Top Gear Live (show)

Top Gear Live (previously known as the MPH Show) was a supercar motor show. Created as a crossover between the recently relaunched Top Gear and Fifth Gear, it was initially hosted by presenters of both programmes. It was held annually at Earls Court beginning in 2003, later expanding to be also held at the Birmingham NEC from 2005 with the two shows being around one week apart. The show took up either one or two halls at both venues, and there were usually two parts to it: the Exhibition and the Main Show. From 2011 the show was rebranded and relaunched as "Top Gear Live", tying together its close links to the Top Gear television series and with a venue change to ExCeL London. Top Gear Live was later expanded, being used by BBC Worldwide as a brand of touring stadium show.

Exhibition Section

Visitors arrive and have the opportunity to take a look at exhibitors' stands. Many are there to advertise a product that they sell (for example there was a 'Shell' stand at MPH '06 advertising Shell V Power) There are also exhibition stands advertising car lease, whilst showing actual cars that can be leased at the stand. These are the likes of the Ferrari Enzo, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, Ferrari F430 or the Aston Martin DBS V12.

There are also a few car manufacturers exhibiting, although not to the scale of the 'Sunday Times Motor Show'. At MPH 2006, Land Rover turned half of the hall into a simulated off-road environment with ramps and severe slopes, on which people could drive the new Land Rover Discovery 3.

There are also VIP enclosures such as 'The Sunday Times' enclosure, or the 'Auto Express' enclosure in which people with VIP tickets can go and enjoy a glass of wine for example. Overall, the exhibition side of the show is very trade based^[clarify] and does not include many car manufacturers.

Main show

The main event is a 90-minute show, which takes up an entire hall and has the audience sitting in stadium-like seating. The show features stunt driving and a catwalk-style presentation of new cars. Also included in the show are the usual team antics, well known from Top Gear and TGT; at MPH 2006 they placed James May in a shopping trolley and pushed him across the hall with a Ford Mustang at 40 mph into huge ten-pin bowling skittles.

There were also 3D presentations during the show; for example MPH 2005, included a virtual and life-size 3D Apache helicopter shooting at a real Lotus Elise as it raced around the arena. Pyrotechnics added live explosions to the display, simulating missile hits and ricochets from gunfire; due to its success, it made a return appearance in 2006. MPH 2006 also included a virtual 3D Hummer being dropped out of an aircraft, shot down by a Tornado jet, and landing in pieces in the ocean. A 3D Gatso Camera/Dragon of the future battled it out with the Stig at MPH 2007.

In 2006, the MPH show was presented by Jeremy Clarkson and James May (Top Gear presenters), and Tiff Needell (Fifth Gear presenter) who was drafted in to cover for Richard Hammond who could not make the show due to a crash. At MPH 2007 the presenters were Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond (then the Top Gear presenters).

Exhibited cars in the MPH 2006 show included the Caparo T1, Pagani Zonda F, Jaguar XKR, Lamborghini LP640, Bentley GTC, Koenigsegg CCX, Spyker C8, Spyker D8, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, Invicta, and the Porsche Cayenne Magnum black gunsmoke.

Tours

Year	Title	Hosts	Countries
2003^[1]	MPH '03	Jeremy Clarkson	England
2004^[2]	MPH '04		England
2005		Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, Tiff Needell
2006		Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Tiff Needell
2007		Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond
2008			England, Ireland
2009			South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, England, Ireland
2010			Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland
2011	Top Gear Live		Australia, South Africa, Norway, Russia, England, Australia
2012			Russia, Sweden, Denmark, South Africa, England, Finland
2013		Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond	Russia, Australia, Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Poland
2014		Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond	Scotland, Australia, Russia, Barbados, South Africa, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Italy
2015	Clarkson, Hammond & May Live^[a]	Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond	England, Northern Ireland, England, South Africa, Norway, Australia, Poland, England

