Top Gear BBC America Bolivia Special

 

Top Gear Bolivia Special!

Series 14, Episode 6 original airdate 27 December 2009

There are many very good top gear episodes but this one in my opinion is by far the best.In this Episode the team sets off to buy a car over the internet that is in Africa to cross the continent. They were supposed to meet up with their cars when they got to the starting point in their helicopter but unfortunately the helicopter that was supposed to pick them up crashed, so they had to take a boat.

 

after they got down the river they sat there and waited for there cars to arrive. When the cars got there there were on a huge barge being pushed by a little boat. They couldn't get the cars off of the barge, it was much to high up. They then got a plank of wood and climbed up on the barge to see what they had bought. Once up there they examined the cars and pointed out the flaws and things that the ad on the internet did not show. James' car was a red Suzuki and in the ad the picture was blue. they then went to Richards' car a Toyota land cruiser, had been converted into a soft top by the previous owner. Jeremy’s car a range rover had said in the ad that it had a 3.9 liter v8 with fuel injection, but when the popped the hood they saw that it had carburetor which was found on the very unreliable 3.5 liter that died off. After making fun of each others cars they then proceeded to try to figure out a way to get their newly purchased 4x4 vehicles off of the barge. so they tried pulling the barge closer to shore and that didn’t work and Jeremy got stuck in the river as he sank into the mud and had to be pulled out by a rope connected to his range rover which actually started and pulled him out.

they then tried to start there cars and go back and forth to try to shuffle the barge closer to the shore, everyone’s car started except for Richards land cruiser its starter motor was dead, but since it was a manual Jeremy pulled it with a rope along the barge in attempt the start it, after trying that for many hours the land cruiser still wouldn’t start. in the morning James may then realized that there are longer planks on the barge than the one then had been stumbling up, so they made a ramp to drive the cars off. first to get off was James, but he go stuck on the boards as his four wheel drive failed and only three of his four wheels were spinning. they then had to make another bridge to get the range rover off. the range rover went down the ramp and all four wheels pulled him up the little hill and away from the barge.after Jeremy got the range rover off he then lined up to pull the powerless brake-less Toyota off the barge. once the Toyota was off the barge the producers rewarded them with a box of things. in the box was a chain saw, winch, rubber tubing, Vaseline, condoms, Tampax, and Viagra. still a bit confused by the last few things they set off for the jungle! the range rover was to forge the path being the head of their convoy. they the show them battling the jungle with machetes and sweating perfusly and drinking water for what seems like a long time, and then Jeremy says "guys, I forgot my phone down by the river, well i have to go get it" he then yells back to them asking where he left it showing that they had not made much progress at all. Then Richard says to Jeremy that he left it on log next to the rock. When Jeremy got back they then pushed onward. as they were driving along Jeremy was talking about how the land rover was a brilliant piece of machinery when it was first designed but then it was made in the middle east where the quality of parts being put in them where not very good. we then go to Richard who was talking about his car and how the Toyota land cruiser is legendary reliable and his was not and that that made his more special to have the only malfunctioning Toyota land cruiser in the world. we then go to James how begins to talk about his car and how it only has three wheel drive and how you might think it is small and only driven by hair dressers but he says it is plucky. then we cut to the night where Jeremy is complaining about the heat a little while after Richard is attacked by insects in his car and the insists that they make camp, Jeremy then reads some stories about things in Bolivia that can kill you. in the morning Richard had woken to find that one of his pant legs where missing, he then went to go get away from the creepy crawlers and found refuge in his car but.. there was a snake in it. they then hit the trail and Richard is still complaining about his missing pant leg and you see Jeremy answer back "has your trouser leg gone missing" and Jeremy is were it on his head. the range rover lead the way forging a path through the jungle. a little while later Jeremy pointed out that his car was beginning to smell very very hot, and James who was behind him said that his car smelt of imminent failure not long after that Jeremy car over heated and stopped working so they stopped and waited for the car to cool down because bamboo had got under the hood and broken the blades of of the cooling fan. as Jeremy would say "the plucky Britt has wounded himself forging a path for you two" James then said " what kind of a design is that if bamboo can get in there and break the fan blades off" once the car had cooled down they set off once again. they were moving through the jungle for a bit and then had to stop for they had reached a gully that they had to cross, Jeremy said he was going to drive down it and then up the other side because the wheel hits the bottom before the front of the car. he then tries it and gets stuck, then James tries to pull out Jeremy range rover but the Suzuki got pulled to the range rover and then got stuck itself. so it was up to Richard to pull them both out. once he pulled them out the then began to build a bridge.

after the bridge was built they the decided that James should drive over it first, so he was driving across it using the help of his colliges to navigate the bridge so he doesn’t go off,he was then almost all the way across the bridge so he then gave it maximum power and made it to the other side. it was then Jeremy turn to go across the bridge and his car was much heavier and wider, he kept on going and went slowly till he got across. when it was Hammonds turn it was almost completely dark and so they couldn’t see well but he still managed to make it across. they kept pushing through the night and Jeremy said he wonders how hot his engine is, he said he is thinking very hot. so when the made camp that night he cut holes in the hood of his car as vents and in doing so he caught Richards soft top on his car on fire. they then went to sleep and when they woke up the realized that the camped on a road on accident. they then set off, and it began to rain and Richard was getting very wet. they then stopped at a river that they had to cross. they had to use things from the box of things to water proof their cars, the they set across the river. Richard went first and his Toyota land cruiser made it across quite easily, Jeremy had gotten his car stuck and so James had to go around him in the much deeper part of the river and got stuck as well.


