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!

I had a little bit of trouble making the torrent as it’s been 6 months since I’ve had to do it, but all should be well now. Enjoy your Top Gear episode.

Bored and have nothing else to do? Join us on our IRC channel while we tick the minutes away until Top Gear returns for it’s 11th season!

Last week, before Eric Stromer was announced as the third host, a caller called into Adam’s show wanting an update on Top Gear. Discussion ensued about the third host having been picked, that they’d be reviewing supercars and such much like the British version, and so forth. However the surprising thing, to me at least, was Adam mentioning that NBC was actually going to be allowing them to praise or more importantly criticize cars as they saw fit. Many people, including me, were worried that since NBC was advertiser supported, there would be resistance to criticizing cars that could be potential advertisers. Luckily it seems that NBC is smart enough to realize that the only way Top Gear America can succeed is if the hosts are allowed to say their true feelings and aren’t on a leash. This is very, very good news.

If you’re interested in listening to the actual call, you can download it (14:45 in), although there’s not much that happened that I didn’t cover above.

Eric Stromer, the third host of Top Gear America, was on Adam Carolla’s radio show this morning and they talked in length about Top Gear. If you’d like to listen to the segment (you really should, it’s quite funny), you can download it here.

Minor spoilers ahead, but stop here if you don’t want to know anything at all about the new season.

It seems quite a few people were confused by this Sunday’s episode description and thought that James May was being replaced by a new presenter. This is not the case.

James May will merely be introducing the new character (note that I said “character” and not “presenter”). The “steps aside” phrase just means he’s getting out of the way or whatever, not stepping down.

So calm down — Top Gear is Jeremy, Richard, James and I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon.

Eric Stromer, a frequent guest on Adam Carolla’s radio show, host of the HGTV show “Over Your Head,” and overall construction guru will be the third host of the American version of Top Gear. Production of the show will start later this week.

Story via BBC press release, photo via Jalopnik.

Read the full press release »

If you’re interested in what will be in June 22nd’s Top Gear episode, details are now available. I won’t mention any of it here for those wishing to avoid spoilers.

This funny commercial is currently airing in the UK advertising the new season of Top Gear:

YouTube version replaced with improved quality version stolen from idents.tv.

UPDATE: Here’s a second one, although it’s not nearly as funny:

Yep, another meet. This one is planned for noon on Saturday, August 30th at Lime Rock Park for the Rolex Vintage Festival. It’ll be a great day of watching vintage racing, checking out the classic cars, and relaxing in the infield. As always, full details can be found on our forums.