List of show dates and venues
Date	City	Country	Venue
2003
December 11-14	London	England	Earls Court Exhibition Centre
2004
December 18-21	London	England	Earls Court Exhibition Centre
2008
October 30	London	England	Earls Court Exhibition Centre
October 31
November 1
November 2
November 13	Birmingham		National Exhibition Centre
November 14
November 15
November 16
November 27	Dublin	Ireland	RDS Simmoncourt
November 28
November 29
November 30
2009
January 29	Johannesburg	South Africa	Coca Cola Dome
January 30
January 31
February 1
February 6	Sydney	Australia	Acer Arena
February 7
February 8
February 9
February 12	Auckland	New Zealand	ASB Showgrounds
February 13
February 14
February 15
February 19	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
February 20
February 21
February 22
November 5	London	England	Earls Court Exhibition Centre
November 6
November 7
November 8
November 12	Birmingham		National Exhibition Centre
November 13
November 14
November 15
December 3	Dublin	Ireland	Royal Dublin Society
December 4
December 5
December 6
2010
January 21	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Heineken Music Hall
January 22
January 23
January 24
January 28	Cape Town	South Africa	Grand Arena
January 29
January 30
January 31
February 4	Johannesburg		Coca Cola Dome
February 5
February 6
February 7
February 11	Sydney	Australia	Acer Arena
February 12
February 13
February 14
February 18	Auckland	New Zealand	ASB Showgrounds
February 19
February 20
February 21
November 4	London	England	Earles Court Exhibition Centre
November 5
November 6
November 7
November 11	Birmingham		National Exhibition Centre
November 12
November 13
November 14
2011
March 3	Brisbane	Australia	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
March 4
March 5
March 6
March 7
March 11	Melbourne		Melbourne Showgrounds
March 12
March 13
March 14
March 17	Johannesburg	South Africa	Kyalami
March 18
March 19
March 20
March 24	Oslo	Norway	Oslo Spektrum
March 25
March 26
March 27
July 16	Moscow	Russia	Red Square
July 17
July 22
July 23
July 24
November 11	Birmingham	England	National Exhibition Centre
November 12
November 13
November 24	London		ExCel, London
November 25
November 26
November 27
December 8	Perth	Australia	Burswood Dome
December 9
December 10
2012
February 23	Moscow	Russia	Olympic Stadium (Moscow)
February 24
February 25
March 15	Stockholm	Sweden	Ericsson Globe
March 16
March 17
March 29	Copenhagen	Denmark	Forum Copenhagen
March 30
March 31
April 1
June 16	Durban	South Africa	Moses Mabhida Stadium
June 17	Durban	South Africa	Moses Mabhida Stadium
October 25	Birmingham	England	National Exhibition Centre
October 26
October 27
October 28
November 23	Helsinki	Finland	Messukeskus Helsinki
November 24
November 25
2013
February 22	Moscow	Russia	Olympic Stadium (Moscow)
February 23	Moscow	Russia	Olympic Stadium (Moscow)
March 9	Sydney	Australia	Sydney Motorsport Park
March 10	Sydney	Australia	Sydney Motorsport Park
April 26	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Ziggo Dome
April 27	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Ziggo Dome
April 28	Antwerp	Belgium	Sportpaleis
June 15	Durban	South Africa	Moses Mabhida Stadium
June 16	Durban	South Africa	Moses Mabhida Stadium
September 21	Warsaw	Poland	PGE Narodowy
2014
January 17	Glasgow	Scotland	OVO Hydro
January 18
January 19
March 8	Sydney	Australia	Sydney Motorsport Park
March 9	Sydney	Australia	Sydney Motorsport Park
March 25	Moscow	Russia	Olympic Stadium (Moscow)
March 26	Moscow		Olympic Stadium (Moscow)
March 29	St. Petersburg		Ice Palace (St. Petersburg)
May 17	St. Philips	Barbados	Bushy Park Circuit
May 18	St. Philips	Barbados	Bushy Park Circuit
June 21	Durban	South Africa	Moses Mabhida Stadium
June 22	Durban	South Africa	Moses Mabhida Stadium
June 27	Prague	Czech Republic	O2 Arena (Prague)
June 28	Prague	Czech Republic	O2 Arena (Prague)
July 1	Budapest	Hungary	Budapest Sports Arena
July 3	Zagreb	Croatia	Arena Zagreb
July 5	Torino	Italy	Pala Alpitour
July 6	Torino	Italy	Pala Alpitour
2015
February 13	Liverpool	England	Liverpool Echo Arena
February 14	Liverpool		Liverpool Echo Arena
February 20	Newcastle		Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
February 21	Newcastle		Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
May 22	Belfast	Northern Ireland	Odyssey Complex
May 23
May 24
June 5	Sheffield	England	Sheffield Arena
June 6
June 7
June 12	Johannesburg	South Africa	WeBuyCars Dome
June 13
June 14
June 19	Stavanger	Norway	Sørmarka Arena
June 20
June 21
July 18	Perth	Australia	RAC Arena
July 19	Perth		RAC Arena
July 25	Sydney		Sydney Super Dome
July 26	Sydney		Sydney Super Dome
October 24	Warsaw	Poland	PGE Narodowy
November 27	London	England	The O2 Arena
November 28
November 29

Notes

^ Name changed due to Clarksons firing from Top Gear in March of that year

References

^ "BAR to make public 'stars' at MPH '03. | F1 | Crash". www.crash.net. 2003-11-27. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
^ "MPH04 Ticket availability and pricing". 2004-06-19. Archived from the original on 2004-06-19. Retrieved 2024-03-31.

External links

[3] Name changed due to Clarksons firing from Top Gear in March of that year

[1] "BAR to make public 'stars' at MPH '03. | F1 | Crash". www.crash.net. 2003-11-27. Retrieved 2024-03-31.

[2] "MPH04 Ticket availability and pricing". 2004-06-19. Archived from the original on 2004-06-19. Retrieved 2024-03-31.

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