Top Gear (US) s03e05 Episode Script

The Tractor Challenge

1 Now, on "Top Gear" We get down and dirty when we compete in a series of challenges on the farm.
Holy crap! How hard can it be? There it is! Yay! The winner gets to try to drive the new Lamborghini Aventador without getting dusted.
"Top Gear" has given us the chance to drive some of the fastest, toughest, most bad ass vehicles on the planet, but it turns out there's a category of high-cost, high-powered vehicles that none of us have ever gotten close to.
So, naturally we went to a farm near Fresno in California's central valley with tons of space and no speed limits to try them out.
What did you pick? Guys, behold Go ahead.
The case international harvester 315 Magnum.
315 horsepower, turbo charged and after cooled, 817 pound feet of torque, weighs 27,000 pounds, but it's got the turning radius just a tiny bit bigger than a Mazda Miata.
I'm amazed that you found some sort of stat that you could somehow connect with your favorite car, the Miata.
Well, think of it this way.
That cost $250,000, which is the same as the Porsche 911 gt2rs.
So, it's like the gt2rs of tractors.
That's right.
He said it.
Wow.
That's the perfect all-around tractor.
It's cute, but it's not this.
Oh, goodness gracious.
491 horsepower, 1,197 pound feet of torque.
It has 18 forward gears, 6 reverse gears.
The John Deer 9530t.
What does the "t" stand for? Tank.
And it costs $399,000, which is more than a Lexus L.
F.
A.
That is a lot of money.
Mm-hmm.
What did you get? I have chosen the monster of all tractors, the Challenger MT945b.
You are kidding.
It has as much torque as 8 Toyota Tacomas and costs as much as a Ferrari 599 GT, at $310,000.
Right? Huh? This is a big, big, boy toy.
The engine weighs as much as a Toyota Camry.
Yours also has that flex thing in the middle.
That's a shock articulation to overcome the turning radius issue.
I mean, if you have 8 giant tires like that.
Seems like one of these farmers is trying to overcompensate.
Wow.
You got kind of a small crop this year? Dry season? Corn's not growing all the way up? That's it.
Short stock? You got a short stock? That's enough talk about my crop.
Oh, yeah, what are we doing? To see who had chosen the best tractor, we'd be putting our massive vehicles through a series of challenges.
First up, a race, the fastest around the hay store and back would win.
And the finish line is that Chevy pickup.
We should do, I don't know, a le mans start? Like, a le mans start? Oh! That's great! I don't know how to drive it! How do you All right.
There's 3 pedals.
Uh Our tractors may have looked like life-sized Tonka trucks, but inside, it was more like mission control.
Oh, seriously, the steering wheel's not supposed to do that.
I started it! That's good.
Neutral.
It says park, forward.
And we're off! Whoa! Holy cow! Oh, that's really nice.
Turtle and a rabbit.
That's the throttle.
Heh heh heh, hey! Holy [Bleep.]
! This is so bad ass.
13 megas of dust articulation.
It is weird.
Oh, man, Tanner is flying! Ten.
I'm in eleventh.
You're not a tractor, you're a trank! Ha ha! More rabbit.
More rabbit.
Ok, it's actually a lot faster feeling than it is! Supposedly I'm only going 22 miles an hour.
It feels like I'm gonna take off any second now.
Oh, there she goes.
17 miles an hour! And this feels as fast as anything I've ever driven! Oh, there went the radio! This is so sketchy right now.
More rabbit.
Ha ha ha ha! 15th gear.
That's it, baby! Hi, cows.
Oh, that thing's a lot more stable with the bigger tires.
Has Adam even started? I'm patten leading the third army in my tank.
Holy crap! That is freakin' so so scary! Ok, slowing it down.
Slowing it down.
Holy crap.
Wait, oh, Rutledge is right on me! There's a brake.
I need all 800-foot pound of torque right now! Whoa! Come on, to the finish! Yeah, rabbit! Oh, I just got taken! Oh, I can't see.
I can't see.
Slow down.
All right, so you actually push the pedal on the right to slow down.
Anybody else find that kind of weird? Where's Adam? Third army is operational! Powell, you magnificent bastard, I read your book! Was that as dangerous feeling for you as it was for me? Unbelievably so.
