Top Gear/Segments: Difference between revisions
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Since its revamp in 2002, ''[[Top Gear]]''
Below are the bits that
----
=== Races ===▼
▲== Races ==
Not just simple car vs. car races, but such unlikely contests as :
* Car (Bugatti Veyron) vs. fighter jet (RAF Eurofighter Typhoon). Hammond drove the Veyron in this challenge, making him the last of the three to try it {{spoiler|and the only one to lose his challenge.}} The car did one mile, there and back, horizontally. The plane did its mile ''vertically''. (Series 10, Episode 3)
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=== Road Trips ===
The presenters embark on a two-to-three-day drive to some significant destination in new cars they have chosen for themselves, in order to give a thorough evaluation of the power, speed, handling, quality, and ride comfort. On some occasions, they have also used these cars to go looking for the best driving roads in the world.<br /><br />There does not appear to be a budget, but the cars must fit into a general genre (e.g. lightened supercars, American muscle cars), subject to the willingness of the manufacturer to lend a car for the presenter to test. On two occasions, Clarkson (Ford GT) and Hammond (Dodge Challenger) have undertaken the trip in cars they personally own. Hammond ended up buying the Challenger when Dodge wouldn't lend him one for the trip, stating that ''Top Gear'' tended to treat their cars as rubbish. On a more recent occasion (during their "Best luxury car for an Albanian mafia road trip"), Clarkson stated that because Bentley abruptly changed their mind in supplying one of the cars, he had to find a "local" Bentley to drive. [[Non-Indicative Name|And it is a Bentley only in name]].<br /><br />Examples of road trips undertaken include:
* Testing supercars on the way to the [[wikipedia:Millau Viaduct|Millau Viaduct]] in France. Jeremy brought his own personal Ford GT along on this trip. (Series 7, Episode 3)
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=== Cheap-Car Challenges ===
''Top Gear'' "cheap-car challenges"
* Buy a car for £100. {{spoiler|Clarkson wins, having saved his Volvo from a trip to the scrapyard by having a friend buy it for ''"ONE POUND!!"''}} (Series 4, Episode 3)
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=== Creations ===
The three are presented with a special kind of car to create or modify. Among others, they've tried to make:
* A convertible minivan (Series 8, Episode 1)
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=== Stunts ===
The ''Top Gear'' crew have been very creative in finding other entertaining things to do with (and to) cars:
* Drive 'til you get bored: to test the comfort and enjoyability of the Jaguar XJ, Clarkson devised a test to see how far he could drive it before he got bored with it (he ran out of country). (Series 2, Episode 4)
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* "Extreme" test driving: Six foot, five inch tall Jeremy Clarkson once test drove a 1961 [[wikipedia:Peel P50|Peel P50]] -- a tiny, one person car -- by driving it ''into'' and around the BBC television studios, including into an ersatz "''Top Gear'' production meeting." If you were watching BBC News 24 when Clarkson's test drive was being filmed, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lM0Idukti4 you might have seen something go across in the background...] (Series 10, Episode 3)
* Car football (soccer): Using a giant inflatable ball, two teams of professional drivers (captained by Hammond and May) played [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flKzjuDhFDs a football match using Toyota Aygos]. Several seasons later, the winning team of Aygos defended their title against a team composed of Volkswagen Foxes. {{spoiler|The VW Foxes won, not least because it was the same team of Aygos and most of them were damaged.}} (Series 6, Episode 1)<br /><br />And in a variation on that theme, one of the events in the ''Top Gear Winter Olympics'' special was a game of car ice hockey, between two teams of Suzuki Swifts. As before, one team was captained by James May, the other by Richard Hammond, and the match was "refereed" by Jeremy Clarkson.
* Destruct testing a Toyota Hilux pickup by, in order, driving it down stone steps, scraping it along walls, driving it into a tree, tying it to a jetty and leaving it to be submerged by the rising tide (the tide actually broke it loose, it drifted away from the jetty and got flooded with silt and sand), dropping it from a crane, driving it through a shed, dropping a caravan on it, repeatedly hitting it with a wrecking ball typically used to fell skyscrapers, setting it on fire, and finally placing it on top of a 240 foot block of flats and demolishing the flats. No mechanical spare parts (they had to replace the windscreen for safety reasons) and no tools other than what would be in a normal car toolkit were used. (Series 3, Episodes 5 & 6)<br /><br />[[Made of Iron|It still started.]] It was 13 years old with 195,000 miles on it and cost them 1000 pounds to buy. It now occupies a place of honour in the main studio -- to get it there, they drove it into the studio. Shortly after [https://web.archive.org/web/20090427061719/http://video.yahoo.com/watch/100875/505090 the show] aired, Toyota released a new version of the Hilux called the 'Invincible', and Clarkson had one modified by Arctic Trucks for the Polar Special. Two. One for them, and one for the camera crew. In series 15, James took a modified Hilux (specifically, the one used by the camera crew in the Arctic special) to the top of Eyjafjallajökull, which is an active volcano. That erupted a few months before the episode aired.
