Topgear Sun 21 Jun 20:00 on BBC Two
Discussion
Top Gear skids, roars and explodes its way back onto the TV with a brand new series.
It starts with an extraordinary race as Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May set out to discover what Top Gear might have been like 60 years ago. To this end, James grabs himself a gorgeous old Jaguar XK120 sports car while Richard chooses to torture himself on the brutal but rather fantastically named Vincent Black Shadow motorbike. Meanwhile, in an almost unprecedented move, Jeremy decides to take the train. But not just any old train; he's on the footplate of the Tornado, a brand new steam train built to the original blueprints used to create some of Britain's finest locomotives back in the heyday of the railways.
Despite being old and a bit fat, Jeremy has to feed the boiler with a constant supply of coal, without which the whole train will grind to a halt. The challenge behind this race was simple - the first one to get from London to Edinburgh would be the winner - but what happens along the way adds up to one of Top Gear's most incredible and most epic races to date.
It starts with an extraordinary race as Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May set out to discover what Top Gear might have been like 60 years ago. To this end, James grabs himself a gorgeous old Jaguar XK120 sports car while Richard chooses to torture himself on the brutal but rather fantastically named Vincent Black Shadow motorbike. Meanwhile, in an almost unprecedented move, Jeremy decides to take the train. But not just any old train; he's on the footplate of the Tornado, a brand new steam train built to the original blueprints used to create some of Britain's finest locomotives back in the heyday of the railways.
Despite being old and a bit fat, Jeremy has to feed the boiler with a constant supply of coal, without which the whole train will grind to a halt. The challenge behind this race was simple - the first one to get from London to Edinburgh would be the winner - but what happens along the way adds up to one of Top Gear's most incredible and most epic races to date.
Arguably the best motorcycle made anywhere in the 1950s, certainly the best looking engine...
...and seeing Jemimah 'Weaklimbs' Claxon working up a sweat might be worth watching, possibly more than once for the novelty, never-to-be-repeated value of that alone.
I bet half a crown and a (slightly used) packet of Victory V lozenges which say that the bike would win if the weather was half-decent and Hammond didn't have to use the 'brakes' more than once every hour as they are, as you can see, feeble little things even by the standards of the times!
...and seeing Jemimah 'Weaklimbs' Claxon working up a sweat might be worth watching, possibly more than once for the novelty, never-to-be-repeated value of that alone.
I bet half a crown and a (slightly used) packet of Victory V lozenges which say that the bike would win if the weather was half-decent and Hammond didn't have to use the 'brakes' more than once every hour as they are, as you can see, feeble little things even by the standards of the times!
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