• James goes to the USA and drives the Fisker Karma
• The boys each build a cheap mobility scooter that can be used offroad
• Jeremy tests the Ferrari FF & Bentley Continental V8 at a test track in the Arctic Circle
• Star in a Reasonably Priced Car: Michael Fassbender

Coming Soon.

“He’s not the Stig’s alpine cousin, he’s just the Stig.”

Michael Fassbender

• James power tests the Vauxhall Corsa VXR Nurburgring and Fiat Panda
• Jeremy and Richard are on location with the forthcoming Sweeney movie as they take charge of shooting the film’s climactic car chase
• Star in a Reasonably Priced Car: Ryan Reynolds

Coming Soon.

“Some say he has 50,000 photographs of his own camera, and that 60 years ago this week, he too became a Queen. All we know is he’s called the Stig.”

Vauxhall Corsa VXR Nurburgring

Ryan Reynolds

• Richard goes to Texas to learn about NASCAR racing
• Jeremy power tests the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster
• Jeremy and James travel to Beijing to look at Chinese cars
• Star in a Reasonably Priced Car: Matt Le Blanc

Coming Soon.

“Some say he’s the Stig, but he isn’t. He’s the Stig’s Chinese cousin!”

Matt Le Blanc

• Jeremy, Richard and James travel to Italy for a Supercar Shootout
• Jeremy takes the Lamborghini Aventador
• James selects a McLaren MP4-12C
• Richard goes with the unreliable Noble M600
• Star in a Reasonably Priced Car: Will.i.am

Jeremy starts the show with a funny spoof preview montage of Series 18, followed immediately by the real one. The boys then move on to a question – if you’re in the market for a mid-engined supercar but not interested in a Ferrari 458 Italia – which one is best for you? None of them can agree on an answer – so they each choose a car and reconvene in Lecce, Italy, to try settle their differences.

James arrives first in the McLaren MP4-12C. A car which James says is made with an “almost psychotic” attention to detail – rather like him. Jeremy arrives next in a car which is also very like him – the very loud and shouty Lamborghini Aventador. Richard turns up in a Noble M600 and is immediately set upon by the other two presenters – who criticise the M600 for having an engine from a Volvo XC90, or that it was made on a light industrial estate in Lestershire. Richard argues that the M600′s power to weight ratio will more than make up for this. All three jump in their cars and hit the highway – where they are each bowled over by the sheer amount of power offered by each car. Half an hour later, they all pull into a service station and brim the tanks in each car as they receive their first a challenge. It is revealed that they will all travel to the Nardo Test Track, where they will compete against each other to see who can post the highest top speed.

The Nardo Test Track is an 8 mile circle of tarmac which is so vast it can be seen from space – it is simply one endless corner and because of this, no car can ever reach it’s top speed there. Lamborghini and McLaren had both sent a team of technicians to ensure that their cars were in top shape for the challenge – with Richard on his own because no-one from Noble turned up. Accurate speedometers were fitted to each car and the boys were sent out. On the sighting lap, the boys each put the case forward on why their car will win. Richard feels confident, and says “My car is the fastest – top speed 225mph. Jeremy’s Lambo 217mph. James’ McLaren 205mph – or to put it another way, walking pace”. The boys put some space between each other and then go for it. After a few nerve racking laps at full throttle, they all reach their top speeds and reconvene back at the pits. It is revealed that Richard had the biggest testes – with a top speed of 204.8mph in the M600. Jeremy came second with 204.3mph in the Lambo, and James last with 201.6mph in the McLaren.

Back in the studo we move on with the news, where it is revealed that on the top speed test, the Lambo did 7mpg, the McLaren did 8mpg, and the Noble managed 9mpg – making it not only the fastest, but also the most economical. Also in the news, Jeremy mentions that the three cars they left on plinths in India, in fact had to be moved because they were situated on top of an ancient burial ground. Jeremy also mentions a man who failed his driver’s theory test 92 times – and asks Richard a few of the ridiculous questions mentioned in the test. Richard shows us the new Alfa Romeo 4C, and Jeremy looks at a new Maserati 4×4.

