Season 17

Is the increasing cost of motor racing discouraging young British talent? Chris Goffey reports from Brands Hatch on Formula First - a new, cheaper formula designed to solve the problem by giving more new hopefuls access to the first rung of the racing ladder. Sue Baker tests the new Sierra which has a boot - the Sapphire, and Frank Page asks if this new car can return Ford to the dominant position in company car fleets it once held with the old Cortina. Also, take to the streets with the lastest trend in custom cars; and William Woollard checks the accuracy of some of the do-it-yourself alcohol breath-testing machines which claim to tell you when you are over the limit.

As the Eurotunnel consortium prepares for the second phase of its fund-raising effort, William Woollard examines the full-scale models of the special car and truck wagons that could be carrying thousands of vehicles a day under the Channel by 1993. Each year over 1,000 children are killed or seriously injured while travelling in cars, but 83 per cent of children wear no form of restraint. Sue Baker reviews the wide range of safety devices now available for children, and talks to parents about why they ignore their obvious benefits. Frank Page road-tests the new three-litre Vauxhall Carlton , which eased out the new Jaguar XJ6 and BMW series as Car of the Year of 1987. Chris Goffey investigates the esoteric world of sporting trials, off-road hill-climbing, known as ‘mud-plugging’.

As Jaguar prepares to launch its new Sovereign in the United States, William Woollard compares it to its deadly rivals from Mercedes and BMW. At the cheaper end of the market, a look at the range of mopeds available — how well do they perform and how safe are they? Chris Goffey asks whether car manufacturers can learn from the sophisticated electronics fitted to the latest tractors, and Frank Page investigates some deals and discounts available when you try to buy a new car. And the end of an era - as the last Ford Capris reach dealers’ showrooms around the country, Sue Baker looks back on the British motorist’s love affair with the car you always promised yourself.

‘Discretion is probably exercised more in traffic law enforcement than in any other single area of the law.’ William Woollard asks whether this Oxford University research conclusion means a fair deal for the motorist stopped by the police. Sue Baker tests two new economical models competing in the crowded super-mini class, and visits Sweden to inspect a new anti-skidding device currently in production and a prototype computer-driven suspension system. Dan Cherrington, presenter of BBC1’s Farming, tests the new Isuzu Trooper on and off the road, and compares it with the popular Mitsubishi Shogun, and the all-British vehicle that created the market for sophisticated four-wheel-drive cars, the Range Rover. Strictly off the road, Chris Goffey reports on a ‘competition safari’: four-wheel drive is essential, but pots of cash are not.

Nostalgia is the order of the day as Top Gear looks at yesterday’s road sweepers, fire engines, steam lorries and buses. William Woollard takes part in this year’s London to Brighton run of historic commercial vehicles. Frank Page tests the latest in ‘hot’ hatchbacks, the Peugeot 309 GT and the Vauxhall Astra 2000 GTE. Sue Baker drives two versions of a new small car from Japan, the Daihatsu Charade — one very fast, the other very economical. Chris Goffey rides in the new taxi, the Metrocab, and asks taxi drivers if it will replace the familiar ‘London taxi’. And Top Gear forsakes the town to examine the particular problems of road safety in the countryside.

William Woollard tests one of a new generation of stepless transmissions, soon to be available in the Fiat Uno. With the approach of summer, Frank Page looks at a range of camper vans, while Chris Goffey hears of the conflict that can arise when trail riders and four-wheel-drive enthusiasts penetrate green lanes the ramblers feel should be ceded to them. For the motorist seeking high performance, the names Lotus and Maserati carry a special cachet. Sue Baker compares two of the latest models: the Esprit Turbo HC and the Biturbo Spider.

The Skoda Trophy, the Lada Challenge, the Astra-Nova Challenge — some of the championships where car manufacturers support would-be works rally drivers; William Woollard evaluates the schemes on offer. Frank Page has been to Hungary to drive the latest version of such models as the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit and Bentley Turbo R. Just after the Second World War, Britain produced the Jowett Javelin — then one of the most advanced cars you could buy. Sue Baker talks to the car’s designer 40 years on and examines why such promise turned sour. And the Highway Code. Chris Goffey investigates aspects of this quasi-legal charter for drivers.

In the last of the series, as a celebration of summer William Woollard, Sue Baker, Chris Goffey and Frank Page take to the hills of North Wales in four British designed and built sports cars, to try and recapture the lost joys of ‘wind in the hair’ motoring. Chris Goffey brings us up to date with the fortunes of Chris Goodwin and the other novice racing drivers from the first programme of the series, with a report from Oulton Park on the sixth round of the Cellnet Formula First Championship. Does the MOT test, first introduced in 1960, still serve a useful purpose? Sue Baker tries to find out how sure you can be that a car carrying an MOT certificate is, in fact, safe to be on the road. William Woollard road tests what’s claimed to be Britain’s first motor car, the 1894 Santler, and asks which eight cars would be voted the 20th century’s ‘cars of the decade’.