The Clarkson review: Reliant Robin

Remember the rolling Robins? Well, I’ve a confession to make

记得那台翻滚的Robin吗？额，我要坦白从宽（TG S15E01）

TO JUDGE from the letters I get and the remarks in the street, it seems the most memorable thing I did on Top Gear was a short segment about the Reliant Robin. You may remember: I drove it around Sheffield and it kept falling over.

根据来信和街头巷尾的回应来看，貌似TG上最让人难忘的就是Robin的那段短片。你可能记得，我开车游览Sheffield，这车却不断翻滚

Well, now’s the time to come clean. A normal Reliant Robin will not roll unless a drunken rugby team is on hand. Or it’s windy. But in a headlong drive to amuse and entertain, I’d asked the backroom boys to play around with the differential so that the poor little thing rolled over every time I turned the steering wheel.

额，现在澄清一下。普通的Robin除非被橄榄球醉汉驾驶，否则不会翻车，大风天气除外。但为了娱乐大众 博得一笑，我让后备人员魔改了差速器，这样只要转向就会翻车

Naturally, the health and safety department was very worried about this and insisted that the car be fitted with a small hammer that I could use, in case I was trapped after the roll, to break what was left of the glass. Not the best idea ever, because I distinctly remember seeing the hammer in question travelling past my face at about 2,000mph during the first roll. After that I invited the health and safety man to eff off home, with the hammer in his bottom.

自然，健康安全部门对此很担忧，坚持要我带着求生锤开车，防止我在翻车后困于车内，用来打破残余的玻璃。不算啥好主意，因为我记得第一次翻滚时锤子就以2000MPH的速度爆了我的头。然后我就让健康安全部门的家伙被锤子爆菊回家了

Since then I’ve used similarly doctored and similarly hammer-free Reliant Robins in countless games of car football during our live shows. And as a result there’s probably no one on the planet who’s rolled a car quite as much as I have.

此后我用这种整治过的无锤版Robin玩了不知多少场现场秀的足球赛。结果是我翻车的次数冠绝天下

It makes me sad, if I’m honest, because rolling a Reliant Robin on purpose is a bit like putting a tortoise on its back. It’s an act of wanton cruelty. When you see it lying there with its three little wheels whizzing round helplessly, you are compelled to rush over and put it the right way up.

这让我很伤心，真的，因为故意让Robin翻车就像把乌龟翻过来看笑话一样。水性杨花的残忍。当你看到绝望无助的翻车小三轮时，你应该过去把车翻回来

I feel similarly aggrieved when people — and everyone does this — calls it a Robin Reliant. That’s like saying you worship Christ Jesus or that you drive an Acclaim Triumph. Or that your favourite Fifa presidential hopeful is Sexwale Tokyo.

当人们叫这车Robin Relliant时我总是愤愤不平。就像稣耶或者你的车叫欢呼牌凯旋（Triumph Acclaim，英国日常家用轿车）或者说你最喜欢的FIFA主席是热东京一样

I’ll be honest with you. I really like the Reliant Robin. I know that Del Boy did his best to turn three-wheelers into a national joke. And I know Jasper Carrott went even further — the bastard. But the truth is that the Reliant Robin has a rorty-sounding 848cc engine and the sort of snickety gearbox that makes you lament the passing of the proper manual.

讲道理。我很喜欢Relliant Robin。我知道Del Boy（BBC喜剧“只有傻瓜和马”主角）竭尽全力地让小三轮成为全国笑柄。也知道Jasper Carrott（英国笑星）玩得更过火—混蛋玩意儿。但事实上Robin有声浪甜美的848cc引擎以及让你哀悼手动挡衰落的蛇形档位

Plus, it’s an absolute hoot to drive, partly because it’s light and nimble and partly because passers-by are genuinely fond of it. It’s like going about your business in one of the Queen’s corgis. Mostly, though, it’s a hoot to drive because you know if something goes wrong, you will be killed immediately. There’ll be no lingering and agonising spell in hospital. No priest with his last rites. One minute you’ll be bouncing up and down wearing a childlike grin and the next you’ll be meat.