I have no idea how you went so fast.
I was getting thrown around this thing like a bucking bronco.
I had won the race and now it was time to celebrate.
Donuts anyone? There it is! Yay! Oh! Come on, now, is that a donut or what? Tanners challenger mt945 took the first challenge.
Now it's time to mosey on over to the other side of the farm to try to master a new skill.
Ugh! Anybody else wishing they would have had a lighter breakfast? The air cushion only does so much.
Ugh.
Rut is probably just as happy as could be in his little red tractor.
I want you to hop inside my tractor and let's go somewhere at a low speed honey, my love for you is like the price of tires it's high on this here tractor Farmers frequently use their tractors for hauling heavy equipment and trailers.
And if you're gonna pull a trailer, eventually, you'll need to back it up.
So, to test our skill at this, we'd have to complete a backwards loop around a haystack.
Fastest time would win.
Finally, this is where the Magnum 315 is gonna shine.
Whew.
I will say the articulating Thing is not easy in reverse.
Well, you know in reverse, this is the easiest one to handle.
I'm great with a trailer.
Ok, I'm tired of you.
I'm tired of the word "articulation.
" I'm going first.
Now, you'll see how a tank does it! You know it's not a tank.
It's a tractor.
It's a tank! Right.
You know what's scary is you've seen him back up a car.
We're not going to actually go.
There's not going to be a course left.
It'll just be flat, all this.
Ok, in 3, 2, one, God save us all.
Backing up a trailer requires concentration and precision.
Whoa.
2 traits virtually unknown to the wrecker.
Come on, baby, let's do this.
Oop.
That's not good.
Oh, what is happening? Oh, jackknife.
Oh! He just got that thing to hop.
Oh, this is gonna be a little harder than I thought.
Oh, jackknife! Ooh! Oh! Oh, Adam, it's stuck.
Don't do that.
How long before he breaks the trailer? Oh, jackknifed again! Oh! Oh, screw this.
Fall back.
Fall back.
Where's he going? Adam, it's a backup challenge.
That's a time penalty.
4 minutes? Oh, I think it's 5 minutes.
I'm good with that.
Ok, I'm done.
Whoa! Turtle, turtle, turtle, turtle.
So, your time for whatever Whatever that was.
That was Yeah.
Uh, 6:38, plus the 5 minutes, so 11:38.
He doesn't decide when it's 5 minutes.
I'm more for a 2.
Five's fair.
Five minutes Are you going next? I'll go next.
6, uh, it's 11:38.
Yeah, but I wasn't here for the negotiation.
Let's get out of his way.
There is very little to no chance that I'm going to be able to back an articulating trailer up with articulatingTractor.
Here we go, Tanner.
In 3, 2, one, hit it.
Reverse 3, third gear.
That sounds fine.
You see, every time he articulates, the wheels turn a different direction.
Oh! Oh! Oh, oh, oh, oh! Oh, jackknifed.
There it is.
Ok, to the left to go right, but not so far to the left that the right is too far right because to go back to the right you have to go right again a little bit and then to the left again.
Ok, something seems to be going sort of in the right direction.
We're gonna do the impossible.
Now crank it.
Turn the other way! Other way! Other way! Other way! Articulating into a haystack, penalty.
Yeah, that's gonna cost him.
How's he doing on time? It's Thursday.
I just don't care.
Oh, jedi, articulation.
Wow.
He's good.
Nice and easy.
Come on.
Come on, come on.
Almost there.
And click it.
Yeah! Ohh! That was a lot of twisting and shaking in there.
I know.
That was like There's just one little problem.
Yeah.
You hit a haystack, so that's a penalty.
What was the time? You got 8:11.
With the 5-minute penalty Ohh! What? It feels like I should have a 3-minute penalty.
It's 5 minutes.
Look at all that stuff you hit.
You hit this, you hit that.
It's 5 minutes.
Nothing we can do.
So, you have a 13:11.
It's all right.
You're ok.
I guess it's my turn.
Give me the watch.
There you go.
You guys suck.
Coming up That's not what I want to do.
Rut tries his hand at the reverse challenge.
And later, the winner of the tractor challenges gets to race a Lamborghini Aventador against a crop duster in an epic battle of land versus air.