Back to the main supercar challenge, we rejoin the boys as they drive north to Rome. Richard is still smug from the previous day’s victory – and shows off the Noble M600′s turbo flutter as he passes Jeremy and James. However his gloating is short lived – the gearbox repeatedly crunches as he tries to engage a gear, and he is forced to pull over onto the hard shoulder. The Noble clearly isn’t going anywhere, so Jeremy and James leave him to it. As the cars ate up the miles, they both begin to know them better. James has fallen in love with the McLaren’s clever technologies. Jeremy marvels at how easy the Aventador is to drive, compared to Lamborghini’s of old. Richard on the other hand, finally has a tow truck arrive after a 2.5 hour wait. Meanwhile, Jeremy and James are pulled over by the police – it turns out it is a public holiday in Italy and it is illegal to be actually working without a permit. They continue on to Rome for dinner and then meet up with Richard after lunch time the next day – who was driving a different coloured car. It turns out the original M600′s clutch disintegrated and damaged the gearbox – and a man from Noble drove a new car out overnight from Britain.

Back in the studio, Jeremy introduces Will.i.am as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car. Will.i.am manages a 1:49.40 on a wet track in an automatic car.

Back to part three of the supercar test, we rejoin the action with the boys heading north along the motorway. They’re thinking about how their cars compare to the Ferrari 458.

“Three days ago if you’d said to me, which would you rather have… I would have said the Ferrari. I mean, its the obvious choice. But now… no. I’d have this. I know a Ferrari 458 is just a technical masterpiece and it looks wonderful, but this has got something the Ferrari doesn’t have. It has a character.. it’s like a big daft orange dog”, Jeremy says.

Richard continues, “Its won me over, completely. Its not just the best car here, it is better than the Ferrari 458, for me it is one of the best cars in the world right now. I absolutely love it.”

With two votes against the Ferrari, what does James think? Well, “This is brilliant. I’ve really grown to like it – and lets not forget its £35,000 or so cheaper than the Ferrari 458 – and that is a huge amount of money… but the Ferrari still gives me more fizz.”

The boys reach their destination – the Imola circuit, where they receive their next challenge. The boys must each lap the circuit and attempt to beat the time set by the Ferrari 458 – at the hands of the Stig’s Italian cousin. Italian Stig jumps in the 458 and sets a cracking time of 1:56.60. The boys each jump in their car and go out for a practice session, to see how their cars perform on a track. Jeremy admires the Aventador’s 4wd system and fade-free carbon bakes. Richard on the other hand, has no driver aids to help him out – and instead has to concentrate on driving smoothly. Someone who does have a lot of driver aids, is James in the McLaren – but he was concentrating on memorising the track layout instead. At the end of the day, the boys knew the track – but still felt daunted by the challenge which lay ahead.

Imola is one of the most dangerous tracks on earth, as Jeremy explains. “Its narrow, fast and ringed with unforgiving walls and trees. Gilles Villeneuve, Gerhard Berger, Nelson Pike, Riccardo Patrese, Rubens Barrichello.. at some point in history every corner here has claimed the ego of a big name – and some corners have claimed even more than that. After Senna’s death in 1994, changes were made to the track to slow the cars down.. but even so, if we were going to beat that Ferrari, we’d still be going through the first bend at nearly 200mph.”

The next morning, the boys hit the track and progressively reduce their times as they push just a little bit harder each lap. Jeremy leans on the brakes harder each time, as he becomes more confident in the sheer stopping power available. James places more trust in the McLaren’s driver aids, while Richard tries to carry as much speed as possible through the bends – and ends up going off the track at high speed – whilst narrowly avoiding a spin. They all push on and after a short rest stop, go out one last time to try and improve on their times.

Back in the studio, the final lap times are revealed. Richard managed a 2:03.30 second lap. James did a slower 2:06.40. With Jeremy winning the challenge with a time of 1:59.10. Unfortunately, all were slower than the Stig’s lap of 1:56.60 in the Ferrari 458.

“Some say he’s not the Stig. But he is the Stig’s Italian cousin!”

Will.i.am

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With just over a week to go until Series 18, Top Gear fans are shifting their focus from the fairly dismal India Special over to the new series. The big question is – what can we expect? If you hate spoilers, you’d better stop reading now.

For a kick off, Top Gear was spotted late last year testing three exotic supercars (the Lamborghini Aventador, McLaren MP12-4C and Noble M600) in Lecce, Italy. On January 29th, we’ll watch them begin with testing these cars at the Nardo Ring, before driving through Rome and ending up at Imola. We also saw spy shots of Jeremy and James in Beijing, China – looking at a bunch of Chinese cars which all looked suspiciously similar to a few European models. Add to that, less than a week ago the boys were spotted in Abergavenny, South Wales – where they were testing modified mobility scooters.

