If Hammond could guest host one Top Gear USA episode, it’d probably be this one. Coming this Tuesday at 9/8 central is an hour crackling with cubic American inches both new and vintage. All hail the muscle car.
Adam, Rutledge and Tanner find out whether new iterations of classic iron are worthy of their nameplates… and compete to see who chose best.
Rut shows up in a top-of-the-line, 470 horsepower, Dodge Challenger SRT-8 392, all black and nasty. Adam chooses the classic, affordable Mustang GT whose 412 horsepower and much lighter curb weight make it a contender. Tanner arrives in a Camaro SS, which he likes, sporting a less-than-masculine paint scheme and an automatic transmission, which he doesn’t.
A drag race in the iconic LA riverbed gives them the chance to meet a homeless person and three very, very special guests. Ripping through a course built in a drive-in movie theater coupled with a Bruce Lee-inspired method of simulating twitchy handling characteristics yields a surprising result. Finally, the boys visit the high banks of California Speedway’s NASCAR oval for a test of aerodynamics, horsepower and primarily the circumference and metallic content of their tackle.
Later in the show, Rut, Tanner and two special pony cars take on two ponies with determined riders in a Pony Express challenge though the desert and canyons of Utah.
Rutledge has a chat with television, film and voice actor Patrick Warburton. Not only does it turn out he owned a Chevy truck spinning 44-inch tires, but he owns a ’69 Charger R/T 440 named “Angelina” and a motorhome named “Pammy.” Right at home, then, in the Top Gear studio… tune in to find out just how at home he is on the Top Gear test track.
Join us, American fans of the American Top Gear– it’s on History this Tuesday at 9/8 central. You can see past episodes on the History Channel Top Gear site and get breaking news on the Top Gear USA Facebook Page. Let us know what you think!
Open Car Bar
What do you think?
OH yeah! commented on this article
Thursday February 23, 2012 at 7:01 pm
@ steve12
Tanner being the US stig is very probable. Tanner didn’t get to do his high speed run in the Chevy because of his splitter falling off… I bet it was more because he would match the “stig”‘s time. Also it might have been so they can have a three way tie and rehash it next season. It shouldn’t have been the chevy Camero; They really need to bring back the Pontiac GTO, they have always been the more refined muscle car even when they were just a badge on a Australian car they were still cool and better.
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X1 commented on this article
Thursday February 23, 2012 at 7:35 pm
TGUSA has the correct hosts. Those who think Jay Leno and Adam Carolla are better choices are either drunk or stupid. Probably both.
Watch Leno’s videos on jaylenosgarage.com. He’s an old man an drives like one. He NEVER says anything bad about any current production car because he gets a lot of favors from virtually every manufacturer. He’s totally politically correct on The Tonight Show.
Adam Carolla hosted a program called “The Car Show” on Speed. it lasted 13 weeks and had 1/9th the audience of TGUSA mainly because he was a terrible host who wasn’t funny or entertaining. The only thing worse than Carolla was his co-host Matt Farah. That idiot drove a Datsun 240Z with a fiberglass replica 1962 Ferrari GTO body on his internet video website and claimed it was a real Ferrari. Matt was a good match for Carolla.
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steveO commented on this article
Friday February 24, 2012 at 4:17 am
Who cares, I wanna see some serious abuse of the new generation cop cars from both Ford and Chevy so I know what Im up against in hot persuit
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Cole82 commented on this article
Saturday March 10, 2012 at 9:03 pm
How ’bout getting Jerry Seinfeld to host? Much funnier than Adam Ferrara.
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