Top Gear Oil vs. Wind

Series 20 Episode 1

It’s the start to a new season of Top Gear.  The trio is back for their 20^th series.  They begin with clip form the upcoming series.  These clips have already been filmed, and the in studio segments have yet to be filmed.  They begin with a segment dedicated to new “hot hatchbacks”. Jeremy says the “hot hatch backs” from the 1980’s are more exciting than those you can buy today.  But with the new cars being introduced they decide to see if any of these new cars live up to the past generations.  Richard is driving four different “hot Hatch backs”.  They are the Renault sport Clio 200, the Peugeot 208 GTi, and the Ford Fiesta ST.  Richard discusses each car in depth and put all of them through their paces on the track.  He also put the three cars against each other in a drag race.  At the end of the segment Richard says all of them are good but the Ford is exquisite.  After he is done James explains the race between him and Jeremy.  The race is between a boat and a car up the coast of New Zealand.  James will be on an Americas cup racing boat called the AC45. 

It’s the fastest production sailing boat ever made reaching speeds of over 30 knots.  The crew consists of all winners of the Americas Cup, the most prestigious trophy in yate racing, and the captain is Sir Ben Ainslie, he is a four time Olympic gold medalist.  Jeremy will be in a Toyota Corolla rent a car. 

The race is not a race between a car and a sailboat, it’s a race between oil and wind power.  As the race begins Jeremy goes all out in the rent a car, while James is off to a rocky start.  The crew has to put up a different sail.  Jeremy is treating the car like he has no care for it at all he side swipes a guard rail, jumps the car, and has complete disregard for its well being. 

James however is not having an easy time on the boat.  The waves are beating him up and the crew is ordering him around. 

They take a break from the race to go back to the studio.  They are introducing a new reasonably priced car.  The new car is a 2013 Vauxhall Astra Tech Line; it includes a lifetime warranty.  For the launch they invite various celebrities to come and do laps at their test track.  The celebrities include Charles Dance, Warwick Davis, Rachel Riley, Joss Stone, David Haye, Jimmy Carr, Mike Rutherford, and Brian Johnson.  As each celebrity set times in the car, Jeremy and Richard entertain other celebrities.  After all the lap times have been set, the race between James and Jeremy continue.  James is winning but miserable and Jeremy is attempting to catch up.  As James continues in agony, Jeremy is on smooth paved roads charging along.  When Jeremy realizes he is far behind he decides to take the back roads.  This soon turns into a big mistake when the road runs out and he has to off road and turn to a gravel road.  While on the gravel road he has an accident, and run into a wall while trying to avoid a tractor.  At the next town Jeremy reports to the rent a car center to trade in his damaged car for a new one.  The new car is the same model but a different color.  When the road Jeremy is driving on becomes curvy he resorts to driving on the beach, which in New Zealand is considered a highway.  As Jeremy gets closer to the finish line he has to drive on gravel roads.  When the road runs out he resorts again to off-roading.  When James is sight of the finish line he is told the boat cannot get to shore, he is told he will have to jump off the boat and swim to ashore.  James reaches the finish line first, his face is beat red, he is soaking wet, and is soar from the beating of the waves.  Jeremy arrives but cannot make it in the car to the finish line and must walk 100 yards to the finish line.  Jeremy says he was going to tell every one that they need to shut down the oil and gas and switch to wind, but then he sees James. And says look at what the wind will do to you; it beats you up and turn you red. 

In the alternative ending to the show Jeremy would have won the race.  He would have made it to the finish line on the beach as James was swimming ashore.  James would have seen Jeremy driving down the beach and said he had gone through all that for nothing.  Jeremy would have then proclaimed that wind power is stupid and all the windmills need to be removed from Britain. He would then put on his "smug" face.