picks up where he left off, and we get to see some of these ideas become a reality, at least in some form.