Episode 1 Top Gear: Extra Gear

Hi, I'm George Lewis and welcome to Extra Gear, the show that gets under

the Top Gear bonnet to find you more cars,

more unseen footage and a brand-new dipstick.

That's me.

Tonight, we talk to Chris about

having the FXX K in Daytona to himself.

We find out what all that dead goat tossing was all about

in Kazakhstan and a true Extra Gear exclusive,

we show you the very first victims of the new reasonably fast car

and Chris proves that Volvos aren't just about reliability.

He takes this V60 Polestar around another airfield,

but this time, with the bonnet down.

That's right, we're back, better than ever, this is Extra Gear!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

What an epic start to the new series of Top Gear.

Cars that have driven to the Moon and back,

quarry-racing and goat-grabbing.

Anyway, here's a little reminder of what else went on during

their Kazakhstan adventure.

So...Kazakhstan.

"There's a rocket launch in two days, be there."

He's made contact!

HE LAUGHS

It's just acres and acres of nothing, it's like...Stoke.

I've got to say, this is right up there with some of the, erm...

grossest shit I've ever seen.

Come on, Harris. Get them, get them, get them, get them!

-Did they really invent apples in Kazakhstan?

-Yeah, apparently.

BLEEP!

No!

I just think if they invented the apple, then we should try an actual Kazakhstani apple.

I'd love to have an apple.

-High-banking at Daytona!

-Come on, baby. Let's do this one for London.

We'll get there. We'll get the old girl to Baikonur.

I want to feel rocket go off.

Wow!

APPLAUSE

Wow!

Now, fully recovered and core body temperatures back up,

let's bring on the boys.

Come on, you didn't think I was going to do this on my own, did you?

Rory? Chris?

-George.

-Good to see you.

-Welcome to the big time, George.

-Thank you!

-That's the big chair.

First of all, great show. Is it good to be back?

Oh, man, it's...it's...it's great.

We've got a brand-new set, we've done some amazing films, I think.

It's just...I'm just happy to be here, man.

It's like the first day of term. Certain amount of trepidation,

but ultimately great to see your old mates, get back in the flow,

so, yeah, wonderful, some great VTs. It's been fantastic.

Now, Kazakhstan, that looked insane.

There must have been a moment early on in this, Rory,

you were in your cab, the heating had broken and you had the whole

-of Kazakhstan to drive across.

-Yep.

You must have thought, "What am I doing?"

-No. Well, yeah.

-He was too busy whingeing about his heating, wasn't he?

Get the violin out. Heating.

I've never been so cold in my life, it was like -15 degrees.

-What you've got to remember is...

--12 in the film.

Has it got colder since then?

I'm trying to get a bit of sympathy here, all right? Work with me.

And, quite early on as well, there was something quite...

quite serious happened. It looked like a pretty big shunt.

I mean, shall we watch it one more time?

-Yeah.

-No.

-Yeah, let's play it.

-Here it is.

-What the

-BLEEP?

Look at his face!

OK. LAUGHTER

That is the moment... That is the moment...

Two things you need to know, first of all,

that face is the face of a man who thinks, "I've just killed Joey."

Not a good place to be in terms of everything from your sort of

social conscience to insurance. Don't want to be there.

Second of all, he just moves right and just leaves me

hung out to dry with a great big German taxi in front of me.

That is what you call driving skill, OK?

He was behind me, I had a slow car, that's, like, that's technicalities.

What you do is you go right, you block the path,

you let them go left, collision, win the race.

Is Rory teaching you a few things here?

There's no racing rule book for being in a Kazakhstani quarry.

There must have been a moment when you thought the Volvo was done for.

That thing is a tank. I couldn't believe it survived.

I rolled over the line, I genuinely thought, "Right,

"this is the first thing we're doing on this shoot,

"I've wrecked it, we're all going home, I'm fired,"

because it wasn't supposed to happen.

It really wasn't supposed to happen. It was a massive impact.

A quarter of the car was missing, but it still worked.

I mean, it required a certain amount of legwork.

It was repaired, but, boy, did it take a big hit.

That whole left front chassis leg was just peeled back,

but it shows the car was built to take those impacts, because

everything that was important was back towards the bulkhead, so, yeah,

if you want to have a crash, genuinely, have a shunt in the V70.

