[26x04] Mar 10, 2019

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  • Total voters
    7

Andeh

is teahte tbungafloed
Joined
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Location
Cumbria, UK
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Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris and Rory Reid buy used luxury limousines from Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Mercedes for the price of Britain’s cheapest new car, and test them out in a six-hour endurance race at Silverstone. Matt Baker is the studio guest.
 
I really liked this episode, yes it's all stuff that's been done before, but it still felt fresh and I actually connected to the race at the end, wanting them to do well. I'm even starting to find the LeBlanc liking heavy machinery gag (or is it?) to be amusing. Shame he's going soon in my opinion.

8/10
 
Some points while I watch...

  • Even though James really started the whole thing, it's nice to see the Sandero legacy live on on the show.
  • I enjoyed the semi-return of the no hands drag race. (they did a similar thing on Top Gear US and it was a really fun segment!)
  • Seeing Chris flying around in that Merc made me think how much more fun he could have if he stripped it down, especially as it still has tons of power. (and now I see he did that to an extent for the race :) )
  • The Rory Reid badge was a nice touch.
  • I can just imagine the drivers at the front of the race that Chris called idiots watching this and hearing him say that, haha. ;)
  • Hilarious when Chris fell through the "wall."

Really fun episode overall! I'll happily give it an 8.
 
Very good. Nice to see some real, actual, honest to goodness fun during the race day!
Also nice to see a bit of background and more racing coverage on Extra Gear, plus some interesting stuff about the hand-control Beetle for Team Brit.
 
As most of the stuff on this episode have been done before it's hard not to draw comparisons to the CHM episodes. The endurance race at the end didn't have you on the edge of your seat willing the car on like the biofuel BMW, but having said that, it was still entertaining all the way through. Especially the very near miss between Chris and Matt in the hands free drag race, and Chris falling through the wall was laugh out loud funny.

Matt and Chris really do work well together, and I think it's reached the peak of 'new new Top Gear' now so it's a shame that Matt is leaving. I just can't see Paddy McGuinness and Andrew Flintoff working at all next season.
 
I actually watched this episode, I was told it would be up my street and that was spot on. Seemed like a proper 'cheap' car challenge with some interesting tests for the old barges. I mostly skipped Matt Baker but stopped to watch the digger challenge, a nice alternative to driving when it's too icy.

And so to the endurance race. After seeing Rory's 'modications' to the Silver Shadow I wasn't expecting much, but I really enjoyed this segment. It didn't seem like they tried particularly hard to prepare the cars, there was no talk of budget so I don't see why they had to cheap out on anything.
The race itself really appeals to me as I've always liked the idea of competing in a non-pro endurance race somewhere between this and LeMons, some of the team names like "The Cunning Stunts" and "Mostly Rusty 2 Seaters" show that they aren't taking it too seriously. Perfect.

I looked up the results and they actually offer handicap laps to help the slower cars be more competitive; offering prizes for the overall scratch winner and the winner when handicap laps are taken into account. The TG team had 43 handicap laps, the most that had been given out and still only managed 69th so they really were quite poor, definitely not on the same level as the 24 hour race in the BMW but it still looked like a great day out.

The race took place in October 2017, surprisingly.
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