- Jeremy power tests the TVR Sagaris.
- Jeremy races a Fiat Panda against a marathon runner.
- Richard goes to the Nürburgring to see if Sabine Schmitz can beat 10 minute lap around the track in a Ford Transit van.
- Star in a Reasonably Priced Car: Justin Hawkins.
Episode Guide
Main review: Jeremy drives the first and only non-terrifying TVR, the Sagaris. James contends that despite his great praise for the vehicle, Jeremy would rather have a Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG because he’s a coward.
News: Jeremy has slipped two discs, which he describes as ‘repetitive oversteer injury’; Proton have announced the Savvy, as a ‘My First Lotus’; two new Mustangs, neither of which will be coming to the UK; Mercedes-Benz have styled a car like a fish; the Top Gear Survey.
Versus Challenge: Clarkson races the new 4-wheel drive Fiat Panda against marathon runner A.C. Muir around the London Marathon circuit during the morning rush-hour. After early success, the car gets bogged down in traffic and just as Clarkson approaches Tower Bridge, the gates are closed and the bridge rises. Muir wins the race by 10 minutes. Clarkson is impressed and back in the studio, Clarkson interrogates Hammond for failing to beat him on a train, a plane and a boat and commends Muir for beating him using “nothing except half a horsepower and some toast”. Clarkson praises Muir again and gives a Top Gear Top Tip, “If you’re looking for a faster way to get through London during the morning rush hour, don’t use a car — run!”
Greatest Driving Song of All Time: Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”
Star in a Reasonably Priced Car: Justin Hawkins recalls driving across America in a Reliant Regal. Lap time of 1:48.
Cool Wall: The DB9 Cabriolet is cool in case you own one and it is called over a tannoy; Richard takes advantage of Clarkson’s injury to place the Maserati Gran Sport in the cool section and the Peugeot 1007 in the uncool section; the Panda is cool because it is a 4×4 and annoys ecomentalists; the Range Rover Sport is uncool because a reality TV star wants one; the two disagree over the SLK55 — Hammond says it is too fiddly and the two use large audience members to fight by proxy — Hammond wins at first, but then Clarkson intervenes and it goes in “sub-zero”.
Time Challenge: To celebrate the Ford Transit’s 40th birthday, Hammond goes to the Nürburgring to see if Sabine Schmitz can fulfill her word and do a lap of the infamous track in a Transit van in less than Jeremy’s best lap in the diesel S-Type of 9:59. Sabine fails on the first try, so tries again after streamlining and putting the van on a drastic and radical weight diet, and achieves a 10:08.49 the second time, coming just 9 seconds short of the time Jeremy had set the previous year. Back at the hangar, Sabine is invited to take over oversteering duties from Hammond for the next series, being ‘cheaper’, much better looking, a better (quicker) driver, and most importantly taller, as well as speaking better English.
Some say…
“Some say that he lives in a tree, and that his sweat can be used to clean precious metals. All we know is he’s called the Stig.”
Stig Power Laps
TVR Sagaris
1:24.60
Star in a Reasonably Priced Car
Justin Hawkins
1:48.00
Music
TVR Sagaris Review:
00:56 – 01:17 – Hybrid – Gravastar
01:50 – 02:49 – Aphex Twin – Come to Daddy
02:50 – 03:13 – Hybrid – Gravastar
03:13 – 03:57 – Death in Vegas – Song for Penny
04:30 – 05:34 – Massive Attack – Dissolved Girl
05:34 – 06:32 – Mercury Rev – Hercules
‘The Stig’ Lap:
07:57 – 08:02 – Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Hoedown
08:21 – 08:26 – Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Hoedown
Car vs. Man Challenge:
16:01 – 16:14 – Four Tet – Smile Around The Face
16:14 – 16:26 – Deep Purple – Hush (Erol Alkan Mix)
16:26 – 16:43 – Dimitri from Paris – Nothing to Lose
16:43 – 17:03 – Gresby Nash – Sweltered
17:03 – 17:19 – Primal Scream – Rise
17:21 – 17:59 – Murcof – Mir
18:07 – 18:44 – Boards of Canada – Rue the Whirl
18:45 – 19:16 – Primal Scream – JU-87
19:16 – 19:26 – Boards of Canada – Sunshine Recorder
18:26 – 19:28 – Primal Scream – JU-87
19:28 – 19:35 – Boards of Canada – Sunshine Recorder
19:35 – 19:36 – Primal Scream – JU-87
19:36 – 19:40 – Boards of Canada – Sunshine Recorder
19:40 – 20:16 – Primal Scream – JU-87
20:20 – 20:47 – Bonobo – The Plug (Quantic Mix)
20:47 – 21:06 – Wailing Souls – Well of Souls
21:06 – 21:27 – Hawkwind – The Forge of Vulcan
21:28 – 21:57 – Tapper Zukie – M.P.L.A. Dub
22:13 – 22:35 – Boards of Canada – Music is Math
22:36 – 23:16 – Photek – Ren 2
23:45 – 24:22 – The Paragons – Indiana Jones
24:26 – 24:51 – The Paragons – Indiana Jones
25:01 – 25:23 – Primal Scream – JU-87
25:32 – 25:46 – Boards of Canada – Sixtyten
25:50 – 26:42 – Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Michael Brook – Sweet Pain (Joi Remix)
26:43 – 27:47 – Photek – Ren 2
27:47 – 28:50 – Elgar – Land of Hope & Glory
Nürburgring Ten Minute Challenge:
47:47 – 48:07 – The Prodigy – Hot Ride
48:10 – 48:38 – Big John Patton – Alfie’s Theme
48:42 – 49:09 – The Cinematic Orchestra – Man with the Movie Camera
49:07 – 50:17 – Tom Rothrock – Rollin’ Crumblin’
50:21 – 50:46 – Christopher Gordon – The Galapagos
50:46 – 50:55 – Underworld – Dark and Long (Dark Train Mix)
51:04 – 51:09 – Craig Armstrong – Escape
51:14 – 51:23 – William Orbit – Strings for Adagio (Ferry Corsten Remix)
51:32 – 51:34 – William Orbit – Strings for Adagio (Ferry Corsten Remix)
51:40 – 51:54 – The Sabres of Paradise – Theme
51:57 – 52:43 – Thomas Newman – Lexington Hotel, Room 1432
52:43 – 53:27 – Underworld – Dark and Long (Dark Train Mix)
53:26 – 53:36 – Timo Maas – Manga
53:39 – 54:29 – Overseer – Supermoves
54:39 – 54:58 – Christopher Gordon, Iva Davies – Into the Fog
55:00 – 56:27 – Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard – Molossus
56:30 – 56:54 – Piero Umiliani – Panoramica (The Cinematic Orchestra Remix)