top gear catamaran race

• Top Gear (Clarkson-era)

New Zealand Race

The Oracle yacht

The New Zealand Race was an epic race on the BBC television series Top Gear  between an Oracle racing boat and a Toyota Corolla which took place along the North Island of New Zealand. Jeremy Clarkson was driving the "rented" Corolla" along a specified land route while James May was  on-board the Oracle yacht, both racing to the second northernmost point of the country. The New Zealand Race aired as part of the  first episode  of Top Gear's  twentieth season  and was filmed in March of 2013. 

Race Overview - Part I [ ]

Both presenters would begin at a beach at the very top of the Coromandel Peninsula racing, through different routes, to the finish line at the second most northernly point in New Zealand near Cape Reinga. James' route was 220 miles while Jeremy's was 410, giving James confidence in a win. Jeremy's car was a Toyota Corolla, which he claimed was "the fastest car in the world" because it was a rental and he could take the car "to the maximum". James' yacht was an AC45, the fastest production sailing boat in the world, and manned by the Oracle Team USA crew that had won the America's Cup in 2010 with one more addition - four-time Olympic sailing gold medalist Sir Ben Ainslie, whom James insists on addressing as "Sir Ben Ainslie, Sir." (The crew, including Ainslie, later retained the America's Cup after an unprecedented comeback against Emirates Team New Zealand in San Francisco.) 

At precisely eleven minutes past seven the race began, with Jeremy claiming he is on a mission from God. He says that this race is representative of fossil fuels versus wind power, with Jeremy representing oil and 'internal combustion' and James' yacht representing wind power for obvious reasons. Jeremy gets off to an early start because a sail on James' yacht is loose. Jeremy approaches a narrow bridge at 100km/h and sees a black SUV ahead of him; in a desperate attempt to get out of his way Jeremy crashes into the side railing on the bridge and is forced to pull over to fill in a 'damage report' card. Elsewhere, James' yacht is approaching its top speed but this new turn of speed forces water into the faces of the crew. Jeremy once again sets off assuming that he is in the lead; he pulls over to call James before discovering via a tracking device that he is well behind. With almost the entire journey ahead of him Jeremy sees that he is losing very badly and begins apologising for letting those protesting against 'the government installing wind mills' down. 

Race Overview - Part II [ ]

The race resumes with Jeremy Clarkson entering the 'often-busy' city of Auckland, New Zealand's largest and most populous city; luckily for Jeremy the traffic in the city is relatively low and he is only hampered down by a slow Toyota in front of him. James attempts to call Jeremy via his phone but it is forced out of his hands by the rough ocean. The conditions of the sea start to slow the boat down, at one point tipping it on its side, nearly rolling it over.  

Back in the Toyota, Jeremy realizes he is catching James but wonders if he is catching him fast enough. He decides to take a short cut over unsealed tarmac and gravel; eventually even this ends and he is left off-roading in a paddock. The conditions on the boat are still unbearable for James who tells the captain that he needs to "have a slash". Jeremy finds a narrow track that leads him back to the main road; before he rejoins the road he encounters a tractor coming down the track in the opposite direction and he crashes into a stone wall to try and get away from it.  

Back on the road, Jeremy's Corolla is suffering from the damage. He pulls into an AVIS rental office and tells the receptionist that a "maniacal tractor driver who was doing 70km/h". The hire car company gives Jeremy another car, another Toyota Corolla except this one is red whereas the original was blue. The race is nearing its final stages; in an effort to close the gap Jeremy detours to Ninety Mile Beach, a fifty mile long straight piece of coastal beach. With James exhausted and "sick" of the ocean the yacht approaches the northernmost point of New Zealand, after which the sailing will be smooth. Jeremy leaves the beach and rejoins the road with the yacht with now only seven miles to the finish.  

