Friday, May 04, 2007

Top Gear - Revved Up

I don't know why, but the guys in the office absolutely love Top Gear. The weekly show at SBS on Saturday nights is apparently not enough for them, so they go scouring for Top Gear videos on YouTube, and send each other the links. I watch Top Gear myself, though I can't see what's the fuss about. I like sleek and fast cars; the show's challenges are original (though sometimes childish); the hosts have genuine chemistry and sometimes funny; but that's about it. If you don't want to sit through whole seasons of Top Gear just for the good bits, then get this DVD.

Top Gear - Revved Up is a collection of the best and most requested segments of Top Gear's seasons 3, 4, and 5. We start off with Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond duking it out on the beach of Pendine Sands with a Porsche, a Jaguar and the new BMW 6 series. If they didn't use doubles while sliding and drifting their cars on the wet sand, then I must say they're quite good. In DB9 vs. Train, the guys race each other to reach Monte Carlo - James and Richard commuting and eventually riding the 200mph TGV, while Jeremy drives an Aston Martin DB9. Guess who won? How about a Mitsubishi Evo racing against a bobsled with no brakes down the mountains? Or an Apache helicopter trying to get a missile lock on a sub-1 ton 200hp Lotus Exige?

In one of their stunts, Jemery tried his hardest to destroy a Toyota Hilux to no avail. The pickup was driven down a flight of stairs, bashed around industrial Bristol, left to drown in the sea, blown up on top of a tower block, bashed with a wrecking ball, and torched. Despite all this, the Hilux lives to drive another day. In another challenge, the guys were give 1,500 pounds each to buy a Porsche, which they have to drive to Brighton in one piece. Then they were told to sell the Porsches again and see how much they can make. Funniest segment? Hammond starts a people carrier race series, featuring two Renault Espaces, a Toyota Previa, a Toyota Spacecruiser, a Mitsubishi Space Wagon, and a Nissan Serena in the inaugural race. After much bumping and crashing among the champion drivers, the Espaces win the race with a 1-2 finish.

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