I'm going to be honest here - I don't watch the show, because for the first part I just don't find cars interesting. And secondly, when I have seen it (my dad watches it), I've always found Clarkson to be a vile, arrogant, annoying individual. Him having made a series of incredibly racist comments never surprised me in the slightest, because every time I have seen the show, he's made a disparaging comment about a celebrity, group of people or a mean-spirited joke about a current news event, etc etc.
His entire understanding of "humour" involves shitting on other people. Whether it's poor people, gay people, disabled people, ethnic minorities, Clarkson and his ass-licking cronies seem to think it's OK to lay into them. How hilarious! The rich white people make fun of everyone else! It sickened me every time I saw it, and Clarkson writing an equally racist column for a right wing newspaper (it was either The Sun or the Daily Mail) was the icing on the privileged establishment cake.
The fact that we have a petition where seemingly hundreds of thousands of people are upset that a vile piece of shit like him got fired for physically attacking another person is the kind of stuff that makes me weep for humanity. It's enabling some of the worst traits of humanity, for what reason? Because he presents a TV show that you enjoy watching? Have none of these cretins stopped for 10 seconds to think about how they might feel if it was their brother, or son, or partner that got slogged in the face and had to go to hospital?
Regardless, the brand and show is bigger than the individual - everybody needs to remember that. If the BBC hire the right person, the show can become even more successful. I hope they do find the right person, and somebody better. They have plenty of experience doing exactly that. The other huge BBC show (and one I actually do watch) that gets syndicated worldwide is Doctor Who. People thought it wouldn't survive in the 80's after Tom Baker (4th Doctor) left, who was arguably the biggest star of any BBC show, ever. And they thought the same when David Tennant (10th Doctor) left. In both instances, the show actually got even bigger with the actors that succeeded them (Peter Davison as the 5th Doctor, Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor). So the BBC knows better than anyone how to replace their stars.
The idea that Clarkson, May and Hammond are the only people that can present a successful motoring show is nonsense. There are people that can do a better job, and I would be willing to bet that the BBC is reviewing it's shortlist right now and there are some incredible presenters on that list who could work wonders with the show.