Cars

Top Gear

Top Gear

Top Gear was once the programme your dad would force everyone to watch - his quiet revenge for having to sit through your mum's frequent doses of Corrie or EastEnders

Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear

Gears are good, aren't they? Like Top Gear, for instance. That's a really good Gear. But now there's another one worth shifting into.

Motoring trivia

Motoring trivia

How much do you know about our four-wheeled friends? Here are some fast and furious car facts to amaze and astound.

Which Top Gear presenter are you?

Which Top Gear presenter are you?

Finally. The answer to the question that's been racing around your head for years. Yes it has. Yes it HAS.

Motor porn. Well, nice pictures of pretty cars.

  • A 360 of Mclaren's MP4 12C
    McLaren's super car McLaren's super car
  • Motor mayhem, exploding caravans, ritual Hammond humiliation - enjoy our gallery dedicated to everyone's favourite car programme.
    Top Gear Top Gear
  • An exclusive report, interviews and pics from the Red Bull Reporters chosen for the thrilling Red Bull X-Fighters Jams in Nottingham.
    Red Bull X-Fighters Red Bull X-Fighters
  • These super cars may be just another bunch of manhood enhancers, but they sure do look pretty.
    Super cars Super cars
  • Check out our stunning images from the World Rally Championship.
    World Rally World Rally

Pub trivia

  • The "father of the car" was Karl Friedrich Benz, and the first car was the Benz Patent Motorwagen, built in 1885. And it was a three-wheeler, so don't scoff at Reliant Robin drivers - they're keeping it real.

  • The world's first petrolheads didn't get behind the wheel - they toggled the tiller. That was the name of the giant sort-of joystick that was used to "steer" first cars around. The steering wheel was introduced in 1899, and within a decade the tillers were history.

  • Beginning with Mary Anderson, who invented the first windscreen wiper in 1903, women have played a striking role in the evolution of the car. In fact, women inventors were responsible for developing the sparkplug, the clutch and the carburettor.

  • The fastest car in the world has a highest recorded speed of 257mph and can go from 0 to 60 in 2.78 seconds. Unfortunately, it's called the Ultimate Aero. But it could have been worse. It could have been called the Ultimate Twix.

  • The Volkswagen Beetle has the dubious distinction of being the most popular car ever created by an evil dictator. Adolf Hitler personally sketched the first Beetle designs in the early 30s.

  • The most important car ever made was the Model T Ford. Popularly, the credit goes to Henry Ford, although it was a friend of Ford's, Childe Harold Wills, who oversaw the design of the car and even came up with the squiggly Ford logo. He and Ford later fell out and Wills set up his own car company. Which flopped.

All pub trivia

Watch World Rally crashes

Watch World Rally crashes

Twenty nail-biting video clips with the World Rally's most breathtaking smash ups.

Top Gear Ten Commandments

Top Gear Ten Commandments

Follow these simple rules and you can rightfully call yourself a proper petrolhead.