Motor Trend has a decently interesting interview with Adam Carolla. In it, he talks a lot about the cars that he owns, what he dislikes about American cars, and some other stuff. Nothing ground breaking, but still worth a read.

Thanks to topgearfan1 for the tip.

Adam spent the first 15 minutes of his show this morning talking about the filming of the American version of Top Gear. He covers some things we already knew such as who the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car was, but he also talked about some behind the scenes stuff. Pretty interesting and worth a listen.

The reports are coming in and while most are purposely vague (most attendees felt they shouldn’t spoil it for everyone), they did say that the chemistry is there and it should turn out to be a good show.

Here’s some select quotes from the forums:

I’ll tell you one thing though, Andy Wilman, during his introduction, kind of surprised me by stating “Who from the Final Gear mafia is here?”

I shouted out when he asked if anyone from the Final Gear mafia was here. He then jokingly said “Great, the doors are closed, you can’t get out, and the police are on their way!”

I think the show’s going to be great. I think Adam, Tanner, and Eric have a great chemistry. So far Eric’s my least favorite - in person he seemed a little dumb but on the films he was very good.

And there were films, very much in the vein of the original. They were witty, funny, and full of charm.

Adam is an excellent substitute for Jeremy. Not as clever, but still funny in his own (more American) way.

Andy Wilman thinks Adam is funnier than Jeremy. =D

One interesting thing that Andy said was before the tapping he didn’t think that this show was going to be broadcastable, just because the guys needed more time to get in a grove, but after the show he was really excited and said that he would probably use the show, but just not as the series premier but as a later episode. He also said that Jeremy is fun and funny but only because her writes out everything that he is going to say first and Adam is just plan funnier because its all on the fly. During the taping about 90% of all the dialogue is improve. I also asked when would this premier but he didn’t have an answer. What he did say is that he would want some time like next January.

Besides the hosts, everything is the exact same. The setting, the stig, the challenges, the news, SIARPC, etc…

I have 3 conclusions:
1. This show will be good as long as the hosts have more time to work together and learn to be a team.
2. Adam will keep this show alive until #1 is accomplished.
3. Chunky needs to die.

StreetFire has a quick review too:

I have to admit I was skeptical they could pull it off, but after attending the taping of the Top Gear pilot I have to say I’m a believer. First, the set was perfect, walking into the Top Gear hanger created a wave of familiarity, but most importantly was the welcome atmosphere from the producers and talent.

There’s even a full review / contents of the pilot episode in that thread on our forums, but be warned it’s full of spoilers! I’d advise probably not reading it and waiting for the pilot to air — you’ll thank yourself later.

Lots of news got out today on Top Gear America.

The first bit is that pretaping will be going on tomorrow with Howie Mandel of Deal or No Deal (sounds like NBC wants their other shows promoted) and Mel B of the Spice Girls (ugh) being the Stars in a Reasonably Priced Car. This was revealed in an e-mail to ticket holders for Saturday’s taping of the pilot episode. It isn’t known if they’ll be on the same or separate episodes.

Jalopnik and their sources have found out that the reasonably priced car will be a Kia Rio.

Over on VWvortex, a guy who works on the show posted some candid pictures from them taping in Death Valley. Based on the pictures and what Adam has said on his radio show, it looks like they had a cheap car challenge with one of their tests being driving to Las Vegas (or a track nearby) from LA.

We have quite a few forum members who got tickets to Saturday’s filming of Top Gear America. As a result, it was decided it’d be cool to meet up afterwards and go out to dinner or whatever.

Even if you didn’t get tickets to the filming, you are still welcome to go. So, if you’re in the LA area and are free this Saturday night, please check out and post in this thread on our forums. Details of the meet will be figured out there.

There was quite a bit of Top Gear discussion on Adam’s radio show this morning including Tanner Foust being a guest. Here’s a breakdown along with links to the podcasts for easy listening:

• How Say You? — Adam opens by talking about Tanner, how crazy us Top Gear fans are, how many fans don’t think he’ll do well hosting the show, and more. A caller also asks if there would be any aviation related material on Top Gear America like there kinda is on the UK version (races, etc.). Adam responds that yes there will be (hints at a race, possibly Los Angeles to Las Vegas) and talking about how awesome air racing is.
• Tanner Foust In Studio — Tanner talks about how he got his start and what his work as a stunt driver is like. There’s also talk of how they’re all doing on Top Gear.
• Christopher Titus In Studio Part 1 — Chris tells Adam how envious he is of Adam for being able to host Top Gear America and how hard he tried to get the job. There’s also talk of how crazy women race car drivers are as well as Chris and Adam’s times when they have gone driving on a track.
• Christopher Titus In Studio Part 2 — Some more Top Gear talk, but mostly this segment is talk about Chris’ bad divorce.
• Teresa Does The News — Nothing Top Gear related, it’s just the final Christopher Titus segment if you were interested in hearing the rest of him being in studio.

According to the website of On Camera Audiences, the company that handles the live audiences for many of NBC’s shows (source), Top Gear America will be the filming studio bits for the pilot on July 26th in Los Angeles. If you want to try and get tickets, make sure to head to their site to apply!

Thanks to nouseferaname90 for the tip!

How fast will Stig get the Nissan GT-R around the Top Gear Test Track? Time to see for yourself.

Eric Stromer was on Adam Carolla’s radio show this morning. Before he left, Adam read off the guest usual promotional material when he mentioned Top Gear America will premiere “this fall”. I don’t know if this was some thing that a publicist made up or if it actually will premiere then though.

You can listen to him saying it 8 minutes into this podcast (previous segment here if interested).

Popular Mechanics sat down with Adam for the first interview since Top Gear America was officially announced and asked him a bunch of interesting questions about the show.

The full interview can be found on their website (and it’s really worth a read), but here’s the CliffsNotes copy/pasted from the article:

• The NBC adaptation will follow the BBC format: guest segment, stunt, test drive and, yes, the Stig (casting for that crucial role is still pending).
• The premiere episode will feature a race from Las Vegas to San Francisco, ending in a “mammoth stunt.” (NBC isn’t insisting on copycat stunts or episodes, a la Season One of The Office.)
• Carolla is pushing for an on-air drive of the just-unveiled BMW M1 Homage concept as soon as it’s available, as well as the Aston Martin DBS (though that would be a reprisal of a Clarkson drive).
• Clarkson and Carolla recently met face-to-face, but Carolla promises to focus more on improv than the heavily-prepared Clarkson.
• Officials from Top Gear in England, who are producing the show, along with “everyone involved,” have assured Carolla that he will be able to speak his mind on any car “without fear of reprisal” from advertisers, which he fully plans to do.

Again, make sure to check out the full interview. It’s not too long of a read and is pretty interesting.

Thanks Tyler for the tip!