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24 Hour Racing Challenge! | Top Gear

Jeremy, Richard and James have entered a 24-hour endurance race. It turns out to be one of their toughest challenges to date as thick fog and a car that starts to fall apart hamper their efforts. However, they do have The Stig to help. Clip taken from series 10, episode 9. Subscribe for more awesome Top Gear videos: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Topgear Top Gear YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/topgear TopGear.com website: http://www.topgear.com Top Gear Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/topgear Top Gear Twitter: http://twitter.com/BBC_topgear This is a commercial channel from BBC Studios. Service & Feedback https://www.bbcstudios.com/contact/contact-us/

Top Gear

9 years ago

only one man could get us back in contention the field was now spread out but in the next three hours the Stig climbed eight places then when it was my turn the fog came I was completely blind because the visibility had slowed James to a crawl I thought I could get away with some fog based japery jokes desert be straight off eventually the fog became so thick the race was halted and when it resumed we were in the gray light of a summer dawn when the drivers are all a bit dopey as James demonstra
ted it would probably be rude to point out to him that he's pulled up in next door's pit culture for that person was the wrong pick cast or nevermind it's close enough next door's pit was home to the Saxondale team who were using a diesel BMW like hours after the calamities they were now our main lines as Jeremy geed up the capacity claim the Stig made mincemeat but then 20 minutes later disaster the front splitter which helps with aerodynamics had come off and there was a monumental fuel leak i
t was down on POW he's five seconds a lap slow then the splitter fell off that we put on yeah it's all down to touching yeah that's what they do that that's a feature the Stig stayed at the wheel so after the leak was fixed he could go out again and even though the missing splitter was ruining the handling nothing was gonna stop it nothing right now at this very moment computers tell us the Stig is having a wee in the car and I'm next this speeded the Stig up even more okay it's now exactly 12 o
'clock as you can see midday four and a half hours left to run the Stig's work is done he's got us into third in class with a third fastest diesel and now it's all up to Hammond and then me should feel okay the brakes have come off it's just shared a bowl nice with the splitter coming off the fuel leak and now this it was clear our little Trojan was starting to fall apart it was also down on power and with no front splitter the handling wasn't greatly the car doesn't feel as fast as it felt last
night even I can tell something's wrong all that has departed to span a threat to me and having been up for 30 hours I Neal followed in constant rain losing my concentration well to wake myself up I organized a little prison for generally having a pay right at the end of Richard's stint we were still third in class but I knew it would be hard to stay there the problem is is that the Saxondale one that silver 331 like ours is 30 laps behind we're going to lose five laps in this next pit stop the
y've got their quick driver in there against me until you in three hours in three hours driving they're going to be right up my back bottom so this was it the final stint I was tired out I was sitting in a puddle of wee the car was sick and we had our main rivals bearing down on us please call please make it to the end of this race I beg off to stay endured Jeremy had to drive fast but there was a problem with that he's got to do two hours 20 minutes here yes well I did that he's got a last 2 mm
20 minutes on the same tyres yeah we can go from there now born of a brand and it's tearing the tires too bit so that we didn't need to waste time with another pit stop Jeremy had to preserve his tyres unfortunately though this was Jeremy he's just a 24 those will not last two hours let alone two 20 Tiffany know your pain reading those tires sadly he was too busy racing team Saxondale to listen generally it's Richard I know you're busy tell us about the tires do they feel okay Saxon dial-up or
updates I go missed again Jeremy had destroyed the tires just open Steve we have a tire expert in pit lane he's looked at the other tires and says your last combat we had to get him in Saxondale would rack up five laps why lap tires were changed but on fresh rubber Jeremy could now get the hammer down a satin doll responding to 24 boys just trying to take the Jag on the inside of the corner II went badly wrong if you fall off in the last hour of the race there's no recovery service should be tha
t's the end of us happily we got some luck the Saxondale team had hit problems so now all I had to do was nurse the car home Hong Kong is my guess this has been one of the best top gear companions of the Lord a Ratna bale transformed in ten days into a racer he needs to go starting to get a bit sloppy now we're getting a few mistakes five minutes to go and for the first time I felt this pee stain David among Goliath was actually going to finish and finish well it wants to make the finishing line
I'm just winning it on this man yes you

