Tag: topgear.com

The Pinto arrived in 1971 having been rushed through production in twenty-five months, roughly half the industry standard. It showed. In rear-end crash tests, the Pinto’s fuel tank proved vulnerable to rupture at relatively modest speeds — a flaw that would later become infamous. A fix was possible, and inexpensive. Internal Ford documents, later made…

This instalment’s next big thing is actually a little thing – the E-car. That’s the European Commission’s new category of small affordable electric cars. They’ll be restricted in size and performance, which in itself makes them cheaper, but also they’ll be allowed to go without some of the expensive safety and motorway driver-assist tech that…

Good news for those among you who despise a well-crafted performance tyre: Mercedes-AMG has today confirmed a new Black Series GT will arrive, bringing back one of the wildest badges in the car world. And to prove just how wild, it’ll serve as a homologation car for a future Mercedes-AMG GT3 racing car. It’ll be…

Well, it was only a matter of time. No, not that the bright yellow thing in the sky we’ve all been treated to recently would disappear, but the news Mercedes’ facelifted S-Class would receive the Maybach glow up. Taste police, where you at? So, from the top. Or rather, outside, where the Maybach grille is…

There is a lazy shorthand in sport that greatness is only measured by titles. F1, however, has always rewarded those who look a little closer, and if you do that with Max Verstappen’s 2025 campaign, a compelling case emerges. This may have been his finest season yet, even without the championship trophy, because 2025 asked…

What is it? An attempt by a chap called Scott Devon to swoop on the defunct MkII Dodge Viper, buy up the production rights and continue selling it clothed in a carbon body by Swedish designer Daniel Paulin. Did they build any? Two were constructed, using a tuned 650bhp 8.4-litre V10. The red car, kitted out…

You’re probably more accustomed to exacting two-wheeled racing sims from Italian studio Milestone than anime-infused, futuristic arcade car races. It’s been at the helm of the MotoGP series since 2013, but its earliest release as Graffiti Games in 1995 was a rip-roaring racer named, er, Screamer. This 2026 spiritual sequel does share some DNA with that debut.…

Brakes. Brakes! BRAAAKES!! The last shouted from the whole chest, fingernails cleaving into the Jesus handle on the Land Cruiser’s centre console. The Stig has literally no self-control.  Or sense of self-preservation. I begin to wonder if it actually has a sense of self. The Stig does not brake. Inevitably the racing line is cut,…

Fun fact: back in 1985 Toyota looked at turning the MR2 into a Group B rally car.  A bunch of prototypes were built just in time for the legendarily wild series to be cancelled. I didn’t think I could love the original MR2 more. And then I discovered this little nugget. And here’s another: Lotus…

The BMW M3 Touring 24H has won its class in its very first outing at the Nürburgring! In a class of… two! Elsewhere, four-time Formula One champion Max Verstappen – you may have heard of that guy – won… but was later disqualified. So, a busy weekend down in the Green Hell. About that M3…