开起来绝对妙趣横生，一方面因为轻量化和灵巧度，还因为人们都喜欢这车。就像当女皇的威尔士犬一样有趣。主要是因为你能察觉到如果出现问题，你就死定了。没有医院里徘徊痛苦的碎碎念。没有牧师来带你走向终点。前一刻你还是活蹦乱跳的熊孩子，下一刻就陈尸街头了

In fact, I like the Reliant Robin so much that when Richard Hammond, James May, Andy Wilman and I formed our new production company, I rushed out immediately and bought one as a company car. Interestingly, the other three did exactly the same thing. So now we have a fleet sitting in the executive car parking spaces at our offices and we love them very much. Especially the fact that they cost us less than £15,000. That’s £15,000 for four cars.

实际上，我太喜欢Robin导致当我们三贱客和制片人Andy Wilman成立新制片公司时，我立刻冲出去买了一台当公司车。有趣的是，他们也都各自买了一台。现在我们的制片人办公室外就停着一排深受喜爱的Robin。尤其考虑到总价不到15000英镑，4台车呢

Of course, they’ve all been fettled to suit our tastes. May’s is an ivory white estate model that is standard in every way, right down to the chromed overriders. Hammond’s is a lovely chocolate brown with whitewall tyres. Wilman’s is finished in racing green and inside is fitted with a wooden dashboard and lambswool seat covers — as befits, he says, the chairman of our enterprise. Mine — a coupé, naturally — is finished in winner blue and is fitted with an Alcantara dash and quad tailpipes. Minilite wheels complete the vision of sportiness.

当然，他们都被我们“品味”地改装了。船长是象牙白的丐版旅行款，包括丐配镀铬保险杠。鼹鼠是白壁轮胎的巧克力色。制片人大佬外色英国赛车绿，内带羊毛坐垫和实木仪表盘—他说这是企业老总的福利。我的嘛—自然是双门跑车—冠军蓝外观外带四出和Alcantara的仪表盘。小号轮圈增加运动感

A lot of people think we have bought the cars purely as some kind of weird publicity stunt but, actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Because we really do use them on a daily basis. Or, to be honest, we try to use them . . .

许多人以为我们买车就是为了特技搞怪，但实际上，这一切都朴实无华。因为这都是我们的日常通勤车，或者说实话，都是我们试图拿来通勤的车

My first attempt had to be abandoned, because the engine decided that tickover should be about 5500rpm. Which meant that in fourth gear I was doing about 80mph without putting my foot on the accelerator. I say “about”, because the speedometer wasn’t working. For an accurate reading I’ll have to wait for a letter from the speed camera people.

我起初就要废了这车，因为引擎认为红线应该是5500RPM。也就是说我挂着4档溜车溜到80MPH左右的样子。我说“左右”是因为速度表已经报废了。具体数据要看监控测速的给我发罚单才行了

Hammond’s has no functioning fuel gauge and he would therefore like to apologise to everyone on London’s Cromwell Road for running out of petrol the other night while turning right into Earls Court Road. Apparently the chaos he caused was quite spectacular.

鼹鼠废了的油表让他不得不给Cromwell路上的所有人道歉，因为他在右转时没油了。显然他搞出了不小的动静

Wilman’s hasn’t actually gone anywhere at all because as he tried to put it into reverse, the gearlever came off in his hand. I’m not sure what’s wrong with May’s. He tried to explain but after four hours I nodded off slightly.

Wilman的车没去任何地方，因为他试图切倒档时挡把头直接掉了。不知道船长的怎么样了。他试图解释一下，但4小时后我被他说得困意十足

We didn’t give up, though. And the other night I went all the way from our old offices in Notting Hill to our new offices, appropriately enough, in Power Road, in Chiswick, west London, and then — get this — all the way back to a party in Chelsea. Where the car spent the night, because its starter motor had broken.

