‘Top Gear’ Recap: ‘Season 28, Episode 5’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 2805 of ‘Top Gear’.
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When one thinks of taking a road trip, a great many things come to mind. Obviously, there’s the wonder and excitement that comes with hitting the open road, simply because the world has some incredible views to offer while you’re on the highway. But while sightseeing is always nice, you also want to reach your destination in an efficient and cost-effective manner, which is why we plan our road trips to a tee. So that we know where our hard-earned cash is going and how much time we will have to look at the Ball of Mud that got five stars on Yelp. But what if cost and time weren’t a concern? What if we could just load up a classy car of our choosing and hit the open road? Would one pick a luxury car for the journey? Or an electric ride? Obviously, it’s up to you. But if you ask the hosts of Top Gear, your best bet is an exotic European sports car.
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Because nothing says relaxing like a top tier sports car and it just so happens that last night’s episode of this magnificent series, took the time to explore what kind of sports car would be the best one to take on an extended road trip. And as is tradition on this particular series, Freddie and Chris and Paddy, made some supremely unique selections for this particular challenge. But it sure didn’t seem as though that was going to be the case at first. Because after Chris introduced us to his Porsche 911 Carrera S, Freddie surprised us with a sensible choice this time around. Since he decided he was going to ride in the Aston Martin V8 Vantage. But Paddy is the man who brought about the combo breaker in this instance, since he rolled up in the Ferrari Portofino. A car that sparked quite the debate, since it was hard to truly categorize his ride as a sports car.

Which meant that the only way to prove that Paddy made the right choice, was to put the Portofino (and his Italian ‘accent’) to the test and well, the raw acceleration test provided Paddy with some outright hope that he was going to win again since he smoked the other two cars. But the drag race and the final racetrack challenge put Paddy behind. Because the Porche left everyone in the dust in said drag race and Chris was quite resourceful when it comes to the final challenge and in the end, it was Chris that outright won the day. Because he knocked two of the three challenges out of the park and really it was the final challenge that brought about the real entertainment in this tale. Because it was just an outright treat to see Chris and Paddy figure out how to work with racing legends and it was equally as magnificent to see Freddie get the Stig to open up. 

But while we know now that a Porsche is the way to go for the ultimate road trip, there was still a Supercar Spotlight waiting in the wings for us to enjoy and boy did Chris pick quite the doozy for this one. Because this week’s choice was the Volkswagen I.D. R, and if you haven’t a clue what kind of car this is, you’re not alone. For this particular ride was created to be the first ever electric F-1 style racer and holy cow, was this car as slick as they come. Because it is just pure speed through and through and can make it around a racetrack in about a minute and a half no problem. If anything, it’s only knock, is that it burns through power. For Chris was only able to go twelve miles before needing a much-needed charge and while this car isn’t available for purchase, it was definitely worth spotlighting since it really is a technical marvel, and a hint of things to come. 

In the end, this was just another fun episode. One that did a fine job of playing ‘what if?’ with the audience, since few of us are actually going to buy a Porsche 911. But you can never go wrong with living vicariously through others and we most certainly did that here in a supremely satisfying manner. And to top it off, the fun was also extended to this week’s celebrity segment as well. Since YouTube star KSI was able to play a unique game of penalty kicks with Paddy, and get into a punching match with Freddie and he also offered up some great commentary when going around the track in some very wet conditions and all of these elements helped the audience to just smile for an hour or so and that’s a wonderful thing. Because we can all use a little joy right now, and it’s delightful to know that the Top Gear team is making that a priority in season 28. Until next time.  

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