"Top Gear" had brought us to Riverdale, California with 3 massive tractors and a whole lot of open space.
To get to know our rides, we were competing in a series of challenges.
Come on! To the finish! I'd won the drag race, but both Adam and I had messed up in the trailer backup challenge.
And had been slapped with a 5-minute penalty.
Now it was Rut's turn.
He had to beat Adam's time of 11:38 to win.
I have 2 options.
I could cheat, look like I'm reversing for 5 seconds and take the 5-minute penalty, but what would feel good about that? I want to beat these guys fair and square in reverse, no penalties.
5 bucks says he doesn't even try to back up.
All right, ladies, are you guys ready to see how a real tractor performs? We are, but you're the best we got, so why don't you give it a try? 3, 2, one, let's run for cover! Oh, that's not what I want to do.
That's it.
Ok.
Oh, no, no, no.
Not that way, the other left.
Ah, crap! I may have been slightly wrong in my understanding of how this works.
Looking good! Oh, come on, really? Oh, jackknife.
Well, [Bleep.]
.
Where's he going? Oh, come on.
Weak! I gotta win something, damn it! Tanner came up with a 5-minute penalty and I'll take it.
That's a 10-minute for a voluntary bail, right? Whoo! If you sell him on 10, you beat him.
That'll be good.
But then I beat you.
Whatever.
The winner.
Really? Adam Ferrara.
Nice work.
Thank you.
How you figure? Well, you had a 10-minute penalty.
For what? You gave up too early.
That's [Bleep.]
.
There's no way! I'm telling you There's no way.
So, what was my time before the 10 minutes? Before the time was 3:38.
Plus 10, is 13:38, which actually puts you in third place.
Just behind me only by 15 seconds.
Take it like a man.
I hate you guys.
What do you think they're gonna do tomorrow? I don't know.
This is harder than it looks.
I picked the right tractor.
Bring it on.
Bring it on! Ok.
The challenges were over for the day, but tomorrow we hit the open road and with one whole day of experience under our belts driving monster tractors, what could possibly go wrong? The next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn, then hit snooze and slept in for 3 more hours.
Our next challenge was more practical.
The farm had some 3-month-old calves that were old enough to join the herd, so we needed to move them to the other side of the property.
Any of these tractors could have pulled the entire herd, but it seemed like this was the perfect job for my smaller, nimbler case international harvester 315.
And you got the stopwatch? I got the stopwatch right here.
It starts Now.
Now.
Go.
I'm out.
All right.
Who's going? Wow, look at that.
One of you is coming with me.
He's like a cow herding master.
You're the cow whisperer.
Shoo.
There you go.
Yep.
Yes! Please go! Son of a bitch! Boy, it's like I seen my nuts flash before my eyes.
Did he try to nut whip you? Despite owning more plaid shirts than a rodeo clown, Rut's cow wrangling skillsSucked and the clock was ticking.
Yep! Hep! Here! Shoo! Whoop! There it is! Yeah! Yes.
Go! Go! Go! Oh! And she's ok.
6 minutes.
Hold on.
Oh, my gosh, that took forever.
Hold on, little fella.
Oh, yeah, now we're flying.
Now we're making good time.
There was no stopping me now.
With the smallest tractor of the 3, I could easily make the shortcut through the feeding barn.
Oh! Oh, that smell is unbelievable! Oh, no, there's cows crossing.
I'm going here.
Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! That was crazy.
Sorry.
All right, let's speed her up.
Pardon me, cows.
While Rut was busy hauling an empty trailer, we'd made our way over to the finish line by the main herd.
He's almost at 8 minutes.
I think this is gonna be a penalty.
How'd it go, pal? I I think it went great.
I don't want to be the bearer of bad news.
What the hell? Where did the Hey, is there a problem? Is there a problem here? Where did you leave him? I don't think he left him.
I think he escaped.
Ok, is it bumpy in there? A little bit.
You bumped his you bumped the freakin' cow out of the trailer is what you did.
Mm-mmm.
Here's the bottom line.
You had to get a cow here and there's nothing here.
You lose.
8 minutes 33 seconds doesn't matter.
Yeah, it doesn't matter.
You're disqualified.
There's no cow.
