Top Gear Live 2012

Last month my man and I celebrated 2 wonderful years together. Me, being the awesome girlfriend I am, presented him with two tickets to see Top Gear Live!

If you are not sure what Top Gear Live is, read this blog post I wrote about it long ago (when I received the tickets for the show).

 So the show is broken up into 3 parts. The first part wasn't a really show, but an exhibition. Your ticket provides you all day access (if you want) to the exhibition. The exhibition is more or less a chance for companies to get a lot of attention for their products, by using them on flashy, expensive cars, and hopefully make a lot of money.

 Don't get me wrong, the cars were awesome. If someone could find a way to steal the vehicles from the show, they would be richer than their wildest dreams (and also pursued by all of Scotland Yard, probably).

                   

 

Along with all the cars, and companies selling window tinting, stereo systems, tires, lift-kits, and anything else you could want to make a car more of a burden for your insurance company, were random other things like.. Sausages. Not snack sized, but like, Costco sized boxes of sausages. And organic beer. And seat messagers. Needless to say, the exhibition was fun and interesting for all of 2 hours (max), and then we were over it and ready for some action.

When you buy the tickets, you are given a "show time". Our show was the first of the entire weekend, at 12:15. They started letting people into the arena around 11:30, and at 12:15, the first part of the show began.

 Now, bear in mind this is Top Gear live. Well, you can imagine our surprise when the hosts of the first part of the show were two presenters from the UK car show Fifth Gear, which happens to be a rival to Top Gear.

The first part was interesting enough. There were races between popular mid-sized cars, as well as drifters, sports-cars, and mini-nascar cars, and even some cars that had been cut in half.

 The presenters were semi-humorous, and while it was obvious the entire thing was scripted, there were some interesting and surprising unplanned bits (like when one of the presenters drover her half car into the wall). There was a lot of action packed into the hour, but we still weren't sure if the day was worth the drive and the money.

We had a 15-minute intermission, and then the real fun began.

The Tope Gear team entered the arena on a stage powered with a Corvette engine. Yes, they were driving the stage. Jeremy Clarkson proceeded to attempt doughnuts with the stage, and after about 3 circles managed to break the stage.

The Top Gear crew on their motorized stage

This show was everything I hoped it would be, and so much more! It was just like a real Top Gear show, with the news and the jokes and the fun. Between talking sketches were shows of people and cars doing amazing things- like a cyclist jumping on trucks, or pogo sticks going over cars, or women, cars, and motorbikes on fire. This part of the show was closer to the 2 hour mark, and I was captivated and on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Pogo stick flips

By far the best part of this show, though, were the games. Each host had to come up with a game , which they all played. Now, in the US, they probably would have pre-filmed the game being played, then showed the video (for insurance reasons). But Top Gear Live really was live! Jeremy Clarkson's game was Motorbike Polo, James May had Clarkson ride around in a tiny car and get shot at by Army snipers (ok, not real bullets, only sensors), and Richard Hammond played a game of Slingshot Bumper Cars!

 Since this was the first show of the weekend, we got to see many things go wrong, but it just made me enjoy the show more. There were instances of people on pogo sticks falling off, and girls flinging fire actually running out of fire.

12 of the most gorgeous cars in the world

Now, I have only included a few pictures from this portion, because the pictures just don't do it justice. I am in the process of getting all the videos uploaded, which are definitely worth the wait.

All in all, the main part of the show, which was the actual Top Gear team, was phenomenal. The rest of it was interesting, but could not compare to the main part in any way. There were tons of families there, which was interesting because the show was most definitely not PG!

This show is a great option if you are interested in being a part of the Top Gear show. You don't have the chance of being on international TV, like if you were to go to a taping of the real show, but it is a more enjoyable experience, from what I have heard. My man has been on the real show, and he said you can expect to stand in a cold warehouse for several hours- without a jacket, because they want to make it look like it is warm. Also, they pick the pretty girls and first arrivals to be in the front row, so the chances of being seen on tv are pretty slim. I'm not sure it would be worth a trip all the way from America to see TGL, but if you are in England next year while they are doing it, then I say go!