Top Gear races
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Top Gear is a BBC television series about motor vehicles, particularly cars.
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[edit] Races against other transport
The show has featured a number of races where one presenter Jeremy Clarkson drives a car against other forms of transport, typically involving the other presenters Richard Hammond and James May taking the same journey by combinations of plane, train, ferry or bus.
Top Gear regularly reaffirms that the races do take place for real, and that many of the shots used in the film are then recorded over a few days by retracing the journey. In the case of the Bugatti Veyron race, the Stig drove the car back to Italy, although these shots are filmed so that it is not apparent that Clarkson is not driving.[1] This 32-minute feature took 33 16-hour days to edit.[2]
In all of the races Clarkson has won in the car, albeit very marginally on some occasions.
[edit] List of races against other transport
- Aston Martin DB9 against the TGV and Eurostar trains from the studio in Surrey to Monte Carlo (Season 4, Episode 1)
- Ferrari 612 Scaglietti against a plane from the studio in Surrey to Verbier (Season 5, Episode 8)
- Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren against a plane, ferry and speedboat from Heathrow Airport to Oslo (Season 6, Episode 6)
- Bugatti Veyron against a Cessna 182 light aircraft, between Alba in northern Italy and Tower 42 in London. (Season 7, Episode 5)
[edit] List of races against athletes
Other races have involved one of the presenters in a car against an athlete (all of these races have been lost by the car, except where noted):
- Fiat Nuova Panda with Clarkson driving against runner AC Muir on a modified London Marathon route on a weekday morning rush hour.
- Audi RS4 with Clarkson driving up a mountain road against rock climbers (Leo Houlding and Tim Emmet) climbing the same distance vertically, then racing back down (with the climbers BASE jumping).
- Renault Clio III with May driving down the narrow streets of Castle of São Jorge's district in Lisbon against Gee Atherton, a downhill bike racer, which May nicknamed, because of the helmet, Darth Vader.
- Porsche Cayenne Turbo S with Hammond racing down a 2-mile long rally course in Cyprus against an army parachutist starting and finishing at the exact same location in the air as Hammond was on the ground.
- A Tomcat, a very powerful Land Rover-based 4x4 equipped with a 4-litre TVR V8 engine, driven by Hammond, who described it as "a combination of British technology and Icelandic levels of lunacy",[3] against a jet powered kayak 'driven' by Shaun Baker along an icy stretch of water in Iceland. Apparently the kayak won, but examining the footage, it seems that Hammond was actually on the bridge before the kayak went under it.
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driven by Norwegian rally champion Henning Solberg with May co-piloting, against Hammond and the Norwegian Olympic Bobsled team, each taking similar routes down a mountain in Lillehammer, Norway.
- Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Group N rally car and a Bowler Wildcat driven against an mountainboarder down the "Green mile" an all-terrain boarding course. While the Mitsubishi lost, the Bowler managed to defeat the mountainboarder.
- Peugeot 207 with May driving a six mile course through the streets of Liverpool from a car park to the Liver Building against two traceurs (Daniel Ilabaca and Kerbie). The traceurs won the race, despite May thinking initially he had won, by revealing that they had not only arrived first, but had climbed to the top of the building.
- Ford SportKa driven by May against a messenger pigeon. The race was won by the pigeon despite the car being fitted with satellite navigation. This was mainly due to May mis-programming the Satellite Navigation system in the car.
- Ronnie O'Sullivan's Mercedes SL500 raced around the track by the Stig whilst Ronnie O'Sullivan had to pot 14 Snooker Balls.
[edit] Other races
- Ford Transit Anniversary driven by Sabine Schmitz in an attempt to beat Clarkson's time around the Nürburgring race track in a diesel powered Jaguar S-type. Despite stripping the van and some aerodynamic modifications Sabine still lost by 9 seconds.
- The team have also taken part in a race where The Stig, driving a Caterham Super Seven leaves the factory in Caterham, Surrey and has to drive to Scotland's Knockhill Racing Circuit and cross the start/finish line before Clarkson, Hammond and May can build one from scratch in a pit garage at the side of the circuit, and get it across the start line. Clarkson, Hammond and May won because the Stig was arrested by the Fife police for speeding.
| Top Gear |
| Top Gear (1977 to 2001) - Top Gear (2002 to present) |
| Original format presenters |
|---|
| Jason Barlow - Steve Berry - Julia Bradbury - Jeremy Clarkson - Vicki Butler-Henderson - Brendan Coogan - Noel Edmonds - Chris Goffey - Kate Humble
Tony Mason - James May - Tiff Needell - Michele Newman - Angela Rippon - Quentin Willson - William Woollard |
| Current format presenters |
| Jeremy Clarkson - Jason Dawe - Richard Hammond - James May - The Stig |
| Current format episodes and broadcasters |
| Top Gear Episode List - Top Gear Broadcasters and Video Releases |
| Current format featured segments |
| Power Laps - Races - Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car - The Cool Wall - Caravan destruction - Cheap Car Challenges |
| Spin-offs |
| Rally Report - Top Gear Motorsport - Stars in Fast Cars - Top Gear of the Pops |
| Related articles |
| Top Gear Magazine - Jon Bentley - Sabine Schmitz - Fifth Gear |