Listen, we lost a cow and we can't have this happen and I don't want to lose you, so I'm gonna need you to put this on your ear, so I'll know where you are.
The Manhattan farmer was up next.
3, 2, one, go.
Who wants to go for a ride? Who wants to go for a ride? Come on.
This ain't workin'.
Come on, who wants to go for a ride? Yes, come on, baby.
Come on, baby.
Come on, baby.
Who wants to go for a ride? Ok.
Come on, come on.
What's your name? Hillary? Hillary! With the calves unimpressed with Adam's cowboy skills, he resorted to bribery.
Who's hungry? There we go.
Who's hungry? Look.
Are you gonna offer them chocolate? Come on.
Come on.
This isn't working.
5:30.
That's not good.
Come on, baby.
This is quite the battle of wits we're witnessing.
No, no, no, no, no.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
Ugh.
Oh, my foot.
Ugh.
Now I'm gonna kick your ass.
Come on, baby.
Come on, baby, get in.
No, no, you'll like it.
It's air conditioned.
Oh, no.
Oh, God! Ta-da! Good girl.
Unbelievable.
All right, baby, here we go.
Good luck, little buddy.
Hang on tight.
Sure, it might have taken me a little time to load up, but all I had to do now was not lose my calf and I'd take the lead.
Watch your heads, cows.
Watch your heads.
Ah.
Excuse me! There we go.
Come on.
Hyah! Hyah! I'm sorry, baby.
Hold on.
A little bouncy, but we made it.
We're almost home.
Here comes the master farmer.
That's it.
What's up? Ok, I notice there is a cow back there still.
He has the cow.
What's my time? I don't know if you're even gonna want to hear it.
Well, it is officially the longest challenge in "Top Gear" history.
38 minutes, 58 seconds.
And yet I'm in first place.
He's got a point there.
There you go.
'Cause he's got the, uh You made it.
You see what I have here? This is a calf.
You had an empty trailer.
I'm in first place.
Coming up Oh! Tanner's calf delivery runs into a problem.
Move! [Bleep.]
Get your heads out of the way.
And later, the winner races a Lamborini Aventador against the only machine that stands a chance.
"Top Gear" had sent us to a farm near Fresno, California to find out which of us had chosen the best tractor.
Tanner had won the drag race and, remarkably, Adam had reversed himself to victory in the backup test.
Ok, I'm done.
He also had the time to beat in our cow hauling challenge.
Now, Tanner was up.
Go! All right, come on.
Let's go, Eugene.
Let's go.
Keep, keep, good boy.
Don't kick me in the balls.
Here we go, Eugene.
Up we go.
There you go.
No! Get in there.
Get in there.
That's it, keep fighting, kid.
You don't have to take that.
There you go.
You walk away.
You're gonna stress him out.
Are you aware of your drooling problem? Eugene, get up there.
Get up there.
There you go! Get up there.
At a boy.
Yes! That wasn't so bad.
First opportunity, kid Freedom! Hang on, buddy.
Looking good.
Looking good.
I feel like maybe this is a little overkill, Eugene.
If you weigh 150 pounds, I could probably tow about 600,000 of you.
Sure, it may have been a little bit of overkill, but when isn't bigger better? Mother of pearl.
This is too narrow, Eugene.
This is the only way we can go.
Otherwise, we gotta go all the way around the farm.
There's no way we're gonna make it in time, Eugene, if we have to go all the way around the farm at 22 miles an hour.
Bear with me, buddy.
I apologize for whatever's about to happen.
Good lord.
Oh, my gosh, these cows better move their heads or they're coming off.
Oh! Watch out, guys! Oh! [Bleep.]
That is so close.
All right, cows.
Move! Hang on, Eugene.
Hang on, it's almost over.
[Bleep.]
Cows, dude.
Seriously, get your heads out of the way! Yes, we're through! We're through! Hang on, Eugene.
All right, there's no way that that was 38 minutes.
There's a cow.
That's a good sign.
So right.
Whew.
What's the time? 17:10.
Yes! Which is more than twice the time that it took me to get here, so that's second place.
Which yours doesn't really matter because you had sans cow.
17 still takes it.
With only one challenge left to go, Tanner had a 2-one, lead.
Yes! High five! Oh, sorry.
