With Jeremy, Clarkson and May back on the road again, we are going to take a look at some of the best challenges in the history of Top Gear.
Destroying a Toyota Hilux:
A standard non altered Toyota Hilux and all that needs to happen, is that it needs to be destroyed. How hard can it be? The answer: VERY. This is one of the best challenges. It just goes to show you how tough the Toyota Hilux can be – from surviving crashing into a tree, being submerged for five hours under water in the ocean with no parts being replaced and still running, being dropped from a crane and being inside a demolished building. There are few cars as tough as the Toyota Hilux – is it any wonder then why the Hilux was chosen as the vehicle to take people to the North Pole for the first time in car?
Series 3, Episode 5
Driving to the North Pole:
Clarkson and May have the title of being the first people to drive to the North Pole and they did that in a Toyota Hilux. As we all know they are almost un-killable. Granted the road to the North wasn’t easy – the beginning was nice and easy until they started hitting the North and the terrain became more and more inhospitable for them and the Hilux. On the morning of 2 May 2007 the GPS system confirmed that the team had reached the 1996 location of the magnetic north pole at 78°35.7′N 104°11.9′W, making them the first people to reach the area within a mile of the magnetic north pole in a motor vehicle.
Top Gear Polar Special
Top Gear Botswana Special
The presenters were tasked to each buy a two-wheel drive car which was not a off-road vehicle. They were tasked to drive from the Western Border of Zimbabwe to the Eastern Border of Namibia, which is approximately 1600km. In their quest to get to the Eastern border of Namibia they had to cross the Makgadikgadi Pan which is the remains of a old enormous lake. Now driving over the Salt Pan would not be bad if you had a four-wheel drive off-road vehicle, but the presenters had a Lancia Beta Coupé (Clarkson), Mercedes-Benz 230E (May) and a Opel Kadett (Hammond).
Top Gear Vietnam Special
The special starts normal enough for the cheap car challenges of Top Gear. The presenters got presented with a shoebox each with 15 Million đồng – which promptly got the presenters very excited. Unfortunately they didn’t realize that at the time the 15 Million đồng was more closer to around $1000 at the time of the shoot, leaving them with not much choice and to Clarkson’s horror having to resort to using motorbikes. Honestly one of my favourites from all the specials, this one mostly concentrated on the presenters and the many shenanigans they tend to get them self into.
Series 12, Episode 8