Comments

@RastaSaiyaman

In his book "The man in the White suit" former Stig Ben Collins explained all the logistics that went into the preparation of this. Collins had to teach Clarkson and May how to get the endurance going needed for a race like this. Seeing as how neither of them is exactly in peak physical condition. He also mentioned how of the three, Hammond was the most capable racing driver. When it was brought to Collins that they were going to do this, he made good use of his Endorsements with Alpinestars and Sparco racing gear, to fully kit the presenters out. Clarkson Hammond and May wore the brands' latest suits which were identical to the Stig suit save for the color. He said that it was by far the most glorious of all the shoots he did for Top Gear, the team was like a well oiled machine and everybody had the camaraderie going. But he also mentioned how this race basically was the end for The Stig because he had to register for the race in his own name and was on the list of drivers for everybody to see. So when people went "Collins, who's that, I only know of Clarkson, Hammond and May..." and then to see the Stig taking the wheel it was very easy to put two and two together.

@ritwikbandyopadhyay2376

"James it's Jeremy" drives into the gravel

@alangreig4261

Hamond: Jeremy had to preserve his tires. Unfortunately this was Jeremy Jeremy: yeaaaasss

@KBABZ

One of the best challenges ever. No cocking about (decals aside of course), just pure dramatic racing. Just like the Rallycross episode!

@Troubleshooter125

I love this race, but whoever edited this missed two great moments at the end: 1) Jeremy madly going on and shedding tears ("YOU BRILLIANT LITTLE CAR!") 2) A brief shot of Hammond smiling the widest, best, happiest smile ever To me, those two things show us the real people we're looking at and maybe when all is said and done, why it is we all love Top Gear so much.

@abramo7700

Endurance racing is so stupid yet so good. Put a bunch of sleep deprived drivers on a track trying to go as fast as they can. Amazing

@WardyLion

Shame they cut Clarkson calling the BMW “you brilliant little car” before shedding a few tears. It’s a real testament to the team that they took a car with little to no soul and gave it all the soul in the world.

@jackshikikunt3042

James eating a banana

@loganthekrogan2182

This was such a big deal for them, and when you see them truly working together, these blokes can accomplish anything.

@pdmmdk

24 hour race...done in 8:14! That must be a new world record :D

@xandersolaris5278

5:44 Hammond: Worried about the tires and the race May: MUNCH

@McDaaniels

Stig the absolute Madman racing at night with a tinted/mirrored visor..

@justanotherrandomperson1359

0:01 so we’re just not gonna talk about this

@edh7492

I've watched Top gear since I was about 6, on a thursday night at 8.30 on bbc2, I was allowed to stay up until 9 so I could watch. I'm now 28, so for the last 22 years I have grown up with it. These days the program gets a lot of stick some of it rightly for being just the presenters fecking about trying to be funny. I think they should show how good they can be sometimes, not just pretending to be "ambitious but rubbish". This episode and Rallycross on a budget are my two favourite episodes. The Chaps actually like cars and motorsport, the whole trio of bumbling old men stuff is just an act, when its time to get serious they very much do, look at them.   I'd love to see more of this type of episode, real racing, real enthusiasm and no bullshit.

@fish7598

I think this is honestly one of their best episodes. It has all the heart of one of their cheap car specials, but the lack of an exotic location and the sheer brutality on the presenters makes this quite a special part of top gear to me.

@anzaca1

To finish 3rd in Class with no prior endurance racing experience, in a second-hand ex-road car...is just amazing.

@Terra_Hawk

This is by far my favorite top gear moment. I would absolutely love if the show did this again. (but i understand the reasons why it can't)

@PizzaFaceGuy

"James it's Jeremy" Sounds familiar...

@Francoberry

why did you cut off crying jeremy? 

@Mw2_OG

When Jeremy shed tears at the end of this race, it showed the sheer amount of mental endurance and strength it takes to win this race.