The second episode of Top Gear Australia has just gone to air—have they improved on the promise shown in last week’s debut? Well, the episode got off to a very slow start. This, despite Charlie testing a right-hand drive Ford GT40 and then Charlie and Steve chucking a couple of Aussie supertaxis around Wakefield Park. Charlie is not so bad in a studio setting—although his waving arms may take some getting used to—but he’s still settling in to the on camera reviewer role. The Ford v Holden piece at Wakefield was the major letdown, however. The lads competed against each other in a straight out drag and also under braking, but the fact that no timed lap was included was incredibly lame. Not quite as lame as not having the balls to declare an outright winner and labelling “Ford and Holden are the winners here”. Oh dear.
That was enough to really test the patience of this viewer. Happily, though, things picked up, if you’ll pardon the pun, when the trio headed to Kalgoorlie to fang around a massive superpit in a few utes. Top Gear is more as much about entertainment as it is about fair dinkum car reviewing, and while last week’s challenge was a little forced at times, the chemistry in this week’s outing was a vast improvement. For me, it saved the episode, that’s for sure.