Top Gear USA debuted in November 2010 as the States’ version of the best car show on television, Top Gear UK. The new Top Gear brings together Adam Ferrara, Tanner Foust, and Rutledge Wood in their attempt to rival the UK show with their crazy challenges, mystery driver, and on screen antics. Top Gear USA has not been met with much enthusiasm from lovers of the original Top Gear, but the History Channel is hoping they can turn things around and make Top Gear USA a force to be reckoned with.
Top Gear USA may not have the cache of its original UK counterparts, but make no mistake, it’s no accident that they’re already in deep into their third season.
So they must be doing something right, and wouldn’t you know it, they didn’t wait until the season to show exactly why Top Gear USA is becoming popular on these shores.
The show returns on January 29th on the History Channel and we’re one of the many that are excited to see what kind of antics and shenanigans Tanner Foust, Rutledge Wood, and Adam Ferrara have up their sleeves this season.
If the preview of Top Gear USA is any indication, we expect a whole lot of automotive love from these presenters. Maybe not to the point of taking the cars out on their dates, celebrating birthday parties, or God forbid, even marrying one, but enough to validate exactly why we love this show - in all of its formats.
After Jeremy Clarkson confirmed a few months ago that Top Gear U.K. wouldn’t be returning until 2013, we had all our hopes rested on the USA version to deliver our Top Gear fix. Thankfully, they’ve come through for us, recently confirming that the third series of Top Gear USA will hit American screens on August 14 at 9pm eastern time.
Six episodes will air in the lead up to 2013, and after the New Year, a further 10 episodes will conclude the third season, totaling 16 episodes all together.
Co-presenter Rutledge Wood confirmed the news recently via his Twitter account stating “So happy it’s out! #TopGear on@HistoryChannel returns Aug 14th 9pm! 6 New shows, then 10 more after new year! You guys will love them!”
We have no idea what the trio of presenters have planned for us this time around, but it’s sure to be an epic season full of all the crazy adventures that the second half of the second season delivered. Add to that the always enjoyable segments of Big Star Small Car and new performance tests, and there’s no question that season 3 of Top Gear USA should be the best yet.
Are you as excited about this news as us, or is Top Gear USA simply not your cup of tea?
Think of February 14, 2012. To many, this is a day of chocolates, candy, hearts, and flowers, but to car enthusiasts, this is the day when Top Gear USA gets back into action. That’s right, Top Gear USA has moved to Tuesdays and its third season will commence on the most popular day for love.
As usual, the show will be hosted by comedian Adam Ferrara, rally and drift racer Tanner Foust, and motorsport analyst Ruttledge Wood. The new teaser video for the show’s third season, however, stars none other than their top secret racing driver, The Stig, as he sets a new "unofficial" lap record of 1:21.4 seconds for TopGear USA while driving a Corvette ZR1 tuned by Hennessey. A masked man with a super speedy chariot? This may be just enough for all the men in the world to convince their loved ones of staying in on Valentine’s Day to catch the first episode of the season.
This week’s episode of Top Gear is probably the most disgusting episode we have ever seen. The guys were faced with the challenge of finding the best car for $500 and driving them 500 miles from Santa Monica to Twin Peaks in San Francisco. At first, we could only imagine just how crappy these cars were, then the Top Gear crew let us know.
In addition to the foul $500 car challenge, Ruttledge Wood was given the chance to review the scintillating Cadillac CTS-V in all three body styles: coupe, sedan, and wagon. The wagon was by far Rutt’s favorite and he was absolutely clear on that.
We were also treated to Maroon 5’s Adam Levine as he cruised around the Top gear test track in the show’s Suzuki SX4. His driving may not have been top notch, but he was extremely successful at cursing up a storm.
Hit the jump for details on Top Gear USA: Season 2 Episode 6.
Right off the bat, we have to admit that this week’s episode of Top Gear USA was a lot funnier than any other episode this season. The majority of the episode was spent trying to figure out which of the three hosts chose a better luxury car. However, instead of being the long and drawn out segment as found in previous episodes, this challenge made us laugh out loud a few times. The guys were driving around the Hamptons in a 1972 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, a 1982 Jaguar XJS, and a 1988 Pontiac Fiero turned Ferrari 308. Oh yeah, the Hamptonites just loved that.
