In case you haven’t heard, Top Gear is back this Sunday night in its usual 8pm slot on BBC2. And we’ll be there for the next six weeks, pending an outbreak of snooker or some kind of choir singing competition.
The first show is packed with meaty goodness, starting with a test of the insane Ariel Atom V8 conducted by the normally sensible James May. With a car this fast, clearly we had to set a lap time in it and, since James still isn’t entirely sure which way the track goes, this would normally be a job for the Stig. Except, as you know, he recently decided to become sacked. But don’t worry, we’ve solved that one, as you will discover on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Jeremy has got a large Czech bee in his bonnet about the Skoda Yeti and elects to conduct one of his famously thorough road tests featuring helicopters, firemen, a celebrity cameo appearance and two rather amusing dogs, in order to show just how good it is.
Richard also has a point to prove this week as he attempts to show the producers that they’re wrong when they say the Porsche 911 is just an old VW Beetle with a spoiler on it. It’s an argument that eventually leads to an all-out fight against some basic laws of physics.
And as if that wasn’t enough we’ve got a packed news segment full of things you’ll be seeing on our roads later this year, and affable Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop taking a laid back stab at toppling Tom Cruise from the top of Reasonably Priced Car lap board.
It’s safe to say you won’t get any of these things if you watch Dancing on Ice.
Oh, and don’t forget to come back to TopGear.com this weekend for outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage from this week’s show. To keep you going until Sunday night, here’s some of the behind-the-scenes web highlights from last year’s run…
