The new series of Top Gear is starting to find its way after a shaky first episode but was this week's episode able to trump last week?
Harris flies in the Vulcan
The show got of to a good start as Chris Harris hooned about the Yas Marina circuit in the insanely loud Aston Martin Vulcan. It's the fastest and most extreme car the firm have made but as Harris points out the technology is a bit outdated. Don't think it will be a pushover though, underneath the sleek body sits a V12 engine which produces 800bhp.
Ok, enough about the car, although I could probably do a decent job of talking about it all day. Harris delivered another top notch review and I particularly loved some of the camerawork and cinematography. The shots from the rear spoiler were very satisfying and gave the film a nice dynamic edge - not that it was lacking one already. Harris ended the film by demolishing a V12 Vantage S driven by Le Mans winner Darren Turner - he even had time to do a few doughnuts too!
Another train challenge on Top Gear
This week Chris Evans, Matt LeBlanc and Sabine Schmitz had the challenge of racing Eddie Jordan to Venice. The trio had to buy second-hand vehicles whilst Jordan had the luxury of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. The film did stink of familiarity but the team did the best to mix it up a little, for example the trio had to pick up three master chefs - Tom Kerridge, Tom Kitchin and Ollie Dabbous - in Paris. Once they were picked up they had to prepare meals that were to be judged by food critic Oliver Peyton. This was particularly tricky for Matt LeBlanc who had opted for a Honda Goldwing...a motorbike.
Chris Evans had opted for a Jag XJ8 and Schmitz went for the typical move of choosing something German - an Audi A8. The film was good to watch, the chefs provided some good banter and there were times where I was genuinely laughing but I had this nagging feeling something was missing. I can't put my finger on it but maybe it's just the Clarkson, Hammond May factor that make the films so entertaining due to their inevitably of things going wrong.
Stars in a - yawn - Rallycross car
The momentum that the show had made was soon halted by Stars in a Rallycross Car which featured Brian Cox and Bear Grylls. I'm not going to say to much about this as frankly you all know my views on this section of the show and tonight's was a boring as ever. The end of the interview couldn't come soon enough and the intros were a cringe-worthy as ever. Right, no more to be said on that, I'm moving on.
An Englishman in New York
Rory Reid hit the Big Apple to test the Tesla Model X, an SUV which is 100% electric but don't fall asleep just yet. It has some pretty cool features such as electric gullwing doors and a 'ludicrous' but we'll get on to that later. Reid put in another good shift on camera and he made the film interesting to watch, especially as I don't much care for electric cars.
I imagine the car enthusiast group he visited didn't much for the Model X either but they soon saw what the Tesla could do. Reid lined up next to a Dodge Challenger Hellcat - a car that throws out over 700bhp - for quarter-mile drag race. Reid looked fairly confident as he flicked the Model X into Ludicrous mode which spools up all the energy from the batteries this giving the car more power. Reid made a flying start, quickly taking the lead where he remained until the finish line. In the words of Sean Connery in Goldfinger, "Shocking, positively shocking."
The show makes its last stop
We return to the train challenge and by now we've seen Eddie Jordan play the spoons a few times which was rather entertaining but I still find myself asking a question: Is he needed? It looks like a few have taken a shine to him but I just don't see the need for him on the show. That's not to say I dislike him but I just don't think he brings anything substantial to the show, but that's another discussion for another time.
Sabine Schmitz ran out funds as she had laid out a lot of money for her German cruising machine but there is no such problem for Chris Evans who had plenty of money left over and looks to be the favourite to win. LeBlanc is firmly at the back thanks to his frequent fuel stops so this looks it's between Evans and Jordan. I'm not going to give the ending away in case you've not watched it yet but the finishing order may not be what you were expecting - LeBlanc is not first if that is what you're thinking though.
Conclusion
Was this week's show better than last week? In my opinion no it wasn't but it was still better than what came before last week so in that sense the show is starting to make some steady progress. It's still far from perfect but it was always going to be a steep learning curve. I am interested in the viewing figures for tonight's episode however as it was pitted at the same time as TWO Euro 2016 matches.