For the Top Gear team, the subject of retirement may hit a little too close to home. Last year James May addressed some ‘end of TopGear’ rumors which were flying around at the time. He said that TopGear with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May has a limited shelf life. Of course this is true – the boys are all getting older now and there is only so long they can keep going with the show before they’ll have to step aside. Some people suggest that Top Gear is well past its prime – and that they’ve run out of ideas, or that they stage too many of the accidents and follow a pre-written script. Jeremy as the power addicted speed demon, Richard as the bumbling idiot and James as “Captain Slow” who is always late or lost. Or both.

But not all hope is lost. Top Gear will have to keep evolving as a show in order to stay relevant – perhaps even going back to it’s roots as a slightly more serious car show, whilst still being entertaining – but not to the point of being stupid. Think Series 4 or 5. Remove the cliche characters, feature more car review segments – and by all means still go on road trips or hold cheap car challenges – but remove the whole “Ambitious but rubbish” or the “Oh no its gone wrong” part of the show. It has been done to death and it is no longer funny. It will also not translate very well to new hosts, should Jeremy, Richard or James retire and be replaced.

Speaking of the boys – they were spotted last week having a quick catch up with their executive producer, Andy Wilman, outside a coffee shop in Notting Hill. After being strangely silent on the subject of the Indian Special, they no doubt had much to talk about in regards to the new series. Series 17 was seen as a bit of a return to form for Top Gear – with a little less scripted ‘cocking about’ and more good road tests, a few challenges and an interesting road trip to Italy. They really need to continue building on this new found strength, if they’re going to have any chance of making it to Series 20 and beyond.

So, can Top Gear keep the ball rolling? We’ll all find out on the 29th..

As the credits rolled and I turned the TV off, it left me wondering how they stuffed it up so badly. We were told to expect a 1,300 mile journey across India, but due to the way the show was edited, it felt more like 100 miles.

Instead of seeing more of this amazing country, we had to sit and suffer through the boys ‘revolutionising’ the Dabbawala lunch delivery system in Bombay, their utterly stupid party in Delhi – and why did they decide to get on the train? Who organises a road trip across a foreign country and then loads their vehicle on a train? I was not alone with my opinion.

Never before has a Top Gear episode been almost universally slammed by the large number of dedicated fans around the world. Negative comments on the official TopGear website were submitted in such large amounts that the blog post itself was moved off the main page, in an effort to hide it somewhat. They make for interesting reading.

I believe it would have been a lot better if they ditched the whole ‘trade mission’ theme and simply bought 3 bangers and drove from one side of India to the other. The episode itself was 90 minutes long, suggesting a lot of things could be crammed into the time slot – but very little was actually done or achieved. I would say if you combined the Dabbawala food delivery sequence, pointless hill climb event & Delhi party piece together, you’d have a solid 30 minutes of wasted time. Wasted time which could have been used to show us India. Plus, wrecking the XJS was criminal, it was a stunning looking car and also quite rare in that particular model/configuration. The Mini and the Rolls also bore the brunt of Top Gear’s modifications and staged ‘humor’ – and may be restorable but I doubt anyone would ever save them – it simply wouldn’t be worth the money to do so.

Towards the end of the episode. when Jeremy, Richard and James were sitting around the campfire imagining themselves doing a luxury roadtrip from Monaco to Portofino in three supercars – I couldn’t help but think how much more interesting that challenge would have been.

(EDIT: I have been informed that Andy Wilman’s response was indeed fake and it has been removed from this post. Apologies.)

• Jeremy, Richard and James go on a British trade mission to India.
• Each selects a car which will help represent Britain.
• Jeremy – Jaguar XJS, Richard – Mini Cooper, James – Rolls Royce Silver Shadow.

This special episode of Top Gear begins with the boys outside of Number 10 Downing Street – where they reveal the PM, David Cameron, personally dismissed their suggestion to run a British trade mission to India, in an effort to increase business between the two countries. Top Gear ignores Mr Cameron anyway and the boys each purchase a British car for under £7,000 and begin their journey to India.

Upon arriving, the boys meet up in the city of Bombay to see what cars the others had bought. James arrives first in a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow – a car hand wrought in Britain during the 1970′s, using the very finest British car making materials. Jeremy turns up next in a Jaguar XJS – a car notorious for being utterly unreliable due to cheap electrical connectors and relays. Richard rolls up last in one of the last Mini Cooper Sports’ ever made – it looks immaculate and proudly displays the Union Jack on the roof. The boys argue about which car is best, and for good reason – ahead lay a 1,300 mile journey across India and up into the Himalayas.

