Episode Archive - Series 10

On crash-bang-wallop-what-a-Top Gear, we brought our own special brand of wanton destruction to a small corner of Essex. James also got down and dirty with an Italian beauty, Jeremy indulged his twin passion for fast cars and fiery explosions, and a massive let-down came to our test track.

The only purpose motorhomes seem to have at F1 races is to give Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen somewhere convenient to fondle supermodels. We think this is a massive waste of a vehicle. No, honestly, we do.

So Richard and James got together some ageing camper vans and a small troop of touring car drivers for Top Gear's inaugural Motorhome Grand Prix.

The resulting race was actually more a war of attrition. And when the dust and debris finally settled we had absolutely no idea who'd crossed the line first. But no one died, and in our book that makes us all winners.

To test the new Alfa Romeo 159, May organised a little race around the Humber estuary. He drove the elegant Italian sports saloon, while his opponent (a tall man in a rubber suit) crawled across the tidal sludge on his hands and knees. As epically unfair as this sounds, the human mudskipper still won. Well, this is Captain Slow we're talking about.

Jeremy took a look at the estate versions of the BMW M5 and Mercedes E63 AMG - think wardrobes with warp drive and you're on the right lines. Clarkson's mission was to coax drivers of monstrosities like the Porsche Cayenne and BMW X5 out of their Chelsea tractors and into something a bit more entertaining.

To illustrate his point, he hurtled around Manchester Airport's main runway to the accompaniment of a guitar rock soundtrack, while a fire test rig belched flames into the night sky. Subtle but effective.

Finally, the new Honda Civic Type-R came to our test track. The old car had been an instant hit, thanks to its razor-sharp-handling, super-eager engine and big dollops of practicality. Sadly the new car had none of these things. But on the plus side it does have triangular exhaust pipes, which is nice.

First shown on: 18/11/2007