Top Gear S23E01

Top Gear S23E01

The "brand new" Top Gear has finally kicked off with new presenters Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc as well as new cars featured through the series, new celebrities, and a brand new track layout on the Top Gear Test Track fit for celebrity guests. For the pilot, the newly-found rivalry between presenters Evans and LeBlanc has sparked with a UK vs. US road trip. At the first leg, the duo are driving Reliant Rialto three-wheelers to Blackpool. On the second-half at Blackpool, they swapped their Rialtos for offroaders. LeBlanc goes for the Willys Jeep while Evans goes for the Series I Land Rover and they undergo three challenges such as a speed run, a tug of war, and a unique Triple Drag Challenge (Drag Race, Drag the truck, and carry Drag queens to the finish line). In the final leg, using both machines from different halves, they are going on an offroad trip on the countryside and settle things once and for all, with a little help. Bizarrely, Chris and company cheated themselves for the win but they managed to help Matt LeBlanc and his strongman push their way to the finish. Who wins? Nobody knows.

Before that, Chris Evans ventures to the Nevada airbase to try out the hardcore Dodge Viper ACR, and then engage to a road-going dogfight against the Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06, with co-presenter Sabine Schmitz behind the wheel. Of course, when they lend the ACR to The Stig, it set a lap time round the Top Gear Track in 1:15.1. Then, Matt LeBlanc's somewhere in the Middle East to try out Ariel's extreme offroader, the Nomad, and tries to escape the hot pursuit against paparazzis.

Because this is a "brand new" Top Gear, a brand new rallycross layout was introduced along with a rallycross-spec Mini Cooper. Gordon Ramsay and Jesse Eisenberg were the first celeb guests to try out this new layout and they did it in 1:56.3 and 2:10.9 respectively.

Also, there was an Extra Gear show where Rory Reid and Chris Harris uncovers BTS about the new series, checking out the Ariel Nomad round the track, some car news, and up close and personal with Sabine Schmitz at her crib in the Nurburgring.

So, thoughts on the "brand new" Top Gear? Well, it's not so bad compared to the old "Clarkson, Hammond, and May" trio era but by the way Chris Evans is in charge of the show, it feels like this show's going to crack in bad ways but on the contrary, Matt LeBlanc's appeal on the show is worth promising because he's got more of an action than Chris Evans. Although not sure about the added rallycross layout in the Top Gear Track but the cars featuring throughout the show will make us super jealous, saying why are we not getting those. Call it a success or call it a disaster due to Chris Evans' bizarre behaviors in the show but the "brand new" Top Gear is still one of the must-watch shows on BBC every Sunday night. With this show no longer has a competition on network (or cable) television, feels like there's no other substitute than this newly revised Top Gear to watch...for now.