A bit of a meat and veg episode of Top Gear this week. Not particularly outstanding, but thoroughly enjoyable all the same. The James May/Mika Hakkinen segment was the highlight for me. Getting an insight into Finnish driving culture was quite interesting—some tips for Australian authorities there, no doubt. Top Gear is often described as a dream job and James May has now had personal tuition from Sir Jackie Stewart and Mika Hakkinen. Nice work, if you can get it.
Richard introduced us to Toyota’s i-REAL. A funky wheelchair-like contraption. Not sure if it will take over the world like Toyota reckon, but we’ll see.
The news segments in Series 12 have really picked up and, even if scripted more than it may look, they are running along very smoothly with great interaction and humour between the cast. Mark Wahlberg was the guest, a bit cheeky, and very aggressive on the track.
Then, the challenge, a homemade Evo. The guys had to take an unknown donor car and try to make it as quick as an Evo X around the test track (1:28.2). The car? A Renault Avantime. A curious thing. Odd, it has to be said, but with a 3.0 V6 maybe it had the legs?