During the filming of the American version of Top Gear on Saturday, a few of our forum members got to chat with Andy Wilman. While we already knew that the British version of Top Gear would be back in October, Andy revealed that it would have 8 episodes and that they are looking to do 14 episodes per year to avoid running out of ideas and such.

He also mentioned that while they hadn’t gotten the Top Gear Stuntman right, he would be returning in future episodes.

You can read more about what Andy talked about in MadeBackwards’ thread and buried throughout the tickets thread on our forums.

Adam spent the first 15 minutes of his show this morning talking about the filming of the American version of Top Gear. He covers some things we already knew such as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, but he also talked about some behind the scenes stuff. Pretty interesting and worth a listen.

Yes, sadly today’s Top Gear is the last of this season (series for you Brits).

However, all is not lost. Later this week I’ll be putting out a torrent for season 2 of Top Gear so you can catch up on your classic Top Gear. Fifth Gear will also be back in about 2 weeks.

The reports are coming in and while most are purposely vague (most attendees felt they shouldn’t spoil it for everyone), they did say that the chemistry is there and it should turn out to be a good show.

Here’s some select quotes from the forums:

I’ll tell you one thing though, Andy Wilman, during his introduction, kind of surprised me by stating “Who from the Final Gear mafia is here?”

I shouted out when he asked if anyone from the Final Gear mafia was here. He then jokingly said “Great, the doors are closed, you can’t get out, and the police are on their way!”

I think the show’s going to be great. I think Adam, Tanner, and Eric have a great chemistry. So far Eric’s my least favorite - in person he seemed a little dumb but on the films he was very good.

And there were films, very much in the vein of the original. They were witty, funny, and full of charm.

Adam is an excellent substitute for Jeremy. Not as clever, but still funny in his own (more American) way.

Andy Wilman thinks Adam is funnier than Jeremy. =D

One interesting thing that Andy said was before the tapping he didn’t think that this show was going to be broadcastable, just because the guys needed more time to get in a grove, but after the show he was really excited and said that he would probably use the show, but just not as the series premier but as a later episode. He also said that Jeremy is fun and funny but only because her writes out everything that he is going to say first and Adam is just plan funnier because its all on the fly. During the taping about 90% of all the dialogue is improve. I also asked when would this premier but he didn’t have an answer. What he did say is that he would want some time like next January.

Besides the hosts, everything is the exact same. The setting, the stig, the challenges, the news, SIARPC, etc…

I have 3 conclusions:
1. This show will be good as long as the hosts have more time to work together and learn to be a team.
2. Adam will keep this show alive until #1 is accomplished.
3. Chunky needs to die.

StreetFire has a quick review too:

I have to admit I was skeptical they could pull it off, but after attending the taping of the Top Gear pilot I have to say I’m a believer. First, the set was perfect, walking into the Top Gear hanger created a wave of familiarity, but most importantly was the welcome atmosphere from the producers and talent.

There’s even a full review / contents of the pilot episode in that thread on our forums, but be warned it’s full of spoilers! I’d advise probably not reading it and waiting for the pilot to air — you’ll thank yourself later.

More pictures will be coming later, but here’s a little teaser showing our car from today’s racing at the 24 Hours of LeMons.

Tim Shaw will be joining the Fifth Gear team this season. If you had never heard of him like me, then this video does a good job of showing who he is:

Lots of news got out today on Top Gear America.

The first bit is that pretaping will be going on tomorrow with Howie Mandel of Deal or No Deal (sounds like NBC wants their other shows promoted) and Mel B of the Spice Girls (ugh) being the Stars in a Reasonably Priced Car. This was revealed in an e-mail to ticket holders for Saturday’s taping of the pilot episode. It isn’t known if they’ll be on the same or separate episodes.

Jalopnik and their sources have found out that the reasonably priced car will be a Kia Rio.

Over on VWvortex, a guy who works on the show posted some candid pictures from them taping in Death Valley. Based on the pictures and what Adam has said on his radio show, it looks like they had a cheap car challenge with one of their tests being driving to Las Vegas (or a track nearby) from LA.

Quiky and a few other forum members are currently in South Carolina for LeMons South in their Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor P71. Jalopnik, who has full coverage, managed to get a picture of our car and at least part of our team:

Wish them luck!

Fifth Gear will be back on August 11th. Details of what will be in the first episode of the new season are available on our forums.

We have quite a few forum members who got tickets to Saturday’s filming of Top Gear America. As a result, it was decided it’d be cool to meet up afterwards and go out to dinner or whatever.

Even if you didn’t get tickets to the filming, you are still welcome to go. So, if you’re in the LA area and are free this Saturday night, please check out and post in this thread on our forums. Details of the meet will be figured out there.