''Top Gear Korea'' () is the South Korean adaptation of BBC's popular ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'' show. Officially announced on 21 June 2011, the show follows a similar format with the British version and season 1 included 3 presenters: singer and professional driver

Kim Jin-pyo Kim Jin-pyo (; born August 13, 1977) is a South Korean MC, rapper, singer, songwriter, television presenter and professional race car driver. He began his career in 1995 as one half of the duo Panic, together with his childhood friend Lee Juck, ...

(김진표), actor

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(연정훈), and actor

Kim Kap-soo Kim Kap-soo (born April 7, 1957) is a South Korean actor. Since his acting debut in 1977, Kim has had a long career on the stage, in television dramas and film. In addition to acting full-time, he also has his own master class acting studio. F ...

(김갑수). It premiered on cable channel XTM on 20 August 2011. The show uses a circuit in

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city, which is not used for racing but just for tests and social events, as the main test facility and the Power Lap Time. It was built for a

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event that was cancelled less than three weeks before it was to have been held.

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, the venue of the

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and Taebaek Racing Park are used for some episodes.

History

The first season aired from 20 August – 30 December 2011. Met with both positive and negative reviews, the show had a peak viewership rating of 1.28%, considered to be quite good for Korean cable. Presenters and The Stig of Top Gear Korea Season 2 from acrofan cropped

Presenters and The Stig of Top Gear Korea Season 2 from acrofan cropped

The second season aired from 8 April 2012 to 17 June 2012. Kim Kap-soo was replaced by actor

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(조민기). The third season (titled ''Top Gear Korea New Season'') aired from 7 October – 16 December 2012. Jo Min-ki was replaced by actor

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(박준규). In one of the episodes, presenter Kim Jin-pyo drove a

Chevrolet Spark The Chevrolet Spark ( ko, 쉐보레 스파크, translit=) is a city car manufactured by General Motors's subsidiary GM Korea from 1998 to 2022. The vehicle was initially developed by Daewoo and was introduced in 1998 as the Daewoo Matiz ( ko, 대� ...

through a 360-degree vertical loop. A serious incident occurred during filming of the fourth season, in which a helicopter crashed into the

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

desert. As part of a racing sequence between a

Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 The Chevrolet Corvette (C6) is the sixth generation of the Corvette sports car that was produced by Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 2005 to 2013 model years. It is the first Corvette with exposed headlamps since the 1962 model. Pro ...

and a

Bell AH-1 Cobra The Bell AH-1 Cobra is a single-engined attack helicopter developed and manufactured by the American rotorcraft manufacturer Bell Helicopter. A member of the prolific Huey family, the AH-1 is also referred to as the HueyCobra or Snake. The A ...

helicopter, the car and the helicopter would race alongside each other to the finish line. During a practice run, as they reached the finish line, the aircraft wheeled around 180° before impacting the ground. Nobody was seriously injured. The BBC posted the video online, both in its unaltered state and open-captioned in English, the show is part of their franchise and is co-produced by the company.

Guests

Guests are featured each week in the ''Star Lap Time'' segment, akin to Star in a Reasonably Priced Car. The car driven in this segment is the

Volkswagen Golf The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates ...

Season One

Season Two

Season Three

Season Four

References

External links

* http://program.tving.com/xtm/topgearkorea {{Top Gear

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

South Korean variety television shows South Korean television series based on British television series Korean-language television shows 2011 South Korean television series debuts