Top Gear

Welcome to Top Gear, with our all-new, improved audience.

Tonight, I get chased. Right behind us.

Matt gets chased.

See if I can shake 'em in these twisties.

And then, in a bizarre twist, I chase Matt.

Come on, Great Britain!

And Matt chases me.

We're going to get smashed.

This is brilliant!

Marvellous, amazing, beautiful.

All right, before we go any further, would you like to meet

the first ever non-UK host of Top Gear?

Yes!

Brilliant, please welcome Matt LeBlanc.

Matt LeBlanc, everybody!

All right, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Oh, you're too kind, too kind.

All right, and with that, back to you, Chris.

Thank you very much, Matt.

OK, right, well, if it isn't all the guys and girls

from my local Indian restaurant.

Hi, guys. Hi, Chris. Hi, guys.

Good evening. Good evening.

Boss man. And, firstly, thank you for your continued custom.

Well, you're very welcome, you're very welcome.

Now, anybody got any idea why these guys are here?

New caterers. What?

New caterers. New caterers.

By the way, by the way...

we don't talk about catering on this show any more.

In fact, to be honest,

maybe questions from the floor was a bad idea.

Actually, Muno, you tell everybody why you're here.

What are you here to represent?

We represent the equivalent of one metric ton of downforce.

That's what they are, one metric ton of downforce, ladies and gentlemen,

which apparently is enough to turn an old-time US muscle car

into a lap-time destroyer.

This is Fallon US Naval Air Station, deep in the Nevada Desert...

...home to the US military's finest array of warplanes,

and something called

the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center,

better known as...

Top Gun.

This is where the best of the best get even better

in the most fearsome aircraft on the planet.

The perfect place, then, to test America's latest killer wing,

which happens to be attached to...

...the brand-new Dodge Viper ACR.

Now, you might take a look at the ACR

and think, "With its giant long body and front splitter and scoops"

"and rear diffuser, my goodness me,"

"that's going to be a handful to drive."

Thing is...

you'd be absolutely right!

0-60? Just over 3 seconds.

Top speed? 177mph.

Noise? Tooth-shattering.

Listen to that.

Basically, it's a road car, but it's got to be said,

it's as close as you can come to a race car without having to wear

fireproof knickers and a wristband with your blood group on it.

All highly exciting, but the Viper formula has barely changed

since God was a boy, and you can tell.

We all love a manual gearbox, but this one's a little bit tight.

It's offset at a weird angle, which means that third

can often become fifth if you're not fully concentrating.

And then there's the Viper's prehistoric power output.

An 8.4-litre V10 chucks out 645 horsepower.

But, at its heart, it's a quarter of a century old.

Modern supercars produce far more power from engines half the size.

It's about as cutting edge as a rusty crowbar.

But Dodge have at least polished their crowbar up a bit.

The ACR has bespoke sticky tyres, brakes as big as dinner plates,

race car suspension and, most importantly, the wing.

This piece of carbon, like the inverted wing on a fighter plane,

actually jams the Viper into the tarmac with phenomenal power.

On the straights, it actually slows the car down,

but going into the bends at top speed, over a tonne of air

presses the Viper into the floor.

A tonne!

And it really works.

The Viper ACR holds 13 track records,

more than any other car in production right now.

So, after all these years,

it seems Dodge has finally perfected their Viper.

Good for them.

Or at least it would be

if the competition hadn't been busy making this.

The Corvette Z06...

or, as the Americans have it, the Zee 06.

It's more powerful, it's quicker to 60,

its top speed is higher, it's cheaper to buy

and it looks better.

But which one, then, is the king of muscle cars?

Viper or Vet?

It was time for a dogfight.

Our cars have been equipped with guns - laser guns.

Manning those guns will be Top Gun instructors

call signs JoJo and Syphin.

And at the wheel of the Vet,

Top Gear's top girl, Sabine Schmitz.

I feel the need, the need for speed.

The rules are simple. First to get missile lock wins.

Ginger, I don't like you because you are dangerous.

We've got a rule here at Top Gun -

it's a 10 fine every time you quote the movie.

JoJo, I think Sabine's ego is writing cheques her body can't cash.

This is going to be an expensive day.

Whoa, rock and roll, JoJo.

She's right behind us, she's right behind us.

Get behind him. I'll get closer.

Time for a little... evasive action.

I'm going to hit the brakes and watch her fly by, OK?

Have you got him?

Three, two, one.

Fire!

Brakes.

Whoa!

There she goes!

Go, go, go.

Son of a...

The hunter has now become the hunted.

He's on our tail!

Get closer, get closer. I'm going to reel her in.

Woo!

Don't let her get away from you.

The Viper's wing is doing its thing, baby.

Until I found out there's a limit to how much "thing" it can do.

Oh, he spun! He spun off.

You can be any time my wingman.

Wait, what is wingman? Not wingman? Yeah.

Whilst I was recovering from my aerodynamic overconfidence...

...Schmitz disappeared.

Where would the enemy most likely come from?

Probably where you're not looking. Really?

Have you ever had an angry German on your tail before?

I've never had that.

She so wants to win.

Go, go.

I follow you, buddy.

Eyes left. Oh, oh.

We're on his tail, we're on his tail!

The smiling assassins were all over us.

Get closer.

Or at least, that's what they thought.

Shoot!

Missed him.

That's when she can't keep up with us -

round the corners, the Vet is killed.

She's all over the place.

The suspension's awful... like a Ferrari.

There's so much more grip than this piece of sh...

Jeez, this car's good!

She will not be able to make this corner.

We missed it!

Where is he? I don't see him.

Yeah!

She's dead, man, she's dead.

Boom, she's dead.

Oh, holy moley.

I might need a break, Sabine.

Huh? I might need a break. You need a break?!

I might need a break. What? Yeah.

Oh, sh...

Sorry, I... My Top Gun pilot is a little bit, er, in trouble.

Oh, did he throw up?

Is it time for a new call sign?

Er, yeah. Upchuck.

Yeah. Pukes on Top Gear.

Oh, no!

And so it's the Viper that is officially Top Gun.

Fast, agile, and once you know how to use it, absolutely devastating.

Top Gun, clear to take off...

Whoa-oa-oa!

Fly safe, my friend.

Fly safe.

That was good. That was good fun, wasn't it? Great.

Thank you, thank you.

And thanks to the US Navy, and Sabine Schmitz,

now undoubtedly the queen of the Vomit Comet.

OK, now, just... hang on a second.

Do you seriously expect all these people to believe

that she made a guy who flies fast jets in wars

throw up after just, like, a half an hour in a Corvette?

Yes, because that's what happened.

Are you sure that it wasn't just a ruse that you came up with

to cover up the fact that she made you throw up in an Audi?

No.

OK, just chicken... checking!

Did you say "chicken"? No. All right, anyway...

Here is the Viper ACR in the flesh, everybody.

- And now... - Woo!

...we need to see how fast it can go around our lap,

which means only one thing.

Yes! It's time to bring on our tame racing driver.

We got custody! We got custody!

Some say the day he was born,

he drove himself home from the hospital,

and that he's being investigated for irregular emissions.