Top Gear series 12

Clarkson, Hammond and May see how easy it is to be an HGV driver, by each buying a second-hand lorry cab within a budget of £5,000 – May buys a Scania 94D, Clarkson buys a Renault Magnum and Hammond gets an ERF EC11. Heading for the "Top Gear's Secret Alpine Test Location" (in Bedfordshire), the trio undertake a series of challenges, including power-sliding their lorries, tackling the Alpine course while transporting a trailer with a valuable piece of (unsecured) cargo, seeing how fast their lorry is and attempting a hill start without breaking something precious to them. For their final challenge, they return to the test track, where they find how quickly they can brake after ploughing into an "obstacle" at high speed. Elsewhere, Clarkson is testing out the Porsche 997 GT2 and Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 on the track, and chat show legend Michael Parkinson is in "t'reasonably priced car".

The team head out on a road trip from San Francisco to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, to test drive the new generation of American muscle cars – Hammond drives the new Dodge Challenger, Clarkson is in the new Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1, and May wishes he wasn't with the Cadillac CTS-V. Thanks to the U.S. State department, the trio only have visas that allow them to be factual rather than entertaining, and so must be careful not to show anything too funny or exciting, as Hammond and Clarkson race between the lights at Reno and head onto some twisty back roads to see if they can get May to like his car. Once at the Salt Flats, the trio attempt to see if they achieve a respective high speed for the cars on a one mile straight drive with an unfavourable driving surface. Elsewhere, Clarkson tests out how good a small family car the Abarth 500 Esseesse is, and the original winner of Pop Idol, Will Young, talks about his own Top Gear race as he does a lap in the Lacetti.

Note: Hammond was forced to buy a Dodge Challenger for the American Muscle Car Challenge after Dodge/Chrysler refused to lend one to Top Gear for filming due to unhappiness over previous criticism of their cars during prior episodes of programme.

The boys attempt to see if they can modify a Renault Avantime with the remainder of a £15,000 budget provided for them, so that it can lap the test track as fast as a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, and quickly discover that it's not as easy a task as it seems. Meanwhile, Hammond heads to Toyota City in Japan to test out a "drivable" chair, the i-REAL, May prepares for his first supercar review by learning "The Finnish Way of Car Control" from Mika Häkkinen and entering a Jokamiesluokka (a rallycross race), Clarkson sees if he can make a food blender out of a V8 engine by making a 'manly' drink, and Mark Wahlberg tries to adjust to a manual gearbox and the right-handed seating position of the reasonably priced car.

The trio are on a fuel economy race to see who can make it from Basel in Switzerland to Blackpool in northwest England, on a single tank of fuel – May is sensible and selects a Subaru Legacy Diesel, Clarkson thinks its pointless and arrives in a Jaguar XJ Diesel, and Hammond turns up in a Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion to the scorn of his compatriots, with all three allowed to choose their own routes to the finish line. While Clarkson is interested in just running out near his home, Hammond and May show their competitive sides in this clever race, but once back in Britain, all three soon begin praying they can achieve what they set out to do, with a surprise in store for one of them. Meanwhile, May tackles his first ever power test by seeing how good the Pagani Zonda F Roadster is, the Stig finally gets to step into the Bugatti Veyron and do a power lap around the track to see how fast it is, and Harry Enfield returns to redeem his honour by hoping he did better this time in the Lacetti.

The Lexus IS-F is in Clarkson's hands as he sees if it can unseat the king of high-powered saloons, the four door BMW M3, while Hammond sees if motorsport and a handful of touring car legends can find the best type of bus for London's street at Lydden Hill Race Circuit – contenders include a double decker, a single decker, two bendy buses, and a compact hopper bus. Meanwhile, there's a race on the Riviera, as Hammond races a Ferrari Daytona from Portofino to Saint-Tropez against May in a £1.25 million power boat, and Kevin McCloud makes an appearance to set a time in the Lacetti.

Clarkson and May can't decide if imported Chinese-made cars will be any good, which got them thinking about whether the Communists ever historically built a good car, and are soon taking a look at a range of them, including the Lada Riva, Moskvitch 408, the East German Wartburg. Elsewhere, Clarkson decides to a proper road test like in the old days in response to a complaint, and does a "serious" review of the Ford Fiesta, while Hammond is seeing if the new, German built Veritas RS III is a better track-day car than the Caterham 7 Superlight R500, and Mayor of London (at the time of broadcast), Boris Johnson, tries to drive fast in the reasonably priced car on a wet track.

Clarkson puts the first electric supercar, the battery powered Tesla Roadster (2008), through its paces on the track, while May heads to California to test drive what could be the future of motoring – the hydrogen powered Honda FCX Clarity. Elsewhere, Hammond takes a look back at 50 years of Touring Cars racing history, Top Gear Stunt Man returns to beat the record set by Fifth Gear for the furthest distance by a car off a ramp while towing a caravan, Clarkson sees if the elderly could enjoy a motorised rocking chair powered by a V8 engine, and singer, Tom Jones, is in control of the Lacetti for a lap around the track.

The trio attempt to see if they can get across Vietnam within eight days, from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), to Hạ Long city, near Hanoi (Hà Nội), with a trio of motorcycles bought for around US$1,000. Hammond buys a Belarusian-built 125 cc two-stroke Minsk, May gets a four-stroke Honda Super Cub and an unenthusiastic Clarkson purchases a two-stroke green 1967 Piaggio Vespa, with all three learning their back-up is a 1973 Honda Chaly mini-bike as a back-up, complete with a Stars and Stripes and American music. On their journey, the trio deal with the weather and road conditions, sample the local cuisine and scenery, and engage in a motorcycle exam, before learning they must convert their bikes to cross the sea, in order to reach the finish line – a floating bar within the maze of limestone islets in Hạ Long Bay.

Notes: In reference to film-maker Francis Ford Coppola, the ending credits replaced the first names of the crew with the words "Francis Ford" (e.g. "Francis Ford Clarkson", "Francis Ford Hammond", etc.). In addition, certain versions of the special including the versions found on iTunes and Amazon) replaced "Born in the U.S.A." with "The Star-Spangled Banner", which also removed certain elements whose context would not be understandable to viewers. "Born in the USA" was included when the special uploaded to BBC iPlayer in 2021.