page_title: Top Gear Winter Olympics
section_title: Events
hierarchical_section_title: Top Gear Winter Olympics / Summary / Events
caption_attribution_description: English: The RocketMen Limited. Mini
context_page_description: Top Gear: Winter Olympics is a full-length, special edition episode for BBC motoring programme Top Gear, and is the first in a series of full-length specials for the show. The episode was aired on 12 February 2006, with a repeat of the episode being aired a week later on 19 February. The special saw hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May travelling to Lillehammer, Norway and creating their own version of the Winter Olympics with cars. The episode was later released on DVD on 5 June later that year.
context_section_description: Biathlon
  In a race between Clarkson and May, the pair took to a snowy, cross-country course with some off-road SUVs, where along the way, each presenter had to stop at 2 shooting rounds and hit all the targets in each round from the back of their cars, incurring a 5 seconds penalty for each target missed. May choose the Audi Q7 and used a standard Biathlon .22 rifle for the shooting rounds, while Clarkson raced in a Volvo XC90 and opted to use a H&K MP5 Sub machine gun, but despite the increased firepower, he missed all his target on the first shooting round, allowing his rival to increase the lead he had. May's second shooting round was not as perfect as his first, and he incurred a ten-second penalty for missing targets, before crashing into a tree on his way to the finish line. Clarkson, although missing all his targets again in the second round, managed to overtake May as he was digging himself out, but just before he reached the end, Clarkson lost the lead to his rival, coming in second after May crossed the line and won the event.
  Cold Weather Endurance
  Although not with them at Lillehammer, Hammond had early done a film for the special, in which he saw whether a man would break first from Arctic temperatures, or a car. Sitting within a Citroën C1, in a bid to see who would crack first, both the presenter and the car were subjected to ever decreasing temperatures, with Hammond testing the car's electrics and engine. Finally, after being subjected to a temperature of about minus-40 Celsius, Hammond could not start the C1 and thus proved that a man could last longer than the car, concluding that 'if you're going to drive to the North Pole, buy a Hammond'.
  His conclusion was disproved when he took part in a race against a car to the North Pole, and lost, as was shown in the Polar Challenge following Series 9 of the show.
  Speed Skating
  Returning to Norway, Clarkson prepared himself for a 3-lap race on the ice course of Vikingskipet Olympic Arena, between a Jaguar XK and a human skater, whom May introduced as Eskil Ervik. While Ervik got off to a good start, the XK couldn't utilize its power as the car had no grip on the ice and thus could only move forward slowly and not corner so well, while the wheels constantly spun upon the surface. Not only did this allow Ervik to win the race, it also allowed him to lap the XK twice.
  Off-Road Slalom
  In another race between Clarkson and May, the presenters took to completing a course against the clock, on a frozen lake with just five inches of ice. The race was between a four-wheel drive Land Rover Discovery and another two-wheel drive Jaguar XK. The race ended with a dispute about the end result - while May declared he was the winner by being the fastest with a time of 2:03.28, Clarkson claimed otherwise by saying that his run had been more graceful and interesting than his colleague's.
  Bobsleigh
  In a re-run of a film shown during Series 5 of the show, Hammond and May travelled to Lillehammer in 2004 to make use of the 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) bobsleigh course. Their aim was to see if a bobsleigh team aided by Hammond, who would be subject to cornering forces of up to 5G, could beat a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution rally car, which would be driven by Norwegian Henning Solberg with May as co-driver. For the rally car, it would run on a snowy dirt road that had exactly the same length of the course, not only starting and stopping the same places, but also consisting of slippery surfaces and sharp corners. While the bobsleigh would be time by the course officials, May would be timing the rally car. Despite a close race, the bobsleigh turned in a time of 59.68 at the end, beating the rally car by just over 2 seconds after it came in with a time of 1:02.24.
  Ice Hockey
  On a break from Daytime Television, Hammond finally arrived in Lillehammer, and prepared himself to take on May in a game of "5-a-side Car Ice Hockey". Using ten Suzuki Swifts and with Clarkson acting as referee, Hammond was captain of "team daytime television" who played in Montreal Canadiens colours, while May was captain of
caption: Propulsion for the unmanned Mini was provided by 3 rocket motors put into the rear of the car
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