Top Gear: Season 5, Episode 1 - ProjectFreeTV

5 - 1: The Colonial Invasion on the Beach

In a hair-raising Top Gear, Jeremy had to eat more than his words, Richard did something naughty to an ice-cream van, and the RAF dropped by - literally. The Porsche 911 Carrera S had a ride so rough it could turn your bones to dust. That said, the rear engine and near perfect weight balance made it hug the road the way Lycra® clings to a gymnast. We once showed a concept Vauxhall and Jeremy said: "If the finished version looks like that, I'll eat my hair". To our surprise, the new Astra did. So Antony Worrall Thompson dropped in to help Jeremy eat a wonderful dish we called 'hair omelette'. (Please don't try this at home.) Each summer, parents up and down the land dread the high-pitched twinkling sound that ice-cream trucks emit. The choices are twofold: you can either listen to children's demands until your ears bleed, or give in to the little scallywags and spend 3 million quid on ice cream for them and whichever snot-nosed friends happen to be destroying your house at the time. We decided to try to jump an ice cream van over a handful of bouncy castles. The result was terminal for the vehicle. We also packed Jeremy, Richard and James into cars from Australia, the US and Britain, and sent them to Pendine Sands in Wales. The cars were the Vauxhall Monaro VXR (Australian), a Chrysler 300c (American) and, holding up the British corner, the Jaguar S type R, which made a somewhat dramatic entrance by way of an RAF Hercules. After a day of comprehensive thrashing through sand and water, the team all agreed: the Monaro was the clear winner.