Top Gear

Published: 19 May 2016

Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc are joined by German racer Sabine Schmitz, YouTube star Chris Harris, BBC F1 pundit Eddie Jordan and motoring journalist Rory Reid to put the world’s finest cars from across the globe to the test.

The new six-part series sees Top Gear’s new presenting team undertake a series of on- and off-road challenges: chauffeuring superstar musicians to the top of Africa in 4x4s, journeying across Britain in roofless three-wheelers, hitting the Rolls-Royce campaign trail in western Ireland, and battling off-road baddies in a car made of scaffolding.

You’ll also find tests of the very latest cars, from Ferrari’s fearsome F12 TdF to the McLaren 675LT, from BMW’s pugnacious M2 to the screaming Aston Martin Vulcan.

Plus, of course, the biggest celebrities tackling the all-new test track every week, and the return of Top Gear’s enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a race suit: The Stig.

CM2/HM2

Film Highlights

Nomad LeBlanc
To test the latest off-road offering from tiny British firm Ariel, Matt LeBlanc heads to the wilds of Morocco, whereupon he discovers that a buggy largely consisting of holes is not the ideal vehicle in which to cross a significant river. Beyond a mild dousing – and a mild dust-storm - it all goes terribly well… until the all-terrain baddies turn up. Armed with a dirt bike, a drone and some sort of enormous desk-fan arrangement.

The Special Relationship
As a patriotic American and moderately loyal Brit respectively, Matt LeBlanc and Chris Evans are charged with defending the honour of their nations in a series of motoring challenges. The cars? A pair of very old, very slow off-roaders, in the shape of the Willys Jeep and Series I Land Rover. The battlefield? Blackpool.

But first would come our presenters’ Top Gear initiation drive: a 250-mile journey from London to Blackpool… in a pair of roofless Reliant Rialtos. Which, for those unfamiliar with the history of fibreglass three-wheelers, are rather like Reliant Robins, only no better in any discernable way.

Off-Road Roadies
Never a show to shirk serious consumer issues, Top Gear sets out to solve one of the biggies: what’s the best SUV in which to deliver a musician to play the headline slot at the highest pub in Africa? Enter the investigative team of LeBlanc, Evans and Jordan, chauffeuring Tinie Tempah, Seasick Steve and Texas’s Sharlene Spiteri in the latest 4x4s from Porsche, Jaguar and Mercedes.

Top Gear Meets Top Gun
Chris Evans swallows some brave pills to test out the very muscular Dodge Viper ACR at the home of Top Gun: US Naval Base Fallon, deep in the Nevada desert. Then swallows a few more when Sabine Schmitz rocks up for a fight in a Corvette Z06. Covered in guns.

Happy Happy Harris
The new BMW M2 is the sort of car that makes drivers happy. But exactly how happy, in numerical terms, does it make you? To find out, Chris Harris straps on Top Gear’s patented Funometer 3000, the new headset to scientifically quantify driving joy.

Meet The McMustangs
Classic muscle cars are great news if you live in, say, southern California. Classic muscle cars are rather less great news if you live in, say, northern Scotland, on account of (a) their aversion to rain, (b) their aversion to corners and (c) the fact that their steering wheels are always inconveniently on the incorrect side. But is the new Ford Mustang – with its newfangled ‘right-hand drive’ technology – finally a muscle car fit for Britain? Rory Reid heads to northern Scotland to find out.

Top Gear Facts and Behind The Scenes of season 23

Top Gear has had over 40 presenters so far, which have included Angela Rippon, Noel Edmonds, Kate Humble, Tiff Needell and Brendan Coogan - Steve 'Alan Partridge' Coogan’s brother.

Chris Evans has always been a fan of cars. He founded car and music festival CarFest in 2012, which takes place twice a year (first in Cheshire and then in Hampshire) and raises money for Children in Need. His car collection is extensive and has included a £6 million 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, a 1958 Jaguar XK150 and even the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

Matt LeBlanc is the first American presenter of Top Gear. He presented a standalone spin-off of the main show called Top Gear: The Races which was broadcast in the USA. He also drove around the Top Gear track in the Kia Cee’d, achieving 1:42.1 which is the fastest celebrity time recorded on the show.

The public auditions process for a new Top Gear presenter:

The team had to go through over 6,000 thirty-second audition clips, which took more than a month (most were emailed in but also over 100 were sent in the post).
There were audition tapes which included badly rhyming raps, a two year-old who could name cars by looking at toy versions of them, and a Russian Playboy model.
Submissions came from all over the world - from America to China and India to the Philippines.
Screen tests for our favourites took place at the Dunsfold Top Gear track and involved hopefuls driving the famous circuit while talking to camera, being filmed walking around and talking about a static vehicle in the studio, and having a one-on-one chat with producers.

The Top Gear track and studio is located at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey. As well as being used as the home of Top Gear, Dunsfold Aerodrome has also been used as a backdrop to a number of Hollywood blockbusters such as Casino Royale and The Da Vinci Code.

This series, Top Gear have moved into the 21st century and swapped the golden envelopes for golden phones!

At any one time, Top Gear can be filming up to three different films in three different locations.

This series:

Our presenters have driven approximately 7,500 miles – which equates to almost twice around the planet
Top Gear have visited four continents and nine countries
The team have filmed in high temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius (South Africa) and lows of -5 degrees Celsius (America)

The famous theme music is a remixed version of a track called ‘Jessica’ by American rockers The Allman Brothers Band.

Top Gear Stats

Broadcasts in 212 territories worldwide and to an estimated global audience of 350m
The world's most widely watched factual television programme (Guinness Book of World Records 2011)
Local versions in USA, China, France, South Korea and Italy

Digital

23m fans on Facebook (Top Gear 15m, Stig 7m & Instagram), 1.9m on Twitter and 4m Google+ followers
topgear.com has on average 4.5m unique users = 45m page impressions pcm
Top Gear is the biggest motoring media channel on YouTube with 1.2bn video views of Top Gear

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