Top Gear is an awesome show.  If you haven’t seen it yet, check your cable listings.  In Southern California, I get it on the BBC channel. 

I wish there was a show like this in the U.S. but it really doesn’t matter. I’m just happy I can watch it.

The show takes 3 blokes that range from small medium to large and puts them in the most usual and unusual cars with an excellent sense of dry British humor.  Jeremey Clarkson is the biggest chap and the show’s star.  Each episode usually has a main theme, like racing an airplane against a Veyron from Italy to England or a homemade amphibious car challenge.  Around that main theme there are smaller stories, like testing driving everything from a Peugeot to a Koenigsegg and F1 Renault. 

Celebrities of all shapes and sizes routinely come on the show for a quick interview and a hot lap around the track in an economy car, complete with an onboard camera watching their face. To be honest I only recognize half the celebrities since it’s a British show.

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When they get their hands on hot cars like an R8 or Gallardo, they do a proper exam on a track and regular roads and the turn the keys over to their anonnymous, “tame” racing drive who does an all out assault on the track. They throw the lap time on a board ranked fast to slow. 

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The best measure of a true sports car isn’t it’s ¼ mile or knot to 60 time, it’s how fast can it run a racing lap compared to other sports cars and the Top Gear challenge is a consistently good test.

On top of all that, the footage, camera angles and picture quality kick ass. If you want to see what it’s like going balls out in an Atom, this is as close as you’ll get without a helmet on.

There are two negatives. 1) Clarkson doesn’t appreciate Porsches, which is a bunch of bollocks! 2) The show is British and true to the country’s stereotype the arrogance can be obvious at times, but hey who am I to judge. Half my country is fat and drives SUVs that never go off road.

Overall, great show!  Two thumbs up.  I watch it every week.