Top Gear: US Special

In the ‘Botswana Special’, our intrepid explorers, attempting to reach the Namibian border, have to traverse arduous salt pans, do battle with the Kalahari desert, and see if they can navigate the foaming torrents of the Okavango Delta. This special is part of the Top Gear: The Great Adventures 2.

The Top Gear team hit Norway for a Winter Olympics special in which they attempt Olympic events, but with cars. In a world first, the team fire a rocket-powered Mini off a ski jump, Jeremy and James tackle the biathlon with the latest 4x4s, Richard stages a game of car ice hockey, and the new Jaguar XK races a speed skater.

In the remote west coast of Scotland, a drug dealer double-crosses and kills a drug trafficker who imports drugs for him. The dealer is arrested and learns that the murder was witnessed by a couple of anonymous locals. Facing life imprisonment, the dealer decides to hire a hitman to eliminate all the potential witnesses. Outside a rural police station, the hired hitman starts a stopwatch, runs across a road, jumps into his car, and takes off with a screech. He drives full speed through the barren country until he reaches the remote, one street hamlet of Bartoun. He checks his stopwatch. It reads 28 minutes, 36 seconds. He sees a poster advertising a fair in the next village. The residents of Bartoun are advised to meet on main street at noon to get a ride. As the people begin to congregate the next day, the hitman walks toward them and begins shooting. He knows that he has 28 minutes and 36 seconds before the police arrive.

A family holiday turns into a fight for survival in the inhospitable wilderness of remote Scotland.

From very early on in Top Gear's life the phrase 'We decided to have a race' has appeared often. Some of the races have been brief, and some have been simply epic. Matt LeBlanc, one of the fastest ever celebrities round the Top Gear test track, presents a selection of the greatest and most entertaining races from the past 13 years.