In between the search for the best luxury car for $5,000, Tanner Foust got to take a spin in "the Beast," the Porsche 911 GT2 RS and Torchwood star, Arlene Tur took a speedy trip around the Top Gear test track in the Suzuki SX4.
Hit the jump for full details on Top Gear USA: Season 2 Episode 5.
This week’s episode of Top Gear USA brought us back to the one segment format. The trio of Adam Ferrara, Tanner Foust, and Ruttledge Wood had the challenge of proving which was the toughest off-roader in America by subjecting three of the best 4x4 vehicles to a series of tests.
Adam opted for a 1994 Ford Bronco with a 351 HP V8 and Ruttledge chose a 1989 Chevrolet K5 Blazer with a 350 HP V8. Tanner was the only one with an inline six in his 1983 Jeep Renegade. All three of them were dropped off in the middle of the Mojave Desert to sweat it out for 400 miles as they cruised to Vegas, dealing with the 134 degree weather. By the way, Tanner’s Jeep had no air conditioning. Yikes!
The whole point of this challenge was to find the best 4x4, so to put the vehicles through the test and put the guys through hell, the first 350 miles of the trip had to be made without their tires ever touching asphalt. What happens after this was made known is entirely predictable and grueling.
The boys from Top Gear USA were back this week and they are starting to pick up a little bit of speed in terms of entertainment value. The discussions still tend to be a little too rehearsed, but we didn’t want to turn off the television as soon as they started talking. Well, except for when Adam opened his mouth, but we’re used to that.
The main focus this week was trying to figure out which truck was the best in America. After spending the entire first episode trying to convince us all that pick-up trucks could be convinced by two-door models, this was a welcome change. Other segments included battling it out between the Local Motors’ Rally Fighter and an airboat, and a trip around the Top Gear test track with actor/comedian Bill Engvall.
Hit the jump to check out the full details on Top Gear USA: Season 2 Episode 3.
Top Gear USA is back for its second season and, after watching the first two episodes of The Car Show, we were hoping it would start off with a bang. Unfortunately, it was more like a muffled beep.
The only segment in the first episode of the season was a series of challenges trying to convince viewers that pick-up trucks could be replaced by two-door models. The guys ended up choosing a Ford Maverick, a BMW 335E, and a Mazda Miata as their specimens. The challenges were a bit eventful and a little humorous, but overall a bit disappointing.
Maybe Top Gear USA was trying to move away from the mirror image segments from the original Top Gear, but this path was not the right one. We just hope that the next episode adds a bit more oomph because, for the first episode of the season, we thought more could have been done to convince viewers that this was the car show to watch.
The second season of Top Gear USA will air on Sunday, July 24th, so naturally the History Channel is already priming the crowd for its grand second season entrance with the show’s first trailer. After watching the almost two minute long video, it seems as though Top Gear USA may have all of its kinks ironed out - even if Adam Ferrara is still part of the trio.
Along with comedian, Adam Ferrara, Top gear USA welcomes back professional racing driver, Tanner Foust and automotive and racing analyst, Rutledge Wood. This first trailer shows the three of them driving classic cars and has a bit of an 80s theme running through it. It was pretty cool, but we would have rather seen actual footage from the second season. Guess they’re saving that stuff for the next trailer.
Enjoy the video and let us know what do you think: will the new season be better than the previous one?
We certainly enjoyed the new exploits of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James "Captain Slow" May on the first episode of Top Gear’s 17th season, so you can bet that our expectations for the second season of Top Gear USA are set really high. And now we know that we can ride the momentum set by Top Gear into next month when the season debut of Top Gear USA airs on July 24, 2011.
We’re not expecting the moon because the first season of the show had its fair share of ups and downs, but if the triumvirate of Adam Ferrara, Tanner Foust, and Rutledge Wood are funnier and a little less annoying, then it’s poised to make for a successful season. Plus, if producers can come up with more death-defying acts, such as Tanner Foust’s near-death experience, then we’re sure we will be pleased.
For now, details on the contents of the pilot episode of the second season are still behind the curtains at this point, but at the very least, we can already circle the date on our calendars for July 24th on the History Channel.
