Top Gear: US Special
| Top Gear: US Special | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Presented by |
Jeremy Clarkson Richard Hammond James May |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Andy Wilman |
| Running time | 60 minutes (TV Cut) 52 minutes (DVD Cut) |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two |
| Picture format | 720x576, anamorphic 16:9 |
| Original release | February 11, 2007 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Top Gear |
| External links | |
| www |
|
Top Gear: US Special is a full-length, special edition episode for BBC motoring program Top Gear, and was first broadcast on BBC Two on 11 February 2007, as part of the 3rd episode of Series 9, with the special repeated in an edited version for UKTV channel Dave. The special sees hosts, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May travelling on a journey from Miami to New Orleans in three used cars to find if it's more economical to buy a vehicle rather than rent one. The Production Notes section of the Top Gear website describes the creation and production of this episode as "one of the most grueling shoots in Top Gear history, damn near finishing off several members of the crew through exhaustion."
Attempting to see if it is cheaper to buy a car for exploring the southern part of the United States for a week rather than renting one, Clarkson, Hammond and May travelled to Miami and were each given US$1,000 to see what they could buy. Over the course of several hours, they discovered that there were very few cars available at a price within their budget, with all three having to venture into parts of the city where the risk of danger was great; Hammond found a dealer, during his search, that specialised in decommissioned law enforcement and government cars, while Clarkson encountered a dealer who owned both a small pistol and a rifle with a scope for his personal protection. Eventually, all three met up outside a stadium with the cars that they had managed to find within budget - Clarkson had bought a 1991 Chevrolet Camaro RS, which he claimed had a murky past to it with the discovery of a mysteriously stained shirt in a compartment next the spare tyre; Hammond had bought a 1991 Dodge Ram 150 pickup truck, which despite dents and a loose tailgate, was in quite good condition; May had bought a 1989 Cadillac Brougham, which had considerable wear and tear to it, and was quite bouncy as Clarkson and Hammond found when they pushed against it. Despite the initial faults, all three were delighted with their purchases and soon found themselves tasked with travelling to the Moroso Motorsports Park. Along the way, each revealed that their car had other faults to it - Clarkson had a radio that could only pick up a gospel preaching radio station, while most of his dials didn't work properly; May's Cadillac had poor acceleration and struggled to achieve a fast speed, yet was the only vehicle with working air-con, which he appreciated in the Florida heat; Hammond had a radio that was broken and not connected, while his pick-up veered to the left under acceleration, and pulled to the right when braking.
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Wikipedia