Rory, something else happened on that trip which was actually

quite worrying for a lot of people.

I don't know if you can sort of explain what is happening here.

What's this?

-Oh, right, yeah.

-Wow!

-Yeah.

-I've never seen anything like that before.

-Not very gracious.

That's what you call a victory dance.

You've got to remember, man, like, you know, two amazing drivers.

I had a car that did 0-60 in 21 seconds and I still...

-What tyres did you have on your car, Rory?

-I had some decent tyres.

-You did.

-Just let me bask in the glory for a minute, OK?

He's been basking for a while, hasn't he?

I'll bask all day, mate. I'll take that.

Many, many weeks of basking.

So, I mean, you didn't just go to watch goat sports.

The cars as well, they were... they were pretty amazing.

So the taxi had done 483,000 miles,

the Merc had done 497,000 and the Volvo 570,000 miles.

Now, people don't usually keep cars long enough

to get that kind of mileage out of them, do they?

Yeah, I mean, that's what we discovered really.

We kind of spoke at length while we were over there

about how disposable cars have become.

It was quite fitting to do it in Kazakhstan as well,

because it's not a rich country,

they don't have any resources, well, they have good

natural resources, but there's not much money and they have

to make things last, so they're so resourceful.

-Every Lada you see has done seven million miles.

-Yeah.

They will re-use stuff that we throw away, that's a bit terrifying.

So, do you think we should be keeping our cars longer,

-using them more?

-No.

-No. LAUGHTER

OK. I worked out the other day, actually my Megane's probably about

-halfway to the Moon at the moment.

-Not your Megane.

We can't go into your Megane. We agreed when you got the job,

-we left your Megane at the door.

-OK, that's fair.

And your car actually probably influenced the car you're

-going to use for your lap this week, which was the Volvo.

-Yeah.

Yeah, that V70, miles better than your taxi, you know that.

Look, I know choosing a Volvo for a reliability challenge would

seem like a pretty safe bet, well, the safest of all bets,

but that's not the reason I've chosen it this time.

For most, estate cars conjure up images of school runs,

muddy dogs and screaming children,

but there are some pretty hot estates out there, too,

like this Volvo V60 Polestar.

I thought it only fair that I take this Viking Labrador carrier

around our airfield.

Take a look.

Here's a strange thing. Launch control in a Volvo.

Wow. Not that exciting, but then, the V60 Polestar

isn't supposed to be the most exciting car on the planet,

but what it is, it's a very, very fast, very discreet machine.

Have a look at it from the outside. Could it look more ordinary?

It looks like an Uber, doesn't it?

But underneath that slightly grim, funereal exterior is

a four-cylinder, supercharged and turbo-charged engine

with 362 horsepower and 347 ft-lb of torque.

It weighs just under 1,800kg, which seems an

awful lot to me for something that is kind of just about Mondeo-sized.

Nudge this lever left and you get sport mode,

that means I get to change gear manually,

a bit faster and with a little pop from the exhaust.

In fact, an exhaust valve opens to give us a bit more parpiness.

We like parpiness on Extra Gear.

And it really is strolling along a bit here, I'm going quite quick.

Oh, just concentrate for a minute. Blimey! There you go.

It's not an M3 rival, but Polestar is Volvo's emerging go faster brand.

It's going to be their RS or their AMG or their BMW M, I suppose,

and I think they've done quite a good job

and I quite like the discreet looks.

It rather appeals to my inner old man and as I get older,

my inner old man becomes more important to me.

So well done, Volvo, on being fast and discreet.

-APPLAUSE Good car.

-Yeah.

What a terrifying way to take your kids to school.

Nothing terrifying about it. The performance is well contained.

It's a really, really impressive package.

No, he's talking about with Chris Harris at the wheel.

I'd be scared if my kids were in the back.

Look, why are we standing looking at this when there is this piece

-of white splendour behind us? Come on.

-This is true.

-Look at this.

950 brake horsepower, 0-60 in 2.9 seconds and over one million quid,

but Ferrari didn't stop there.

They made the FXX K, which is what you got to drive around Daytona.

I mean, come on, Rory, that's not fair, is it?

He's a lucky boy and I'm calling him out, man.

You kind of stumbled in there as an interloper.

You weren't deserving of that position.