Because of the depth of the water at the shoreline the crew members on the yacht tell James he will have to swim the last few metres to the finish line. With Jeremy rapidly approaching the finishing point the yacht reaches its final stop and James is forced to jump out. James is now swimming towards the finish line while Jeremy is once again off-roading down to the beach and the finishing point. James reaches a shallow part of the beach and begins to walk towards the stick that marks the finish of the race with Jeremy in the background still struggling to make his way down to the beach itself. Jeremy's Corolla gets stuck in a sand-bog and James reaches the marker, winning the race for himself and the yachting team while Jeremy is stuck. Jeremy still claims a win for fossil fuels and petrol because of the sunburned state of James after the race saying, "look what wind power does to your face". 

Controversy [ ]

The crew came under fire from local Maori tribe leaders for their plans to film on Ninety Mile Beach, which is a holy site for many the indigenous islanders. Initially, the production team had planned to film a high-speed run in the Pumpkin Seed vehicle that Burt Munro used to set a world speed record in the sixties, the subject of the New Zealand film The World's Fastest Indian . These plans were scrapped, however, but the crew did film part of the Corolla-Oracle race on Ninety Mile Beach in its place.

• 2 Hammond's Rimac Crash (TGT)
• 3 Botswana Special

New Zealand Yacht Race Summary

The motoring magazine returns with the action kicking off in New Zealand, as Jeremy Clarkson and James May race a car against a boat in a nail-biting battle up the beautiful coastline to the very tip of the North Island. The boat is a state-of-the-art America's Cup yacht, while the car is of a type many are familiar with yet have never before seen on Top Gear. Meanwhile, back in the UK, Richard Hammond attempts to find a hot hatch hero from a trio of newcomers, the Renaultsport Clio 200, Peugeot 208 GTI and Ford Fiesta ST, and a cavalcade of top stars assemble at the track to welcome a brand new Reasonably Priced Car.

Top Gear Season 20 Episodes...

Top Gear Show Summary

BBC's hit motoring show is more than just a show to review new cars. Top Gear is essential viewing. Not just for petrol heads, it also has a huge following amongst people with little or no interest in cars - both male and female. This is due to the show's irreverent approach to motoring, the humour and the priceless chemistry between the show's presenters - Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, with special appearances from the tame racing driver, The Stig. Don't be fooled, this is not another boring technical car programme, there is carnage, mayhem and fun, with less stuffy mundane car reviews. The boys have races and do crazy things with cars - anything from driving them into swimming pools to setting them on fire!

Top Gear - New Zealand Yacht Race Synopsis and Schedule

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

The Ocean Race – Everything you need to know

The crewed around the world race with stopovers has always been one of yachting’s premier ocean races and, after several delays this latest edition is set to start on 15 January 2023.

The race organisers are also running a new event designed to showcase top-flight, fully-crewed, competitive offshore racing based around northern Europe: the Ocean Race Europe.

The Ocean Race is scheduled to run every four years, with the Ocean Race Europe also planned to take place every four years, essentially allowing competition between the teams to take place every two years in one form or another.

It’s unusual for IMOCA 60s to race with more than two crew onboard.

What boats compete in The Ocean Race?

For the first time ever IMOCA 60s will be taking part in a fully crewed round the world race this year, with several teams set to take part.

The IMOCA 60 class has long been at the forefront of ocean racing and is used for the solo non-stop round the world epic, the Vendée Globe as well as a number of other premiere short handed ocean events such as the Route du Rhum and Transat Jaques Vabre .

However, the IMOCA 60s have always been designed and built with single and double handed racing in mind, so teams competing will have had to make significant changes to their semi-foiling 60 footers to make them capable of sailing with a full crew.

The IMOCAs are sailed by a complement of five crew, including an onboard reporter (OBR) that takes no part in the sailing. Each IMOCA 60 team has to include at least one female sailor.

VO65s no longer go for a third lap of the planet. Photo: Robin Christol

What is The Ocean Race Sprint Cup?

Initially the intention was for two fleets to take part in The Ocean Race proper with the second fleet consisting on the one design VO65 boats used in the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

However, plans have since changed and while the IMOCA 60s will complete a full lap of the planet, including seven legs to finish in Genoa, Italy, the VO65s will sail just the first and last two legs in what the organisers have called The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup .

A new trophy will be awarded to the VO65 team which accumulates the best score across three legs of the race; Alicante, Spain, to Cape Verde; Aarhus, Denmark, to The Hague, the Netherlands; and The Hague to the overall finish in Genoa, Italy.

What is The Ocean Race course?

The course for The Ocean Race has a new first stopover mid-Atlantic at the Cape Verdes, before an extra long Southern Ocean leg of 12,750 miles from Cape Town, South Africa, to Itajai, Brazil. This new stage passes south of all three Great Capes and is expected to take 34 days.

After this mammoth Southern Ocean leg, the fleet then moves onto a series of much shorter legs. From Brazil they head to Newport, USA. They then cross the Atlantic to Aarhus, DEN. After that a very short hop from Aarhus to The Hague, NED fore a race from The Hague back to Genova, ITA.

The Ocean Race: Was the latest edition a success?

• September 4, 2023

In the sweltering heat of midsummer in the Ligurian Sea, temperatures and tensions were steadily rising on board 11th Hour Racing. Simon ‘Si Fi’ Fisher restlessly tidied lines in the…

11th Hour Racing declared winners of The Ocean Race after redress

• June 29, 2023

Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour Racing Team has won The Ocean Race after a jury awarded them redress of 4 points in the final leg of the round the world race,…

The Ocean Race overall win down to jury decision after huge collision

• June 19, 2023

The overall winner of The Ocean Race is likely to be decided in the protest room after a huge collision between 11th Hour Racing and Guyot-environnement – Team Europe shortly after…

Pro sailors on their Southern Ocean experience

• June 1, 2023

“I’m so happy not to be alone,” an emotional Boris Herrmann said standing at the base of his 29m/95ft mast, a foot-long gash ripped into the carbon above his head…

640.9 miles in 24hrs: Holcim-PRB smashes monohull record

• May 26, 2023

Kevin Escoffier’s IMOCA Holcim-PRB, competing in the The Ocean Race, has annihilated the 24-hour monohull sailing record by covering an incredible 640.9 miles on the fifth leg from Newport to Aarhus. This…

GUYOT environnement – Team Europe dismasted in The Ocean Race

• May 9, 2023

Early this morning, Tuesday 9 May 2023, organisers of The Ocean Race have reported that GUYOT environnement – Team Europe has dismasted as the fleet race towards the finish of…

Crew changes aplenty as teams prepare for The Ocean Race leg 4

• April 21, 2023

Crew rotation is proving to be a big feature in this edition of The Ocean Race and once again the crews are being mixed up on all boats as the…

Team Malizia wins longest ever Ocean Race leg

• April 2, 2023

Boris Herrmann‘s Team Malizia has won Leg 3 of The Ocean Race from Cape Town to Itajai, the longest ever ocean stage in the crewed around the world race. Herrmann,…

The Ocean Race: is racing under autopilot ‘cheating’?

• March 13, 2023

That’s not racing. It’s cheating. If you’re going to use the autopilot to sail around the world you might as well simply control the boat by remote control from home.”…

Fastest IMOCA record: 595 miles in 24 hours for The Ocean Race leaders

• March 12, 2023

Kevin Escoffier’s Holcim-PRB, the dominant leader of The Ocean Race, has set a new 24-hour IMOCA record by covering a breath-taking 595.26 nautical miles (1102 kms) over Saturday 11-Sunday 12…

‘Demolition Derby’ begins in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race

• March 2, 2023

Leg 3 of The Ocean Race was always expected to be an punishing test for the five IMOCAs and their crews, but it’s been a particularly tough start for the teams…

Wild start to leg 3 of The Ocean Race

• February 27, 2023

It was an extraordinary ‘stop-go’ type of start to Leg 3 of The Ocean Race in Table Bay as the five-boat IMOCA 60 fleet set out on their 12,750 nautical…

