The Top Gear Story by Martin Roach

from a Robin Reliant. Apart from the fact that it’s a pretty big ask, they did complete their challenge but for the final failure, though. So we are left with the teasing question: had the second-phase rockets detached on schedule, would the shuttle have landed safely and been a total success? We’ll never know and it’s pretty likely that BBC budgets will prevent them from ever trying again …
    The list of more daft Top Gear challenges reads like a surreal selection of crazy ideas that a bunch of young boys have dreamt up after perhaps having their first-ever pint of beer:making a convertible People Carrier; grannies doing doughnuts and handbrake turns; can a rally pit team strip and rebuild a car faster than four women get ready for a night out?; can a stretch limo jump over a wedding party?; how many motorcycles can a double-decker bus jump over?; how many bouncy castles can an ice-cream van jump?; what’s the best wig for driving in an open-top?; how easy is it to create a life-size remote controlled car?; can they beat the record for the most complete sideways rolls in a car …
    As Richard Hammond said when he was about to launch the Robin Reliant into space: ‘If you’re eight years old, you probably want to watch this …’

CHAPTER 8
The Top Gear Specials: ‘US Road Trip’
    O f course, all this japery with blowing up caravans, encouraging nuns to skid, breaking numerous speed records and generally acting out endless schoolboy fantasies with cars makes for great TV, but where Top Gear really raise the bar is during their more substantial challenges. These are best exemplified by the small handful of so-called specials they have attempted. There have been four specials within actual series (‘USA’, ‘Botswana’, ‘Vietnam’ and ‘Bolivia’) plus two further stand-alone programmes (‘ Top Gear Winter Olympics’ and ‘The Polar Special’).
    In this writer’s opinion, the best special of them all is the fabulous ‘US Road Trip’, first screened in Episode 3 of Series 9. The team hate fly/drive holidays and contest that the logistics of this type of trip and the myriad of problems encountered means that it’s not a holiday at all, but a living hell. So, the premise was simple enough: is it possible to fly to America andbuy a car more cheaply than you can hire one for a fortnight? Thereafter, can you travel through four US states and then sell the same car and get most of your money back? Equipped with just $1,000 each, they set about finding out … and very nearly never made it back.
    Clarkson’s relationship – if there is one at all – with the USA is strained at best. He calls it ‘the United States of Paranoia’ and has been openly critical of Barack Obama, particularly in the aftermath of the President’s acidic attacks on BP following the Gulf of Mexico oil spillage of 2010. Clarkson points out the absurdity of the fact that in the US, you need a permit for most things except buying firearms.
    The plan was to create Top Gear ’s very own road movie. As inspiration, the production crew used famous American flicks such as Thelma & Louise and National Lampoon’s Vacation . Initially, the trip was meant to be merely a Cheap Car Challenge spread over two segments, but as the backroom staff researched and prepared the film, it became clear that they had enough scope to produce a lengthy and highly entertaining stand-alone programme. Surprisingly, it is also noted on their website as one of the most gruelling shoots ever, even taking into account the later ‘Polar’ and ‘African’ specials.
    The team flew into the US and stayed at a very upmarket hotel before the trip began. On the first day, the trio was sent out to the rather salubrious areas of Miami to purchase a classic American car for their $1,000. With every dealership they tried, the options became more