Top Gear (U.S. TV series)

Top Gear
Top Gear title card from season 2
Genre	Motoring
Created by	BBC Worldwide
Directed by	Ben Silverman Vage Dickinson
Presented by	Adam Ferrara Tanner Foust Rutledge Wood The Stig
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	72 (list of episodes)
Production
Location(s)	Former MCAS El Toro, Irvine, California, USA
Running time	approx. 40–45 minutes
Production company(s)	BBC Worldwide Reveille Productions (2011–12)
Release
Original network	History
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original release	November 21, 2010 – June 28, 2016
Chronology
Related shows	Top Gear worldwide
External links
Website
Production website

Top Gear is an American motoring television series, based on the BBC series of the same name. The show's presenters are professional racing driver Tanner Foust, actor and comedian Adam Ferrara, and automotive and racing analyst Rutledge Wood. As with the original British version, the show has its own version of The Stig, an anonymous racing driver, and a celebrity guest was featured each week for the first two seasons. The show premiered on November 21, 2010, on History. Its most recent season, Season 6, began airing on April 26, 2016. On June 28, 2016, the BBC confirmed that the series has completed its contractual run on the History channel, and that they have "begun exploring new opportunities for the series in the US."

The show's first two seasons followed a similar format of the BBC version: three main hosts present, The Stig (a secret race driver) tests vehicles, and celebrities are invited for interviews and to drive vehicles around a test track. In addition, challenges similar in nature to the ones presented in the original show are replicated in Top Gear. The "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" (retitled "Big Star, Small Car") segment uses a Suzuki SX4 Sportback. Filming of this segment, along with in-studio segments take place at the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, now known as the Orange County Great Park, in Irvine, California.

Beginning in season 3, the show changed its emphasis to the hosts' stunts involving car customization, with all studio-based segments, as well as car reviews and Power Laps, discarded from the series.

During the first two seasons, Power Laps was a segment of the program in which The Stig completes a lap around the track in a reviewed car to compare its performance to previous contenders.

All laps are timed with the car's manufacturer-provided adjustable settings configured for maximum performance — all adjustable suspensions are set at their most efficient, all gear shift maps are at their most aggressive, and driving aids such as traction control are deactivated.