Top Gear USA:Season One Review

Last year BBC debuted Top Gear USA on the History channel. This show is similar to Top Gear UK but in the United States of America. The guys on the show are: Tanner Faust, Rutledge Wood, and Adam Ferrera. I started watching this show late last year at the end of the season. I just got the DVD for the first season and I just got done watching it today. Now I am going to share some episode recaps from last year.

Episode 1- Cobra Attack:

This was the season preimere for the show. They first introduce what to expect over the 10 weeks of the show which I will get into later. After that Adam, Tanner and Rutledge start breaking down a Shelby Mustang 427 designed by legendary car designer Caroll Shelby. Next they go o Georgia for an all American Car tour. They now were testing Lamborghinis and Dodge Vipers. Tanner, then tests the Dodge Viper and reaches a top speed of 202 mph. Then Tanner is challenged into racing a helicopter to the other side of town and back to the airport runway that they were  running at.  This was a 10 mile trip. The Cobra Helicopter has a top speed of 172 mph. Tanner and Rutledge struggle to get out of the airport runway but still manage to get out of there in enough time before dying! And it looked like on the way back Rutledge got Tanner lost by leading him to a cemetery! They only had 1 life left if the ran out of lives they would be screwed. The Cobra Helicopter was chasing Tanner and Rutledge at over 150 mph, and now caught them and killed them! They were done.

Next they go back to there Airplane Hanger were they shoot the show and explained how Dodge is cutting back on their products. Then the Stig the fourth member of the team that isn’t seen tests the Dodge ACR on the 1.6 mile test track outside of the hanger. The car looks very fast and handles excellently. The lap time was 1:22.0.

Next they go to a special feature called Big Star Small Car in the celeberty car, the car is the Suzuki SX4. The car is worth $18,000. The first star was astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Next Adam talks to Buzz about his car background. Buzz sets a time of 1:55.6.

Next, Adam tests out a Lamborghini on the airport runway. The car is rear wheel drive. Adam seems very excited but nervous to run the V-10 Lambo, the car does 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds. Adam describes the car as being aroused at gun point! The car is worth $250,000.

Tanner is driving a different Lamborghini now, he seems a lot more excited about this car. the car is also rear wheel drive. Tanner describes it as ” light and which I like to drive”. The car is $219,000. To be honest I liked Tanner’s better than Adam’s

Now Rutledge is testing out another Lamborghini. He calls his fast, long and low and also scary while parked. The brand is the SV and is one of the top 5 supercars in the world. The car has a V-12 and can do 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds.

Next they did a standing mile. Rutledge looks good getting out of the gate and reaches a top speed of 175 mph. Tanner was up next. Tanner seems a little bit slower but is steadily getting faster and faster. His top speed is 173 mph. Adam was the last one to go now. His top speed was 180 and he was the winner.

And this wrapped up this first episode of  Top Gear USA.

Episode 2- Blind Drift:

On this episode, Tanner goes to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and races a Mitsibishi in snow vs some skiers. Tanner was fighting vision problems but he ended up winning.

Next they take a look at a British Sports Car. Rutledge tested this out. It was a Aston Martin V-8 Vantage. It is worth $120,000. The car goes to 180 mph but the speedometer goes to 220 mph. Then Rutledge tests a Aston Martin V-12 and goes 0-60 in 4.2 seconds and has a top speed of 195mph. Rutledge decides to put the car to the test and it seems that the car has a lot of torque and power. The car is only made for stick shifting.  The car is worth a lot more money than the Aston Martin V-8 but it is totally worth it. And Rutledge gets the car to go a top speed of 175 mph because of the surface. It seems that the Aston Martin is a very good supercar. Then the Stig takes the Aston Martin V-12 around the test track and runs a time of 1:28.2 and takes the Evo around and runs a 1:29.2.

Now it is to Big Star in a Small Car the guest is Dominic Monaghan. Rutledge talks to him about his career and his car background then he turns his lap at 1:45.3.

Next they organize a challenge to test Tanner’s ability at drifting which he competes in for real life. Tanner does donuts around another car. Then he gives Rutledge and Adam a history lesson on drifting which annoyed both of them. Then Tanner will be a instructor for a blind man vs. Adam and Rutledge. The blind guy had to learn how to drive and he never has driven a stick. Tanner has his service dog on top of him! It seems that Tanner is quite frustrated and is ready to challenge Rutledge and Adam. The blind guy proves to be better than both Rutledge and Adam in the test run. The first challenge is the burnout and they have to hold it for as long as possible. Rutledge’s went for 98 feet. Next up was the blind guy, he went 105 feet. Last but not least was Adam. He didn’t even lay down a skid mark at all.  Next challenge was the donut competition. They had to do a donut in a circle without hitting any cones. Adam went first and epically failed and hit almost every single cone. The blind guy (Brian) was up next. Brian didn’t stay in the circle so he was DQ’d. Rutledge was the last one to go and kicked both of there asses. There final challenge was handbrake parking and do a 180 degree drift and get the car parked in a box. Rutledge went first and safely got the car in the parking spot. Adam was next and barely got it in. Brian was the last one to go. He drifted it in. I would say that Brian won this challenge.

Episode 3-Flying Coupe Deville:

This episode saw the guys go do a old cars test in North Carolina. Rutledge picked a 1987 Ford Thunderbird. Tanner got a 1987 Nissan. Adam got a 1976 Cadallic Coupe Deville. Rutledge and Tanner both think that Adam is messed up. The first challenge was to go get Moonshine and go run with it. They had to put Moonshine in there trunks without breaking any glass at all. Then they all get drunk and decide to spit the Moonshine for hours and hours and hours. Rutledge threw up his moonshine. The next event was the durability test. They ran there cars around a dirt bike course. The quickest one around the track wins, Tanner was up first. Tanner killed his moonshine in the trunk. Rutledge was up second. He messages his car WTF! Rutledge seems to be having a lot of fun. He goes over the jump with ease. Adam was the last one to go and he blew out the front end of his Caddy.

