A race to run out of fuel in Ukraine | Top Gear - BBC

The following morning we were warned there was a mob on the streets of Kiev and the walls Thank you for coming, thank you so much So to get a bit of peace and quiet we were told to report to the country's only racetrack For what chillingly was called the final challenge Your cars will each be given exactly 23 litres of fuel Which because they're so economical should easily be enough for them to cover the hundred or so miles to your destination a town near the border with Belarus, I only 23 litres to a hundred miles when you're challenged it's easy Your challenge is to run out before you get there This is something you'll want to do as the town in question is called Chernobyl Can we actually we can't go there can we Chernobyl was the scene of the world's worst nuclear accident When reactor number four exploded in 1986 it released a radioactive cloud So devastating that the entire area will remain uninhabitable for 20,000 years And unless we could make our cars do less than 20 miles to the gallon This is where we'd end up Fall claim minders 65 mpg all the way here. This is done 60 miles to the gallon. Yes give all to here How do you make these cars doom? Twenty miles to the gallon imagine getting it under 30 After the producers had put precisely 23 liters of fuel in each tank we did some preparations of our own right Clever this what I'm gonna, do is let about 30% of the pressure the tires Point is it increases rolling resistance, which means I use more fuel But is one heavy up What are you doing? I'm seeing all the gaps so that radioactive dust copies what you've done there Hammond is made it more aerodynamic I Have good, bye To get through this much petrol in less than a hundred miles we would have to drive like maniacs straight to Come on those other rats Second gear right to the limiter So that's wasteful James and ami decided to go for a low gear policy of maximum revs Hammond on the other hand If I keep doing this All the way there, I'll go further I'm gonna be twice the distance this is the answer mocked and Guess where that's where I'm gonna have to be careful when there's traffic coming the other way Or what I just realized? I'm driving without the lights on I'm driving with the Eco engine sister huge groovin. Don't want that on heated seats yes That's better People think this is a bit odd, but if they knew why I was doing it. They would understand I Can't believe that making these losers because it's not like the radioactivity has gone It hasn't has a half-life the material is left of 245,000 years and James Murray obviously been explained. What a half-life is in fact. He probably is doing Half-life is actually constant Piece of uranium will have a half-life and when that half-life is passed the remaining bit Still has the same half-life. I think the word was coined by Marie Curie the early 20th century was the time when radioactivity was identified discovered After 25 miles of redline motoring the news from the app still wasn't good Of mr. Hammer. It's 23 miles to the gallon I've got to get that down How do I get that down? Right the drag is now problematically worsened in wild I am feeling a bit sick now if I'm honest Well is that a police car Oh There's the horrible evidence at 1/4 distance 25.5 miles, I should have lost one of those four bars that I started with but it's not happening Come on petrol sod off Okay, we've been pulled by the police They were wondering why I was zigzagging They're talking to the camera car in front meanwhile. I'm sitting here at max rpm To try and use some fuel while I'm stationed Whilst Hammond was deafening the police I pulled over to disable my engine management system Engine warning life yes That's what we want So what the engine has to do now is assume a sort of worst-case Scenario because it doesn't know anything about itself, so it'll assume is very cold the fuel quality is bad So it must be less efficient 30 miles from Chernobyl all our cars were still running, and we were trying every trick in the book to make them conk out Because that butt drag now Right and accelerate Center eight Still don't three pause come on There it is 17.8 MPG all my fuel lights come on. Oh yeah I'm doing 21 miles to the gallon. I'm not doing well in there Everything's on mu t needle on empty run out run It's one degree of that Nipples is sticking out badly now. I believe this Richard Hammond This thing should not be moving I'm going I'm going I am going go to have run out oh Yes, yes, oh This it's gone I Don't believe you I Don't believe you sit Rep Richard Hammond is a gone go and meet your fate

Channel: BBC

Views: 7,838,280

Rating: 4.8722334 out of 5

Keywords: Top Gear (TV Program), car, series 21, Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, cars, James May, Section Tag Ent13, BBC Two, race, BBC 2, bbc top gear, Top Gear, Ukraine (Country), Chernobyl, Top gear with jeremy clarkson, old episodes of top gear, Richard Hammond and James May, top gear in chernobyl ukraine

Id: 5YtVV1VJ4f8

Length: 8min 31sec (511 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 04 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/Krakshotz]

It’s a shame this official vid misses everything after Clarkson and May actually enter the zone and go past the plant and Pripyat. An unofficial vid included the challenge in its entirety but got taken down.

That being said, the weather certainly gives it a creepy factor.

[u/zareny]

Clarkson you irradiated pillock

[u/derpyxbox1]

The full episode is on Netflix (for the uk at least) the episode is Season 21, Ep. 3

[u/TheKnittingDog]

I’ve heard a lot about Top Gear, but never seen it. This makes me want to watch! Is every episode like this? Weird challenges and a race?

[u/trumpfairy]

Full of bull***t with the geiger counters going crazy on the streets of Pripyat, but still fun to watch like all old TG. :)

[u/Dynglol]

It’s really a wonderful show, and amazingly directed. Just a thought - how much younger is Hammond compared to Clarkson and May? The radiation would not kill any of them instantly, it would probably just increase the risk of cancer. Do you guys think it was deliberate that Hammond did not enter the contaminated area?