The Next Top Gear Race In The Arctic?
April 27th, 2007 by Ed Lau | |
Will Clarkson go polar bear wrestling?
Some of the best films from Top Gear are the ones where Jeremy Clarkson, in a car, races James May and Richard Hammond in some other form of transportation. The first was an epic sprint to the finish line in Monte Carlo in the South of France with Clarkson in a Aston Martin DB9 and May/Hammond on the Eurostar. Since then, they’ve done a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti versus a plane, a Mercedes-McLaren SLR versus a boat and a Bugatti Veyron against another plane…flown by James May.
Now that Veyron race was the biggest ever, transporting a fresh truffle (or as Clarkson would call it, a ‘pharoah’s testicle’) from Italy to a posh restaurant in London. It featured the fastest car ever created pitted against…well, a washing machine Cessna 182 flown by a floppy haired bloke across Europe but still. Top Gear fans everywhere were wondering what they were going to do for an encore. How do you possibly get bigger? And since we’ve now gone two seasons without a cross-continent race, what and when would the next race be?
Earlier this month, Nicholas Rufford, who was filling in for Jezza on his column in the Times hinted, inadvertently or not, as to what Clarkson was off doing.
A few weeks ago he was preparing to drive to the North Pole in a Toyota pickup truck, so maybe he’s there right now, banging into igloos and polar bears.
This led to speculation that the next race would happen somewhere in the arctic.
However, insiders are now confirming that for the next series of Top Gear there would indeed be some kind of race in Alaska. In fact, the presenters and their crew are actually there…well, right now as we speak. They refuse, however, to divulge any other details other than the face that they are in Alaska. I’m not quite sure what kind of race they’ll be having but it did require a great deal of preparation and training in dealing with the freezing conditions. Maybe Clarkson is going to fight a polar bear or something. Perhaps Top Gear Dog will pull the three of them across a frozen lake or James May will try to drive across a small frozen puddle before it melts. Yes, he’s quite slow.
I can’t really confirm the reliability of the source but everything seems to add up. If I happen to be wrong and the next series doesn’t have an arctic race, I’ll let Michael kick me in the chest.
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Let me get my boot ready.
Time to practice kicking
[...] deliver 100% of your daily recommended intake of awesomeness. This week, he’s telling us that Top Gear will race in the Arctic. More specifically, they’re heading to Alaska. If he’s wrong, he says he’ll let [...]
Clarkson is 100% definately in the Arctic (though in Canada, not Alaska). I have friends who are currently walking to the Magnetic North Pole and have actually spoken to him. He is driving an Icelandic Jeep and racing a Dog Sled team. They departed Resolute Bay in Northern Canada last week.
http://polarrace.com/2007/news/
Yes! Simon took part in the Polar Race 2005 and he’s just been back to the Arctic where he also met and talked to Richard Hammond (in Iqaluit en route to Resolute)
I love thi show!
clarkson/may in car,hammond with matty mcnair with dogs sled. going to magnetic north.
As you can see from our blog, Simon has just returned from the Arctic. While in Iqaluit he met Richard Hammond who was out there filming for a Top Gear race!!! You are correct! Although not in Alaska! The race will take place in the Canadian Arctic.