* Playing "car [[wikipedia:Conkers|conkers]]" using two cars (or caravans) held aloft by electromagnetic cranes. This is sometimes the fate of a car that the presenters really don't like, as was the case in the episode where Clarkson tries driving an early-model FSO Polonez. (Series 5, Episode 4)
* Playing '[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i-op1aceUg car darts]' using old cars, an air cannon and a large dartboard painted on the floor of a quarry. Extra points were awarded to the person who also destroyed the caravan conveniently placed on the bulls-eye. (Series 4, Episode 4)
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=== The Power Lap ===
Most weeks one of the presenters (usually Clarkson or Hammond)
=== Star In A Reasonably Priced Car ===
Most weeks the show
=== The Cool Wall ===
From time to time, Clarkson and Hammond
=== Overseas Specials ===
A combination of Road Trip and Cheap Car Challenge. Traditionally appearing once a year (usually as a [[Christmas Episode|Christmas Special]]), these
* US Special (Southern United States - aired February 2007): The first overseas special, originally conceived as a much shorter, one-time film. The presenters bought used cars for US$1000 in Miami, Florida and then drove to New Orleans, Louisiana to see whether it is more economical to buy a car for the use of two weeks than to rent one. Originated the tradition of painting slogans on each other's cars. The Stig for this episode was Big Stig - a man dressed in the same fashion as the normal Stig, but he was a bit, er, rounder. (Series 9, Episode 3)<br /><br />They have since embarked on two further road trips to America, though these aired as part of regular episodes. See the Road Trips folder for more details.
* The Polar Special (Arctic Circle - aired July 2007): Clarkson and May used specially built Toyota Hilux Invincibles to travel from Resolute, Canada to the magnetic North Pole, racing against Hammond on a dog sled. Unlike other specials, there was no mention of the Stig, and very few truly humorous moments, at least compared to the other specials. Instead, it was more about the difficulties (and very real dangers) of the journey, including incredibly low temperatures, treacherous ice, dangerous polar bears, and the increasing loss of sanity caused by all of the above, along with the constant summer sunlight. Clarkson and May set at least one record during the trip, becoming the first people to reach the magnetic North Pole by wheeled motor vehicle.
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* Vietnam Special (aired December 2008): The presenters purchased used motorbikes for 15 million dong (ca. £600 or US$1000) and attempted to travel the length of Vietnam. Along the way, they amused themselves by buying each other odd, bulky presents and watching the others struggle to carry these items on their bikes. The backup car for this special was [[Easy Rider|a bike painted in the colors of the US flag]], blaring "Born in the USA" on speakers. There was footage shot of Communist Stig, who wore the usual Stig outfit but in red, but this was not used in the show.<br /><br />Clarkson claimed to have never before driven any type of two-wheeled motor vehicle before this special<ref>Actually, on an episode of his old show "Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld" he did ride a motorcycle ''in Vietnam!''</ref>, although this was actually just a case of [[Rule of Funny]]. (Series 12, Episode 8)
* South America Special (Bolivia and Chile - aired December 2009): The presenters bought off-road vehicles for less than £3,500 over the Internet and attempted to drive from the center of the Bolivian rainforest to the Pacific coast in Chile. On the way, they had to build a temporary bridge over a ditch, ford a river, negotiate the terrifying Yungas Road in Bolivia, and cross the Andes mountains. The special put all three presenters through the wringer, as their worst fears (heights, insects, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|manual labor]]) were present in abundance, making this their most harrowing episode since the Polar Special.<br /><br />They also almost ''died'' while trying to cross a volcanic pass. The air was so thin that their cars almost couldn't run (the fuel-air mixture was way off and couldn't actually combust), and they were suffering from acute oxygen deprivation. (Series 14, Episode 6)
* Middle East Special (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel - aired December 2010): The presenters bought two-seater convertibles for less than £3,500 (except James, who bought a slightly more expensive type), and attempted to reproduce the journey of the Three Wise Men, traveling from Arbil, Iraq to Bethlehem. Among many other issues, including the usual vehicle breakdowns (made worse by completely unsuited for the terrain), they had to deal with avoiding the fighting going on in Iraq and Turkey, the politics of border crossings in several countries, and a difficult drive through the empty deserts of Syria to avoid their trip being found out by Israeli officials. The episode was aired just after Ben Collins "came out" as the Stig, and had therefore been sacked from the show, but when the Three Wise Blokes reached Bethlehem and entered the stable with their gifts, they discovered a baby in a racing helmet. (Series 16, Episode 0)
* India Special (aired December 2011) - The presenters, based on the fact that Britian has had little successful trade with India in recent years, decide to embark on a goodwill mission to promote British products. With their £7000 classic British cars, they travel from Bombay to the northern border in the Himalayas, promoting Britain along the way. They attempt to deliver local lunches faster than a train, reunite the Top Gear Band and have a garden party to showcase British products, and hold a rally to get a fix on what kind of cars are currently popular in India. Along the way they make their way along the lethal highways, prank each other constantly, and deal with a slightly out-of-control lawnmower.
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