Top Gear/Season 10 Episode 2

Season 10 Episode 2
Season 10, Episode 2
Airdate	October 14, 2007
Written by
Directed by	Brian Klein
← 10x01 Season 10 Episode 1	10x03 → Season 10 Episode 3
Top Gear — Season Ten

Episode Two of the tenth season of Top Gear, and is episode eighty-three overall.

Guest Stars: Julian Miles Holland

Information

Audi R8

Jeremy Clarkson reviews the Audi R8. The R8 costs about £77,000 (roughly $156,000), but nearly everything on the car is an optional extra. The R8 takes 4.6 seconds to go 0-60, and its top speed is 190mph. The car has four-wheel drive, but you get almost no understeer. Clarkson believes the R8 is almost completely without fault and absolutely stunning. Richard Hammond disagrees, bringing out the Porsche Carrera 2S. It costs about the same as the Audi R8, but Hammond believes it can run rings around the Audi. Hammond attempts to overtake Clarkson around the track, but the R8 has the grip through the corners and its V8 is more than a match to the Porsche's flat 6. The two argue over which car is better, but decide to settle it over a half-mile drag race. Unfortunately, the Audi R8 loses by roughly half a car length.

The Stig takes the Porsche Carrera 2S around the test track, but spins it coming out of the second to last corner. However, the Stig eventually gets a time of 1.26.2. The Stig takes the Audi R8 around the test track in 1.24.4

Return of the Amphibious Car Challenge

Revisiting season eight's amphibious car challenge, the boys are tasked by the producers to try again. The trio improve upon their original vehicles, but discover they must drove to Dover and use their amphibious vehicles to cross the English Channel to France. Despite a couple of fires, they eventually make it to the Channel but delay their crossing to the next day.

The group hit the water with James May going in first, but his supposedly amphibious car soon begins to sink. Hammond and Clarkson go in after May and find that their amphibious cars are seaworthy. However, Hammond is unable to stop and thus can't pick up May from the water, and May refuses to admit defeat to Clarkson in exchange for getting a lift out of the water. Clarkson and Hammond leave the harbor in an attempt to make the crossing, but discover the water is too choppy and head back into the safety of the harbor. May's car fails spectacularly once again and Hammond's car loses its steering and eventually its engine.

The next day the sea is calm and the group sets off again, this time with May in Hammond's camper van with a borrowed outboard motor. However, Hammond's camper van sinks and Clarkson is forced to pick them up and return to Dover. Clarkson sets off on a fourth attempt with Hammond and May on board, intent on breaking Richard Branson's world record of crossing the English Channel in an amphibious car in 1 hour 40 minutes and 6 seconds. After a flyby from the Coast Guard and navigating the shipping lanes, the group discover they've failed in breaking Branson's record. However, they manage to make it to France and get the Hilux onto French soil.

Star in a Reasonably Priced Car

This week's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car is Julian Miles Holland, a British pianist and television presenter. Julian Miles Holland races the Chevrolet Lacetti around the test track in 1.49.9.

Reviews

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