Our final challenge will be towing 3 payloads A barn, a silo and a soil-cultivating tool, known reassuringly as the wheels of death, to another farm 10 miles away.
Whoever arrived with the least amount of damage to their cargo would win.
Look at that.
That looks scary.
Good lord, what is that thing for? That's not for farming.
Wow! These things are freakin' huge.
This doesn't look good.
No.
I don't know about you, but I'm completely out of control every single time that tractor's moving.
I don't know if this is dangerous for us as much as it's dangerous for everybody else.
It's definitely dangerous for everybody else.
And us.
You can't fit that thing in a lane.
No.
I want the wheels of death.
Wait, wait w w I want the wheels of death.
Who thinks Adam shouldn't have the wheel of death? Ok.
You guys suck.
Yeah.
I'll take the trailer of death.
I'm gonna hook up the barn.
Good luck.
I hope you guys have insurance.
Come on, baby.
We're going on roads with this thing.
This isn't a good idea at all.
Let's see, 16 1/2-foot wide tractor, 12-foot lanes.
This should be good.
Ok, it is official.
We are on the open road.
That is so sketchy.
But once we got going it was actually kind of fun.
Wow, it rides pretty smooth, huh? I am driving a trank on the open road with a missile silo behind me.
Ha ha ha ha! Baby, staring at this corn makes me think of you Rut, please stop singing.
On this here tractor I should have been a country singer.
Look at me.
I'll be honest with you, I can't even feel this load.
It's no wonder they gave me Oh, [Bleep.]
! That's a low wire.
Good lord.
Are you kidding me? This is gonna be potentially a little more dangerous than I thought.
Here is another low wire.
I'd say there are a lot of things to be To be nervous about right now.
One, is any kind of bump really because the straps on that barn do not look sufficient to the load.
Slowing down.
Slowing down.
They're slowing down.
That's the second thing I'm nervous about, Rutledge getting on the brakes for no apparent reason.
Ok, coming back up to ya.
It wasn't hard to do at 12 1/2 miles an hour.
The best part of this challenge is that Tanner has to drive slowly, which he's unable to do.
My right foot is suffering from a little bit of atrophy.
I think that driving a tractor is officially making me a worse car driver.
Tanner, you just don't get farming, you know? It's not always about speed.
I think the thing that scares me the most is flipping over.
That's what really happens with these tractors, is you get a little aah! Holy crap! We were starting to run into traffic on the road and it didn't take long to find out why.
Hey, you guys see that up ahead? Mother of pearl.
Really? Caruthers, California, home to one traffic light and 2,497 souls that had no idea what was rolling down main street.
We are now in some sort of downtown area of a town, which is not good news for this trailer or f this town, for that matter.
These people do not realize the danger that they're in being close to this barn right now.
Yeah, you're on the verge of death.
How you doing? Yeah, you are in the danger zone.
You are in the danger zone.
A lot of people have guns in California.
If I hit the wrong thing I'm a dead man.
How you doing? Great.
Don't shoot me.
Let's get out of here.
Come on, papa bear, can you get that tractor up over 10 miles an hour? Come on.
This was the last chance to salvage some dignity for me and my case 315.
We lost every challenge so far, but I wasn't gonna lose this one.
It was time for a trip down jackknife circle.
Tight turn coming up.
Seriously, a cul-de-sac, Rut? Hold on, let me just Let me just make this turn real quick here.
You know what, guys, I did not see that coming.
That is my fault entirely.
You suck! Let me guess, you looked this up on some Wikipedia that this is the only cul-de-sac of Miata radius in the area? You know what, man, I didn't even think about it.
That's gonna be real hard for you to get through.
I am so sorry to hear that.
Easy does it.
Oh, that's tight.
Come on, baby.
I made it! Ha ha! No problem.
No [Bleep.]
Way! Seriously, Tanner, how did you get through that cul-de-sac? ArrTiculation.
We only had a couple of miles to go, but I, for one, wasn't going to do them at 10 miles an hour behind a bearded man in a little red tractor anymore.
It was time to overtake.
Left here.
Go, Adam, go! Go! Oh! "Top Gear" had sent us to Fresno, California to find the best farm tractor on the market.
