Continuity mistake: In the final show of season twelve, the Vietnam Challenge, when Jeremy Clarkson borrows James May's bike to try to pass his practical driving test, throughout the test, it can be seen that May's "Darcey Bussell" statue is not on the bike. He then conversed with May and Richard Hammond, still seated astride the bike and "Darcey" is still not present. As Clarkson gets off the bike and lets it drop, still in mid-conversation with no breaks, the statue is suddenly strapped tightly onto the luggage rack, just in time to break on impact. (00:47:00)
Continuity mistake: When The Stig first stops for fuel, during the Caterham challenge, Richard is shown looking at the map of his progress and you can see that he is somewhere between London and Oxford, even though we saw him pass this point earlier.
Continuity mistake: During the Amphibious car challenge the second time, there are shots when crossing the channel of Jeremy not having the fishing rods on the Hilux, yet when he arrives, he does.
Continuity mistake: When the team are trying to build a Caterham, Jeremy puts the seats in the wrong way round. But, when they knock the car off the blocks, the seats have gone. Then Jeremy is later shown removing them.
Continuity mistake: At the end of series 13, after Richard uses a cherry picker to stick a cool wall picture out of Jeremy's reach, Jeremy jams the controls and goes to interview Jay Leno. But throughout the interview, the cool wall is visible in the background and the cherry picker has gone. Afterwards, Richard is back in the same place without having had time to move.
Continuity mistake: In the 17 year old car challenge, Clarkson's car wipe can be seen going, then stopped for a few a shots, then going again. This is when he explains that the wiper is broken and stuck on.
Continuity mistake: After the pickup has had the bbq put on the back, there is a shot of it after, and the bbq has disappeared. The camera then shows Hammond, and goes back, and it's re-appeared.
Suggested correction: This isn't something they hide. Behind the scenes interviews make it quite clear that they have a B unit that films additional footage of the areas they travel in. They even take the cars back to get more shots of them on the road, since they can't predict the exact routes that will be taken in order to have camera crews ahead of them in time.
The mistake is perfectly valid. The correction is only providing an excuse as to why the mistake occurs. Most shows/films have a second unit director and crew (the "B unit") solely to film supplemental footage. This does not invalidate the point of the mistake, that "their very distinctive cars are not on deck" where they should be.
Super Grover ★
Since they cut to and from shots of Hammond, May and Clarkson standing on the deck of the boat the implication is clear - the shots are continuous. It is a glaring error.