We are almost halfway through the first season of Top Gear USA and we are pleased to say that the show is not a complete waste of our time. In fact, we actually enjoy watching it. The clips are informative, the challenges are funny and entertaining, and the opportunity of making fun of Ferrara will never slide past us. We can’t help it; we don’t really like the guy as the "main" host.
Now that all of that is out of the way, we can move on to the actual show aired. The fourth episode of Top Gear USA takes us through a long review of the Mercedes SLS AMG with Adam Ferrara behind the wheel. Only Ferrara can ruin the Mercedes’ camera time. Top Gear UK has Captain Slow, we have Captain Boring. ’Nuff said.
The more interesting part of the show was the two challenges. The first was a race between the Ford F-150 Velociraptor and a HALO jumper while the second was a jumbled mess of two old beaters shooting out paintballs. And by two old beaters, we mean Ferrara and Wood. Just kidding.
Hit the jump to see details on the fourth episode of Top Gear USA.
Car Reviews/Car News
Adam Ferrara - the lucky son of a gun - had the opportunity to review the Mercedes SLS AMG this week and just the thought of that made us twitch with jealousy. This Mercedes is powered by a 6.3-liter V8 engine located front-mid that develops 571 hp and up to 650 Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, and sprints the car from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, while top speed goes up to 197 mph.
We think it is safe to say that Ferrara was pretty thrilled that he got the chance to drive the Mercedes and the task of slamming on the accelerator was not wasted on him, but, for him, the downside was that the Mercedes didn’t feel as good on the road as it did on the track going 160mph.
The Stig, of course, took the Mercedes SLS AMG on the Top Gear track, ending up with a time of 1:27.6 and sliding in between the Lamborghini Balboni and the Aston Martin V12 Vantage.
Big Star Small Car
The man behind the dorky glasses in this week’s Small Car segment was none other than Kid Rock, an American singer-songwriter and rapper with a country twist. Wood was back on as the interviewer - our prayers were answered - but the interview was still lacking. Let’s face it, the star actually driving the car is the best part so the interview might as well be non-existent.
That being said, Kid Rock was able to produce the fastest lap with a time of 1:43.9. He also gets an award from us for the star that was the most entertaining while driving.
The Challenges
Challenge One
The first challenge of the week began with Tanner Foust getting down and dirty with the Ford F-150 Velociraptor. After that it was a race between the monstrous Velociraptor and a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jumper. HALO jumping is a technique used to drop items, including human beings, from high altitudes using a free-fall parachute. The jumper used in this race is so secretive that we think Top Gear would have rather unveiled the identity of the Stig than mess with the privacy of this guy.
Both racers have to travel a distance of five miles to get to the finishline, but the jumper has to get there by falling from an altitude of 25,000 feet while the Ford F-150 - driven by who other than Foust - gets to take a five miles trek on asphalt, rough trail, and open desert. It was a pretty aggressive race, but in the end, the HALO jumper walked away with the win. For a competitive guy, Foust sure isn’t walking away with many wins so far.
The Stig also took the Velociraptor around the Top Gear track because, well just because. The incredibly huge pick-up truck got around the bend with a time of 1:39.0 which is pretty impressive.
Challenge Two
In the final segment of the show, the Top Gear USA boys decided to go head to head with some old cars and paintballs. Adam Ferrara showed up in a 1977 Chevy El Camino SS and Wood strolled in with a 1997 Honda Del Sol. Foust was absent during this segment which pretty much took a lot of the fun out of it. Now it was just Dumb and Dumber riding around in two old cars strapped down with paintball guns.
The segment was short and that, along with the Foust absence, made it suffer a bit. We think that the segment could have been so much better if they would have made it longer and made sure all three hosts were there. Foust just adds more of a competitive edge to the challenges. The funniest part of the segment was when Ferrara lost and had to shoot himself in the foot with a paintball gun. Now, that was funny.
Wrapping it Up
Thankfully, the car news segment that was brought out in Episode Three was skipped this week which made this episode of Top Gear USA that much better. We can catch the news any other day of the week. We stay up on Sundays to watch fast cars and cool challenges.
Check in with us next week as we move on to Episode Five of Top Gear USA, and remember to leave some of your thoughts on this episode in the comments section below.
Posted on
07.11.2011 @ 00:55