Former Top Gear presenters plotting new community for motoring fans
LONDON -- Motoring fans are set to get a new online community later this year, courtesy of the ex-Top Gear presenting team of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
DriveTribe, which currently has a website and Twitter and Facebook presence but no additional content, is a joint project with tech entrepreneur Ernesto Schmitt. Former Top Gear producer Andy Wilman is also on board.
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The media platform will be divided into different "tribes," each with its own "unique characteristics and personality," according to a statement emailed to Mashable by Schmitt.
Bloggers, writers, videographers and celebrities will host each section, generating and curating content for that tribes' audience.
Hammond, May and Clarkson, who have been working on a new car show for Amazon Prime following Clarkson's suspension from the BBC, will contribute too. Users will be able to create their own tribes.
“What we are looking to do is build a next-generation vertical that is dedicated to motoring, and that really combines content, social and commerce,” Schmitt told Variety.
The venture employs 20 people now, with the team expected to grow to 60 by the end of the autumn. The company will be based in London.
DriveTribe will feature an engine that directs content to targeted users based on their age, gender, location and interests, TechCrunch reports, pushing content to people's social timelines on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and so on.
“Gamers have got Twitch, travelers have got TripAdvisor and fashion fans have got, oh, something or other too," Richard Hammond said. "But people who are into cars have got nowhere."
"There's no grand-scale online motoring community where people can meet and share video, comments, information and opinion. DriveTribe will change that. And then some.”
He promised Variety that the presenters will engage daily as they produce "bite-sized chunks of media."
Clarkson, meanwhile, offered a typically Clarkson-esque comment on the launch, remarking: “I didn’t understand DriveTribe until Richard Hammond said it was like YouPorn, only with cars."
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Tim Chester was Senior Editor, Real Time News in Los Angeles. Before that he was Deputy Editor of Mashable UK in London. Prior to joining Mashable, Tim was a Senior Web Editor at Penguin Random House, helping to relaunch the Rough Guides website and other travel brands. He was also a writer for Buzzfeed, GQ and The Sunday Times, covering everything from culture to tech and current affairs. Before that, he was Deputy Editor at NME.COM, overseeing content and development on the London-based music and entertainment site. Tim loves music and travel and has combined these two passions at festivals from Iceland to Malawi and beyond.
