Top Gear/Segments: Difference between revisions

Since its revamp in 2002, ''[[Top Gear]]'' has developed a number of notable features and regular segments throughout the show's run. The show has roughly stuck to its original [[Magazine Show|magazine format]]; it often consists of at least two or three "films", one of which will usually be a car that is reviewed in a semi-serious fashion and then put around the track by the Stig. Also seen in most regular episodes are a news segment and the Star In A Reasonably-Priced Car interview. The show will occasionally break format and feature one long film, always revolving around a big trip overseas.

 

== 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:

* Going on a caravan holiday to see if they would enjoy it. [[Horrible Camping Trip|They didn't.]] (Series 8, Episode 6)

* Driving American muscle cars through the west, starting in San Francisco and ending at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, to participate in the speed testing there. Richard had to purchase the Challenger he tested for this trip. (Series 12, Episode 2)

* A single-tank economy run from Basel, Switzerland to turn on the Blackpool Illuminations. (Series 12, Episode 4)

* Investigating automotive points-of-interest on the east coast of the U.S. from North Carolina to New York. And with a brief stop in [[Unfortunate Names|Intercourse]]. (Series 15, Episode 7)

* A trip to Albania to find the best luxury car for members of the Albanian Mafia. The final test is a [[Bank Robbery]] and getaway; Clarkson and Hammond successfully escape. May, saddled with the "Bentley", [[Anyone Can Die|doesn't]]. (Series 16, Episode 3)

* Clarkson also set out to discover if a mid range Ford Fiesta could be used by the [[Badass Normal|Royal Marines]] in an amphibious assault. The result: {{spoiler|amazingly, yes}}. The smoke grenades even fit perfectly in the cup holders.<br /><br />Just before that he drove the same Fiesta through a shopping mall while being "chased" by a Corvette. While reviewing various aspects of the car. "I just broke the speed limit...indoors!" This set of tests were after someone wrote in complaining that they didn't do the good old fashioned standard tests like they used to in the old format days. Apparently the old standard road tests include things like marine assaults and car chases. This is why reading 'The World According to Clarkson' is a surreal experience. (Series 12, Episode 6)<br /><br />And when the same viewer (allegedly) complained about that review, Clarkson did a "serious" review of the Renault Twingo... which ended in doing a barrel roll in a Belfast sewer ({{spoiler|successfully}}) and a [[Ramp Jump]] onto a departing ferry ({{spoiler|unsuccessfully}}). After the segment, Hammond asked Clarkson (who'd been sick while filming the segment) how much [[Intoxication Ensues|Night Nurse]] Clarkson had consumed. Clarkson admitted that he had no idea. (Series 14, Episode 4)

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqEa3OJIG0s Escaping a submerged vehicle]: With several trained divers as backup, Hammond was dropped into a deep pool in a car to see if it really is impossible to open the doors and windows while said car is sinking. This was left in the world's least nerve-wracking cliffhanger. Hammond: "And we'll find out later if I die."<br /><br />[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-hADcZ49fE When the segment resumed], {{spoiler|Hammond was eventually able to open the door and swim out. However, it took so long for the pressure to equalize that he ran out of air and had to get oxygen from a diver with him in the car. When they dropped the car into the pool a second time, he opened the door as soon as the car hit the water and escaped unaided.}}

* 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 [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 '[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)

* Customizing a Soviet-built Lada into a sports sedan. Granted, this required enlisting a team of technicians from Group Lotus, a fortnight, and about £100,000. (Series 1, Episode 8)