Top Gear races

Series Four, Episode One (9 May 2004) To prove what was the fastest way to get to the South of France for a summer holiday, Clarkson drove an Aston Martin DB9 from the studio in Dunsfold, Surrey to Monte Carlo, against Hammond and May who took the Eurostar and the French TGV.

He reached the finishing point at the Café de Paris well before his co-presenters, and had even had time to order several drinks and some food before Hammond and May arrived, looking distinctly dishevelled from having run all the way from the train station.

This huge deficit, coupled with the fact that Hammond and May were about to transfer onto the extremely efficient Swiss public transport network, made Clarkson start to appreciate the enormity of the task ahead of him and that his chances of winning were almost nil.

Clarkson's journey meanwhile would take him through the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, covering a distance of well over 1,300 miles (about 2,100 km).

With the race starting at midday from Heathrow's car park, Hammond and May were able to check in straight away, but the time of their flight meant that Clarkson was able to reach the Channel Tunnel before their plane actually left the runway.

Indeed, by being able to hit speeds upwards of 160 miles per hour (257 km/h), he took the lead in the race and was able to reach the Danish border just as Hammond and May's ferry was entering the last third of its journey.

However, disaster struck Hammond and May as, around a quarter of the way into their journey from Kristiansand to Oslo, the engine on their speedboat burnt out, meaning they had to change to the back-up chase boat.

Series Seven, Episode Five (11 December 2005) Clarkson (in a Bugatti Veyron) raced Hammond and May (in a Cessna 182) from Alba to the restaurant on the 42nd floor of Tower 42 in London to deliver a truffle.

Hammond and May's planned route would take them from Alba to the local airport in Cuneo, where May would then fly his plane to London, from where they would get a sequence of trains and buses to reach the finishing point.

Indeed, the pre-flight checks took so long that by the time Hammond and May finally left the ground, Clarkson had already passed Turin and was entering the Mont Blanc Tunnel.

Meanwhile, French Air Traffic Control had allowed Hammond and May to take a shortcut in their planned route and travel over central France rather than the Eastern border, meaning that by the time Clarkson had reached Troyes, the plane was virtually neck-and-neck with it.

Once the train arrived at Waterloo Station, Hammond and May took a route 26 bus to reach Tower 42, whilst Clarkson was entering the city via the Blackwall Tunnel.

Series Nine, Episode Seven (25 July 2007) Clarkson and May drove a modified Toyota Hilux against Hammond, Matty McNair and a dog sled team in a race across the Canadian arctic.

Despite the result shown in the film, the presenters mockingly denied this outcome (by saying things such as Hammond crashing into railings and Clarkson's boat exploding), and insisted that May in the Mercedes-Benz won the race fairly.

Series Eleven, Episode Four (13 July 2008) In what is commonly agreed to be the closest Top Gear race ever staged, Clarkson drove a Nissan GT-R through Japan, from Hakui, Ishikawa to Mount Nokogiri, while Hammond and May took public transport—most notably the 168mph Shinkansen.

All three presenters chose diesel vehicles – May a Subaru Legacy, Hammond a Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion, to the scorn of his compatriots, and Clarkson a Jaguar XJ.

Clarkson headed straight for the nearest motorway and drove "like a loony", heating seats, charging his phone and running the radio in the hope of emptying his fuel tank in France.

Series Thirteen, Episode One (21 June 2009) On 25 April 2009, the BBC filmed a private charter train hauled by the brand new steam locomotive 60163 Tornado.

Beginning at just after 3:30am on Wembley Stadium's pitch-side, Clarkson decided to drive through London rather than go around the North Circular Road and M25, thinking that the lack of traffic would mean the geographically shorter route would on this occasion be the faster.

However, the Eurostar train made such good progress that, due to the ferry not setting off until well past 6:00am, Hammond and May were already under the Channel by the time Clarkson left British soil.

To make matters worse, when he received a call from Hammond telling him that he and May had just departed from Paris, Clarkson worked out he had only narrowed their lead to 100 miles, the news of which made him virtually certain he was going to lose the race.

As the train neared the French Alps, it was having to navigate the winding tracks on the old section of the TGV network, meaning Hammond and May's speed slowed considerably.

However, extensive French roadworks in the form of contraflows in front of the Mont Blanc tunnel slowed the car significantly, allowing Hammond and May to build up their lead again.

However, May produced a foldable bicycle out of his bag in hopes of outpacing his colleague, but Hammond was still faster and reached the finishing point first, taking sole possession of the ticket.

Clarkson would later attest back in the studio that the roadworks on the French side of the Mont Blanc tunnel, presumably to carry out necessary repairs in advance of the skiing season, had lasted for nearly 100km, and it had been this that had cost him the race.

Series Twenty, Episode One (30 June 2013) Clarkson tried to prove that fossil fuels are still superior to alternatives, and raced a blue 1.8L Toyota Corolla against May in an AC45 Sailing Boat, helmed by Olympian Ben Ainslie, and crewed by America's Cup winners.

Winner: Sailing boat Series Twenty Two, Episode One (25 January 2015) The presenters decide to redo the race they did in London between all of them, this time travelling across St Petersburg.

Clarkson selects a hovercraft, Hammond chooses a £9,000 (Pinarello Dogma F8) bicycle, May picks a Renault Twizy, and the Stig again relies on public transport.

Clarkson, who managed to gain the lead despite the handling issues, soon hit the city-centre, where he attempted to use narrow, peaceful canals to avoid the heavy river traffic he encountered.

The Stig, who had suffered no major issues when using public transport, failed to finish in the end: he had spotted a Porsche 911 and was banging his helmet against the fence that protected it.