‘Top Gear’ Recap: ‘Season 32, Episode 3’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 3203 of ‘Top Gear’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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One particular subject of discussion that’s come up often regarding the BBC America series, Top Gear, is how great of a job the show does in celebrating all things automobile related. Because it doesn’t matter what kind of car is being spotlighted, or what kind of race or vehicular habit, somehow, someway, the lads will find a way to express the beauty of it and that really does make for one fun viewing experience. One that offers up unique insight and wonderful commentary and well, that celebration is top of mind today, simply because Freddie Flintoff, Paddy McGuinness, and Chris Harris found a way to celebrate the majesty of the automobile once again during last night’s episode.

For the lads decided that the time had come to look at a type of vehicle that really isn’t celebrated all that often but is critical to everyday life, and that people have a passion for from an aficionado and career standpoint. Specifically, the eighteen-wheeler. Because they are the backbone of commerce and they are monster vehicles that can accomplish so much and well… to properly celebrate them and the truckers that drive them, the lads opted to become truckers themselves. Which… is a quest that started off in an awkward manner. Mainly because, they didn’t know how to drive those bad boys. For their first drag race in one was a mess, and their attempts to park them was even worse. But the plus side is, they did come up with some awesome callsigns for when they were behind the wheel.

Which allowed for Chris ‘Chopper Hog’ Harris, Paddy ‘Professor Moose’ McGuinness, and Freddie ‘Admiral Fiddler’ Flintoff to have a little street cred whilst they went off to Trucker College. Because they were determined to do this right and pay proper tribute and well once they got back from school, they most certainly did. First by driving some amazing rigs. Since Chopper chose the Mercedes-Benz Actros to haul some freight. Whilst the Admiral chose the DAF XG+, and the Professor was thrilled to get behind the wheel of a Scania 770s and well… once they hit the road and executed what they learned in school, the time had come to really see how skilled they were behind the wheel of a big rig and just what these monsters could in fact, do.

Hence why they stopped at a local RAF base. To see how well and how precisely each of these rigs could haul a pair of RAF helicopters and after a few bumps and bruises to the flagpoles and cones set up for this competition, it turned out that the Professor’s rig was going to win the day and well… once that was done… the lads did indeed enjoy the open road as truckers. Allowing for them to experience the life, and the stops along the way that truckers frequent, before entering into one final competition. One that was basically a mini big rig race and well… it turned out that swinging by America and competing on a foreign land, paid off in spades here. Since Chopper Hog was fearless in this race and hung with his opponents to place third overall in the competition.

If anything, it was just amazing to see a show celebrate the truckers that haul our groceries and other goods and get an idea of what life is like on the road for them, and some of the challenges they face. Since inclement weather and other drivers make their lives interesting for certain. Plus, it was equally as great to see Chris offer up a supercar spotlight again. Since he had some wonderfully honest things to say about the Lotus Emira and the era that was now ending for it since this is the last gas-based iteration of the car and well… in the end, this was just a wonderful episode when all is said and done. One that really did find a new way to celebrate the automobile and entertained along the way and it will of course… be fascinating to see what kind of other unique celebrations await us as season thirty-two rolls along. Until next time.

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