Since the remaining three episodes of the “Top Gear”‘s Series 22 season are currently in BBC limbo awaiting Jeremy Clarkson’s fate for his part in a “fracas” with a show producer, BBC America decided to show Part One of “Top Gear”;s Perfect Raod Trip 2: Italy – which is on DVD and Blu-ray but had never been shown on television in the USA…until now.
In Part One, Clarkson and Richard Hammond – without the ever-slowing James May, they gleefully note at the beginning – travel to Italy to ostensibly test some cars. Beginning in Venice with Hammond opting for a Lamborghini Huracan and Clarkson selecting a McLaren 650S [both orange], Clarkson wins the first race between the two – to a one-room hotel.
Moving on, the boys go to the Mugello racetrack to pit themselves against each other in a Jaguar F-Type [Hammond] and a BMW M4 [Clarkson] in a race to beat The Stig in a Fiat 500, a race won by Clarkson after Hammond Maldonadoes the Jaguar into a wall in.
Clarkson and Hammond then move on to another race – a four-mile rally stage in Ferrari kit cars [a 355 for Clarkson and a Testarossa for Hammond] – but the boys really just use the race as an excuse to trash the kit cars. At least, Clarkson surely does.
Part Two next week will feature some vintage Alfa Romeos and a Mercury Capri race on the island of Capri…