我们没有放弃。另一天我开车从Notting Hill的老办公室向远在伦敦西部Chiswick的Power Road新办公室进发，然后还要一路开回切尔西的派对，车子在切尔西呆了一晚上，因为发电机坏了

Hammond said he’d come to the rescue, but annoyingly his ignition barrel came out as he turned the key, and Wilman was of no use because the gearlever popped out again when he went for first. So I rang May, who turned up in his Ferrari.

鼹鼠说他来帮忙，但烦人的是他的车点火环启动时掉了，Wilman也没啥用因为他只要挂档就会把挡把弹出来。所以我给船长打电话，他开着他的法拉利来了

Anyway, on my trek across London I learnt many things about my Reliant Robin. First of all, to get my right shoulder inside, I have to drive with the window down, which makes life a bit chilly. And there’s not much I can do to rectify that issue, because while there is a knob on the dash that says “Heater”, it doesn’t seem to do anything. The only other knob says “Choke”. Pull that and immediately the whole car fills with petrol fumes.

无论如何，当我穿越伦敦市区时我增长了很多Robin式的经验。首先，要想把右肩膀放下，车窗只能摇下来，就有点冷了。我对此无可奈何，因为车内只有俩按钮，一个是卵用没有的“暖气”另一个是“咳嗽”按下后整车立刻乌烟瘴气

But despite the cold and the likelihood of it suddenly becoming very hot, the Reliant Robin is brilliant to drive. The steering is extremely light, possibly because there’s only one front wheel to turn, the acceleration is great, for anyone who’s used to, say, a horse, and in a typical London parking bay it’s so small and looks so lost and lonely, you are tempted to give it a carrot or some other treat.

尽管这车只能在冻死和热死中选择，Robin的驾驶感觉极佳。转向很轻，可能因为转向轮是中置独立轮吧，加速对于任何，额，骑马的人来说都很给力，在伦敦的停车场里这车看起来如此弱小迷茫 孤独可怜，你都想给它点儿胡萝卜或者其他吃的了

This is what makes the Reliant Robin such a joy. My Volkswagen Golf is a car. The Porsche Cayenne I used over Christmas and will review next week is a car. You drive a car. But the Reliant Robin is not a car. It’s not even three-quarters of a car. It’s more than that.

这就是让Robin惹人开心的要素。我的Golf是台车，下周评测的圣诞节凯宴也是台车。车是拿来开的。但Robin不是。都算不上3/4台车。远不止于此

It’s sitting in its parking space outside the office now, in the rain. And I’m worried about it. I hope it’s OK and isn’t missing me. Owning a Reliant Robin is like having a family pet. Yes, it’s a nuisance sometimes, and, yes, it can be stubborn and unreliable, but it scampers when you go out together, and if you play with its differential, it will even roll over so you can tickle its tummy.

现在这车就停在办公室外面，倾盆大雨。我很担心它。我希望它还好，不会想我。拥有一台Robin就像养宠物。诚然，有时候很讨厌，诚然，这车可能很倔而且不可靠，但你们在一起时它就活蹦乱跳，如果动一动差速器，还能翻身让你挠挠它的肚子

总评3星

Mans best friend

人类的好朋友

Pros—钦定

A hoot to drive

驾驶乐趣十足

Genuinely satisfying gearchange

换档让人满意

As popular as the Queens corgis

如同女王的威尔士犬一样受欢迎

Cons—批判

Have to roll down the window to fit in my shoulder

开车必须开窗才能放下我的肩膀

As classics, they can be a touch unreliable

作为经典车，可能不可靠

Some fools think theyre a joke

有些傻子拿这车当笑话

翻译：GearKnobs字幕组—进化世代（ALMF3512）