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The show regularly features various races. There have been a number of epic races where Jeremy or one of the other presenters drives a car against other forms of transport, typically involving Richard and James taking the same journey by combinations of plane, train or ferry. One epic race had The white Stig taking part using public transport in a race across London which featured James in a car, Richard on a bike and Jeremy in a powerboat.

Car vs Public Transport[]

During these races Jeremy would often drive a Car on a long Road Trip while Richard and James used a form of Public Transport. More often, the car would be victorious with only a few occasions of public transport claiming victory. This type of race was used in one episode for The Grand Tour:

Top Gear (Clarkson-Era)[]

Episode Race Car (Jeremy) Public Transport (Richard and James) Victor
Series 4, Episode 1 Guildford to Monte Carlo Aston Martin DB9 Eurostar & TGV Trains Car
Series 5, Episode 8 Guildford to Verbier Ferrari 612 Scaglietti British Airways Airbus A320 & Alpine Train Car
Series 6, Episode 6 Heathrow to Oslo Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Ferry & Speedboat Car
Series 7, Episode 5 Italy to London Bugatti Veyron Cessna 182 Biplane Car
Series 11, Episode 4 Hakui Ishikawa to Mount Nokogiri Nissan GT-R Bullet Train Car
Series 19, Episode 3 London to Milan Shelby Mustang GT500 Eurostar & TGV Trains Public Transport (Richard)

The Grand Tour[]

Episode Title Race Location Car (Clarkson) Public Transport (Hammond & May) Winner
The Falls Guys New York to Niagara Falls (United States) Ford GT JetBlue Airplane Ford GT

City Races[]

These races took place across a city involving James using a car, Richard using a Bike, The Stig using Public Transport and Jeremy using Water Travel. This race was only used twice throughout the serious with different results each time.

Episode City Car (James) Water Travel (Jeremy) Bike (Richard) Public Transport Stig)
Series 10, Episode 5 London Mercedes-Benz GL500 (Last) Cougar Speedboat (2nd) Cirrus Limited (1st) Underground (3rd)
Series 22, Episode 1 St Petersburg Renault Twizy (1st) Neptune 11 Hovercraft (2nd) Pinarello & Other Bike (3rd) Russian Metro (Last)

Other One-Off Races[]

These races never had a following trend but were used once on a special occasion:

Episode Race Outcome
Series 9, Episode 7 (Polar Special) Jeremy and James in a Toyota Hilux versus Richard and dog sled champion Matty McNair in a dog sled. Victory for Jeremy and James in the Hilux.
Series 12, Episode 4 Fuel Economy Race car versus car versus car from Basel in Switzerland to Blackpool. Jeremy took a Jaguar XJ Richard took a Volkswagen Polo and James took a Subaru Legacy. Richard won Jeremy came second and James lost.
Series 12, Episode 5 Richard in a Ferrari Daytona versus James XSR 48 powerboat from Portofino to Saint-Tropez. James won (probably because Richard got stopped by the police to check for documents).
Series 13, Episode 1 (See more: Race to the North) Kings Cross to Edinburgh. Jeremy in the (then recently built) A1 steam Locomotive Tornado No.60163 , Richard on a Vincent Black Shadow (Motorbike) and James in the Jaguar XK120 Victory for James, Jeremy second, and Richard last.
Series 20 Episode 1 (See more: New Zealand Race) Jeremy in a Toyota Corolla versus James in a AC45 sailing boat from Fletcher bay in the Coromandel to spirits bay. James won in the sailing boat.

Top Gear (2016+)[]

In Series 24, Episode 4, Harris in a Bugatti Chiron races against LeBlanc in a selection of millionaire items. LeBlanc ends up winning.

Segments: Power lapsStar in a Reasonably-Priced CarChallenges
The Cool WallRacesThe NewsCar of the Year
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