It's funny - years ago, way before there was a U.S. version of Top Gear, a few friends and I were able to be in the audience for the filming of a pilot for the first shot at an American Top Gear. It was shot in Downey in a huge warehouse, which was set up exactly like the British set - center stage with hundreds of people standing around them.
The original hosts were Adam Carolla, Tanner Faust, and somebody from the Home and Garden channel - the idea was that Carolla was the American Clarkson, Faust was the American Hammond, and the third guy, tall and blonde, was the American May.
The guest star was David Hasselhoff. All of the pre-filmed sequences, like the challenges, test drives, etc, were shown on big screens all over the warehouse, and we were instructed to react loudly. The funniest part was that Andy Wilman, the British Top Gear producer, was on the set to oversee the filming. He stopped the cameras about every five minutes, and yelled at the actors... "You need to BANTER with each other... that's what makes the British show so special... the presenters BANTER with each other!" So, Carolla started calling the other two guys idiots... "CUT! No no no! The banter has to be more natural! You can't force it!" The whole thing kind of fell apart from there.
We didn't get out of there until midnight, and told each other "That is never gonna air on tv." We were right.
But, looking at Top Gear, it is the main reason I looked at a Fiesta ST in the first place. Richard Hammond kept going on about how great the car was, so, when it came to America, I test drove one and fell in love with it. A year later, when I needed a new car, I bought one. Thank you, Richard Hammond.