Look, I know I'm fraudulent.

I was invited to drive the car, but not as a customer.

Yeah, I shouldn't have been there,

that's why I took everything I could, I got all the little soaps,

you know, I went for everything - bath robe, you know?

It was like a night in a hotel I shouldn't have been at, it really is.

But, joking aside, this was a really special day for you, right?

It looked like, you know, you probably didn't expect you were

-ever going to be able to do this.

-No, no, no. I'm a lucky boy,

but that was up there with the best things I've ever done in a car.

Well, I mean, shall we just take one more look and remind ourselves of that day.

-If we have to.

-As long as you make Rory watch it.

-If we have to.

Come watch it with me, brother.

Drink it up. Drink it up. It's the last lap.

Unbelievable. I'll never get to do that again.

I'm staggered I've had a chance to do it in the first place.

When the world's electric...

I think I'll remember this day more than every other.

APPLAUSE

And, I mean, you say that you'll remember that day more than any other,

er, don't you have kids?

Yeah, but kids are one thing, FXX K, that's a whole different thing.

I think you might be in trouble.

Now, from Daytona, back to Dunsfold. For the first time tonight,

Top Gear put a celebrity into a reasonably fast car.

This one, in fact.

James McAvoy was the first man up and he fully committed,

but unfortunately conditions were against him.

Before James came five brave souls who joined Chris and Rory at

Dunsfold to set the first lap times.

Today, we have a quintet of celebrities at the Top Gear test track.

The original Top Gear test track, the one made of tarmac and nothing

else and they're all aiming to get to the top of our brand-new,

spotless, unsullied, empty celeb leaderboard.

Now, health and safety being very important to us on Top Gear, we've

laid on a little bit of extra help. A master, a coach, a sensei.

Think of him as Mr Miyagi minus the chopsticks and with

a lot more unresolved anger issues.

It's Drill Sergeant Harris.

Driving licence condition and convictions,

previous and present, please.

-Lost my licence once.

-For what?

-Just going a bit too fast.

-Right.

So you're a criminal. OK.

-This here is a gear lever, those are some pedals.

-Where's the reins?

-FRANKIE LAUGHS

-That's a good start.

-Just go.

-Let's go.

TYRES SCREECH

-That's an average start.

-Right. There goes Frankie Dettori.

A man who once won seven races in one day.

He's owned several Ferraris and I think it's fair to say

-he's a bit of a risk-taker, this gentleman.

-Braking now!

Through here to the right.

-Oh, that felt... Oh, oh, oh! Oh, that was a bit

-BLEEP.

Listen to me - my mouth, not your head! Round to the left,

round to the left, round to the left! Left, left, left!

God, when I say left, will you turn left? Third gear.

-That's fifth gear. Third gear.

-FRANKIE GROANS

Third gear. Third gear.

That's it, now you're OK. Flat out, flat out, flat out!

Come on! Come On!

Do you know what? I really like the idea of you driving on your own.

Don't be like that!

It was time for Frankie to go up against the clock on his hot lap.

Frankie's off!

Heading into Chicago with unbridled enthusiasm.

-"Unbridled", because it's a horse.

-That's rubbish. That's really rubbish.

Come on, power, power, power, power, power. Come on, little baby.

Frankie is a quite confident chap, but I think after this lap,

he'll have to get off his high horse.

These are some of the worst gags I've ever heard.

-Slow, slow, slow, slow.

-He's off, he's off, he's properly off.

-He's left the circuit.

-I mean, that's...

Just made it.

-Yes!

-Frankie brought home a respectable 1.47.2.

As things stand, he's first and last on the leaderboard.

OK, next up is Shazia Mirza,

who is a stand-up comedienne. Used to be a teacher, apparently.

Taught Dizzee Rascal how to rap. Don't know if that's true.

OK, before we start, I need to know some basics

about your previous when it comes to driving.

-I'm amazing.

-You're amazing?

-I am, yeah.

-OK, I think I'll be the judge of that from now on.

-Take the handbrake off, that's traditional.

-God, it's up here!

-It's huge!

-Nobody's ever said that to me before. Carry on.

-Let the clutch out.

-Aargh!

-Let the clutch out. Over to the right.

-I'm going to the right!

-No, get to the proper right!

-This is the right!

-That's the right now!

-Bloody hell.

-Keep going, don't slow down.

-Don't slow down.

SHE SCREAMS

HE LAUGHS

-Brake, brake. Round to the left, round to the left.

-Round to the left.

Look at that white line, let your eye follow that white line.

-There, left, left, left! Left!

-There's white lines everywhere!

-That white line there!

-Mind the aeroplane.

-Brake, brake, brake, brake, brake, brake!

Power, power, power!

Come on! Brake, brake, you've missed the track! Left.

Go as hard left as you can. Hard left.

-It's like being on a rollercoaster.

-Stop! Stop! You've got to stop.

-Oh.

-BRAKES SCREECH

-Whoo!

-Jesus suffering

-BLEEP!

-I'm just going to leave at this point.

-OK. Whatever.

This is the walk of a man that has had his life flash before his very eyes.

Skill, co-ordination, attitude, driving position,

throttle application, brake application, gear lever,

memory for circuit - she is the least suitable person I've ever

-met to lap a circuit in a car.

-Do you want a hug?

-Yeah.

The moment of truth. Could Shazia complete a timed lap on her own?

ENGINE REVS TYRES SCREECH

-Yeah.

-She's still in first.

You know when you see... You're in a supermarket and you see a kid being

dragged along by a parent, you feel really sorry for the kid?

-Hm.

-That's how I feel for the Toyota right now.

-But before long, she was clobbered by hammerhead.

-Foot on the brake.

-BLEEP.

-Oh, my God. I'm off the track.

-She's missed the turning there.

-She lost.

-She could genuinely end up on a different track.

-Stay on the track.

Stay on the bloody track.

She's braked maybe a quarter of a mile too early, but she's through.

-Whoops.

-It' not the worst time in the world. That's a good line.

-Come on!

-That's a good line.

Why is she...? No. Cross the line! Cross the line! Cross the line!

Get across the line!

Oh!

Yeah. She's gone again. She's started another lap.

After finally crossing the line, Shazia's time was a 2.07.9,

leaving her in second place,

but this was most definitely a technicality.

OK, there goes Max Whitlock, a national treasure,

a man who once won two gold medals

in a space of about five minutes, I hear.

Gold medals schmol medals. See what you're made of. Come on. Go. Second.

-TYRES SCREECH

-Oh, yeah, that was good.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There we go. Flat out.

That was really good. I thought we were dead, for a minute, but then it was really good.

Third, go. Brake, brake, brake.

Third. Stop, stop. And second and second.

-That was cheeky, don't cheat.

-Was I over the line?

-Yes.

Go... You know what's over the line.

You're a professional sports person!

Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!

Brake, brake, brake, brake, brake, you lunatic. Argh!

Smash it over the line! Smash it over the line! Yes, my son! Yes.

Right. We're going to get a fast time out of you.

You're on your own.

You're either going to do fantastically well or it'll

-be a dental records job. Best of luck.

-Thank you.

-Then George turned up to help with the timekeeping.

-He can drive.

-He's clearly co-ordinated.

-Oh, here we go.

You had one job.

Just give him a chance, he's new. He's new.

Chris's hopes were high for Max and he was off to a great start.

TYRES SCREECH

-Lots of tyre shriek and wail going on.

-That's good.

-My God, I love this.

-He's gone. He's gone.

No, he's on.

That was quick with a capital Q.

Thankfully no dental records were required

as Max somersaulted to the top of the leaderboard with a 1.39.5.

OK. Next up is impressionist Jon Culshaw.

Can you give me a racing driver?

-IMPERSONATES MURRAY WALKER:

-And there we go!

And we have started off!

And Murray Walker talking two stages back from being a Dalek!

-That way?

-No, right!

-That way.

-Right, man!

Like all impersonators, artistes, you're too busy being a show pony!

Too much jazz hat, not enough nitty-gritty. Left here, left here.

-Right-hand side of the line?

-Right-hand side of the...

Do you know your left from your right?

No, you don't, do you? Don't brake, don't brake! Go flat out, flat out!

-Yes! And then we've got this one last corner to get through.

-Yeah.

One last impression to get through. Go on, over the line, flat out.

-IMPERSONATES ALAN BENNETT:

-It's times like this you think, "What would Alan Bennett do?"

"He were a lovely man."