then weirdly enough Jeremy car started and got itself unstuck, James was then pulled out by Richard. once they were all out of the river they got out of the jungle and on some sort of dirt road which Richard and James didn’t like very much because there cars had very stiff suspension where as Jeremy had soft suspension so they where being bounced around and everything was rattling. they then pulled into a little village and spent the night there were there were baths and beds just before death road the most vanguards highway in the world. they the left and headed to death road.Once on the road James tells the others that it will not be funny if they run into the back of him like they have before to stop there cars and that he is very afraid of heights and he will f**king kill them if they do. this road has claimed hundreds of lives. as they were driving along they saw many crosses on the side of the road showing where people had died. they are all talking about how far down it is from the road. Jeremy points out that the dust is effecting his visibility and then he almost got hit by a truck hidden in the dust. Jeremy says he doesn’t understand the rules on the road and says one minute you are driving on the right and the other on the left. after driving for a little a crazy local tries to pass them and James slows down and Jeremy ran into the back of James so James got out of his car with the machete and says i warned you now i'm going to kill you. it then cuts to Richard who says James is now killing Jeremy. they than press on. Richard shows how bad his steering is in his car and how his breaks don’t work. James' car gets dirt in the fuel system in his Suzuki so he has to stop and fix it, but Jeremy leaves him and Richard behind pressing on without them. once James gets his car going again him and Richard get moving again and then Richard tries to go around a bus and gets stuck in a ditch. so they have to wait there and then finally a truck driver pulls him out so they can get back on there way. then you see Jeremy way ahead in the range rover saying he doesn’t have any contact with his colliges and that they could be dead. Jeremy then goes under a water fall on this little road and a local tries to pass by him.

after he passes the car on the road he continues to drive. James' cars alternator stopped working and since it was night time had his head lights on which then killed his battery thus killing his car so Richard swapped his live battery for James' dead on since the alternator on his car was still working. they then attached flashlights to the front of his car because he wasn’t allowed to use the headlights or he would kill the battery again. Jeremy stopped and made memorials for James and Richard because he thought they were both dead. the next morning they were all reunited in lapaz. while they waited for there challenge Richard and James remand angry with Jeremy for leaving them. there next challenge was to cross a desert that was completely lifeless and it had never rained. so they decided to make some modifications to there cars in order to withstand the challenges ahead so the found some shops and got to work. Richard lifted his car, put bigger tires on it, got rid of the doors, and got rid of the roof. Jeremy put big tires on his car as well. James on the other hand fixed the things that were wrong with his car. they then try to figure out if it gets hotter or colder with the higher the altitude and they settled on much colder. then the pulled into a gas station that sold some kind of candy that when you eat it you talk for hours and it also helps ward off the effects of altitude sickness. Richard found them very good and began to talk a lot... the next morning the awoke on the Bolivian high plains. they were now at 14006 feet above sea level and they were beginning to notice the lack of oxygen in the air. they had a little thing that they put of their fingers that measures the amount of oxygen in your red blood cells and it should be higher than 99 or you are in danger of dying and Jeremy rang in at 87, James got 89, Richard got 88. Richards front suspension had broken off and his prop shaft had fallen off. so they had to fix it and that took time but when they got that done they headed off. everything was going well except for James driving into a village well. they were now only one mile away from Bolivia.

once they got to the border they were greeted by a drug check, where the dogs searched there cars for drugs. they pasted the search and continued. they entered chilli and they were driving along the road and Richard noticed some flamingos. Jeremy was watching the gps to see when the past 15,000 feet higher than the tallest peak in Europe. soon the altitude would become a big issue. the next day Richards clutch went on his car so he had to rock it on the starter motor to start it and has to match the road speed to the gear speed when he changes gear. they then had to make a decision on weather they wanted to got the short way over an active volcano or take the long way, they voted for the short way. while they were driving the air got thinner and thinner they were now feeling very strange with the lack of oxygen in the air. the engines in the cars were being hit hard too not having much air to use, they kept going higher and higher. Jeremy said he felt very very weird. the terrain leveled out so the pulled over too ketch what they could of there breath. Jeremy then suggested that they all take the Viagra pill which some say wards off the felling of altitude sickness. sadly though after they took it they didn’t feel any different. they were still pushing on. at 16,700 the Toyota broke down again and then when James and Jeremy stopped to help they couldn’t get there cars to start again. so they rocked the range rover to try to start it back up again and once they got it back up the range rover then got the other cars started. at 17,200 feet they pulled over again and decided to go back down and take the long way because the altitude was going to kill them. so they headed back down very fast. then they got on the long road and they got to the other side of the Andes. they were in the acatomic desert were there was no life not even bacteria all there was was one road the panamerican highway. but the dash down from the high altitude was too much for Richards Toyota and caused the differential in the back to completely break, so the converted it to front wheel drive only to get it back up and going again. they began to say how much they loved there cars. as they drew nearer to the coast they began to climb again. once they got almost to the shore the last obstacle was a huge dune that went all the way to the shore.

this dune was super steep and if there tire dug into the stand and started to roll it would be very unlikely they would be alive at the bottom, so the decided to practice on a smaller dune. they then lined up to go down the dune but before then went Richard said stop and got out of his car and forgot to put on the emergency brake and his car rolled down the dune and his wheel fell off and he couldn’t drive it down the dune. so Jeremy and James lined up to go down the dune. they they set off down the dune very slowly and there cars began to start swerving and going all kinds of ways in the sand and they were fighting to keep control and they finally it leveled out and then made it to the bottom. when they got to the bottom they had a startling conclusion that the range rover, the most unreliable car in the world is the most reliable car in the world. the end.