Next was breaking down the Ford Mustang Boss. Rutledge revves the engine up.

The Big Star in a Small Car is Ty Burrell from Modern Family. His lap was a 1:46.5 in wet conditions.

Episode 4- Halo vs. VelociRaptor:

This episode saw Tanner racing a Ford Raptor against a halo jumper. Which he lost in. The race was very boring so I won’t go into it that much. Adam then broke down a Mercedes Benz which is 55 years old. Mercedes thinks they now have a match for this car the Mercedes SLS AMG.  Adam calls the car downright nasty. The car is built from scratch and is a V-8. Top speed in this car is 197 mph. The orginial car won the 24 Hours of LeMans.

Then the Stig took the Ford Raptor around the test track and his lap time was 1:39.0. Next Kid Rock took to the test track and layed down a lap of 1:43.9.

Next was the Chevy El Camino vs. the Honda DelSol. The whole test of tilee cars were meant for the Army Vechile of Tommorow. The producers set up a obstacle course and the first one over to the other side wins. Adam was abort the Chevy and Rutledge in the Honda. Rutledge won.

Episode 5- Beater Boot Camp:

On this episode of Top Gear.. The guys go to Detroit for a Old GM Car Challenge. Tanner has a Fiero, Rutledge had a Buick and Adam had a Dodge. The first challenge was to go up a 20% upgrade hill and park and put a bowling ball in the car at the peak of the hill. Rutledge went first and made it over the hill. Adam was next, he made it up ok but could not get the car to stop and rolled backwards. Tanner went last and rolled down the hill in amazing style. So Rutledge won this challenge.

Next in the Big Star in a Small Car Tony Hawk took the test track and posted a  lap of 1:43.2.

After that the guys go back to there GM challenge in Detroit, the next challenge is going 30 mph over rumble stripes with a bucket of eggs above there heads, Adam went first. He got soaked with egg yoak. Tanner was up next, he got soaked also. So that meant that Rutledge was the last one to go. He got no egg yoak on his head so he won again!

The last challenge was to fill the car with water and drive. Rutledge got swallowed up by the water and Tanner and Adam didn’t do well either.

Episode 6- Fast in Florida:

During thrs episode the guys would be doing a race from Miami to the West Keys. Adam was aboard a Lotus Evora, Rutledge raced a racing boat and Tanner raced in a plane. Before this race could happen, Tanner went over to England to test the Morgan. He didn’t like the car at all. So they took off for the race. Adam was zipping in the lead while Tanner was waiting 30 minutes for a cab  and Rutledge ran to the dock. Adam got stopped by the Florida State Patrol for speeding but other than that it was very boring.

Next Michelle Rodriguez took to the test track and ran a terrible lap of 2 minutes in the wet though I might add.

Then the Stig raced a tractor around the test track at a whopping 20 mph.

Episode 7- Used Car Salesman:

This episode saw Adam and Rutledge race a Honda CR-Z around the streets of San Francisco aganist mountain bikers and lose by a little bit after Rutledge was fooling around with the features of the car and Adam got mad at him for doing that.

Then the guys became used car salesman. This idea didn’t really workout well because first off they bought terrible cars and Rutledge failed to sell his. Tanner used hookers to help his cause in selling his shit ass car and Adam did worse his slogan was “Buy A Car Punch A Clown”.

The only good part of this episode was Tim Allen going to the test track. He turned a lap of 1:44.2.

Episode 8- Car vs. Plane:

Rutledge started out the episode by racing the Porsche Panamera Turbo and has a top speed of 188 mph.

Now to the ultimate test car vs. plane? Tanner took a Ferrari California from LA to Vegas and Rutledge took a plane. While Tanner was flying, Rutledge’s flight was delayed by an hour. Tanner ran out of gas a ton. Rutledge had to go to SouthWest Airlines. Tanner easily beat Rutledge to the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas.

Next Bret Michaels took to the test track and turned a lap of 1:44.4.

Then Tanner tested a BMW MXM. Tanner easily fell in love with the car because of its different speed ranges.

Episode 9- America’s Toughest Truck:

This episode was technically the season finale of Top Gear USA. The guys took a road trip to Alaska to find out what was America’s Toughest Truck. Tanner got a Chevy, Rutledge a Dodge, and Adam got a Ford. The first challenge was to brake before the water. Adam braked the closest, Tanner did about the same as Adam. Then TannerandAdammoved Rutledge’s braking point so he would go into the water and he did. Then they had to drive 250 miles until they reached a water crossing. Tanner and Rutledge got thru ok but Adam did not. As a result of this Rutledge had to pull Adam out of the water. Then after a while the guys had to modify there trucks for living conditions. Tanner made a ramp in the bed of his truck and kept him safe. Rutledge built a little cabin that he mounted to the bed of his truck and Adam built a cage with no protection whatsoever. So while the guys were driving Adam’s driveshaft broke and that meant that he was out. So he had to drive a Toyota the rest of the way. Rutledge was leading the way, then his house fell out of his truck and Tanner ran it over. Rutledge’s truck then died on him. So that meant that Tanner had to finish there route to become the champion of this road trip and he did.

So I hope you readers enjoyed reading this very long article. Comment if you want more information on the show or email us @ racingmania101@yahoo.com.

Kent

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