FESTIVALS: Top Gear Festival, a Roaring Success

inGEAR:

Words & Photos: Dylan Muller

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This year's Top Gear Festival was non-stop live action and included a street circuit with world-class races across various classes, live stunts from the Red Bull X-Fighters, and a petrol-head spectacular in the Moses Mabhida Stadium, in Durban, on 15 and 16 June.

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Hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond, and the Stig, the festival was back in Durban for two exciting days of motoring mayhem that is the signature of Top Gear, and what has made it one of the most popular shows … in the world. With action-packed racing on Durban’s very own street circuit, countless stalls, activities, and restaurants, it promised to be a very exciting experience for those lucky enough to obtain tickets.

The Saturday and Sunday shows were filled with fun and excitement. The roars of huge V8s echoed throughout the grounds as the production cars thundered around the track, with several safety car call outs and yellow flags, as racers struggled with the tight turns and narrow lanes of the street circuit.

Activities over the weekend were divided into two parts, with the Street show and Stadium show happening twice on each day; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The Street show was hosted by South African F1 guru Sasha Martinengo and rally driver Gugu Zulu, and joined by two-time Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen. This was a highly entertaining build-up to the live Stadium show, the main event, hosted by Jezza, Captain Slow, Hamster, and the Stig.

Before the Street show started at 14h00, I had just over two hours to kill and spent it wandering around the grounds and looking at the many interesting exhibitions and stands, where everything from power tools to car wax were on sale. Many of the stands also had driving sims, so that the kids (and Dad!) could test out their skills on some of the most exciting and dangerous tracks on the planet. There was even a stall to test how well you might do in changing the tyres of a F1 car. When it came to food and drink, you name it and it was there, as well as a number of restaurants that had been set up there really was something for everyone, although the queues to the loo were quite lengthy.

Unfortunately, most of the action took place out of view of the standing viewing area and minor grandstands, but there were several large screens situated around the circuit broadcasting the action, as well as from the roving eye-in-the-sky. This was all complemented by the very lively and entertaining commentary.

After the Porsche race, the action did not stop there. It was time for the V8 Masters to take to the track in what turned out to be only five laps of a planned ten, when the red flag had to be brought out due to a serious collision. With the V8 Masters race cut short, the hosts, Sasha and Gugu, came out to present a series of grudge match challenges in rival hot hatches, through to a Super 15 Hot Rod Prediction (which the Sharks, unsurprisingly, lost) and some exciting rally cars, which included the 2013 Dakar Toyota Hilux driven by Giniel de Villiers.

When the Street show started, it was with a bang.

Kicking off with the Porsche GT Cup cars, there was a myriad of fantastic race cars to feast your eyes on, including many Porsches, several BMWs, and a few others that all jostled for position around the track.

The Franschoek Motor Museum also had some legendary Le Mans winning cars cruising around the track, including a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 Gullwing driven by Mika Hakkinen.

All told, the 13 cars going around the track totalled a staggering R450,000,000.

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After all the light-hearted fun, it was time for the serious stuff to begin and featured the kind of races that made Top Gear famous.

Sasha, Gugu, and Mika went to battle in Tuk-tuks on a five lap, shortened street circuit race. It ended in a photo finish between Gugu and Mika, but it was Mika who came out just ahead of Gugu to claim the prize, with Sasha trailing some distance behind.

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In-between the racing, the Stig blasted around the track in a variety of different sports cars, ranging from the new Jaguar F-Type (lap time 01:35.2) to a KTM X-Bow (lap time 01:33.1).

The final lap was followed by several very loud and exciting laps by reserve driver Antonio Felix da Costa, in aN ultra-quick lap time of 01:11.2, blasting the Stig's best in the X-Bow by 22 seconds.

Once the Street show concluded, it was time to start queuing to enter the stadium for the main event, the live Stadium show. Once the gates opened, the queues shifted rapidly as thousands of people thronged to gain entrance to the most eagerly-anticipated show to hit Durban since this time last year.

It was incredibly enthralling to sit in the stadium (front row seats nog al!) soaking up the atmosphere of 20,000-plus excited fans, all there for some serious petrol-fuelled mayhem. After a short wait, the show finally got underway with Jeremy, James, and Richard hosting a spectacular event that was full of fireworks, epic stunt driving, and highly entertaining challenges from a motorcycle limbo and motorcycle polo to car bungee. There were also some films that highlighted the many fun times had on the Top Gear show over the last ten years. The highlight of the show was the Stig having some crazy doughnutting fun in the Red Bull Infiniti RB7 F1 car, which filled the stadium with the roar of the V8 for several minutes.

All in all, the Top Gear Festival 2013 was a fun-filled, family adventure, with many sights and sounds packed into the grounds of the Moses Mabhida Stadium, and a longer, improved live show.

I'm really looking forward to next year's show when it returns to the streets of Durban. Until then, I can only imagine that there will be continuous improvements as the show grows into an international car spectacular to rival any found in Europe.

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To quote Clarkson in his introduction, “… not only do you have the best stadium in the world, you are also the best audiences we ever play to.”

Now if that’s not an endorsement for a motoring spectacular, nothing is. •

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