The winner would get to race the Lamborghini Aventador against a plane.
Tanner had won 2 challenges and I had won one.
Our final challenge was to transport cargo to another farm 10 miles away.
Whoever delivered their goods with the least amount of damage would win.
Tanner was out of the running.
You just dropped your barn! Oh! No way! No way! I could probably get a couple of nails.
I don't know if it's hit you yet, you've ruined the barn.
Yeah.
Now, all I had to do was deliver my silo undamaged and I tie Tanner for first place.
Oh, man, how can I completely just dominate all of the challenges and then fail so miserably at the finale? All I know is that farmer is going to be mad.
He's gonna need to articulate a check to that farmer for the barn he destroyed.
Knowing that Adam could tie me for first place, I had to do something to stop him.
Full throttle, 16th gear, ramming speed.
Oh, now it's sabotage?! Hey! Ha ha ha.
Knock it off! Why is it Tanner likes ramming Adam from behind so much? Are you picking up my silo? No, definitely not.
We're out of here, baby.
Ha ha! You can run, but you can't hide.
I'm taking evasive maneuvers.
Serpentine! Serpentine! While Tanner continued to ram Adam from behind, I had the homestead in my sights.
Here we are.
That is the longest 10-mile road trip ever.
All right, psycho.
Ha ha! Did you guys almost have an accident right there? Yeah, I don't know I don't know where captain adventure came from.
That was awesome! I win! No, you don't.
It was whoever gets here with the least damaged cargo wins.
I got here before you, that much before you, but before you.
With damaged cargo.
I have no damage whatsoever.
But I got here first, so that cancels each other out.
So, Rutledge takes this one.
My plan had worked perfectly.
Adam had lost out to Rut, making me the overall winner by default.
So, it was time to drive something a little bit faster.
Don't even start.
The fact is, is that still I won the drag race.
So, it's clear that if you're gonna be a farmer, you're gonna need a tractor.
But once upon a time there was a hot-tempered Italian farmer who didn't like anybody else's tractor, so he buried himself in his barn and he built his own.
His name was Ferruccio Lamborghini and he built the most ridiculous tractors in the world.
And now 70 years after building that first tractor, Lamborghini has evolved and produced what may be the most radical and beautiful super car on the earth The $387,000 Aventador.
The Aventador is a quantum leap forward for Lamborghini.
The intention was to not only surpass its predecessors, but also move a generation ahead of all other super cars.
Here's the essence of Lamborghini in a nutshell.
It's a super car manufacturer that had a great early history, then had a period of total craziness, then a period of total unreliability and now is completely rehabilitated.
The problem is you just don't know if it's gonna fall off the wagon again.
It's kind of like the Robert Downey Jr.
of cars.
Ah, the Aventador.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to this day for a long time.
Less looking forward to and more of just whining about why it hasn't happened, just basically laying on the ground kicking, screaming, fists into the dirt, saying I want my turn, I want my turn.
Now I have it.
Thrust mode possible.
It sounds dirty, but Hopefully it doesn't leave a mark.
Oh, God! The shift! Oh, God! It's an absolutely brutal shift.
It's a singlclutch, not a dual clutch.
Not all fluttery like the Ferrari is.
It absolutely throws you back in your seat.
It's just the brutality of this car that's what's shocking.
A 458 Ferrari would be slicing this road up and delivering it to you in finely, precisely cut pieces.
The Aventador grabs it with both hands and just shoves it face first.
Volkswagen purchased Lamborghini in 1998 and in the Aventador, they created something that is as pleasing to the eye as it is menacing.
Under the skin of the Aventador it's not just all Italian leather and cappuccinos.
There's some real engineering going on here.
The 7 speed gear box shifts in 50 milliseconds.
That's as fast as a formula one car.
And the skeleton of this beast is equally impressive.
The entire chassis is molded from just one piece of super lightweight carbon fiber.
It weighs about 600 pounds and it was derived from technology used from boeing to build these 787 dreamlike jets.
That's kind of cool.
So, with all this cutting edge technology, the Aventador is that rare thing, a Lamborghini that's actually reliable, which doesn't seem very Italian.
Would you say you're more German or Italiano? Pardon? [Beep.]
Would you say you're more German or Italian? Would you like help? [Beep.]