How to follow The Ocean Race Leg 3 (and why you should)

• February 24, 2023

This weekend five crewed IMOCA 60s will take to the startline for the third leg of The Ocean Race, on a month-long epic which is likely to be the toughest…

Holcim – PRB win nail biting leg 2 in The Ocean Race

• February 13, 2023

Skipper Kevin Escoffier and his Team Holcim – PRB have won Leg 2 of The Ocean Race from Cabo Verde to Cape Town after a tense battle through the final…

The Ocean Race: 11th Hour Racing into the lead

• February 6, 2023

After an extended doldrums crossing and a larger than usual St Helena high forcing the fleet way to the west of the Atlantic The Ocean Race fleet are finally back…

All about the doldrums or Inter Tropical Convergence Zone

• January 31, 2023

Doldrums’: a state of stagnation or depression, or an equatorial region of the Atlantic Ocean with calms, sudden storms, and light unpredictable winds. Or so my dictionary puts it. For…

The Ocean Race: Leg underway in very light winds

• January 26, 2023

The second leg of The Ocean Race from Cabo Verde to Cape Town started on Wednesday 25 January, with the 5 fully-crewed IMOCA 60s fighting it out in very light…

The Ocean Race: All set for leg two

• January 25, 2023

With the first leg of the much-delayed The Ocean Race now concluded, teams are readying themselves to set off on the second leg of of the race, which starts today,…

The Ocean Race: Holcim-PRB win Leg One

• January 23, 2023

French skipper Kevin Escoffier led his Swiss-flagged Team Holcim-PRB to victory in leg one of The Ocean Race in the early hours of the morning on Saturday 21 January 2023.…

Baptism of fire for The Ocean Race crews as fleet starts from Alicante

• January 15, 2023

The Ocean Race start, the latest iteration of the crewed multi-stage around the world race, set off today from Alicante, Spain. But the 11 crews – five IMOCA teams, six…

• Cast & crew

AC45 Racing Yacht Vs Toyota Auris - Introduction Of The New Reasonably Priced Car: Vauxhall Astra

• Episode aired Jul 8, 2013

Jeremy Clarkson and James May race a car against a high-performance yacht in a battle up the coastline of New Zealand. Meanwhile, Richard Hammond attempts to find a hero from a trio of newco... Read all Jeremy Clarkson and James May race a car against a high-performance yacht in a battle up the coastline of New Zealand. Meanwhile, Richard Hammond attempts to find a hero from a trio of newcomers, the Renaultsport Clio 200, Peugeot 208 GTI and Ford Fiesta ST, and top stars includi... Read all Jeremy Clarkson and James May race a car against a high-performance yacht in a battle up the coastline of New Zealand. Meanwhile, Richard Hammond attempts to find a hero from a trio of newcomers, the Renaultsport Clio 200, Peugeot 208 GTI and Ford Fiesta ST, and top stars including Warwick Davis, Charles Dance and Joss Stone assemble at the track to welcome a brand ne... Read all

• Phil Churchward
• Konrad Begg
• Brian Klein
• Jeremy Clarkson
• Richard Hammond

Top cast 13

• Self - Presenter

• Self - Special Guest

• Konrad Begg (film)
• Brian Klein (studio)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia Jeremy drives his car on New Zealand's Ninety Mile Beach. The beach is actually 88 kilometres (55 miles) long.
• Goofs When racing the boat in his second, red car Jeremy Clarkson says: "Back on gravel, wasn't expecting that." In the background you can clearly see the blue door frame of the first car. In the next shot of Jeremy this turned red again.
• Connections References Countdown (1982)
• Soundtracks Desire (uncredited) Written by Bono , Adam Clayton , The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. Performed by U2

User reviews

• July 8, 2013 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• BBC (United Kingdom)
• BBC America (United States)
• Dunsfold Park Aerodrome, Dunsfold Park, Dunsfold, Surrey, England, UK (Studio)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 3 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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