The Channel Crossing

The 24 Hour Race

On the-longest-day Top Gear, they put their environmentally friendly biofuel where their mouth is and went racing. Last series, as a thinly guised excuse for driving about in some massive tractors, the presenters planted their own biofuel crop. Having harvested the petrol plants and added the appropriate cocktail of chemicals, they discovered they'd accidentally made a vast quantity of diesel. Plainly, they needed to use it up and fast. A plan was hatched and the entry forms for the Britcar 24-hour endurance race hastily put in the post.

Some weeks later, they found themselves in the pit lane at Silverstone where the bravado of the presenters was rapidly wearing off. Each of them would be taking it in turns to do stints of several hours at the wheel and, even with the Stig as the fourth driver, this was going to be a tall order.

The Greatest Driving Road

On a weight-watchers' Top Gear, Jeremy, Richard and James take three contestants for Automotive Slimmer of the Year on a trans-continental hunt for the world's best driving road. Recently, Porsche, Lamborghini and Aston Martin have all been putting their cars on crash diets. The slimmed-down results of their efforts come in the form of the 911 GT3 RS, Gallardo Superleggera and the V8 Vantage N24, and very nice they all are too.

However, the now hopelessly congested roads of Southern England are no place to enjoy cars such as these, so with that in mind, Jeremy, Richard and James headed over the channel to France and beyond in an effort to find the best stretch of tarmac continental Europe has to offer.

Bugatti Veyron Vs Eurofighter

On a drivin'-too-fast Top Gear, Richard lost his Bugatti cherry as he took on the most advanced fighter jet on the planet. When they last raced a plane against the Bugatti Veyron, it was a creaky little Cessna piloted by James May. The plane lost - badly.

This time they up the stakes considerably by borrowing a £65m Eurofighter Typhoon from the RAF. And because they thought James might not be up to the task, they borrowed one of their steely-eyed pilots too.

Motorhome Racing

On crash-bang-wallop-what-a-Top Gear, they brought their own special brand of wanton destruction to a small corner of Essex. The only purpose motorhomes seem to have at F1 races is to give Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen somewhere convenient to fondle supermodels. The Top Gear guys think this is a massive waste of a vehicle.

So Richard and James got together some ageing camper vans and a small troop of touring car drivers for Top Gear's inaugural Motorhome Grand Prix. The resulting race was actually more a war of attrition. So watch to see who wins when the dust and debris finally settled.

Fiat 500 vs BMX

James travelled to Hungary for a race between the new Fiat 500 and some urchins on undersized bicycles. The Fiat 500 used to be utilitarian motorised transportation for the masses. It's now been reborn as a chic urban runabout for fashionably sexy young people. So if anyone was going to see past its cutesy charms to the car beneath it had to be someone who's none of these things - enter James May.

Race Across London

On cross-town traffic Top Gear tackle the automotive quagmire that is rush-hour London. In an attempt to find the quickest means to negotiate the virtually gridlocked streets of the capital, they organised a race. Starting in West London, with London City Airport the target destination, the presenters introduced their weapons of choice:

James made the case for the car. Unfortunately, the car in question was the massive new Mercedes GL500, which, at 17ft long and 6.5ft wide, is surely the king of the Chelsea tractors. Next to arrive was a Lycra-clad Hammond, who would be travelling by bicycle - a state-of-the-art, £1,700 bicycle, admittedly, but a bicycle none the less. Next, they wheeled in the Stig, armed him with an Oyster card and told him to use public transport. Finally, Jeremy arrived and announced he would be using the river - and a 225bhp racing speedboat.