The boys head out into the streets of Bombay to get to know their cars. Richard loves the “chunky” power producted from the Mini’s tiny engine, whilst simultaneously wincing in pain from the car’s rough ride – thanks to its lowered suspension. Jeremy feels extremely confident inside the XJS – all the dials are reading as they should, the engine is smooth and every single electric item in the car works. James agrees the 210bhp available in the Rolls is “adequate” and is happy to report that the car has no faults whatsoever. For their first challenge, the boys take on a mission of revolutionising the Indian “Dabbawala’s” – a group of people who deliver hot, home cooked meals from housewives, directly to their husbands at work. Despite over 200,000 tins being delivered every day – only 1 mistake is made for every 6,000,000 deliveries. Rather than delivering the tins by train, the boys decide to deliver them by car to help bring the efficiency up to 100%. Put simply, they fail miserably due to spilt tins and a slow delivery due to traffic jams.

After their dismal failure, the boys have to head north to the city of Jaipur – however instead of driving, the producer decides to put them on an overnight train. The cars are loaded and James queues to buy the tickets – with Jeremy and Richard going to have lunch instead. Over lunch, Jeremy gives Richard a present – in the form of a massive bass guitar. They discuss the idea of having a trade party once they arrive in Delhi and perhaps even resurrecting the Top Gear Band. They purchase a drum kit and a keyboard and then board the train to Jaipur. During the trip, Top Gear’s producer Andy Wilman is roped in to do the vocals – and they hold a practice session much to the dismay of the other passengers. Later on, the boys decide to hang large banners down the side of the train to help advertise Britain as it travels across the country. The banners are created and Jeremy attempts to feed it out one of the side doors, along the side of the carriage – it gets caught on something and is ripped clean out of his hands. At the next stop, the banners are successfully put in place the the train continues on – without James. At Jaipur station, the boys disembark and the train splits – causing the banners to break in half and change their message completely.

Upon unloading the cars, Jeremy and Richard discover that the air-conditioning in the Rolls is actually fully functional – and they proceed to drain the refrigeration gas before he catches up with them all. Outside of Jaipur, the boys find a nice 1 kilometer section of road in the hills, and hold a traditional British Hill Climb event. A group of locals turn up with a selection of vehicles and post their own times on the course – before the boys each have a go. Richard and James hold back, so they didn’t decimate the local’s times. Jeremy however, went flat out and ended up winning the event. Afterwards, they all split up and decorate their own cars. Richard paints the flag of Mexico on the Mini’s bonnet, Jeremy applies floral wallpaper and a boot mounted toilet to his Jaguar – and James fits British and Indian flags along with floral arrangements to his Rolls. The boys then head north to Delhi, to hold their ambassadorial party. The roads are among the most dangerous in the world – and night fell when there was still 80 miles to go until the overnight stopover point. After a nervous 2 hours, they arrive.

The next morning, the road chaos continued – with the only difference being that you could now see what was about to kill you. Eventually they arrive in Delhi and begin to set up the party – which doesn’t go well. The following day, the boys modify their cars further – to prepare them for the journey north into the Himalayas. Jeremy fits chunky off road tyres on his Jaguar, along with open exhaust headers which exit vertically out of the bonnet. James also fitted off road tyres to the Rolls, as did Richard with his Mini – along with a front mounted winch. Jeremy an James argue for an hour about who ruined their car more – before stopping and swapping cars to compare. Jeremy only lasts a few minutes in the Rolls before asking to swap back. Eventually they begin the ascent into the Himalayas and finally find a bit of peace and quiet is found – well until Jeremy rolls through in his Jaguar running an open exhaust. After passing Shimla, the roads turn from bad to worse – and eventually the tarmac disappears all together. The front of Richard’s mini gets ripped off after an attempt to pull James’ Rolls up a steep incline – which later forces the boys to stop early and camp for the night due to him having no headlights.

The next day, Richard mends the Mini whilst Jeremy moans about his poor night’s sleep. After a brief game of Straight Six Cricket, Jeremy, Richard and James reach the Chinese border and have the cars put on giant plinths by the roadside. Jeremy sums up the gesture. “The Mini, the Jag and the Rolls would be mounted on plinths, here, high in the mountains, by the road connecting India and China. So that forevermore people traveling between these two great economic superpowers will be reminded that far away there’s a smile island called Britain. Great Britain.”