Another week down and we’ve had yet another cracker of a Top Gear episode. In episode 2 we see Chris Harris putting the new McLaren Speedtail through its paces, a new take on 4x4s from Paddy Mcguiness and this week’s special guest Romesh Ranganathan in the reasonably priced car.
The Speedtail is the new car from McLaren and is a truly breathtaking car to look at. Even more breathtaking is the performance it delivers on the track. At £2.5 million, though, you’ll have to start saving those pennies now.
View the McLaren vs F35 race in the video below:
To really test the car they invoke Top Gear of old and pit the car against an RAF jet in a race. The jet, the F35 V Lighting, is another stunning piece of machinery with a top speed of 1200 mph amongst many of its impressive capabilities. The race is a simple triangle which will allow the jet to corner. The race is fairly close but the jet comes out victorious in the end.
In the next film, Paddy has decided that he can create a much more modestly priced answer to the new Landrover Defender. The Defender costs around £70,00 and Paddy’s creation comes in at £7000.
Paddy’s creation is the ‘Dirty Rascal’ a Frankenstein’s monster that combines a Rascal van and a Daihatsu with added tea making facilities. To test the offroad capabilities the Rascal is taken to Millbrook Testing Grounds to complete an offroad course where he has to beat times set by the others who are driving more modern 4x4s. His lap ends up in disaster as his engine gets flooded during one of the obstacles much to Harris and Flintoff’s delight.
The second part of this film sees the Rascal facing off against a squad of ex-special forces as they race to cover 20km over rugged terrain in the Scottish Highlands. Freddie doesn’t fancy the chances of the Rascal and decides to join the soldiers on the hike. Setting a blistering pace they manage to leave the Rascal behind, with the help of a smoke grenade thrown into the Rascal, and develop an early lead.
After getting stuck several times the Rascal finds better ground and starts to catch up. As the light fades there is a frantic race to the finish where we find Freddie and the soldiers already waiting for the Rascal.
We also get to see Romesh Ranganathan in his lap in the reasonably priced car. The conditions he has to face are horrendous and he does well to get around without coming off, nevermind not coming bottom of the time board.
This was another really enjoyable episode and I’m looking forward to seeing what the next episode brings.
View some more images from the episode in our gallery below:
