Yesterday I made the arduous trek to downtown Los Angeles to pick up my credentials for X Games 18 this weekend. When I got there I saw two things that caught my interest. The first being a giant life-sized bright orange Hot Wheels looped track and the second was a very jet-lagged Tanner Foust who was fresh off a short break from his European Rallycross tour. I knew somewhere between the two was an interview. Since the Hot Wheels track is an inanimate object and likely would not talk back, I decided to interview Tanner instead. I talked to him about his progress in Europe, what possessed him to try this crazy Hot Wheels stunt, and what will be on his mind going into the Rallycross race this weekend at X Games. Watch below!
Mother’s Day, the release of the Avengers, the Indy 500, and my birthday all happen in the only three lettered month of the year which make’s May very, important. Today Turn 10 Studios just gave us another reason to look forward to next month as that is when the Top Gear DLC pack will be released on Xbox live! Cool right?! Unfortunately there are no two-engined limos or amphibious RVs in the 10 car pack but we do get the hopelessly fast Hennesy Venom GT and the immense awesomness of the Ford Transit Van! Yes the transit is finally coming to Forza! Can you imagine playing Top Gear soccer with that? You won’t have to imagine much longer as the Top Gear pack comes out on May 1st for 560 Microsoft Points AKA 7 bucks. Scroll below for the full car list and official trailer
Today the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach released the list of participants in this year’s Toyota Pro Celebrity Race and among the combatants is Top Gear USA host Rutledge Wood. You heard right, good ol’ Rut will take part in what some people refer to as “celebrity pinball” as television, movie, and music stars try to keep their Scion tCs (and themselves) in one piece as they run 10 laps around the grand prix street circuit. Rutledge will have to fend off other contenders such as Adrain Brody, reality star Brody Jenner, and even a few pro drivers like Fredric Aasbo from Formula Drift and USAC Champion Bryan Clauson. Will some coaching from the Stig help Rutledge take down all comers and earn a first place finish for Top Gear USA? We will have to wait until race day April 14th. I will be track side capturing the action!
This is just a quick heads up to visit your local bookstore (before it goes out of business) and buy the new Top Gear Portfolio for 2012. It is filled with amazing photography of beautiful cars as well as a few extra tidbits. If you like looking at awesome pictures of fresh cars then this will be totally worth the 20 price tag.
P.S. I was at my local Barnes & Noble when I saw this, hence the sub-par cell phone shot.
If loving cars is a religon then Top Gear is our bible and James May, Richard Hammond, and Jeremy Clarkson are our three wisemen. Blasphomey aside, Top Gear really is an insitution for lovers of all things automotive. For years Captian Slow, Hamster, and Jezza have entertained us with their ridiculous stunts and got us talking with their reviews of everything from million dollar supercars to the latest econobox from Brand X car company. In return fans would love to get their hands on damn near anything with the Top Gear logo on it. Top Gear UK goods are tricky to get, mostly because they have to come from the UK but they will be an instant hit with the car lover in your life and if you are the car lover writing your list and you haven’t included any Top Gear swag in your list yet then slap yourself in the face and correct the problem. Some quick easy to get hints would be DVDs of any of the Top Gear seasons. They are easy enough to find on BestBuy.com or Amazon.com and they range between 20-50 bucks.
We finally have our X Games 17 Rally coverage up and running! Yay for us! Ok so in case you are in the rare position of not being at X Games 17 or not catching it on TV or any of the TV repeats then you are in luck because we will give you the break down. Things kicked off on Saturday with Super Rally racing. Super Rally is the timed head-to-head event with two cars racing each other at a time and each car needing to take one “Joker Lap” per heat. Many were expecting the big budget Ford Fiestas to dominate on that day but it was actually Monster Energy Driver Liam Doran in his flat black Citroen. Before the weekend most of us have never heard of Liam but he is actually Tanner Foust’s main rival in the European Rally Cross series over seas so it was no surprise that he had no fear of the golden child on American Soil.
The next day was the main event that we were all waiting for: Rally Cross. Rally Cross is the 4 car at a time mayhem that we saw last year for the first time in the LA Colosseum. This year things were changed up a bit as in the final heat there were 8 cars total in the final heat instead of 4. Each winner of the round 1 heats were lined up in the front row while the top four from the “Last Chance Qualifier” (AKA “LCQ”) lined up in the back row, then all of them were let loose on the streets of Los Angeles. Tanner Foust, Marcus Gronholm, Brian Deegan, Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, and Liam Doran were all among the final 8 to do battle. Note that Travis Pastrana is on that list. Despite breaking his throttle foot the Friday before during the Moto X best trick Pastrana made his way into the race with the help of his team engineering a set of hand controls ala Alex Zanardi. Although despite his best effort Travis was not able to come out on top. So, who won the epic battle? It was none other than Brian Deegan, general of the “Metal Mulisha” that ran away from the pack and took his first Rally X Games gold. You can check out highlights from both events below and check out some of our official galleries via the links below as well.
America is a pretty awesome country. Although we have to admit that there are some awesome things in the world that we just can’t get in America, like the Top Gear Live show. If you don’t already know about Top Gear Live it is a live show that literally takes the British hoonage from the show and brings it to a massive live audience and typically involves stunts and other displaces of motor-madness.
In the past these events were always done outside at a race track or really large lot but today it was announced that the next two Top Gear Live events will both be in doors and will feature in-door stadium style tracks designed by Group Lotus (who also designed the famous Top Gear Test Track used on the U.K. show). Also, just like the show the corners will be named but the BBC will give fans the chance to name one of the corners via an online poll/contest.
We would love to check out one of these events someday. Maybe Top Gear USA will gain enough popularity to convince the BBC and History channel to try and pull off a Top Gear Live USA event in the future? I guess we will just have to wait and see. In the meantime if you want more info on the U.K. events you can click the thumbnails below for renderings of the tracks and check out the official press release.
Top Gear Live is developing an indoor track extravaganza in partnership with Group Lotus Motorsport, designers of the original Top Gear test-track. The track will be the central feature of its all-new Top Gear Live event running from 11-13 November at NEC Birmingham and 24-27 November at ExCeL London.
Top Gear favourites including German race sensation Sabine Schmitz and Tiff Needell will join five-time Le Mans winner, Derek Bell, and an extensive list of other celebrity guests, drivers and presenters on track at the two events.
The all-new track element will feature power laps by Top Gear’s very own tame racing driver The Stig as well as challenges for presenters Clarkson, Hammond and May. And, of course, there will be a host of celebrities vying for the top spot in Top Gear Live’s very own Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
The tracks have been configured to enable all manner of driving disciplines during a full programme of incredible action. These will include head-to-head challenges, power testing and time trials, ensuring there’s plenty of live action throughout the event.
The tracks have been named ‘Docklands GP’ (ExCeL track) and ‘B20 Raceway’ (NEC track), and visitors can get a preview of what is waiting for them at the show with both track layouts available to see at www.topgearlive.co.uk. In the tradition of the Top Gear track’s ‘Hammerhead’ and ‘Gambon’ corners, these custom-built indoor tracks will also have named corners and Top Gear Live fans will have the opportunity to name one of the corners at each track in a competition launching next week via facebook.com/TopGearLiveUK
Gavan Kershaw, Engineering Manager at Group Lotus Motorsport said: “We’re enjoying the challenge of working with the Top Gear Live team to design two tracks that are both exciting and credible for this event.
“We believe the end result will ensure an awesome experience for both the drivers and spectators with plenty of noise and burning rubber!“
In addition to the interactive on-track activity, there will be supercar parades featuring iconic models such as the new McLaren MP4-12C, Lamborghini Aventador and Ferrari 599 GTO, as well as legendary group B rally cars and a celebration of F1 past and present, all live on the track. All this will be supported by fantastic challenges and cars modified beyond recognition – synonymous with Top Gear!
This year’s Top Gear Live is expected to attract tens of thousands of visitors keen to see the world-famous presenters, guest drivers and celebrities in action and take part in this true celebration of all things motoring. Visitors are encouraged to book early so as not to miss the most exciting event on this year’s entertainment and motoring calendar.
Did you miss out on a chance to be in the studio audience during Top Gear USA’s first season? Well here is your chance to get in on it again. Spots for the studio audience at El Toro have opened up! Click the source link below to get in before it all fills up!
To celebrate the E3 2011 reveal of Forza Motorsport 4 the guys at Turn 10 Studios took over the event deck at LA Live for a massive party. There were top notch cars every where you turn including the first Gumpert Apollo which took a short outing from the CEC West LA show room to come to the party. One of the highlights was the debut of the Top Gear test track in Forza 4. The Turn 10 Crew brought over a hydraulic motion rig, set up a lap time board, and party goers were challenged to post up their best lap time in a Kia Cee’d. Every 30 minutes the fastest lap holder would win a special Stig prize pack that included a messenger bag full of Top Gear DVDs, Stig Alpinestars racing gloves, a “I am The Stig” shirt, and a Meguiars car care kit. Once everyone posted up their lap times the crowd was treated by an impromptu appearance by The Stig himself! After The Stig had a riveting interview with MC Tommy Kendall party goers were treated to a live set by Mix Master Mike and Travis Barker!
While the party was going on I managed to pull John Wendl (content director for Turn 10 Studios) to talk about all the new feature we can expect in Forza Motorsport 4 when it comes out this fall. Just scroll down for a few party pics (more in our Facebook Gallery) and the interview.
Last night the guys at Turn 10 Studios threw a massive party to celebrate Forza Motorsport 4but before that the MC of the party Tommy Kendall stopped by the Xbox booth at E3 2011 to try his hand at the game himself. They say that those who are good at racing games would probably do well racing in real life, but judging by the video below I don’t think that works in reverse! In a display of bravado that could only come from a real race car driver Tommy turned off all the driving assists, however for a bit of insurance he kept his competitors on easy mode. Yet, that still couldn’t save him from finishing in last place!
After E3 came to a close that day Tommy headed over to the Forza 4 party where he played host. During the festivities party goers were joined via television by Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson who introduced a very special guest, The Stig!. Master Of Ceremonies Tommy Kendall attempted to get an interview with Top Gears tame racing driver but it did not go so well.
Check out TK’s go at Forza 4 and his attempted interview with The Stig in the videos below!
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