If he can channel his inner Alan Bennett, think how good he'll be round the track.

Do you reckon he could channel his inner Lewis Hamilton?

I believe in you, Culshaw.

It's very exhilarating when you get used to it.

A 1.53.0 dead for Jon.

Not quite Lewis Hamilton, but at least not bottom of the leaderboard.

Remind me, how many cars have you written off?

-Two out of four.

-Good. Let's go.

-This is the fifth.

There goes Ore Oduba, champion of Strictly Come Dancing, no less.

This is a man who doesn't own a car currently, because every car

he's ever owned he's written off and yet we felt it necessary

to let him loose in ours.

-That might come back to bite us on the backside.

-Left here, left here.

-Slow down, slow down. Left, left, left.

-Oh, we're going there.

-We're going down there.

-Great. OK.

-Second gear. Slow down. Stop, stop.

-That's an amazing start.

-That went well.

I'm looking at these twinkle toes.

-I'm told you dance on the pedals.

-I'm dancing on the pedals.

-Right-hand side, right-hand side. This is getting good now.

-Oh!

-This is getting good.

Whoa! That was a new one.

Whoa, that's fast. Left, left, left.

Brake! Brake! And brake and brake.

-Whoa! Whoa! I'm alive!

-It's worth it, isn't it?

I'm alive, Harris. I'm alive.

-Do you like it?

-I do. I feel a little bit sick.

Before his timed lap, Ore did a couple of

solo practice laps to get more of a feel for the circuit.

I am loving this.

-That seemed like a bad idea.

-Look at that.

I can see the coaching coming out in him now.

That's why it's in second gear! Argh!

Watch this new line through here. Watch this now. Watch this!

Oh, yeah, you've really taught him well, mate(!)

Is it even possible to spin a car there?

Is that the new wider line you were talking about?

And after that spectacular off,

it was anyone's guess how the actual lap would go.

Ah! That's a poor start.

I think he's lost about three seconds with that start alone.

-Have you...have you removed George from the stopwatch duties?

-I have.

-I mean, he wasn't cutting it.

-Just don't spin the car.

Oh, no, look, he's round there beautifully.

Don't spin it out, don't spin it out.

Come on! COME ON!

-Yes! And the time is?

-That's possibly good.

After getting back on the proverbial horse,

Ore set a 1.45.7 and stole second place from Frankie.

And as the day ended at Dunsfold, Max Whitlock bagged another gold.

No doubt the most important of his career.

How long can he stay at the top?

Well, that's anyone's guess.

Yeah, no fatalities! A mixed bag though, were they?

Yeah, lots of different skill levels and different levels of bravery

is what I'd say, yeah.

Rory, we've got a completely different car this year,

more powerful than anything we've had before.

-What does that mean for the future?

-Definitely.

200 horsepower, but the key thing about the GT86 is the tyres.

It's got the same rubber that they use on a Toyota Prius,

so it's really slippery, it's not about grip,

it's about getting the car to slide, so they have to balance that

and fight against the slipperiness of the car, and the power

doesn't necessarily mean they're always going to go quicker.

Some people might actually go slower in a rear wheel drive car.

Yeah, for once I agree with him. He's talking sense. Are you feeling OK?

So, maybe this is a future career as a driving instructor for you?

Absolutely not.

It's terrifying, frankly, because you've got no control.

The amount of times I play air brake pedal and go, "Whoa! Whoa! Slow down!"

We saw. It's quite an emotional journey for you.

I think we've got a few clips of you in the car.

CHRIS GROANS

Ho-ho-ho! Smash it!

Go, brake, brake! Power, power, power!

Argh!

-LAUGHTER

-Yeah.

-Relaxing, was it?

-Look, it's quite full-on, so fair play to them.

Anyone that undertakes the challenge, in my book, fair play.

A very special thank you to Frankie Dettori, Shazia Mirza, Max Whitlock,

Jon Culshaw and Ore Oduba. That's all we have time for tonight,

but there's so much more to come this series.

Rory, what have we got coming up next week?

Well, we're going to take you behind the scenes of Top Gear's Alfa Giulia film

and in true Extra Gear style, you'll see exclusive bonus scenes

from Chris and Matt's American road trip.

-So join us next week for more Extra Gear. Goodnight!

-Goodnight!