Top Gear Wiki
Register
Advertisement

The sixteenth series of the BBC motoring show Top Gear, starring presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, premiered on the 21st of December, 2010, and concluded on the 27th of February, 2011, and featured six regular episodes preceded by two specials which aired during the Christmas period.

Among other things, this series marked the belated final appearance of The Cool Wall, which had last appeared in the Series 13 finale, with five final cars added to the wall in the sixth and final episode.

Bucking the trend set by the previous two series, viewing figures rose to their highest since Series 12, with over 7.19 million viewers watching each episode on average. Every episode apart from the final two received a minimum of 7.13 million viewers, and the Middle East Special was critically acclaimed with an 8.8/10 rating on IMDb.

Unfortunately, Series 16 would mark the final time a series would break 7 million viewers per week, although individual episodes continued to do so until the end of the trio in 2015. It would be succeeded by Series 17, which commenced in June 2011.

Episodes[]

Episode Film(s) Track Test SIARPC
East Coast Road Trip (126) East Coast Road Trip None Danny Boyle
Middle East Special (127) Middle East Special None None
1 (128) Jeremy subjects the new Skoda Yeti to one of his famously thorough road tests, Richard races a Porsche against a Beetle propelled by gravity. Ariel Atom V8 (James) John Bishop
2 (129) The presenters from Top Gear take on the presenting team from Top Gear Australia in a series of challenges which they dub the The Ashes. Ferrari 599 GTO (Jeremy) Boris Becker
3 (130) The presenters head to Albania in an attempt to find the perfect Luxury Car for an Albanian mafia leader. Subaru Cosworth Impreza STI vs. Ford Focus RS500 & Volvo C30 PCP (Jeremy) Jonathan Ross
4 (131) The boys each buy a second hand four seater convertible and then meet up the test track for a series of challenges to see who got the best deal. Pagani Zonda R (Jeremy) Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
5 (132) The presenters attempt to end the misery caused by snowfall in Britain by converting a combine harvester into a snowplough. They then travel to Norway to test their machine. BMW M3 Competition Pack vs. Audi RS5 (Jeremy) Amber Heard
6 (133) James heads to America to drive NASA's latest moon buggy while Jeremy races the new Jaguar XJ against the most powerful force in the universe: God. Porsche 959 vs. Ferrari F40 (Richard) John Prescott

Controversy[]

In one of the show's more famous gaffes, during the second episode of the series, the trio came under fire for comments they made about Mexicans during a segment about the Mastretta MXT. The Mexican Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who was a personal target of some of the joke, wrote a formal complaint to the BBC shortly thereafter. The controversy was referred to in future episodes, especially during the nineteenth series when Hammond reviewed the MXT in Mexico itself, after losing a race to the Mexico-USA border.

Trivia[]

  • This was the last series to use the Cool Wall, a staple feature of Top Gear since Series 1.
  • This series was also the first to utilise a three part supercar road trip. Something that would occur for the following six series.

Trailer[]

Top_Gear_-_Series_16_Trailer_(2011)

Top Gear - Series 16 Trailer (2011)

Navigation[]

Series (2002 format)
2016+ Series 23 | Series 24 | Series 25 | Series 26 | Series 27
2002 - 2015 Series 1 | Series 2 | Series 3 | Series 4 | Series 5 | Series 6 | Series 7 | Series 8 | Series 9 | Series 10 | Series 11
Series 12 | Series 13 | Series 14 | Series 15 | Series 16 | Series 17 | Series 18 | Series 19 | Series 20 | Series 21 | Series 22
Advertisement