Okay, so this is a couple of days late but on Sunday petrol heads all over the UK rejoiced as the BBC's motoring show Top Gear returned for a new series after the winter break. And what a return it was! For those unfamiliar with the show it's a motoring program at heart like any other but they've tweaked the format to make it far more of a 'live' show. It's recorded in a big aircraft hanger with a large crowd of people (all members of the public) and the bulk of the cars on that weeks show in attendance for the audience to look at, touch and get inside. The presenters (Richard Hammond, James May and the always-worth-watching Jeremy Clarkson) not only know their stuff but are (usually) genuinely funny to watch and the pre-taped road tests are the best around. They've even got their very own test track outside the hanger designed by the handling gods from Lotus specifically to push a car right to its limits. I think the largest compliment I can pay the show is that my mum, who's not a car freak in any way, shape or form never misses it.
Anyway, to kick off its return we got a road test of the new CityRover supermini. Nothing special there except for one small thing. Rover didn't want them to test drive it so they went to a dealer and, with the aid of hidden cameras, recorded a road test while on the test drive with the dealer sitting in the back seat!
Upping the excitement level slightly was the new Lotus Exige:
which handled so well they decided to give it a real challenge. Could it avoid being missile locked by an Apache Helicopter on loan from the British Army? Okay, granted, the Apache was forced to stay within the confines of the track instead of buggering off to a point several miles away and doing what it's supposed to do, but who cares! What other show would give you the sight of a little black Lotus hiding under an Apache until the pilot got bored and used the downdraft to blow it out into the open?
But the main focus of the show was a simple race. Could Mr Clarkson drive from their test track in deepest Surrey to Monte Carlo faster than Mr Hammond and Mr May could do the same trip on the train? Oh, and just to make things fair, they used the brand new (and utterly gorgeous) Aston Martin DB9:
I won't give away the result but the following conversation was worth however much was spent to put that piece together:
James May (on the Eurostar heading for Paris): “Hello?” *Answering mobile phone*
Jeremy Clarkson (somewhere on a French motorway): “May, the Gendarme are just all over me!” *Sound of sirens*
JM: “I think he's been nicked by the rozzers!”
Richard Hammond: “Oh.. oh yes! Oh please...!”
JC: “They want me to go faster...”
So, any car nuts in the UK, Sunday evenings, 8pm. Next week I think they've got the new Mclaren Mercedes SLR on...
Anyway, to kick off its return we got a road test of the new CityRover supermini. Nothing special there except for one small thing. Rover didn't want them to test drive it so they went to a dealer and, with the aid of hidden cameras, recorded a road test while on the test drive with the dealer sitting in the back seat!
Upping the excitement level slightly was the new Lotus Exige:
which handled so well they decided to give it a real challenge. Could it avoid being missile locked by an Apache Helicopter on loan from the British Army? Okay, granted, the Apache was forced to stay within the confines of the track instead of buggering off to a point several miles away and doing what it's supposed to do, but who cares! What other show would give you the sight of a little black Lotus hiding under an Apache until the pilot got bored and used the downdraft to blow it out into the open?
But the main focus of the show was a simple race. Could Mr Clarkson drive from their test track in deepest Surrey to Monte Carlo faster than Mr Hammond and Mr May could do the same trip on the train? Oh, and just to make things fair, they used the brand new (and utterly gorgeous) Aston Martin DB9:
I won't give away the result but the following conversation was worth however much was spent to put that piece together:
James May (on the Eurostar heading for Paris): “Hello?” *Answering mobile phone*
Jeremy Clarkson (somewhere on a French motorway): “May, the Gendarme are just all over me!” *Sound of sirens*
JM: “I think he's been nicked by the rozzers!”
Richard Hammond: “Oh.. oh yes! Oh please...!”
JC: “They want me to go faster...”
So, any car nuts in the UK, Sunday evenings, 8pm. Next week I think they've got the new Mclaren Mercedes SLR on...
