Top Gear’s Italian Supercar Race
BBC 2’s motoring show Top Gear returned to our screens this week for its 18th series. The first episode of the new series featured the three musketeers, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond in Italy driving supercars.
The McLaren MP4 was driven by May, Hammond got the Noble M600 whilst Clarkson squeezed himself into a Lamborghini Aventador. All beautifully stunning and fast cars, yet totally impractical to park and drive along a cobbled street in the city of Rome.
All three were then set a challenge to push each car to its limits at the historic Imola race track which was once host to the San Marino Grand Prix and where three times world champion Ayrton Senna tragically lost his life. The ‘Italian Stig’ set a lap time in a Ferrari 458 for the presenters to attempt to beat and what fun they had! No pit stops or changes of car tyres required, it was pure full throttle ahead.
The Italian Supercar road trip through parts of the country famous for its pasta and pizza also saw Richard’s car breaking down. Amazingly Noble arranged to have one driven to replace it overnight from England to Italy!