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Viva la Italia! Economical route.
German.
[Bleep.]
It is strong! Probably like riding a bull, you just are never accustomed to the just brutal power.
Not everybody thinks the Lamborghini's beautiful.
The Diablo met with mixed reviews, the countach, seen as an eccentric man's dream.
The Murcielago, not much more widely respected.
And then the Reventon, we started drinking the kool-aid at that point.
Suddenly, all the angular, stealth fighter myths became cool.
So, gradually the world's taste caught up with the boldness of Lambo's designs, but the biggest stigma the Lamborghini still faces isn't al Gore worrying about the environmental impact of its massive v-12 engine or its cost of a house price tag, it's something that Lamborghini has no control over whatsoever.
In the U.
S.
, very expensive cars tend to be more of a status symbol for the owner than an actual driving tool.
Lamborghini has been struggling, to say the least, to change its perspective buyer.
Ferrari, on one hand, has got Pope John Paul II, Michael Schumacher, Eric Clapton, a list of fairly distinguished owners.
The Lamborghini has P Diddy, pretty sure Kanye West has one.
And Mike, the situation.
That's unfortunate because Lamborghini has been pumping out some great cars and they're hoping that the Aventador will finally turn the tide and get some true car enthusiast owners in the seat.
And what better way to turn the tide for Lamborghini than a race? But what do you race one of the most technologically advanced cars on the planet against? We needed a plane.
And not just any plane A big freakin' yellow one.
Top Gear had sent us to central California to find out which is the best tractor in the country.
My challenger had won, which meant I got to drive the Lamborghini Aventador racing against a plane.
And not just any plane, this is an inland crop duster's thrush.
It is the ultimate in aeronautical agility, designed to make 100-mile-an-hour passes less than 10 feet off the ground and then turn on an aeronautical dime and head back the same way.
It only seats one Maverick pilot and according to legend, flying it is like hanging on to a thousand-volt electrical cable while standing in a puddle.
Ok, so, here's the challenge.
This airfield is in a triangular configuration, which right now will serve as a very, very fast race track, which should suit the Aventador, frankly, but the airplane has a couple hundred gallons of water, so my goal is to go around the track for 3 laps without getting wet.
We've covered the car with these hydro-chromatic panels that when they do get wet, they turn red.
So, if I can keep the Aventador white, I win.
With a top speed of 217, the Lamborghini was 60 miles an hour faster than the plane, but the plane had one big advantage, it didn't have to stick to the race track, meaning it could come at me from any angle.
The fact is, this is a good test.
I know it seems a little ridiculous, but it tests maneuverability, outright speed, breaking capabilities, and because we're out at a runway, we can really finally see what's underneath the skirt of the Aventador.
Ok, Corsa, manual, e.
S.
C.
Is off, I'm thumbs up, Max.
At the start, I hang back until take-off, but once the plane left the ground, it was game on.
Oh, the dust is insane.
And we're off! Come on, Aventador! That Italian bull's got the rope around the nuts! Get angry! As we approach the first corner, the plane would have to climb to lose speed in order to make the turn, handing the advantage to the Lamborghini.
Whoa, it does like to drift! And I do like that! Yeah! What I didn't realize is just how quickly it would catch me on the straights.
Oh! No! No! I think he missed me.
Luckily, I'd out dragged him to the second corner.
Go! Go! Go! 70 onto the straightaway! Unbelievable! This thing turns as hard as it accelerates.
I see him coming in the rear view mirror! Oh, no! 150! 160! 170! Breaking hard.
That was a huge slide.
At the end of the first lap, the Aventador had managed to out dod the plane.
2 laps to go.
Oh, man, he is coming in hot now.
Oh, he's coming so low! Crap! Ah, I dodged it that time! This is lap 3.
It's all coming down to this.
As long as I can just stay in his blind spot, I'm good.
I had just one mile to go and I'd be home and dry.
There's the finish line! Come on! Come on! Whoa, he's got the water down.
No! Unbelievable! And that's a Lamborghini done.
So, it can't beat a crop duster around an airfield.
It is, however, an absolutely amazing machine and a turning point.
The Lamborghini in the US.
All that's left for Lamborghini is to figure out how to make their next car fly.

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